At Monday night’s Burlington City Council meeting, some Progressive city councilors and attendees mocked Democrat city councilors’ ‘Burlington Forward’ public safety plan as ‘Burlington Backward.’ They claimed the plan would return Burlington to an era of incarceration and forced removal of homeless encampments – both of which they deplore and insist won’t work.
The epic five-hour meeting included about three hours of public comment by about 100 people, some claiming it would ‘return Burlington to a police state.’ In the early morning hours of Tuesday, August 4, the council referred ‘Burlington Forward’ to four committees for further review. (See Burlington Daily News coverage for more details.)
Yesterday, the Vermont Police Association weighed in on the ‘Burlington Backward’ claim. The VPA was established in 1949 to represent the law enforcement community, promote community relations and “to establish a commitment of excellence for all citizens of the State of Vermont,” according to its Facebook page. On the same page, it blew the whistle on ‘Burlington Backward.’
The Facebook post is published below in its entirety:
Burlington is at a critical breaking point.
City councilors keep saying what’s being done isn’t working but they don’t want to go backwards. Backward to what? When Burlington was safer, cleaner, and thriving?
Burlington became the only municipality in Vermont to defund its police department. Since then, we’ve all watched as officer staffing plummet and the people who do put on the badge have too often been treated as the problem instead of part of the solution.
In the 1990s, New York City dramatically reduced crime by taking public safety seriously and addressing the visible signs of disorder alongside more serious crime. Burlington doesn’t have to be New York to learn from what works.
Supporting public safety isn’t a radical idea, it’s common sense. Safe neighborhoods, thriving businesses, and vibrant downtowns don’t happen by accident. They happen when laws are enforced, people are held accountable, and police officers are supported instead of vilified.
Burlington doesn’t need more excuses. It doesn’t need more negative rhetoric directed at the men and women who protect our communities.
It needs leadership to take accountability, show appreciation, get back to the basics, and restore the Queen City to the place people loved.
It’s time to stop kicking the can down the road.
Burlington deserves better.
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