BURLINGTON — After winning big on Town Meeting Day, Burlington Progressives are looking forward to their first majority coalition on the City Council since 1994.
Progressive councilors are discussing how to wield the power granted by voters who elected two new Progressives Tuesday, Jane Stromberg in Ward 8 and Zoraya Hightower in Ward 1.
Progressives will have six councilors after Organization Day April 6, giving the party half the council. Councilor Ali Dieng, I-Ward 7, previously caucused with the Progressives but decided he will no longer do so last week. However, Dieng has consistently voted with the Progressives during his time on the council, which would give the Progressives a working majority.
Progressives are planning on prioritizing climate issues, housing, sustainable transportation and police reform in the next year, councilors said.
“I think we have really opened the door to bold policy change, especially on climate issues,” Councilor Jack Hanson, P-East District, said. “I think we’re in a position now to move forward with building the transportation system we need to build.”
Councilor Brian Pine, P-Ward 3, said he believed the Progressive-majority council will focus on limiting the city’s carbon footprint and increasing the diversity of the city’s boards and commissions.
“I think Progressive councilors are about good local government, really focusing on good governance,” he said. “I think that the new councilors will be as committed to that as anybody, I think they want to make local government work for ordinary people.”
Councilor Max Tracy, P-Ward 2, said Progressives would likely take a different approach to addressing the housing crisis, prioritizing climate action and stressing expanded participation in government.
“I think that there was broad agreement that the current strategies around housing, for instance, just are not working for enough people, and everything should be on the table when we think about new solutions,” he said.
Hanson said he was excited to work on landlord accountability and building renter power, as well as police oversight and reform in the next year.
“I think we’re in a great position as a party now to start to advance a lot of the policy initiatives that we believe in, and also to take the mayor’s seat next year,” Hanson said.
Pine, Dieng, and former assistant city attorneys Gene Bergman and John Franco are openly considering mayoral runs. Tracy and 2018 Progressive candidate Carina Driscoll are also considered possible candidates.
Mayor Miro Weinberger, a Democrat, said he is looking forward to working on issues with the council where they find common ground.
Weinberger said he has always been collaborative and communicative with the council and will continue to do so. He said that the new council would not be much different from the current council as both have five Democrat councilors.
“We have always had to work across party lines to really move forward in any way,” he said. I think we’ve had great success doing that, and we will continue that approach.”
Two-thirds of the council is needed to override a mayoral veto, meaning Progressives would need the support of at least one Democrat to do so.
Weinberger said that the city often has contentious election cycles but councilors of all parties have been able to work together afterward. But he said if the council wanted to pursue “irresponsible spending” or actions that jeopardize public safety, there could be disputes.
“If this council wants to go back towards irresponsible spending, then we’ll have divisive battles,” he said. “If this council wants to take action that undermines public safety, then we will have confrontation and polarized disputes. But I’m hopeful that’s not where we’re headed.”
Weinberger said he would not support efforts to decrease the number of police officers, for example.
Pine said he believes Progressive councilors will now have more interaction with Weinberger before policies are brought to the council.
“It’s nice to be included when policies are being crafted and when things are being developed, as opposed to when the ink has already dried and things are kind of set in motion,” Pine said.
Tracy said that there was an ideological gap between the mayor and Progressive councilors.
“It’ll be interesting to see if there are ways that we can bridge that gap, but then also in cases where we don’t, how we’re able to really bring necessary pressure to hopefully convince the administration to move forward with the changes that we’re seeking,” he said.
Outgoing City Council President Kurt Wright, R-Ward 4, said that he hopes Weinberger will stand up to the Progressives on the new council when they do not agree.
“He should stand up and make clear the differences he has with them when they go too far, which I suspect that they will,” Wright said. “And I think that’s going to be important for him, and in my view, for the city that he pushes back. Whether he will, remains to be seen.”
The council could find common ground on housing and climate action, Weinberger said. He said he believed the new council will be “significantly more supportive” of his efforts to upgrade the city’s walking and biking infrastructure.
Hanson said he believed there was “a lot of common ground” between Progressives and Weinberger on climate issues, specifically around district heating, parking and pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.
Councilor Perri Freeman, P-Central District, also identified transportation as an area of agreement, with development being among topics where the two parties don’t see eye to eye.
“We’ve seen some disagreement about how to go forward with development, and I think there’s also generally some differences in the way that we see transparency,” she said.
Freeman said she believed that police oversight could emerge as an area of contention between Progressives and the mayor.
Some Progressives have argued that the citizen Police Commission should have decision-making authority over the department, while Weinberger has said he believes the current advisory model is effective.
Dieng, now an independent, said the mayor has worked with both Democrats and Progressives, but would no longer be able to push his agenda on the council.
“I definitely do think that the Progressives have more control of the council,” he said. “I just hope that we will put our differences aside and just try to work better together to advance the city.”
