2026-11-05 - Ward 6 NPA

Yeah, I'm Teresa. Um, Teresa Demares. I am a new committee member. We're all new committee members. And I'll just let the other folks introduce themselves as well. And then yeah, we've it's a pretty light agenda tonight. We've got the folks from Parks and Rec here to talk about open space plan. And then we just really want to hear from folks. We put a call out on our forum. We want to hear from people in person. We want to keep hearing from people about yeah, what do what do folks want us to focus on? So I'll pass it to Hannah and then >> Thank you. Hey everyone. Great to see some new faces here. I'm Hannah Riley Fernandez, one of the mighty three MPA steering committees for Ward 6. Yeah, we're really we're happy that you're all here. We we really hope that this meeting is going to be just chatting amongst ourselves about what the the priorities for for this ward are. So we're looking forward to it. Pass it to Greg. >> Yeah. Greg Gotsens, also of the three newbies to it all. So while we didn't want to remake the MPA since we're new, we thought it would be a good place to do a lot of listening to kind of set priorities going forward with it all. So that's for one of the kind of objectives of tonight. And there was that email blast that you sent out in the front porch forum of just eliciting soliciting kind of subject matters that matter is importance for our community. >> Yeah. Um, well, we do have at the top of the hour some space for announcements. We did get an email um Hannah's going to read an email that we received. And then if there is anyone in the room that has an announcement, an ad hoc announcement they want to they want to put in a ward. That's great, too. So go ahead, Hannah. >> Yeah, jump in. So this is from our neighbor Robin Fawcett. Hopefully, I'm pronouncing that right. Um, she says, Dear Ward 6 Steering Committee, I've lived on St. Paul Street as a homeowner for 34 years in a Ward 6 neighborhood heavily populated by rentals. One of my growing concerns is over how trash and recycling storage requirements are communicated to renters, supervised by landlords, and upheld by city code enforcement. St. Paul Street, which is a prime gateway into downtown Burlington, is often trashed, powered to Adams Street. I pick up trash, use C Click Fix. I don't know what that is, but we can come back to that and call landlords, but they find that the problem is much bigger than me. I wonder if our NPA might be able to address this in some meaningful way, and I welcome your ideas. And then she included a screenshot that showed um the blue dots on the screenshot are showing rental properties um So basically she's worried about neglect and trash and has, I think, tried bringing this up in various forums um and maybe not gotten a a satisfactory response. Um, one of the things that I said in my response to her was, you know, in looking to what other wards are doing um there have been some like, you know, get together and pick up trash and then we go like eat donuts or something. Um, so I think that's that's a potential um response to it, but I think she was hoping to maybe come to our next NPA meeting, but I just wanted to um to get that out there for now. And if anyone has has ideas or thoughts I think you guys said you live on St. Paul Street. Yeah. Um, yeah, feel free to jump in. >> This is my space for people to jump in and there's no one to jump in. >> Right. You're talking about in specific to the trash issue that you had. >> the trash issue. And then yeah, if let's talk about the trash issue and then if there's other folks that want to um I know we've got some representatives here that might want to introduce themselves. So. >> Mhm. Mhm. >> You know, I mean I think with the city having um at least with trash pickup being done by uh basically by private businesses, you know, I think making sure that the landlords I mean I I don't know you know how it all gets you know the interactions. I know at times the city has discussed should they take over or contract for the work. Um the city does do the recycling and I don't know what the responsibilities of landlords are for this. Um but you know there is an integration between the city, the private businesses, and then also the uh landlords. So you know I think if there was a discussion my guess is a lot of you know would the best way to have it or if we had some kind of thing go on it there'd be various parties that we'd need to have here. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> It's a good suggestion. >> Yeah, I think that's a great suggestion. >> Mhm. >> It sounds like landlord education too and just making sure that those channels are clear and open to folks that are renters cuz it it is as you're pointing out it's kind of confusing. >> Yeah. >> Um there's yeah when private businesses are contracted >> Mhm. >> Yeah, totally. >> They didn't get the program basically. >> Yeah. Yeah. So um I'm a landlord myself and and one of the things that I'm required to do is um put out signs that say you know if you see lead paint this is what you do right and that's a state requirement. And I always also next to that put out like this is when the trash happens and this is how you take it out and this is when the recycling happens and these are the rules and it probably wouldn't be that hard to add some kind of poster like that to the required things that a landlord has to display and that code enforcement checks for cuz when they come in and they do you know the inspections like that's the first thing they look for is do I have that poster up. So and and that's a pretty low lift for a landlord and it would can make a huge difference. >> Yeah. Great suggestion. >> Yeah. >> Does C Click Fix do anything outside >> of DPW? Isn't that a DPW thing? >> I don't really know. >> I heard it's all city. >> Yeah. >> Oh, yeah. >> It'll get routed to the correct department. >> But if it's not a city department, if it's a trash hauler, for instance, does it get out to the trash hauler? >> That's a question. >> Or a landlord, yeah. So that way, you know, Yeah, so if it's outside the city administration >> Mhm. >> I get fixed. >> questions. Um is there anything else on this issue is important. I think we need we can keep talking about it, but um I want to keep us moving, too. Um can you guys want to introduce yourselves to everybody? >> All right, I'll just briefly introduce myself. My name's Adam Franz. Um I live in Ward 8, but on Tuesday I was elected to the State House to represent Chittenango 14, which includes a bit of Ward 6. So this is the bit mostly around Summit Street and Prospect Street and Willard Street and the area of over there. And so yeah, I'm anybody that I haven't met before, it's nice to meet you and I look forward to talking more with you and representing anybody here that's in Chittenango 14 in Montpelier for the next two years. >> Thanks, Adam. >> Thanks. >> And I'm Elizabeth Allen-Pennebaker and I got elected to the same district that Adam did, so we're district mates. So that's Chittenango 14. I live up on South Willard Street and so I actually do live in Ward 6. And I came last month and had some a chance to talk with some of you and I share Adam's request to come and and talk to us and send us your opinions and anything that you want us to be doing for you in Montpelier. That is what we want to know about. [snorts] But really the person who needs recognition right now is actually Allen who ran a beautiful election including a nice little drop in from the DOJ and he handled it like a pro and bravo. Thank you. >> So yeah, I came because did want to make a brief statement. Thank you so much. Um, we lost one of our great workers to the State House. [laughter] I didn't even because I'm in I'm in uh [clears throat] not in I'm in 13 not 14. So, when I sent out my emails to invite people to sign up, I got one back saying, oh, by the way, I'm on the ballot. And I'm like, well, that disqualifies you. Um, but I would also like to thank the ward. The uh we had approximately 2,100 votes and, you know, it all went extremely smoothly. I think that's a credit to the many workers that we do have who come back and who spend time uh you know training and it all goes really well. My philosophy on workers is might not be exactly the same as every ward, but I like to have as many people as we can get involved and state correctly staffed um be involved because the more people who care about elections of integrity and efficiency and everything, I think the better it is for the wards. So, everybody who worked, a special thank you. All the voters who came, a special thank you. Uh the school district uh who was really supportive and amazing. Um, we were doing the elections on the day when the school is open, which brings its own difficulties. That all worked really well. And then the last group of people who they deserve also a special shout out is the folks in City Hall who help support the elections. Uh pretty much Sarah and Tenzin are the two primary people who work in the clerk's office. But Barbara >> Woo! >> is also one of our great supporters uh from City Hall to, you know, do many things from inspecting us. And I will say because Elizabeth brought it up, there were two observers from the federal department of justice from the civil rights division who came um with their stated purpose of overseeing and asking questions about accessibility. Uh as I did as I was looking at other notes they were taking notes on various other things related to the election. They are supposed to be making a report I heard to the state. Um I look forward to seeing what that report says. I know they spent time in all of the wards but I do really look forward to seeing what that report says and when that report comes in as ward clerk I will come back and try to share it here because um I think it's the first time that anybody and Charlie can also possibly say this I don't ever recall anything observers like this coming in in the past. So it'll be curious to see you know what was actually observed. So >> Uh for folks who might not know who you are in the room you just introduce yourself. >> I'm Alan Matson. I'm the ward clerk. The role of I am an elected official. The job of the ward clerk is overall responsibility for the election on getting the teams together, setting up the space, working with say the the school district uh to make sure everything works. Likewise getting words about the election out. We did change our polling location a couple years ago. That information getting out if we ever need to change again we would be responsible for finding a new location um and we there are also three elected inspector of elections. If anyone is looking to get more involved in elections my contact information is online under the ward clerk area and there's a lot of information about the various responsibilities. It's a great way to get involved and I got involved because at some point I realized I really care about the integrity of elections and I hear a lot about it. We all do and I said you know I really should get involved so that I can speak more um expert with more expert or at least more experience about this. So >> [snorts] >> Yeah >> thank you, Hannah. Um something we want to practice doing in this space as we're all new and as new people come in as just um yeah, your name. Thank you Thank you, Alan, for explaining next. I didn't know. And your name is Alan and you you did something with the >> Yeah, we were orange hat around I I was thinking about bringing the orange hat down today, but I didn't. >> [laughter] >> Um awesome. Is there anything else at the top of the hour, any other announcements that people have? >> I don't know exactly when you took over as committee. >> It's very recent. >> Very recent. >> I know. And because I'm very close very closely connected to a prior a prior steering committee member and I know that Dale is area and I know that she is especially grateful to the fact that there is a great transition going on here. So thank you all to our to our new steering committee. >> Thanks to Dale for helping make it a smooth transition. >> Good part. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And you're great >> [laughter] >> conservation board and >> Yeah. >> Oh, right. Uh one second. Hold please. Can you is do they basically here so they can be seen on camera or are they okay over there? >> Um they're okay over there. We're just trying to do a couple difficulties. I'll zoom out, don't worry. >> Make sure to get me eating my broccoli so >> [laughter] [laughter] >> All right. Well, thank you. Thank you for having us. Um we're excited to talk to you guys about stewardship opportunities in the neighborhood and in the city. Uh my name is Dan Cahill. I'm the city land steward and I have the great privilege of coordinating our conservation lands, community gardens, the bike path corridor, the Urban Ranger program, a variety of other things. Um and I'm going to kick it over to >> Zoe. >> We're Oh yeah, intros. >> Um yeah, so my name is Zoe Richards. Um and I um I am a member of Ward 5. Um not Ward 6. A resident of Ward 5. Um I've served on the Burlington Conservation Board for almost 15 years. Actually over 15 years. Um and was a former chair of the board. And I also direct the Burlington Wildways Partnership, which is a partnership between many of the public-facing landowners in the city. Um and we work collectively to make sure that um we can drum up some funding for really important works like removing non-native invasives, doing some restoration work, making sure nature is accessible for all people and um just a little about me. >> Hey everybody. Thanks for having us. My name is Nate Lanteri. I'm actually also a Ward 5 member and a member of the Ward 5 steering committee for the MPA. So, we also recently have gone through a lot of transitions, so it'll be exciting to work with you all as a great South End team. The only other thing to add is that beyond just being an interested community member, I'm also the chair of the Parks Commission for the city. Yeah. And then we also have Megan as well. >> Hi everyone. I'm Megan O'Daniel and the Community Garden and Parks Outreach Coordinator for the Department of the Parks, Rec, and Waterfront. >> And hi. My name's Amelia. I work for the Water Resources Department, but I love putting on my little Parks hat. And I work with a lot of the green infrastructure in the city, so talk about that later. >> So, why are we here? We had a conversation with Barbara in the spring, Megan and I, [clears throat] because Barbara was hearing, hey, what kind of opportunities are there for folks to get involved in the community doing stewardship work? And also, everybody's interested in native plants. What do you know about that? And we're like, oh, well we should come and present. So, over the summer Megan courageously scheduled us at all the MPAs, which is quite a body of work to get scheduled across all of them. And so, we're so excited where the date has finally come to be here and talk to you guys about this. So, we're kind of here to give you guys a little bit of what you want, what we've been hearing that people are interested in. And then [clears throat] also we have two really amazing plans that help guide our work of connecting nature, doing climate resilient work in the community, and it's our open space plan. And I'm going to kick it over to Zoe and she's going to tell us a little bit about these plans. Tonight I have the full version here, but I've brought executive summaries for everyone if you're interested in this plan and want to you know, a little light entry into it instead of the 140 pages. >> It is >> pretty. Yeah, so uh we're really excited that we have this new open space plan. We wrote our original open space plan for the city 25 years ago right around when we had our first when the conservation board really got off the ground. Um and one [clears throat] of the things that we knew that it was an incredible document was a work plan for parks for many of us who do this kind of work in the city, but we knew that we really a lot of change in terms of climate change um over and and how we see natural areas as um really it super important in terms of making the city resilient. Um and so we knew that we needed to like rewrite these plans and update them. So we started in 2022 with this nature-based climate solutions plan and then sort of rolled a lot of the pieces of that into the new open space plan. And when I talk when I'm saying words like nature-based climate solutions, I think [clears throat] you know the city has done an amazing job because we own our own electric department over the years of um like really doing a lot of work that keeps carbon in the ground. So instead of burning it up. But there's another piece of the puzzle in terms of climate change that I think is really important for the city and that is um making sure that we are resilient um to to the effects of climate change which we know are here and that we use you know like the carbon cycle is a natural cycle that we use a lot of really obvious nature-based solutions that are right in front of us. So like terms of things like if you're putting carbon in the air, the only way to get it back out of the air is through natural systems. That's like taking the carbon, turning them into trees, wetlands, microbes, all that kind of stuff. So we we have to not forget that that nature-based piece. It's also super cost effective. So a really effective just as an obvious example, but I think we don't think about as much as like um a really effective climate change strategy is things like let trees grow larger. That's a very cost effective. It's not built. It's not um it's not a battery. It doesn't involve mining and shipping and all kinds of things like that. So um uh you know also our natural systems are incredible stormwater sponges. We are in a much hotter, wetter, more flooddy time. And so we recognize that to um to not have healthy ecosystems would be is a real would be a real burden for the city in terms of um stormwater lake health. So these plans really end up being like okay how do we achieve some of this stuff? What what's important? How do we achieve some of it? I think we're really at the beginning of doing some of this work. Um we have to figure out how to fund it a little bit better. Um uh and we have to get a little bit further down the road of recognizing that um that it's much cheaper than repairing the mess. So anyways that that's a um it's a long intro but that's that's a lot of the goals of these plans. >> [clears throat] >> And so the original open space plan that Zoe mentioned that was written in 2001 was the precursor to the creation of the Conservation Legacy Fund. So in 2005 uh the voters passed the splinter tax to create an open space protection or to create a Conservation Legacy Fund. Um [clears throat] that original open space plan kind of named that as one of the next steps the city should do. Um so fast forward from 2005 to 2022 and 2025 we have these plans. Um let's see after the 2022 plan was created um we initiated a grant program using that legacy fund. So the legacy fund is there to buy lands um to conserve them. So if you ever hiked at the Trails of Rock Point those trails are protected in publicly accessible in perpetuity because of the legacy fund. Um there's 10 other projects that I could tell you about. We're short on time so not going to focus on those but it's there to do that acquisitions and easements. Um it's there to have administration to manage the program. It helps fund my salary and a field coordinator who is out there in the forest managing the trails. The it also funds a grant program $68,000 a year right now um we set aside to um encourage organizations and individuals to help us with the work of the climate work that are in these plans. So the grant program is guided by these plans, right? So it's like that's kind of the bumpers on it is that these tax dollars can be used in Burlington, but they have to follow the guidelines that are in the plan. Um and it's a pretty easy application process. We have a lot of support and resources to help you through it. And this year in particular, we're piloting a new initiative with $8,000 of the fund. The conservation board has chosen to set aside $8,000 of that $68,000 to support a neighborhood native plant integration project. We're encouraging neighborhoods to look at how to get more um native plants and climate resilience through that mechanism. Next slide. Um this is to get your creative juices flowing a little bit. So um anybody have a guess what all the green dots are on the map? >> Ash trees. >> Former ash former ash trees. Um so and then in the in the plan, we also have these really cool cross-hatched areas around our core natural areas. Those are called stewardship zones. So scientifically, in order to support your natural areas, um you want to set aside a buffer zone around it that you would do specific actions. You might consider the light pollution, you might consider traffic calming, um things that would affect um nesting bird populations. You might um think about the native plants and the invasive plants in that neighborhood. Um so those um are a thing that we have now via this new open space plan. And then we have these ash trees where the light confluence is going to be totally different now where we lost all these canopy ash. Very sad. Um I know we've all felt in different ways driving around Burlington and being like, where am I? What happened to all the trees? Um, so there's an opportunity to look at using native plants. So certainly you can apply for a grant. You don't have to do it in the drip former drip line or the former canopy area of an ash tree, but that's just as a way of getting your thoughts going of like where would be a good place to get native plants in the neighborhood. [clears throat] Um, so that's one specific thing about a stewardship opportunity and I'm going to kick it over to Megan and Amelia to kind of popcorn a variety of other things. Um, and then we're going to kick it over to Nate and he's going to kind of a shining example, another inspirational story. Um, and then hopefully we'll have a little bit of time for a few questions. >> Right. Um, so we have this beautiful list up here. I'm going to talk about some of them and Amelia's going to talk about a few. Um, we have Wild Ways which Zoe mentioned. Um, there are two initiatives there, Grow Wild which is info about native plants um and Trail Stewards which is an opportunity to steward Burlington's trail network. Um, that's the Intervale, Rock Point, some of our parks and it's just uh Winooski Valley Park District. Yep, it's all connected um beautifully which is amazing. Um, and then let's have you do yours. >> Yeah, I'm here to talk about two opportunities related to the stormwater program. One is Blue BTV which is a really great program where someone from UVM um I think Lake Champlain Sea Grant will come and look at your house and talk to you about any drainage issues like puddling or icing um that might you might have and then talk about solutions that the city can then fund to fix those issues. So it's a great way to get some expertise and also some resources. And then the other opportunity is called Adopt a Drain where you get adopt a storm drain near your house, give it a name, maybe like imagine it with googly eyes and then take care of it for the year ahead. So um clean off trash and leaves so that it remains clear to prevent urban flooding. So those are the two stormwater opportunities. Check in with me after if you want to talk more. But yeah. >> And you can get a cool stress ball if you >> Yeah, if you sign up through Adopted Rain, you get a raindrop stress ball. >> It's pretty cool. >> Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Um we also have Penny for Parks, which is a dedicated fund that helps pay for capital expenses in our park systems. Um that's something that residents can apply for in their own neighborhoods, which is pretty cool. You're all out in them seeing what's needed and what's wanted. Um so you can put that into action through that application process. Um and then we've got Branch Out Burlington, which is a volunteer-based group that has a tree nursery and um a fun fact is that they actually grow about half of the trees that are planted in the green belts, which is super cool. Um we have a lot of in species uh introduced species management um happening. We do that consistently and constantly in our parks and our open spaces. Um and it's something that everybody can do. They're in everybody's yards. They're in everybody's green belts. So something we can all chip in on. Um we talked about Adopt Drain. And then um service projects with us. We are here. We are ready. We want to work with you. Give me a call if you as an NPA, if you as a neighborhood, however you want to get involved, if you're interested, just let us know. Um we have cool things like a tool trailer that we can provide. We have, you know, depending on the project, we can have staff help here and there before, after, during. We can figure it all out. You see something, let us know. We want to help. We want to have you help us. We want to help each other. Um and then another way that I interface is with Volunteer BTV, which Nate is going to talk to you guys about next. >> Megan did this everything that you just said is totally perfect. So um >> Is this the fourth week we forgot about it? >> [laughter] >> Um so from my experience working with um Megan and the Parks Department more broadly for the Parks Commission, uh I kind of got this presentation and some many different angles of it, you know, a year ago or longer. Um and it's been churning in my head of like, okay, what can we actually do? Um and so uh part of this initiative is really to bring people into the public realm um and to just say like, okay, there's a lot of people that want to do something positive within the community. There are needs that exist from the city as well as from kind of the public. Um how can we actually like plug into projects? Um and so uh it's been a really great initiative so far. Last week we had um a tree planting at Letti Park that was organized with the conservation team and and like 30 volunteers and we planted 200 trees in an hour. Um and so that was um the first of these ones where we're really more closely working with Parks Department staff to figure out like okay a discrete thing that you need how can we bring people power to it? Um so if Barbara if you'd mind pulling up the poster now um the next two Sundays um so from uh as I mentioned I'm also on the Ward 5 MPA we in September put community stewardship as a priority for us for the next year um and committed to sponsoring two events. Um so the following the next two Sundays we have two uh stewardship opportunities. On Sunday the 8th uh yeah as you can see you may see this poster that I made. Um on the 8th we have a Baird Park cleanup that's kind of more you know not as much a natural space but um the playground there is uh slated to be uh replaced and so we're helping staff with a little bit of the kind of site work prep work to get it so that um it's [snorts] you know easier and more accessible for when it's time to actually do that replacement. Um and then on the 15th more in line with the actual kind of uh stewardship as was determined here um we're doing a cleanup of the angles this is the um natural area immediately to the what direction is that? South. South direction of Clinton Elementary. Um and so that's uh you know a a watershed area that's slightly compromised with some detritus some some litter and >> Right on Ward 6. >> Yeah right. And so um I think that this is a great opportunity also you know as we've both gone through transitions to figure out if this is something that you guys are interested in you know with these grant programs that are available um you know political boundaries are what they are. The South End is kind of the South End so so I I think there's a lot of great opportunity to work together. And there's ones to do it. And and great staff. >> Can I ask a question about the Anglesea? Are you going to cross over uh Shelburne Road and go up into the Anglesea on the east side as well? >> We are most likely going to stay on the west side of Yeah. That's kind of where the there's one spot coming up here. >> I >> You're familiar? >> Well, cuz I Well, I walked the Anglesea on the other side a lot. >> Like near Price? >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, even you know, further if you cross Shelburne, there's a trail that really goes up to Yeah, to Crescent Road that's really easy to walk. >> Yeah. >> It's harder to walk the rest and the rest is actually uh privately owned. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> The The other part isn't. So, it's a little harder, but have been in there a lot. And I don't think that's nearly so bad as I know what it's like down by Champlain. >> Right. Yeah, thankfully you know, we're we're going to going to the sidewalk tomorrow. Um it took me a while to find the spot. You know, there there's a beautiful outdoor classroom at Champlain. Um and then, you know, right by Shelburne Road it's like There it is. So, okay. So yeah, we're we're lending a hand. To staff and nature. >> Okay. Any Any questions? These fine folk? >> The grant program. Just a couple examples of the kinds of things you funded? >> So far, the grant program has funded BYCC to do trail work in the city. So uh it's funded a couple summer crews >> Okay. >> the first year and the second year of the grant program. Um Burlington Wildways has received funding for native plant projects. We have a lawn demonstration projects, one at Lakeview Cemetery and one at Oakledge because they're two different soil typologies. At Lakeview Cemetery is that more sandy soil? In here at Oakledge is that clay soil. So they're demonstration areas. So if you're interested in wilding your yard, it's a place where you can go and learn about the different plants and ways to do that. Um so that's one of the small projects. You guys have been funded for the Trail Steward program as well. >> have a very >> native plant giveaway that we do in conjunction with um uh we get >> UVM science science. >> Yes. Students grow the plants and we give away almost two and a half thousand plants [clears throat] in the spring plants. So >> What what do what do UVM science >> No, that so that's part of Spectacular Nature Day which happens every spring. It's probably our fifth year doing it. Um it should be um you know pops up on social media. >> We'll come back. >> We'll yeah we >> We'll come back and make sure to >> poster we we should go to the NPAs and talk about Spectacular Nature Day. We'll be and do it. And we also like the well well we just talked about native plants. We do have this Burlington Wildways has uh another initiative called Grow Wild which is basically an educational resource and that um if you check out the website you just get all the instructions on if you love to rewild how you can do that, what are the what are the correct plants, where might you get them, you know so it's got all the instructions. >> And >> The grants help support things like the development of the website and >> And so the Legacy Fund is does design that individuals can apply but with the $8,000 designation for this neighborhood native plant project it's almost kind of encouraging a little bit more of that. Um and one thing you know the city passed the Climate Action Plan in 2010 and the only nature piece of that plan um which is why we have these better plants now, the only thing in that plan was to get a 50% tree canopy in Burlington and the then um arborist at the time Warren Spinner was like scratching his head he's like I don't know how we're going to do that. We plant we pretty much plant as many trees as we can in the green belts. Our parks are full of trees. The only place left to put them is in backyards and we can't do anything about that. And so this is this is I think what this plan's doing and this grant program is doing is creating incentives and resources for neighborhoods and individuals to start doing this work, you know working together across front yards, working in green belts, working in like those like little random spots of your neighborhood that aren't a park, they're not they're an open space, part of the right of way, and it's like let's plant some shrubs there, let's plant right? So it's um we can't do this work the upshot is we can't do this work with just city staff and just on city land. >> Yes, both land, right? >> Yep. >> Yeah, I think 39% of Burlington's open space is on private land. >> Yes. >> Oh, so. >> Yeah, so yeah. >> So how close are we to that 15% number? >> We are 42% tree canopy, 40 >> But we lost we lost canopy because of that >> parkway, Cambrian Rise, and the solar field out at Apple Tree. >> What what has been written about the socioeconomic disparity in canopy percentage in some neighborhoods? Do you have any data on that? Where the more wealthy new neighborhoods usually have a higher density of tree canopy in the lower It's all >> It's all true and it's true in Burlington. Um and we have I think we have a map in here too. We've done that heat some heat work. And that's that's why we need to be a little bit creative. So like in parts of the old North End, it's not that the city there's just BJ's that city arborist works really hard to make sure that if you plant trees there to place that are going to survive. So when you're in some of these denser areas, you don't have the there's not the green belt that you need in order to have a big canopy tree. So I think with the conservation board, we've we've changed a whole bunch of things based on these plans. And I think the goal for the conservation board is to think about like actually in the long run, how could you get some incentive programs? Like for example, could you could you start planting trees on in priority areas? Could you have trees planted on people's front lawns and then the city might care for those just like they would street tree because they can't plant a street tree. I'm not saying that we haven't even vetted that, but those are the kind of ideas. >> We do that. >> We Yeah. All right. >> We have that program. >> Yeah, okay. Well, right. And and and we can And we need to do it more. We need to fund it, you know, to to be able to do that. So those are the things that we can do, but we had to do that baseline work that you're bringing up. But we're no different than any other city. And maybe just one last like little example I can share with you is, you know, a lot one of the things that a lot of cities have struggled with is they recognize they need more tree canopy. And then they go ahead and they like go on this epic tree planting in municipal areas and then they still lose trees. And that's because it's like out of their control. It's it's like a thousand, you know, death by a thousand cuts. It's nothing and so I think we're seeing a little of that in Burlington. So how do we've got enough space? So how do we sort of get going to really reverse that? And I think it's very doable, but we have to get organized quickly. >> Yeah, there's like the structured soil stuff. >> Yeah. >> Yes. Yes. >> Well, if you're familiar with our ward and maybe just the South End generally, like where would you say, okay, NPA, this is this is your this is your first priority. This is your marching order considering all the projects and things you guys have got going on. Where would you focus your energy? >> You know, >> Hey Barbara, could you go back to the map? >> Okay, thank you. >> That's easier. It is like I am still getting familiar and comfortable with this is the boundary of our ward. >> And my street was just taken down on my street a few days ago. >> So angles like unfortunately this map we forgot we left off the Anglesea Brook core natural area and it is acknowledged in this plan as a core natural area with a stewardship zone around it. That's an impaired water system that is flowing directly into Lake Champlain. And so anything any stewardship activities, anything that we can do to promote the riparian health of that water system is definitely going to be a benefit. So that's one. >> Yeah. >> Nate, you're more familiar with >> Yeah, I mean, so like obviously Oak Ledge and Barge Canal, those are two sites that are called out here, but I I I wouldn't >> Yeah, oh right. Yeah. And what is the one that's on the on the six side? >> That's the country road. >> the country >> I have something to say about Ward Six, which is So like right by Feldman's Bagels, kind of right across the street, there's a combined sewer overflow point. So Ward Six, anywhere where the storm drains are connected to the sewer system, which is kind of like the Prospect Parkway neighborhood, kind of up in that direction, like every drop of water that you can keep out of a storm drain in that neighborhood is like really important for preventing these overflow events. So obviously I'm biased here, but I think that would be a really great priority for Ward Six is to think about how to reduce the impervious cover. So like roofs and driveways that drain to the public right-of-way. And yeah, the Blue BTV program can help with that [clears throat] and like provide funding for people to like reroute their gutters or something like that. >> Going along with that, I I live on the forest but really low near Willard. There's runoff off of properties onto the sidewalk which freezes and I've seen so many people fall. We've done the C Click Fix a number of times down on There has to be a solution because not only are cars getting in accidents there, but kids walking to school are always falling. There there there must be a solution because it's really dangerous. >> Yeah. Yeah, part of it is yeah, working with property owners to get there to be like a good place for their runoff to kind of like settle and soak in and maybe be by plants. And then also there's like sidewalk work that could be done. Like they could be tilted so that they drain to the green belt and maybe have like a little swale or a ditch like kind of to catch that water between the sidewalk and the road or between people's yard and the sidewalk or something. So >> So what would be the outreach process to have somebody come and take a look at? I'm being very specific, I know. >> Um I can come look at it. [laughter] I can come look at it. >> In this situation, it would be creative if we could come up with a solution. >> Yeah, I think if like you um can speak directly with neighbors and refer to them refer them to the Blue BTV program, that's a great place to start. And then I'm happy to If you email me, it's like [email protected]. Um I can like yeah come in. We can look at it together and talk over what would make sense. Yeah. >> Could you go back to the page that listed all your programs? There you go. Let me Let's see. Yeah, one comment and then a question. I know I spoke on Yeah, go ahead. >> No, that's fine. >> How much pushback do you guys get from uh development in the sense You know, we've got a development starting right down here of of multiple apartment Are you guys getting any input to say, okay, you've got to do a living roof to you know help the canopy? >> I think there's just like culturally a challenge of not [snorts] We all I think can fall fall victim to the scarcity mindset that there's like a a you know either or mentality. But I I think it's more just about continuing to have dialogue around the both and of you know you got to have open space, you got to have green infrastructure to make everything functional. Um and it's to the benefit of the development, right? It makes it more desirable, it makes it more functional. And I think like I think there's tends to be more examples of folks willing and interested in that. I know with this the Sea Core development like agriculture considering rooftop, ag considering the community garden space in and around it has been a conversation. [clears throat] Um, so it it it's there. I think the resistance comes more on the broad scale of like sometimes people's first reaction to this open space plan is that it's in uh dichotomy to uh or like it's it's the opposite of development, but really it's just a complement to it. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> That's what I was wondering since you you are getting some push back. >> Yeah. I mean Zoe's on the conservation board and probably could speak more eloquently to it than I spoke. >> Yeah, I mean I think it's at Burlington I like to think of it as um that we all need to continue to push that as we develop, which I think is a very reasonable thing for Burlington to be doing is growing and growing more affordable housing. I think we have to make sure that we are looking at other models in other cities. So there's a lot of cities who are very clearly developing parks along with their um affordable housing. And I think we might that might be a slight miss for us right now. I think it's an area where I think we can have some impact still as we're looking at plan um 2050. There's like groups like Trust for Public Lands who have like lots of information on cities that are doing that really well. Otherwise you end up having to go back later and um and figure out how you add parks in. So when you for those of us who live in this area, you think about a there's not a ton of green space in this part of the city. There's Callahan um and then of course you can get to the waterfront, but then it's like how do you okay, now we're that's already a very full park. Have did we adequate are we adequately planning for the green resource for all the people who are going to move in here who also deserve parks and places to walk and um so I think I think we have to do I think I think the more voices we can put towards saying it's yes and we do have space for it in Burlington. Um, we just we just got to actively plan for it and we have to fund it. Like like we don't we don't you know, we have to see these as priorities, all the priorities. >> In the Trust for Public Lands just released a a study, I believe, of case studies of communities that are doing that well. >> Yeah. >> So, um we have invasive plants in our backyard. We we talked a little bit before, and some of them are actually trees. >> Oh, yeah. >> Um and so and your lucky my husband is in your you get the whole Norway Maple grant, which is lengthy. And uh so I'm curious, like do you have programs to help people replace the trees? Cuz they're actually like they're falling down and they're root bound and they're going to come over and >> Yeah. >> you know, but but they're part of the canopy, and you don't want to just get rid of them all. So >> Yeah, I mean I have an enormous Norway Maple in my backyard. I've been letting these other native trees grow up, and I think it's finally the year to cut it down. But I but I then I was like, trees much more valuable, the canopy and the cooling and the carbon sequestration or the native? So these are all like active conversations >> I mean it's a why it's a pilot program. Um the review committee for these grants are three members of the conservation board and two members of the parks commission, so they're appointed um folks that, you know, vet these applications. It's a little bit of time, but, you know, maybe that's something worth considering for the grant program. Something that's come up in the other wards is stump grinding in the green belts where ash trees have been cut. So that is something that could be an allowable cost if you wanted to prepare um your green belt to be able to receive another tree or some plants quicker. Stump grinding could um be a way of doing that. And um the city does not have resources for stump grinding, so um >> A lot of stumps out there. >> So they don't have resources for stumps? >> Not dedicated stump grinding resources in the arborist budget, but this grant program could be one of those sources if you're like, hey, let's do a specific project, get some money for stump grinding, money for >> Yeah. >> land uh ground prep. >> Yes. >> Okay, so what is Penny for Parks? >> Where is it? Where does it hit uh taxpayers? And does Penny for Parks cover all of these programs or none of these programs? >> Penny for Parks supports specifically the introduction of capital infrastructure into um our neighborhood and regional parks. So any property that is one of the designated park areas um by ordinance or a community garden site can receive Penny for Parks funding for infrastructure. And there's a specific allotment of the Penny for Parks every year. I think it accrues like $207,000 a year. And $40,000 of that is set aside so that if you think that there should be a new seesaw at your neighborhood park, you can apply for that and request it. If you think there should be more dog poop stations at this with a certain corner of X Park, you can ask for funding for that. Um so it was when the fund was established in 2012 I want to say or 13, it was a specific part of the resolution that there would be a specific amount of money set aside for residents to direct some of the use of it. The remaining portion goes into the capital considerations for building like a new playground or bigger costs, redoing a court, you know? So it's kind of going to deferred, not always deferred but like scheduled maintenance like of like okay, we need to put pickleball lines on this court now because pickleball's a big deal. Like it's going to go towards that. Um I don't know. >> are all these programs funded? Is that general fund or CDBG money or >> Blue BTV Well >> Yeah, so Adopt a Drain and Blue BTV are funded out of the stormwater utility and also through grants from the Lake Champlain Basin Program. >> And the the nature-based grant program um and the native plant project are funded through the Legacy Fund which is a dedicated fund like um Penny for Parks but a different one. Um and Community Group Service Projects is staff time out of general fund. So it's like Megan's time to receive that call and coordinate the day and help connect resources and maybe send some field staff out to support it. Um and then how's Wildways funded? >> Uh mostly grant funding. Oh quite a few basin program grants, one Hive Foundation, local donors. However we can. >> who's coordinating this complicated cobweb that you just described to >> That's what we're trying to do tonight. That's why [laughter] we're here. Well the last item we're looking for someone to No just kidding. Well it's um you know some of it is coordinated by various you know entities within city government. So um a lot of it, nature-based grant program, the tool trailer, community service projects is under programs that I manage. Um so with my staff. And then Blue BTV and Doctor Drain is under the stormwater program. Um and Burlington Wildways is a a partnership with fiscal sponsorship under the Winooski Valley Park District. So it's private nonprofit at S but it's holding coalition space for all the public facing land managers. So creating community so we all manage kind of in concert with each other because ecology doesn't care about who's doing it or what property it is. Um and I don't know if there's anything else. >> Maybe could I could I just say one more thing to that? I mean it's hard you know one of the reasons this has been a mission for me for the last 15 years on the conservation board that we have all this connected work that's disconnected and if we want to solve a lot of these problems we have to start working together, which is why we formed the Burlington Wildways Partnership. It was formed by City Council resolution in 2017 um and it asked a lot of the public facing land owners to start working together. We were called the Burlington Open and Natural Lands Conservation and Connection Initiative to begin with. A A title. Yeah. Um and then you know, just just as an example, like um we got we've had some fairly significant funding for a nature-based climate solutions field coordinator who does a lot of native plant work. That that position is in Parks. Burlington Wildways they Parks covers about a quarter of that funding for that. Burlington Wildways grant funded the other three quarters of that. That person is really connected with a lot of really understands a lot about native plants. Has been working with Amelia to so when their stormwater projects now we're replanting and looking at how we can get more natives in when we're doing required stormwater work. So we're really trying to integrate as best we can. But I mean we've had to work really hard at it. There's not a lot of money out there to do it. So um it's been almost exclusively grant funded to do a lot of the connected work. >> And I think you hit the nail on the head because Zoe and I both participated in a advisory group for the mayor's climate policies and one of the biggest recommendations of that 30-person group was to address climate governance that kind of maybe to your point that like this is a lot. How is this all managed and kind of pointed in the right direction? And that was that was a big outcome of the conversations we were having. >> So this is why it took five of you to make this presentation >> We just travel in packs of five. We're here for fun. We're here for dinner. >> I think one more question and then um I think we're running out of fun. Yeah, so maybe Alan Alan you had a question we wanted to ask. >> I want to make a quick comment that the publicity around this uh has been getting us out onto the trails and the infrastructure on the trails right now if you haven't been on the trails has it's just exploded and it really is amazing and I I yeah that's my first comment. Thank you all. And then the second thing would be the uh rain gardens. All the rain gardens got installed recently. How do you coordinate the city work with the uh individual work? Um I got a sign in front of my house that says don't put the leaves in here. [laughter] And I didn't put the leaves in there that are in there right now. The leaves that were put that are in there that were put that that are there right now, uh they got there themselves. I do know I have a neighbor who did that last year. And I know >> Yeah, so we work with the parks department with the arborist team. They do the um kind of like weeding and uh spring and fall cleanups. And so yeah, the signs were a request from that team just cuz the the like matted up leaves add a lot of time and they are short staffed this year. So um yeah, we >> neighbors hey, you should clean them up. >> Um you're welcome to rake them out if you have time. We'd appreciate that. Um yeah, we know like uh like we're glad you have welcomed our rain gardens into your neighborhood and we recognize like people gave up parking spots and stuff for them. So we don't want to add a big burden to you and your neighbors, but if you're up for it, that would be an awesome way to like kind of tap into the local [clears throat] water cycle. So >> Just want to sort of adopt a yeah. >> that you can feel free to adopt a >> My house has already adopted a drain. I don't think I have enough of my house has yet. Because I walk by a drain often on our walks and there's always like oh, I got to take care of this. >> Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> I add in one last thing. Um I kind of like I've been thinking about the metaphor of the tree canopy. And like you know, with every piece of public land, you know, almost max out we can only get so far. And that's where like we as members of the public, we have to do our part as well. And so like in all of these kinds of conversations, um I really find that like knowledge and just like realization that we do have the ability to do something like now that you know like oh yeah, I can I can rake this and I can tell my neighbors that they can too. Like being willing to take that step and and do that is like super powerful and especially in this moment where there's not more money coming for anything. We really have to bring people power to it. So um yeah, this is just an encouragement to to continue to do that and and the MPA is a great place to do that. >> Right. Yeah, I want to extend my like personal gratitude as well. I'm a nature-based therapist and people all over Burlington. Um, and I'm also a runner. And so I've been like running on the Wildway. I like noticed that it all connected. I loved that. And the maps. Yeah, I noticed oh, I like I'm not going to get lost in the woods with you. I know >> I think when we did an update to the open space plan in like 2015, one of the comments was 48 miles of trails are great, but nobody knows where they are. >> Yes. >> So like that was like okay, all right. And so we just really knew it's been a slow process of just making it more novel. And then like for this, you know, one of the problems is we have two park districts. We have Burlington Parks, Rec, Waterfront Park. We have Winooski Valley. So getting one map that had all of the areas on it is like yeah, people don't care who owns it. They just want to know where they can go to go for a walk. So that that was like a long process to get that map together. Um, Decades. >> Decades really. >> [laughter] >> And came from and came from community member, you know, expertise, knowledge mixing with staff knowledge, expertise, a gap being identified and it took a long time. >> Yeah. >> But it's here. Yeah, so it's feels challenging at times, feels long, but but it it does pay off. So. >> And yeah, I don't know. Me and Hannah are like whispering to each other. We're so excited to get the MPA more involved. Um, we're going to adopt a drain, guys. >> [laughter] >> And yeah, grab a stress ball if you uh if you adopt a drain. It's a token of my appreciation. >> On the way out, if you want a executive summary of the open space plan, please raise your hand and I'll bring it to you on the way out. >> Yeah, >> I know. >> And basically with the same like I'm hearing I'm hearing that this is an And then you know And so So there's a real like You know I so my professionally I work in You know I talk about affordable housing all the time We can can't really do anything But but again instead of focusing on the things that So really I see It's like a really like you know It's a way to just like bring people into this public space Yeah almost kind of practicing like okay so today we're cleaning up trash but if we practice working together and building these relationships >> I I'm going to stay the night before coming from >> Right. >> We have just a little bit more of the meeting left to go. I It's really actually been nice to to break and give our bodies a chance to recover and connect with each other. Um and I don't know about y'all, but I thought this is really awesome and I'm really stoked to work with the folks and think about how to art community or those of community. Um but yeah. And we're going to open up the floor. First, we got a lot of comments. Hold on. We got a couple of people emailing us from the forum. We want to make sure to name those at the top and then yeah, we want to take suggestions. Like I said, if it's easier to write things down or you need to scoot or whatever it is like or you want to email us after, we're around. So Hannah, why don't you um open with the 50 people sent to us. >> Yes. So I mean I should start by saying the question that we posed was, you know, what are your priorities? Like what do we care most about as a neighborhood? And I think in chatting with our Ward 5 frontier, it's worth, you know, just stating that the things that we care the most about may not be the things that are easiest to address in that format. Um, but I still think part of our our hope in doing this is just both hearing what is on everyone's minds here, what you really care about, and then um also talking about what we can do together that seems, you know, manageable. Um. >> Oh yeah, actually I'm I'm doing a lousy job facilitating this. There's a Zoom room in front of us. I just want to notice that Ryan Doyon may have raised their hand and I didn't notice them. So Ryan, um if you have something you'd like to contribute and you want to come either just off uh mute and let us know what's going on, we're we're here to listen. >> I'm in the meeting and I'll shoot you an email. >> A little hard to hear you. >> We got a little >> to come off. >> We got a little past that point in the meeting. I will send you an email. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> I'm so sorry, Ryan. I'm going to you know, we're new. We'll get better. >> You're awesome. This is great. >> here. Thank you for it. Cool. Ryan, you send us an email. Okay Hannah, the floor. >> okay. So one from our friend Anita, who is on the steering committee for a long time, um she said that she just wanted to have a conversation about infrastructure in the city. She has herself sustained some injuries from like really uneven slabs on the sidewalk. Every, you know, I guess in in previous meetings they've asked folks to come in from the city, maybe like director of public works, and her experience is sort of hearing every year that it was a bad winter, but is feeling like it is [clears throat] something that she would like us to just be more thoughtful about. So maybe in the context of what we can actually do, that means bringing in some of these folks for from the city for questions. And yeah, that was the big thing for Anita. Do you want to read the other email that we got? >> Um this fellow wrote in and had a number of points. One was speeding. Gideon automated speed cameras and installed on Shelburne Road specifically he was concerned about. Here's one that obviously is very controversial. Homelessness, arrest people if they're breaking the law and open drug use and littering. So obviously that's a pretty extreme opinion, but nevertheless you know we we all know unhoused Close CBOEO, money sucking city department that consumes so much money and makes our city worse. So obviously >> I can I can speak to it. So CBOEO anybody familiar with Yeah, so it it's it's a confusing acronym accurate. Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity. It's not a city department. It takes no money from the city and it's a community action agency and community action agencies are one of the only real poverty organization organizations that exist in the country. There's one in every county in the country. So, um, we can't eliminate it. >> A share of my professional life. >> program and the organization is bad now. Wait, I'm still >> Yeah. >> I would say a good share of my professional life is working with community >> Oh, great. >> organizations. Yeah. I've worked with all around the state. >> It's just on the edge of Ward 5 if anybody's ever curious. >> So, another one of the points was enforcing existing rules on green belts. Some of our bike sidewalks and bike paths are impossible due to overgrowth. That actually has been uh something to be concerned about. And his last point was um better bike lanes. We still have a random um disconnected patchwork of bike paths. So, let's work at expanding them and integrating them. Again, >> I think that was it for the Oh, actually, we had one other um this might make sense to wait until the end of the meeting, but we had another Ward 6 neighbor who um said that she's been very involved in a lot of mutual aid projects including coat drives for the winter um and was wondering if our ward would be interested. Um there are there's one that she is working with now that has drop off at I think King Street What did I just say to you guys? >> King Street is better. >> Ye uh King Street Laundry. >> King Street Laundry. >> So, there's Yeah, there's donations on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Um and we we can sort of finalize this before the next meeting, but we were thinking um that goes until December 12th. Our next meeting, I believe, is December 3rd. So, if folks don't have time to get to King Street Laundry, if they want to bring coats to the next MPA meeting, um we can we can take them to um to King Street Laundry. So, I'll I'll send this out in an email, but um I think it's a a great suggestion in both in its specifics and also um I think it's a good thing for us to think like how how we can get involved sort of as um a neighborhood and various mutual aid efforts. Um, I think be interested in that. So >> I had a quick question. What is the organization that they're working on behalf of or is it just like a one person >> a mutual aid group called Street Cats. >> Okay. Okay. I got it. >> Got it. No, I got it. >> So Ward 5 NBA did this last year and we made a lot of difference. >> Yeah. >> And also sleeping bag and blanket. >> Yeah. >> Oh. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. So we should do that. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And one thing that keeps like coming up in the front porch forum that nobody emailed us on was traffic noise. >> Yeah. >> Um >> main arteries. [clears throat] I mean it just seems to come up and up about >> Yeah, all the discussion about that, especially having to do with sub peeing and and and That's a big issue. >> We do have a noise ordinance in the community, but it's not the traffic noise ordinance. It's more like construction and like trash hauling and that kind of stuff that there's no like decibel limit on vehicles. >> Mhm. >> where that goes, but I just know it's a topic that comes up over and over and over again on front porch forum. >> You know >> You have to hit the damn big vehicles inspected every year too. >> Yeah. >> But noise is not one of them. >> Make fun of >> Evidently not. >> It's hard. It's hard. >> Yeah. And that really is a quality of life issue if you want to you know a little bit your windows open, sleep with your windows open. >> Have we put in a request to get out a new police chief to come and speak? >> That's actually one of the um suggestions. Alan felt like he talked too much, so he left me a long string of >> [laughter] >> Hey. >> And that is that is one of them. >> is what he needs to know. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> The other thing that I think that we I I'd really like to learn is the whole street calming, you know, scenario. I What is the plan for the city and where are the priorities? Because we I mean we're on South Winooski, which is just it when you start talking about noise and speed and yeah, it's just like a it's like a speedway. Um because people just blow through, you know, stop signs and the speed bump. But I guess I would really like to understand where the emphases are right now because who can speak to it? Because I I went poking around all over the creation of of the city trying to figure who I could actually speak to to find out where's the priority in the city of where they're working on. >> And that goes hand in glove with the noise. >> Absolutely. And so yeah, that's that's the point. >> And safe streets. >> And safe streets and everything else and you know, biking and lanes and having connected it just all works. >> That might be something that Buddy and Becca could could answer. >> Yeah, I think that's been that and yeah, bringing folks back and got it. >> Yeah. >> Um other folks priorities things you want to talk about here together things you want to work on in our our board. I don't want to put you two on the spot. >> Yeah, we've been in this ward for all of two months. And so we're >> No, so you're ready to join the >> Um yes, I think lots of the things that Ben brought up here are things that are important to us. Uh yeah, we talked about the the noise and the traffic and the speeding. Um I'm a cyclist, so getting around um and bike lanes, things like that is definitely super important to me. Um yeah, just just care about it but develop solutions fast. >> Any neighborhood just the ward. >> Just the ward, just the ward. >> I was going to say welcome, but welcome to ward >> We did always say if people aren't talking then we get to set the priorities. >> We had a lot to do so far. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Um. >> I can add that so I previously mentioned that we had passed the sewage resolution earlier. Um the next one that we're looking to do I actually promised. Um this is in regards to street safety and [clears throat] you know bike walk bike walk access yeah. I keep saying walk bike or no what I don't know. >> It doesn't matter. >> Yeah um yeah so there was a particular community interest around Locust Street in particular um and that corridor and then that was you know they were able to get a lot of neighbors to our meeting said okay this is obviously a sign that there is some interest in it. And then to kind of expand it beyond like okay yes Locust Street is important but let's think about this more holistically as a community group. So um yeah South End South End you know that kind of infrastructure so >> Would you mind can I put you on the spot to briefly talk about how Ward 5 went about sort of focusing on um community stewardship as like the priority meetings or something we're sort of trying to >> I don't know I don't think I did I say it with the larger group anything? No okay so um just as a note so back in I think it was September um well back in um August we had a um our meeting was a community barbecue and we had some activities basically this but in an outdoor setting to kind of try to get a different um audience and we had previously um at the end of 2024 done a survey and um sort of called the community doing assembly. Um so using the two pieces of input that we had gotten there and then as well as like what each of the individual steering committee members were bringing um we kind of honed in on on this community stewardship as as an option. Um and then from there one of the options that the MPA can do is write resolutions that then we basically with our brigade to pass them on to whoever we want. So we shared it with the other MPOs as well as the city council as well. >> Yep. >> Um it's not binding, but it's basically a a way to like kind of officially with a vote say these are the things that we care about. Kind of to hold yourself to it too, you know, to say like yeah, we've listened and we are going to we're going to take action. You know, we're not just going to say it, we're going to And what's good too is that resolutions are um can't introduce and [snorts] vote on a resolution at the same meeting. So that inherently requires a little bit of forethought, you know, of of introducing some things and having it be able to be better voted on. So um it's a great like you get an idea in a in a meeting and then say let's work on this. Um and then being able to yeah. >> Well, thank you for sharing that. That's really helpful for us. >> And your venue is this one? >> Yep, the same one. Yeah. >> And yeah, I guess my my hope and I guess this isn't exactly a priority to notice is that we just get a little bit more opportunity to engage with it. We're so happy you guys came tonight. Um I do try to tell my neighbors um and like I have a six month old if I can get there for a meeting, I'm pretty sure you can too. So yeah, let people know um if you know anyone in your community that you think would be a great new young person or do it yourself if you make a great community member or just feel comfortable. Um sure everybody, but everyone should also >> Yep. >> Although this isn't a very big lap, I found. Um Kelly, did you have something you wanted >> So just following up a little bit on what you said um so when you advertise your meeting, you can say children are welcome for any portion of the meeting that you can you can attend. >> Yeah, that's a great yeah. >> So you can do that. So another thing is like what happens [clears throat] to all MPOs over time is that they fall into kind of a rut where the steering committees basically wait for entities to approach them to make a presentation on something. Okay? And so uh they get a little lazy and they they basically just accept them at their face value. But in fact, it's the choice of the MPA and the steering committee what you want to do. You don't have to accept anyone making a presentation. So um some of the uh some of the wards are more noted for being creative about what to present at their MPAs. Like for instance, um Ward 8 just did this thing on zines, mag magazines, people who make these little homemade magazine things. Heavily attended, very popular, out of the blue, very unique. Okay, that sort of thing. Plus was it Ward 5 or Ward 6 that just had this uh meeting where this there was a fatality, a bicycle fatality? Hugely attended. Um you know, watched on CCTV extensively, etc. So it's uh one of the advantages of being on a steering committee is you can decide what gets presented at your So you can all your little pet projects or pet peeves or whatever you can address. So if it's sidewalks or something, you can do sidewalks. Um I should hasten to add that if you were to bring somebody in from the city, like you're you're concerned about sidewalks, okay? But there's a difference between bringing in the director of public works to talk about sidewalks as opposed to bringing in like one or two parks commissioners to talk about sidewalks. Cuz you get two different basically angles on something that's happening, you see? So the same thing with the police commission. You can bring in the chief of police, but you might want to bring in a police commissioner too occasionally or at the same time to have a fuller discussion. You see? So that's something that's overlooked by the the MPAs today. In the past, we were much more likely to invite commissioners to our meetings, and for some reason that's fallen off. So um those are kind of my thoughts, like control your control your NPA. Don't just let people come in and say, we need to make a presentation because that's what they need to do. That's not really what the steering committee needs or wants to do. So. >> Yeah. It's online and then actually at time. So Ryan, you're going to be the last voice in the room tonight. And we're going to close the meeting. >> Hey, uh, am I centered enough for you to hear me? >> Can hear you, yeah. >> Cool. So my name's Ryan Doyle. I don't live in your ward. I live in South Burlington and wanted to watch your meeting tonight. But I used to be a city councilor in the city of St. Albans. And when I was a city councilor there, we passed a bond to replace all of our sidewalks that did not meet the good or great criteria, which was approximately two thirds of the sidewalks in the city. It was a multi-year project, but I think if I look at St. Albans, uh, a two square mile city with 26 miles of sidewalk, and I look at the approximate size of some of the wards in Burlington, it seems like maybe there's a possible discussion in the is there a way to make a bond and is there a way to do bonds that are specific to certain neighborhoods, um, that isn't as complicated as a TIF district, but that allow for, uh, substantial bond improvements of infrastructure. I don't know what the system is in Burlington or what's allowed in state law, but uh, you know, St. Albans City has great sidewalks now, um, and has considerably lower, you know, average income and taxable value, etc., etc. >> I really super helpful. >> Cool. Uh, I think, um, in the interest of time and um we're reachable. All three of us are reachable. Um we aren't nothing for reviewing Um And yeah, we'll take all of these good ideas and kind of get to the drawing board and think about what's next. >> And can I ask just one final How many people in here are are like on Front Porch Forum? I'm trying to figure out the best ways. Okay. So if we were to try to organize something for the next meeting where folks could bring coats, sleeping bags, stuff like that, would that be the most effective? I know we have a mailing list also. I'm just aware that I went into the Mailchimp and I saw our open rate and it made me really sad. So I was like I'm not sure this is the best way. >> If people use it >> Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. I just want to deal with that. So I think, you know, look look out for more information about what hopefully we can ask y'all to bring to the next meeting. Um and yeah. Thanks for being here. >> Yeah. Here. >> Yeah. >> Have a good day. >> Wait wait wait. Sorry. Before we end the meeting, hi. I wanted to formally introduce myself. My name is Trang Do. And um I part of Ward 6 is in my district of so sorry I was late. I came from um the Burlington What is it called? Plan BCD. I think I saw you there, right? Yeah. Yeah. So really cool stuff and I'm really happy to be here. Thanks for having me. That's great. >> Thank you.