Town meeting day 2023 roundup!
Friends –
Progressives across Vermont worked hard this Town Meeting Day to elect candidates and pass ballot items that will make our towns and cities more affordable, sustainable, equitable, and fair for regular people. We want to share some of the highlights and celebrate the work of so many.
A quick note before we do: Our Progressive Statewide meeting this Saturday, March 11th, at 10am, at the Vermont State House in Montpelier. We hope to see you there!
Now onto the highlights:
Just Cause Eviction:
Just Cause Eviction is a longtime Progressive priority dating back to the 1980’s. The measure requires that landlords have adequate legal cause before evicting tenants. This year, after Burlington led the way in 2021, voters in Winooski, Essex, and Brattleboro were asked to vote on the measure. We are incredibly excited that it passed in both Winooski and Essex. Unfortunately, it came up short in Brattleboro.
Now, three of the largest and most renter heavy cities in Vermont have passed the proposal, a huge step forward for renter rights in Vermont. That said, we still have a great deal of work to ensure Just Cause Eviction is implemented.
The Burlington Just Cause Evictions Charter Change failed to overcome a veto from the governor last year by a single vote. With an expanded Progressive and Democratic supermajority, advocates like Rights and Democracy will be working hard to win the vote this legislative biennium to ensure that working people have the right to maintain their home without fear of eviction for no cause. We encourage you to stay involved in that effort.
Burlington:
Melo Grant and Rep. Brian Cina stand at the polls on Town Meeting Day
In Burlington, Progressives supported 7 of the 8 items on the ballot, including ranked choice voting, all legal resident voting, a carbon impact fee, a community control board to provide police oversight, and a charter change allowing for binding ballot initiatives at the city level.
Ranked choice voting passed, meaning that all local offices in Burlington will use RCV moving forward. Progressives have been fighting for this reform for years. Burlington previously used RCV, Democrats & Republicans worked successfully to repeal it, and now it's back! Thank you to VPIRG and others for their work in helping make this important democracy reform a reality. This win provides a big boost to ongoing efforts to pass Ranked Choice Voting at the statewide level where legislation is making its way through the Vermont House and Senate.
All legal resident voting will expand voting rights on local issues to legal residents who do not yet have citizenship. Like RCV, all resident voting was also previously voted down in Burlington, failing to win enough support in 2015. This year, it passed with an overwhelming majority, showing how important it is to continue organizing around the issues we care about, even when we initially fall short.
The carbon impact fee would require industrial and commercial buildings over 50,000 square feet to pay an impact fee for their pollution that the city would use to electrify our vehicle fleet, and make switching to cleaner energy more affordable for working and middle class neighbors.
While we are disappointed that the community oversight of police and proposition zero initativse did not pass after a PAC backed by the mayor spent tens of thousands of dollars to defeat it, we are grateful to the grassroots organizers who worked to make those ballot items a reality. There efforts have had a huge impact and will cause real progress to be made.
For years, Progressives have been working to build trust between our police and community through adequate oversight and accountability. Over the course of this campaign, the Mayor and his city council caucus made clear that if the community control board failed to pass, they would move forward with expanded citizen oversight of the police through the Burlington Police Commission. The Mayor and Council President have already indicated that this will be a top priority in the coming months. The Progressive City Council Caucus is ready to work across the aisle to make that a reality, and finally pass this longtime priority.
We are also proud of the candidates who ran - whether they won or lost. In Burlington, we are excited to have elected Melo Grant to City Council. Melo is a longtime community member, police commissioner, and DJ who is ready to get to work addressing the substance use crisis and housing insecurity. When seated, she will also be the 2nd black woman ever elected to the Burlington City Council.
Finally, we want to thank the candidates who ran but did not win, including Will Anderson, Rhone Allison and Jake Schuman
Other Highlights!
While races outside of Burlington are nonpartisan, we also want to highlight our State Coordinating Committee Member, Robert Millar, who won a seat on the Winooski School Board. Marielle Blais (the vice chair of the Progressive Party), also ran for selectboard in Brandon, but came up short.
After more than three decades of organizing, we’ve learned that real change takes years of dedication and hard work. This election proves that. Now we’re excited to take some time to reflect, listen, recompress, and then get back to work fighting for ordinary Vermonters, not just the powerful and well connected.
We hope you will continue to join us in this work. Please chip in whatever you can so we can continue to have the resources to support this work across Vermont. We can’t do it without you.
In solidarity,
Josh Wronski
Director, Vermont Progressive Party
