Seven Days Online Editor Cathy Resmer submitted these pics that she snapped this morning out at the polls…
The ObamaMobile!
Barbara Shaw-Dorson, Hillary Clinton supporter, and Cece Wick, Barack Obama supporter at St. Mark’s Youth Center in Burlington’s New North End.
In front of Burlington’s Lyman Hunt Middle School: Steve McIntyre (Democrat running for City Council), Marianne Ward, Carmen George (former Democratic City Councilor), and Teresa Hyndman.
And you thought the Democratic presidential primary was the hot item on March 4th! Burlington voters face a couple of competing ballot items on Tuesday regarding the hotly debated future of the Moran Plant site on Burlington’s waterfront. Last week, we pointed to one Burlington blogger who opposes the city’s renovation proposal and several differing opinions appeared in the comments of that post.
Below is a rundown of some online Moran Plant-related items. If you’re a Burlington resident and you’re unsure how you will vote on these questions on Tuesday, use this as a guide to all the ins and outs of the issue…
CCTV videographer Tuija Lindell shot this footage of Chelsea Clinton touring downtown Burlington this morning….
Yesterday the Burlington Free Press ran a story about how the state shut down the Burlington Intervale composting operation due to “pollution concerns” and “recently mandated permits.” Today on Green Mountain Daily, a flurry of comments has appeared following blog moderator John Odum’s post on the subject. Odum writes…
the problem was that [Governor Douglas and ANR Secretary George Crombie] were dealing with environmentalists, and unlike their GOP business buddies who might mutter and fume about having to cowtow to the tree-huggers, the folks at the Intervale were fully and humbly prepared to comply - providing, in the process, an example to others.
That would never do for Douglas. So what does he have Crombie do? Revoke the Intervale’s classification as a farm, retroactively making it subject to all the Act 250 provisions it had never built into its business plan. The new, unexpected burdens - particularly ones relating to concerns about possible siting on archeological sites - suddenly dumped never-accounted for costs that, with an unfriendly agency, would clearly go well into six figures.
If you’re still entertaining the notion that this wasn’t a political hit job, consider the rumor in circulation that I was able to confirm with a source close enough to know. In a conversation with the Intervale Director, Crombie openly gloated that he had the Intervale “in a noose” and wasn’t about to let go.
That’s right. He actually said “in a noose.”
There’s an active discussion raging in the comments section of this post, including this comment from author and environmentalist, Bill McKibben…
Shouldn’t this be a big campaign issue? Shouldn’t Anthony Pollina be holding a press conference out on top of the intervale compost pile today? (or, for that matter, Peter Galbraith?). Isn’t this a chance to knock the nice-guy moniker off jim douglas? And to remind folks what an anti-environmentalist he’s proved to be? Shouldn’t there be bumperstickers that say: ’save the intervale–fire douglas’. Shouldn’t everyone be pointing out how this threatens 7 or 8 % of burlington’s fresh food supply? Can’t we have some pictures of what the intervale used to look like (i.e., informal dumping ground)? Can’t we have pictures contrasting the intervale with the kind of development douglas thinks is environmentally sensible (the st. albans walmart). can’t someone organize around this?
This is a freedom-to-farm issue, a local agriculture issue, a revitalized cities issue, a healthy food issue, an abuse-of-power issue. It’s a dirty trick that will impact lots of people. Don’t campaigns pray for this kind of opportunity?
Click here to read the full post and all of the comments.
See also this post by Burlington blogger Charity Tensel and this Vermont Tiger piece by Geoff Norman (which also has a good comments section brewing).
Burlington Libertarian blogger Jeremy Ryan has a post today describing his reasons for voting against the ballot question in Burlington on March 4th concerning the much-debated fate of the Moran plant on Burlington’s waterfront. The city’s proposal is to create a facility that would house:
… a world-class indoor ice and rock climbing facility, restaurant and café, children’s museum and expanded community sailing center. Year-round, public access to the building (including observation deck) and all activities within the building are targeted at public enjoyment and enrichment. This would create a variety of recreation and education opportunities and amenities to the people of Burlington in a public facility that ensures access and enjoyment of Lake Champlain. Also proposed are upgrades to the bike path, increased green space and park amenities, children’s splash park, seasonal refrigerated skating rink and a rebuilt skate park.
Ryan says he has practical concerns about the financing of the project and more general concerns about governments getting involved in business. Here’s a snip from his post…
My concern with the project is the financing and government management of the project. It appears that the financing is shaky. Bill Keogh, who has opposed the project, has cited that the federal government doesn’t intend to provide around 7 million that would be needed from them in order to complete the project. Nothing is set in stone regarding who pays if goals are not met and we are talking about a lot of money here and now is really not the time for the city to be risking more of our money in big development schemes. We already have Burlington Telecom and Burlington Electric that are on shaky financial ground and need to be managed to sustainability.
Then, there’s the fact that the government really shouldn’t be in the business of starting and running businesses. It is simply not there place in my mind. I do not believe that the council is qualified enough to manage big real estate development deals such as this as the last I knew, no one on the city council is currently a real estate developer or in the hospitality, entertainment or property management industries.
For more opinions on the Moran Plant development question in Burlington, see Charity Tensel’s page on Burlington Politics at She’s Right.
There will also be a live call-in TV show on CCTV Channel 17 this Thursday evening from 6pm to 7pm with proponents of both Moran Plant ballot initiatives taking questions from the audience. The show will be moderated by Mark Johnson.
What do you think? Feel free to let us know in the comments.
