A Slice of Democratic Life

1877 map of Burlington, with City Hall in yellow (Edited by me)

The night is cold in Burlington. The wind is blowing from the lake, making the Christmas lights dance in the trees that line Church Street. Most of the shops have already closed and those who are brave enough to be outside are on a mission: getting somewhere warmer. In the alcoves of many buildings, all bundled-up, some of the 350 unsheltered people that the city counts, get ready for another night in the teens.

All the way down the street, the lights are still on in the Sharon Bushor Conference room at City Hall. Inside, a dozen people are seated behind tables arranged in a U shape. Two members of the steering committee are handing out sheets on which the agenda for the night has been printed. On this cold Wednesday evening, they are all gathered for the Ward 3 Neighborhood Planning Assembly (NPA) meeting. As mundane as it might seem, their gathering is nothing short of extraordinary. This, is a slice of democratic life.

NPAs were created by the City Council under the leadership of former Mayor Bernie Sanders. The initial resolution, passed in 1982, states that “the NPAs shall… help provide citizens with information concerning City programs and activities; help obtain citizen views of City needs, and help provide citizens with an opportunity to participate in making recommendations with respect to governmental decision, including the allocation of revenues.”. The ward 3 monthly NPA meeting that I attended earlier this week stayed true to that original mission. Here is how it went:

Once beanies and scarves were taken off, and small talk about the weather died down, the facilitator thanked everyone for their presence and walked us through the agenda for the night. With a thumbs up, the Town Meeting TV cameraman, responsible of livestreaming the event on YouTube, indicated that the meeting could officially start.

We first heard from, Owen Milne, the executive director of the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center. He and his PowerPoint gave us a glimpse of what their project for a community storage structure for kayaks, paddle boards and canoes could look like. NPAs offer residents a chance to learn about future developments in their wards as developers are obliged to come and present their project to these meetings.

After a few questions and nods of approval, we moved on to the next speaker, Andre Clark. As the founder of Street Cats Burlington, he came with a plea for help as he shared with us an unprecedented number: 350 people are currently unhoused in the city. More than a call for donations, his testimony was a wakeup call to see the humanity in our ‘unhoused neighbors’, in a community that is increasingly growing wary of its downtown and those who live on its streets. His closing remarks were more political: the lack of shelter space and the State policies that mandate emergency shelters only when temperatures dip below 32 degrees and chances of precipitation are above 25%, are harmful and put people at risk of death. As a list of needed supplies was being handed out to us, Ward 3 councilor Melo Grant (Prog.), seated right next to Andre, took the mic. She thanked him for his work and highlighted how unforgivable and serious the situation is. She complained about how state officials tend to dismiss these issues as cyclical and as being “Burlington’s problems”.

Seated right across from councilor Grant, was Rep. Jill Krowinski (Chittenden-16, D), Speaker of the Vermont House. She gave us a preview of what is happening in Montpelier. She started by mentioning the work being done on the most pressing issues: education funding (Vermont’s schools are funded by property taxes collected by the State), homelessness (Vermont has the second highest homelessness rate in the nation), public safety (a new retail theft bill was passed) and environmental resiliency (central Vermont in particular has suffered from severe flooding for two consecutive years). She went into some pretty technical details, by mentioning how the inexistence of county government in Vermont makes it difficult to handle Federal funding. Before taking questions, she shared that a majority of the calls she gets are about the impact of the upcoming Trump administration. The State legislature has passed laws to protect migrant workers in the past and will continue to work on that.

Rep. Krowinski was questioned by Andre Clark about her belief that shelters are better than Motel housing, a state-wide program that has sparked controversy. Another member of the NPA asked her if work was being done on the redrawing of the State’s flood maps to which she answered that she did not know and would have to ask her chair. She handed them her notebook so that they could write down their info. She would get back to them with an answer.

Councilor Melo Grant was up next to give us updates on the City Council. Melo (as she likes to be called), talked about housing, and how the City is trying to increase fees on vacant buildings, water infrastructure, as it will need costly repairs that might be on the ballot on Town Meeting day next March, as well as where to look for relevant information and reports on the city’s website. She also mentioned the recent resignation of Police Chief Jon Murad, following years of tensions with the City Council over post-BLM attrition policies. Councilor Grant is hopeful that new leadership of the police department will help heal the department’s relationship with the community.

The last part of the meeting, the public forum, opened the floor to all participants. Visibly nervous, a women seated next to me asked for the mic. I found her story deeply moving.

She talked about how she feels unsafe because of the drug deals that take place in the affordable housing building she lives in. She explained how she and other tenants organized to get the Burlington Housing Authority’s attention, who eventually evicted the dealers. But according to her, that is not enough to feel completely safe because people are now suspicious of their neighbors. To help fight that feeling she decided to come to the NPA meeting to propose to organize a summer block party to bring back connection in the neighborhood. Everyone in the room seemed to like the idea and councilor Grant gave the women her card and said that she would love to visit her building and help with the project.

After a few more questions, we all voted to adjourn the meeting. Some left right away, while others stayed to chat. I stuck around for a little bit and then decided to head home.

As I was leaving the building, I could not help but feel like I had witnessed something very special. I am used to practicing democracy in a very cold way, mostly by dropping a ballot in a box. This was warm democracy. Real people exchanging reason with respect for each other. Approachable elected officials, giving updates on their work and admitting that they could not answer all questions. People coming together to try and figure out ways to make their community a better place.

I realize how naïve this all might sound. Many will tell me that Burlington still has problems, and many Vermonters will rightfully point out that NPA’s are a watered-down version of Town Hall Meetings where people can actually vote and make a real difference. But as I was making my way back up Church Street, I kept thinking about John Dewey’s idea that multiplying democratic experiences in one’s everyday life is always worth pursuing. And that’s because democracy is not just a system of institutions, it’s a practice that can be felt, a living being that you can interact with. How cool that I felt it here, a few blocks from the University of Vermont where Dewey, a Burlingtonian, used to teach.

To me, that NPA meeting felt like a candle of hope in the dark night.