Smoking Ban Proposed for Downtown District

On November 17th, the Ordinance Committee of the Burlington City Council voted by a 2 to 1 margin to recommend an ordinance prohibiting smoking in certain areas of the downtown. The ordinance now moves to a first reading before the City Council. That meeting is tentatively scheduled for December 19th at 7pm in Contois Auditorium.

The ordinance as written prohibits smoking outdoors within following area: Pearl St. to Battery St. to King St. to S. WInooski St., with the demarkation being the center line of those roads. Within that zone, smoking will be allowed on private property, in outdoor cafes, and in a designated section of City Hall Park. 

The BBA has been following this issue closely; Executive Director Kelly Devine has attended several meetings and provided some initial feedback. Over the summer, a steering committee, appointed by the Ordinance Committee, met to craft a draft ordinance. The committee included BBA members and representatives from the downtown business community.

We will continue to follow this ordinance and provide input with support from the BBA Board of Directors and members, who remain concerned about the use of City Hall Park as a designated smoking area in the downtown. At this point it is unclear how much support the ordinance will have at City Council. Once input is given at the December 19th City Council meeting, the ordinance will likely return to the Ordinance Committee who, if need be, will be charged with revising the ordinance. The Ordinance Committee Members are Joan Shannon, chair; Sharon Bushor, and Bram Kranichfeld.

If you have questions or concerns about the proposed smoking ban, please contact Kelly Devine at the bba office; 802-863-1175 or by email.

City Hall Park Occupation

It is well known now how the OccupyVt encampment in Burlington's City Hall Park came to an end punctuated by a tragedy,

The events that unfolded relating to the Occupy Vermont encampment in City Hall Park presented unique challenges to our entire community; one which called upon leaders to balance asserted rights among the varied stakeholders in and around City Hall Park. Our Burlington Police Department (BPD) was placed in a position of leadership in this situation requiring delicate balance. Lead my Chief Michael Schirling, their leadership proved essential to an amenable resolution.

In light of their leadership and work on behalf of the Burlington community, bravo to Burlington Police Chief Michael Schirling, Deputy Chief Andy Higbee and the entire Burlington Police force for their professional and compassionate handling of the events in City Hall Park. Thanks also to Matt Young and the members of the Street Outreach Team who provided a high level of service and support during the encampment.

Mayoral Race

BBA's plan was to reach out to our members for input on the issues that are important to them as local business and property owners once the Democratic candidate for mayor was selected. Since the Democratic Caucus of Nov 13th ended in a tie between Miro Weinberger and Tim Ashe and the caucus was suspended and rescheduled for December 12th, we will be moving forward with this plan. In the coming weeks, expect to see an email from the BBA asking for your initial input as to which issues we should focus on during the Mayoral election.

The BBA plans remains to follow the Burlington Mayoral Race with three goals in mind:

1) Ensure that issues important to its members and the economic vitality of Burlington stay present in the debate

2) Create and publish a candidates report card that assesses candidate positions against BBA membership criteria on key issues

3) Hold a candidate debate led by the business community to hear from candidates on those same key issues

Street Repaving Project

The City of Burlington announced in a press conference last week that the Street Repaving Project is complete. Department of Public Works Director Steve Goodkind says, "aside from some touch-ups we are done."

The BBA was involved in the project early on and advocated for the plan to add 2 cents to property tax bills to help pay for the repaving. While the repaving process was at times disruptive to downtown business, the larger goal of improving the quality of our downtown streets was an important one. The BBA continues to work with DPW in an effort to keep them informed as to the impacts of downtown construction on our seasonal economy and to keep lines of communication open during the prime construction season.