Weekly Buzz | Ballot Set for 4/9 Election

Happy Monday and thanks for joining me over here on Substack! We’re already building quite the community here, with 45 subscribers in the last 24 hours! The more people who are here, the more informed our community will be, so don’t forget to share this newsletter with every Burlingtonian you know.

A super special thanks to our paid contributors, who I won’t call out here, but who I appreciate so much. With these contributions I’ll be printing out our new flyer (see attached!) and arranging childcare so I can record some of my more involved stories. The possibilities are endless here - interviews, cohosting opportunities, and more.

Okay, enough with the preamble. In this email:

• A look at the ballot for our upcoming election
• So many ways for you to participate
• What’s on the agenda for this week in Burlington

Friday was the last day to return nomination papers for the election coming up on April 9, and the results are in. Important highlights:

• Tom Murphy is not running again for School Committee. This means incumbent Christine Monaco is going to be running against challengers Jeremy Brooks and Melissa Massardo for two seats.

• The Board of Health race is also contested. Three candidates are vying for two seats, with incumbent Ed Weiner running against challengers Gayle Damore and Janice Cohen.

• While it looked like there would be a number of contested Town Meeting races, it turns out the only contest is in Precinct 6.

• All other races are uncontested with open seats remaining in

  • Library Trustees

  • Housing Authority

  • Precincts 1, 5, and 7 Town Meeting

• As I mentioned before, one way those seats can get filled is via write-in. So between now and April, start thinking about people you know (including yourself, perhaps?) who would do a great job representing your precinct or our town.

Not sure what precinct you’re in? Here’s the updated precinct map in draft form.

Okay, so let’s say you can’t take office right now, for whatever reason. (I trust you; I wont judge.) You can still participate in the election!

• VOTE! To do this, you’ll need to register. The deadline for that is Friday March 18. The only requirement is that you’re a US citizen and Burlington resident over 18.
• Volunteer Apply to be a poll worker. I didn’t realize until about 32 seconds ago that this is a paid opportunity. Who knew.
• Bring your kids! The town usually does a student vote program so kids can get familiar with the process.
• Tell everyone you know that you plan to vote and that they should, too. You don’t have to get into politics or even share who you’re voting for! Just encourage everyone you come in contact with to get out to the polls.
• Familiarize yourself with the candidate guide that will be up on the nonpartisan Burlington Equity Coalition website in the weeks leading up to the election.

This week in Burlington:

• Tuesday 2/22 at 5:30, the Zoning Bylaw Review Sign Subcommittee will be meeting to discuss the regulations they’d like to propose for the signs businesses are allowed to install in our town. Join via Zoom.
• Tuesday 2/22 at 7:00, the Board of Health has their regular meeting. Nothing too exciting on the agenda - reports, permit and variance requests. Join via Webex.
• Thursday, 2/24 at 7:00, the Conservation Commission will meet to discuss a whole host of things - many agenda items are continuations of public hearings that have been ongoing. Of note is the proposed change to the stormwater management bylaw. This is a hot topic of discussion around town, and has the potential to affect lots of land- and homeowners. Join via Webex.

This is just what’s on the town calendar, but there are certainly other events going on around town this week. Be sure to follow @buzzburlington on Twitter to keep tabs on all the goings-on in town. If you’ve got one to add, just comment below.

That’s all for now. Most daily emails will probably be a fair bit shorter than this, but this is our first weekly, so there was a lot to talk about! If you made it to the bottom, give yourself a hand.

See you soon,

Nicci

P.S. Here’s that flyer. I definitely forget to attach it. I just didn’t want to fill up your inbox. Yeah. We’ll go with that.