LOST, as I call it, or alternatively, the local option sales tax…

The debate has been starting to heat up in Burlington over this issue.
Take a drive down North Avenue, and amongst the Candidate signs, you’ll see other signs, specifically Put a Roof on Property Taxes and Vote Yes on 2 (which were recently put up in the past couple of days).

Of course as most everyone knows now the Put a Roof Signs were placed by Tarrant’s campaign; however when looking at the Vote Yes on 2 signs, all that is stated is Paid for by Vote Yes on 2, and that it is not funded by Taxpayer dollars.

Those that watch Ch.3 know that last week, Clavelle came out against Tarrant’s Roof signs, saying what suggestions does he have on how to approach the looming Burlington deficit; Tarrant wasn’t available for comment, as he was out of the state at the time. And at the same press conference, Clavelle vowed to spread the word about supporting #2 on the ballot… so perhaps the Vote Yes on 2 funder of the signs is a PAC that Clavelle has started.

Towards the beginning of the month, there was mention of a possible ordinance being enacted by the City to prevent, or make it hard to start a public assembly on Church Street:
City of the banned? – Vermont Guardian 1/6/6

Due to the huge public outcry against the ordinance even being discussed, Peter (a.k.a. Mayor Clavelle) issued the following statement in his 1/13/6 Friday letter:

PARADE AND ASSEMBLIES ORDINANCE HOOPLA

The early draft of a parade and public assembly ordinance, which was referred to the City Council Ordinance Committee on December 19, has already generated considerable controversy. This ordinance was first requested several years ago by the Police Department and the Marketplace, and has been discussed by various departments for quite some time. The intent is certainly not to restrict public demonstrations or to stifle free speech. Rather, the ordinance is primarily about parades, festivals, and other major events. It is intended to clarify the situations in which a permit is needed, the reasons for granting and denying permits, and other ground rules to that allow the City to balance the competing needs involving the use of streets, sidewalks and parks, and to address the costs and other impacts on city department resulting from these activities in a way that is constitutional and not cost prohibitive. I can assure citizens that any recommendations from City departments that are overly restrictive will be reversed prior to the ordinance’s adoption. The entire proposed ordinance will be reviewed by the City Council Ordinance Committee and the City Attorney’s Office will continue to review case law and ordinances from around the country. There will be ample opportunity for public discussion before any ordinance is adopted. The ordinance as currently drafted will not be enacted.

Now, just over the weekend, I receive an email from one of my councilors, saying the proposed ordinance is scheduled to be discussed at the City Council’s Ordinance Committee meeting, under the title of “Parade” ordinance.
Seeing as Peter says there willl be ample opportunity for public discussion, I am thinking the opposing view to the ordinance should be heard at the first Ordinance meeting to let them know how we feel about it.
The meeting info & agenda are below:

BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL ORDINANCE COMMITTEE

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

City Hall

149 Church St., Burlington, Vt.

(Corner of Church and Main Streets)

Conference Room #12

7:15 p.m. to 9:15 p.m.

1) Approve Agenda and Minutes of 8/30/05, 9/12/05, 9/29/05, 10/20/05,

10/26/05, 11/10/05, 11/15/05 and 11/21/05

2) Union Deterrence

3) Parade Ordinance

4) Zoning Rewrite:

a. Continuation of Residential Districts

b. Mixed Use Districts

5) Any Other Business

6) Adjournment

Committee Members: Councilor Andrew Montroll, Chair

Councilor Tim Ashe

Councilor Joan Shannon

*Special Committee Members re Zoning Rewrite: Councilor Ian Carleton

Councilor Cheryl McDonough

Agenda available in alternative media forms for people with disabilities. For disability access information call 865-7121 (865-7142 TTY).

Yesterday afternoon, the mock election was held for the Burlington Mayor’s race.
It was a test-run of the new Instant Run-off Voting system that was passed by Burlington voters last year.

Ironically, there was a software glitch, and the results of the mock candidates were delayed.
A fictitious Libertarian, Herbert Mickleson, was among the mock candidates, earning 11 votes!
For more info about Libertarianism, feel free to visit the Burlington Libertarian party’s website, listed in my links to the right.

Hopefully the Town Meeting Day’s election results work better for less stress on the election officials, and faster results for the public.

For more info on IRV, check out the website the city has set up specifically for it, (especially since they’ve spent about $10,000 for increased awareness of IRV):
http://www.burlingtonvotes.org