Dear Editor,
My husband and I were in downtown Burlington recently to enjoy lunch with friends at the new Italian cafe, Alimentari, on St. Paul Street.
We parked our car on the corner of St. Paul and Main streets. Within the three blocks, we saw an encampment of at least seven people sitting in front of Trattoria Delia actively using drugs. Across the street, three other individuals were getting supplies out to use drugs, and on our way back to our car after lunch, we saw one of those individuals passed out on the park bench. As we continued walking, we saw a woman undressing down to her bra in front of Pizzeria Verità.
After lunch, we walked along Main Street in front of the Flynn and saw three more individuals using drugs together. As we walked up Church Street to see some of the Festival of Fools street performers, a man was tweaking out next to the welcome tent.
We did see State Police cars parked at the bottom of Main and Church streets, as well as on College Street and Cherry Street. Where were the actual State Police officers? We saw five of them at the corner of Bank Street and Church Street next to a building, apparently just talking. If they are supposed to be patrolling the streets of Burlington, then why were five of them standing near a wall by one of the performances, while the rest of Church Street was left empty and surrounding streets like Main and St. Paul streets appeared to have no police presence?
This is both frustrating and disappointing.
Annette Rexroad,
Essex Junction, Vt.
