[B]URLINGTON — Thursday night’s Burlington Democratic caucus was a drama-free affair, as all four candidates running for City Council in the upcoming March Town Meeting Day election were nominated unopposed.
Incumbents Richard Deane in the East District, Joan Shannon in the South District and Dave Hartnett in the North District were renominated, and lawyer Jared Carter was nominated to face incumbent Progressive Jane Knodell, who represents the Central District.
Four of the council’s 12 seats are up for election this cycle, but all of the city’s voters will be voting in council races. The four seats up for re-election cover geographic areas of the city, while the other eight seats cover the city’s individual wards and are up in 2020.
Shannon, who represents the South End, also has an announced opponent — Paco DeFrancis, the chair of the Burlington Republican Party. Hartnett said he expected up to two or three opponents, while Deane said he was waiting to see if anyone will run against him.
Shannon will likely face more than one challenger. Democratic/Progressive Councilor Ali Dieng said he had spoken with a potential candidate who would run to the left of Shannon and could announce a campaign soon.
Dieng said that he thought the South District could use some fresh ideas, and he will be focusing his energy on that race.
The crowd at the caucus, held at Hunt Middle School in the New North End, filled the school’s cafeteria. The group broke into the four regions up for election and heard from their candidates.
An energized Mayor Miro Weinberger kicked off the night with a speech highlighting the accomplishments of his administration and the Democrats on City Council, including stabilizing the city’s finances, investing in infrastructure and increasing housing development.
“Six years ago, the NIMBYS were winning, and virtually no new homes were being created in Burlington,” Weinberger said. “Burlington was on the way to becoming a boutique city, available only to the wealthy, with no space for New Americans and low-income households.”
Weinberger said that work remained, and the Democrats on the council would continue to move the city forward.
“We face new threats of a softening economy and those that are still attempting to stop our progress with our parks, with our infrastructure, with housing,” he said. “Fulfilling Burlington’s promise as an open, inclusive and vibrant city of opportunity requires constant vigilance.”
Hartnett said his top priority is addressing the lack of progress on the CityPlace development in downtown Burlington. He said that the city should take a look at its agreement with developer Don Sinex to evaluate if the city can take any action to encourage Sinex to move faster.
While Weinberger has said he is concerned about the lack of progress, Hartnett said he wished the mayor would be more outspoken on the issue.
Hartnett said he expected up to two or three opponents.
Shannon said that she thinks the City Council has a lot on its plate, especially with major redevelopment projects of both the [Moran Plant and Memorial Auditorium in discussion.
She said the council should focus on putting in the work to make sure those projects are successful.
“We have been doing so much, we need to be judicious on how much we take on,” she said. “I see a lot more continuation of the current initiatives, I don’t think we need to bringing in new initiatives.”
Carter was traveling with his family and out of town for the caucus, but called in. He is a professor at Vermont Law School and the director of the Vermont Community Law Center, and told VTDigger earlier this month that he is concerned about inequality in the city and the sale of public assets.
Deane, who grew up in Burlington, said he wants to work to continue to move the city forward.
He said he was a major proponent of the high school renovation project, and is currently working on a project with the Winooski Valley Park District, Burlington Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department and other groups to conserve the city’s wildways.
The Burlington Progressive caucus is scheduled for Jan. 6. DeFrancis said the Republicans are still determining whether they will select candidates at their Jan. 9 city committee meeting or if the party will hold a separate caucus.
