[Re "Burlington City Councilors Agree to Study Police Staffing," September 10, online]: When I awoke at 2:30 a.m., still stirred up after testifying before the Burlington City Council, there — at 1:15 a.m.! — was Courtney Lamdin's report on the amended resolution on police numbers.
My thanks to Courtney, to the editor who stayed up to publish and to Seven Days for 1) exposing this resolution last week, and 2) reporting the council's action like newspapers used to.
Your work is appreciated.
Jim Carrier
Burlington
I really loved ["Saw It Again: Essay: A Gunshot Victim and Lifelong Phish Fan Finds Respite and Restoration at Mondegreen," August 28]. As a fellow live music follower, I loved how Casey Ryan Vock emphasized the positive things that go down at shows. As someone who heals by dancing to bands like Goose and Phish, I get the benefits of attending something that moves your body and spirit and helps to calm the mind.
Bravo to Vock for surviving such an awful ordeal and being able to enjoy and see life the way that he does — and also his sobriety. Really loved the whole story.
Cindy Sheehan
South Burlington
The plan to build 20 affordable residential units at the underused Greensboro Town Hall ["Not in My Town Hall," August 28] strikes me as ideal: repurpose an out-of-use building into center-of-the village residences that folks performing needed jobs can afford. I commend the town's selectboard for its creative yet realistic vision to support this project.
This proposed town hall redo presents a multifaceted fix for numerous challenges pervasive throughout Vermont. It saves a historic structure that is in disrepair. It enhances the town's property taxes. It provides critically needed housing for moderate-income residents. It has the potential to boost the supply of local workers currently needed for jobs in schools, hospitals and businesses — and needed to care for Vermont's elderly. It's likely to boost the school population, as well as the shoppers at local businesses. This is a slam-dunk, town-vitalizing win-win.
The objections to the plan — including urging that any affordable housing be built at the local gravel pit or at the "working-class" section of town — strike me as the same self-serving and hackneyed assertions that prevent Vermont from attaining the economic and cultural robustness of a diverse population, and instead drive the population to be increasingly elderly. These are assertions that hamstring Vermont's undernourished economy, with a shortage of wage earners who pay taxes and a dearth of folks who support the local economy and community.
The choice for Greensboro voters is as clear as the waters of their beloved jewel, Caspian Lake. Support this project.
Hugo Liepmann
Middlesex
[Re "Dollars for Scholars: To Secure Its Future, the University of Vermont Builds Its Research Muscle," August 28]: Those of us who love the University of Vermont know that what's good for UVM is good for Vermont. In trying to enrich grant funding for STEM research, the administration should not lose sight of UVM's true mission: to provide an excellent liberal education for Vermonters.
UVM has an outstanding tradition in the humanities and social sciences, too. Our national brand was also built by professors like Kenneth Rothwell, a William Shakespeare scholar; Frank Manchel, who studied cinema seriously; and Mark Stoler, a leading historian of World War II. The list includes Raul Hilberg in political science and Robert Huber, a debate coach who helped UVM win national championships and created a program of global renown.
His many alumni will attest to the importance of a passionate teacher like Wolfgang Mieder, long in the German department, who studies proverbs.
UVM was once a small college with a med school. Now it is in danger of becoming a big med school with a small college.
In searching for another new president, the trustees should insist on a choice of candidates who will preserve and protect the liberal arts.
Samuel Press
Burlington
With interest I read "Higher Ed" [August 28], about professor Philip Lamy's curriculum on cannabis studies at Vermont State University-Castleton. My sense is that the piece shortchanged the history of racism by our federal government of marijuana use.
When dispensaries here in Vermont became institutionalized, I wanted to make a purchase at a site owned by a person of color. When I wrote to the state agency in Vermont commissioned with regulating that industry, requesting information, I received no reply. Wasn't the intention of legalizing commercial marijuana here in Vermont to make restitution to those formerly incarcerated for marijuana use?
For those unfamiliar with that sordid racist history, I recommend the documentary Grass Is Greener.
Russ Layne
Danby
I am disappointed with the one-sided article on Burlington's Joseph C. McNeil Generating Station ["Burning Cash: Opponents of Burlington's Biomass Power Plant Zero In on Steep Financial Losses," August 14]. A complete story on economic impacts of the plant should look at the bigger picture, including positive impacts on the land.
The most immediate means of minimizing carbon buildup in the atmosphere is to increase tree growth through good forest practices and keep forests from being divided into house lots. Most forestland that provides fuel to McNeil is privately owned and subject to property taxes. These taxes are financed through occasional sales of logs, the growth of which requires removal of inferior stems. This low-grade wood is provided to McNeil through sustainable harvesting practices monitored by professional foresters. Side benefits are harder to quantify but include shelter and food for the wildlife we all like to see and clean water flowing to the rivers that feed Lake Champlain. Those wooded hills also attract thousands of tourists each fall and their tourism dollars. These things are all part of the economic picture of biomass power in Vermont.
Burlingtonians are rightfully proud of their local utility and its 100 percent renewable electricity sources — a goal most communities will struggle to meet in coming years. Renewable electric production other than biomass requires the sun to shine, the wind to blow or predictable water flow. The cheap alternative of natural gas is a fossil fuel and not indigenous to Vermont.
Future articles on this subject should be more balanced and comprehensive.
Bill Kropelin
Cambridge
Great article ["Pasta Perfect: Gallus Handcrafted Pasta Opens in Waterbury's Historic Gristmill," September 3]. It inspired me to visit, although I live 150 miles away! Thanks for bringing this place to my attention. I just have to find out what it does with the hundreds of leftover egg whites it must generate every week. Did you ever find this out? I do hope they've found a taker for them — a shop that makes lemon meringue pies, maybe, or macaroons?
Judy Haran
Holden, MA
Editor's note: Gallus uses its egg whites in the restaurant's amaretti cookies, as well as for the staff meal before the restaurant opens. They also feed one employee's pigs.
I have to say that even for an opinion piece, ["Readers Weigh in on 'Bad News Burlington,'" September 4, online] was grossly mishandled. You even admitted that you didn't have the time to verify any of the submissions but went ahead and published them anyway. Truly, half of those submissions could have been bot-generated, and you wouldn't have known the difference.
You published a fire hose of subjective, unverified content largely disparaging the city, which is pretty rich considering your own publication turned off commenting on articles in 2014 because, in part, you didn't want to police the subjective, unverifiable content coming through your media channel.
Protecting your own stories from public comment while printing more than 15,000 words of unscrutinized public opinion aimed at the city felt vindictive and journalistically sloppy. There are plenty of online outlets for people to submit their gloomy, subjective, unverified opinions. You shouldn't have offered your paper as one of them.
Nate Herzog
Burlington
Editor's note: Seven Days turned off commenting in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, in part to control the spread of dangerous disinformation about COVID-19.
One of your letters regarding the "Bad News Burlington" piece was mine ["Readers Weigh in on 'Bad News Burlington,'" September 4, online]. Thank you for publishing all of them. Huge service to the community.
Ali Jalili
Burlington
Thank you, Seven Days, for printing all these views ["Readers Weigh in on 'Bad News Burlington,'" September 4, online]. Your paper is a vital part of making this a community. I come from New York City, which was getting bad back in the 1980s. It has recovered a lot, yet it still has people living on the streets. It lacks enough affordable housing and has many of the same problems we do.
I'm thankful that it took another 30 or 40 years for us to sink to the level of 1986 in New York City, but it is indeed sad to see.
I was sorry to see the effort to defund the police back in 2020. We must make it a lot more rewarding to new officers, and we certainly need to hire as many good candidates as quickly as we can. With a new mayor and city council, we are closer than before to finding answers. We can no longer build "affordable housing" that is not truly affordable.
I live right downtown, and I'm not leaving. I am disturbed by the yelling people and the indiscreet drug use, but I will be here when all that is gone.
We must come together and find solutions. We must organize and make our messages plain and simple. Let us design a better future for downtown and its residents.
My fond wish is that we have hit bottom and can now bounce back up. It is always darkest before the dawn.
Thanks to everyone who wrote in.
Charlie Messing
Burlington
I am writing to express my extreme dissatisfaction with ["Pride — and Prejudice?: Vermont's Leading LGBTQ Org Is Roiled by Allegations of Antisemitism," September 4]. I kept reading, thinking I was going to hear another side, and there was none. There was never an attempt to understand or hear from pro-Palestinian voices on the matter. The story was quick to judge and blame people who are fighting to end a genocide and an apartheid state (Remember South Africa in the 1980s?).
Your reporting was biased and frankly misleading. You never once defined Zionism, which is constantly being conflated with Judaism. Get with the program, Seven Days; it is not antisemitic to want to stop a genocide. The genocide that is happening right now, thanks to our tax dollars, is something the majority of the country and the world want stopped.
History will judge you.
Sally Lincoln
North Ferrisburgh
Thank you, Sasha Goldstein, for describing the political transition of Pride Center of Vermont from an advocate for LGBTQ folk to an advocate for Free Palestine folk ["Pride — and Prejudice?: Vermont's Leading LGBTQ Org Is Roiled by Allegations of Antisemitism," September 4]. Not consulting with all Pride Center staff before doing so is a textbook case of how the Free Palestine movement operates. Claiming that Palestinians of all persuasions must be served by Vermont's Pride Center also detracts from the center's mission of supporting Vermont's LGBTQ community. It also flies in the face of jihad reality that condemns all "lifestyle options" but heterosexual orientation. How ironic that the anti-Zionist, aka antisemitic, stance of the Pride Center fails to note that Israel is the only regional safe haven for LGBTQ folk.
John Eckerson
Westford
I am curious why the board of Pride Center of Vermont has not acted on requesting the resignation or removal of executive director Phoebe Zorn, following her antisemitic actions taken without their approval ["Pride — and Prejudice?: Vermont's Leading LGBTQ Org Is Roiled by Allegations of Antisemitism," September 4].
While I am relieved that the board did not approve of Zorn's actions, I am appalled by her behavior and cannot understand why the board of an organization dedicated to the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals has not required her resignation, especially when she apparently refused to even meet with its members.
I understand that I am relying on news accounts for my information. However, in the absence of any other information, that is what is available.
I am a longtime active member and supporter of the Vermont and Burlington LGBTQ+ and Jewish community, former editor of Out in the Mountains, chair of Mountain Pride Media, cochair of Outright Vermont, and president of the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force. In addition, I have served as a chair and/or member on other community committees such as those of the Fletcher Free Library, Ohavi Zedek Synagogue and the Vermont Council on Family Violence.
I provide this information so that you understand that I do not address this issue lightly or without a deep understanding of the interactions between a board and its staff.
Deborah Lashman
Burlington