This commentary is by Mark Flynn of Williston. Now a homeowner, he was formerly housing insecure in Burlington.
Most Burlingtonians know Perkins Pier is a marina where live-aboard-sized sailboats and similar sized pleasure boats are kept (with some inhabitants aboard). It is a wealthy neighborhood by outward appearance.
That said, nearly every homeless person in Burlington has visited this scenic park. The bike path is well traveled particularly by them. The fear driving the NIMBYism and hatred that quashed the “Safe Overnight Parking pilot project” practically overnight before it began can hardly be called unexpected.
The park’s locked passcode-restricted restrooms delivered the message of privilege to the poor before the pandemic. Likewise, the restriction on overnight parking except for the wealthy sleeping and living in the not-so-public park.
Property crime was not on the verge of dramatic change. The have-nots have long known what is there, what is all too apparent, a contrast in social class and privilege in glaring public view.
The destitute have been there and are there now. But at the margins, in the shrubbery, in the midst of the odor and noise of the adjacent sewer plant and railyard. The feared increase in public disturbance is unlikely. It already occurs.
The stress of dire poverty is immense. The formal permission to park offered refuge with less persecution, more calm and more predictability to shattered lives. Instead we have increased, not reduced, the disturbing cries for help borne of pain and suffering which shall now be more likely in your neighborhood.
The most cost-effective government program to reduce poverty is a driver’s license. The most counterproductive policies are irrational stigma, confiscations of dwellings (tents/vehicles) without trial, and denial of supportive medical care to prevent emergency care.
As a community we need to own that the levers of power were pulled by politics more in keeping with MAGA than Bernie.As for the modest proposal of inclusion to also allow the poorest to sleep within the park boundary in nontraditional dwellings, it is doubtful these luxury boat owners will read “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift. Nonetheless I hold that satirical mirror up to the rest of our community.
