Daily Buzz | Select Board Hears from the Community About Pride
And lots of special events are on tap for this summer
Hello, hello!
Today in the Buzz - the Select Board hears from residents in support of Pride Month, and a couple meetings for today.
Select Board
As promised, The Select Board meeting last night was big. Here are some highlights.
“Citizen’s Time” kicked off the meeting. (Plug to rename this to “Public Participation,” if anyone’s listening!)
Many members and allies of the LGBTQ+ Community spoke. They expressed their disappointment in the lack of a concerted Pride celebration in town. They shared statistics of suicide among youths who identify as LGBTQ+ and the fact that visibility (seeing yourself represented and accepted in the world around you) decreases that number drastically. They challenged the board to be more proactive in their support for this community as other Select Boards have done in neighboring towns.
:30 - Chair Nick Priest made a statement regarding the fraught conversation around decorating for Pride. Other members of the Select Board responded with varying degrees of empathy.
:45 - New local building inspector appointed.
:47 - Ataxia group will be using the Common for an event on 9/10; Saheli will use it on 6/28 and 7/14.
Ataxia is a medical condition where your muscles have difficulty producing coordinated movements.
Saheli is a Burlington-based nonprofit dedicated to providing culturally-sensitive help to survivors of domestic abuse survivors from the South Asian community.
:50 - Historical Commission (or Committee? They said both, but I think they’re two different bodies) - an alternate was appointed.
:51 - Permanent and alternate appointments to the Board of Appeals were made.
:55 - 128 Business Council: This group has created a proposal for our town, which our Transportation Committee is excited about, but it comes with a hefty financial commitment from the town.
1:00 - Barbara L’Heureux made a presentation about the Sculpture Park.
Great news - town counsel has officially stated the Sculpture Park is an appropriate use of this space. Some Board members are still not on board with the Sculpture Park remaining in its current location “permanently.” This part will be discussed at a later date. The Sculpture Park is hesitant to make improvements using the money allocated by Town Meeting without knowing they’re going to be in the same place for a decent period of time.
We are purchasing Follow Your Heart and relocating it to the Common roughly near Havoc.
The Board approved the adoption of the new installation. But its details are a secret to us civilians… for now!
1:53 - AMC will be getting a new manager and extending their business hours for some special showings of the new Thor movie July 7-10.
1:54 - Wegman’s and Common Craft were granted one-day liquor licenses for craft beer tasting event (Wegman’s) and three separate events - 2 tiki parties and one Oktoberfest event (Common Craft).
2:18 - Opioid settlement: The town will be receiving approximately $670,000 over a number of years from a class-action lawsuit settlement relating to the opioid crisis. Town Administrator Paul Sagarino provided the Board with some ideas of how those funds could be applied and will be reaching out to the Youth and Family Services, police department, etc. These funds are required to be for additional supplementary services and not to offset existing costs.
Today in Burlington
Only two meetings today, but they’re exciting ones.
- 4:00 PM - Planning Board Sculpture Park Subcommittee meets to discuss leases ending, new sculptures that are coming, the unveiling ceremonies for those new sculptures, and last night’s presentation to the Select Board last. (Join via Webex)
- 7:00 PM - School Committee has a full agenda, as always. Among their discussion topics are a revote on the 2022-23 school calendar and an announcement of the new special education director. There’s lots more there, so be sure to check out the full agenda if you’re thinking about attending. (Join via Webex)
That’s all for today. I hope you have a fantastic Tuesday!
Nicci
