Burlington, VT Mayor Weinberger -- Glitter in the Gutter

Glitter in the Gutter

A guest commentary by Dr. Charles Simpson, retired SUNY Professor and Burlington, VT resident


Young, energetic, attractive in a riverboat gambler sort of way, holding developer credentials, our mayor is a man in a hurry. He promised to get things done. So what's not to like about Miro Weinberger? The persona worked once, then again. His problem now is that he didn't deliver. Not much, at least. 
We got an absurdly expensive remake of the bike/walk path, including a toxic soil fiasco that had the City storing it at a public park. He couldn't pull off a Moran Plant remake, flawed in concept to begin with: an ice climbing wall? Please. In 2006, the School District, intent in off-loading the Taft School--a structure built in 1939 by private philanthropy and $111,000 from the Works Progress Administration whose post-educational future was required to be housing for indigent men according to the Taft will, was off-loaded to UVM. Weinberger took that as a cue and tried the same trick with Memorial Auditorium, imagining it as just a fiscal liability rather than a vibrant civic arena. But the university opened the bag and found a cat instead of a pig, the cat being the absence of adequate parking. Desperate to get something done, he promised to revive the '80s circumferential highway through the South End, pretending that the public purpose of moving interstate highway traffic to the downtown core was still a viable goal. Not to worry that the highway was to end at Lake Street and the downtown has evolved away from mass shopping. Thanks to alert citizen activists, that plan is in the courts. 

Then, there's his efforts to prime the development pump with political favors. There was spot zoning to raise the height limits on three blocks of downtown as if the elaborate public process leading to Plan BTV had never happened. Add to that $22 million in forgiven future property taxes on the project. Before the project ground to a halt, leaving the present hole in the ground, Macy’s was rendered inoperable and we lost our only department store. Desperate for some achievement, he fixated on a $6 million-plus redesign of a completely serviceable public park. This grandiose "improvement" was overtly proposed as a solution to soil management issues but seems more likely to be a way to “cleans” downtown of panhandlers. This too has been stalled by civic activists, unconvinced that lighted and pulsating water jets are the attraction that tourists seek in New England. 
Then there's sins of omission. In control of the airport, our mayor could have scotched the Air Force plan to station 18 nuclear-capable fighter/bombers in the most densely settled area of the state. He “let it happen”, as he did with a financial deal with a private investor that guaranteed that our municipal telecom would pass out of public ownership.

Had Weinberger listened to authentic public input, each of these projects would have been greatly improved to public benefit. Citizens developed a much better plan for the remnant of the circumferential highway that would enhance rather than damage travel connectivity and neighborhood life. Had he listed to critics of downtown development, a reasonably-sized project would now be in the last stages of construction. Had he heard park enthusiasts, there would be a public bathroom in the downtown, maybe a shaded toddler  play area rather than another festival venue. 

There’s some changes the mayor does own. He blocked his own Parks and Recreation department's proposal to expand public moorings at the lake, refusing an associated federal grant in order to allow private investors to lease the public waterfront. Oh, and subsidizing them with $800,000 in TIF support. Yes, more than 700 units of new housing at Cambrian Rise are on the way, but that project was greased with $2 million in public funds spent to secure its lake view and front lawn. Citizen activists wanted more open land and space for wildlife. 
To a great degree, politics is a matter of projection. Voters endow candidates with their own hopes and dreams, creating an aura that reflects back on voters to make them feel good. In Burlington, we like to think our town is dynamic and innovative while delivering quality social services with the costs justly apportioned. This conviction is like a pat on the back we give ourselves. Didn’t we chose to live here? It takes a lot of government failure to chip away at this cultural capital. And for a long time we may be distracted by razzle-dazzle: "cool" electric scooters on our bike path; fireworks on July 4th; bouncing colored water jets in City Hall Park. But now its the morning after Mardi Gras. The only razzle-dazzle we can see is some glitter in the gutter.