Burlington residents will soon begin filling out March 2 Town Meeting Day ballots and choosing the candidate they want to be the next mayor.
In anticipation of voters casting ballots, VTDigger presented six statements to the top mayoral candidates to better understand where they fall on the most pressing hot-button issues of concern to voters in this election.
The topics ranged from housing affordability, police reform and the long-stalled downtown CityPlace development project. We also asked the candidates to explain their answers and provide policy proposals, if applicable, to address the issues at hand.
We found that the three top contenders for mayor are in agreement on some issues and at odds on others.
Disclaimer: VTDigger chose to only interview the mayoral candidates who have filed campaign finance reports with the Secretary of State’s Office out of our commitment to providing readers with the most newsworthy information about this mayor’s race. Patrick White, Will Emmons, Haik Bredrosian and Kevin McGrath are also running as independents in the race.
Jump to: Police staffing | Tax increases | CityPlace | Systemic racism | Minimum wage | Housing
Police staffing
Ali Dieng — Neutral
— Says the city needs to study how many officers the Burlington Police Department should have before cutting or adding officers to the force.
— Supports a police oversight board with investigatory and disciplinary power, an idea that was vetoed by Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger in January.
Max Tracy — Agree
— Supports unarmed, non-sworn officer roles to meet community needs like trauma-informed mental health services, substance abuse assistance and homelessness response.
Miro Weinberger — Strongly Disagree
— Says 74-officer cap is “flawed” and “arbitrary.” Thinks the BPD needs a “structural and cultural” transformation and retraining that would involve deescalating interactions police have with citizens. Wants to potentially make the Director of Police Transformation position permanent, or create another form of civilian position in the BPD leadership.
Tax increases
Ali Dieng — Disagree
— Wants to focus on expanding the tax base through business growth instead of taxing those with higher incomes.
Max Tracy — Agree
— Supports more progressive taxation in Burlington, but isn’t set on a $125,000 mark for higher taxes. Would support reform to the weighting formulas that determine how much funding the Burlington School District receives per student so that disadvantaged students receive more resources.
Miro Weinberger — Strongly Disagree
— Doesn’t support raising any new taxes as Burlington recovers from the pandemic.
CityPlace
Ali Dieng — Agree
— Thinks the city should have been more transparent around the agreement and should have enforced more protections to ensure that financing had been secured for the project.
Max Tracy — Agree
— Thinks the city should have sued CityPlace developers sooner for violating the development agreement. Also thinks the city should have done more rigorous vetting of financing and economic viability of the project.
Miro Weinberger — Strongly Disagree
— Says he could have warned residents at the beginning of the project that CityPlace could have run into delays and setbacks.
Systemic racism
Ali Dieng — Agree
— Wants to continue supporting the Racial, Equity Inclusion and Belonging department and Committee, which he sits on. Wants to implement the racial equity strategic plan being formulated by the office.
Max Tracy — Strongly Agree
— Supports police oversight board that has investigatory and disciplinary power. Supports Operation Phoenix Rise plan presented by Vermont Racial Justice Alliance. Supports small business and job training support for Black and indigenous people of color to decrease the wealth gap between white and Black residents.
Miro Weinberger — Strongly Agree
— Will continue to attack racism as a public health issue and will continue to support the city’s efforts to research its connections to slavery and potentially organize reparations and implement recommendations from this study. Will extend Trusted Community Voices program and Racial Equity Rapid Response Team to connect with residents of color.
Minimum wage
Ali Dieng — Strongly Agree
— Thinks increasing the minimum wage will make Burlington more affordable, specifically for renters who make up 60% of Burlington’s population.
Max Tracy — Strongly Agree
— Argues that wages have not kept pace with housing costs in the city and do not meet liveable wage standards for Burlington’s cost of living.
Miro Weinberger — Strongly Disagree
— Would support a $15 minimum wage at the state level but thinks a $15 minimum wage only at the city level would drive businesses out of the city.
Housing
Ali Dieng — Disagree
— Says Burlington needs to increase the housing stock. But he wants to bring together housing experts to assess what the best models are to facilitate this growth. Also supports rent control and rent to own housing programs.
Max Tracy — Agree
— Says the free market development of new housing units has not done enough to bring down rent prices in Burlington. Supports more interventionist approach to keep rent costs in line with wage growth. Supports rent stabilization policies.
Miro Weinberger — Strongly Agree
— Says his administration has supported building housing for all income levels and at the affordable housing level. Wants to encourage the council to implement remaining recommendations from the 2019 Housing Summit. Wants to collaborate with the AARP on housing program called “Missing Middle” to create more middle income housing accessibility.
Correction (11:30 a.m.): A previous version of this post misstated Max Tracy’s response to the housing question.