Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak holds first public safety forum of her term

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - The Queen City community banded together to tackle public safety at the Mayor's first public safety forum.

Like many others at Contois Auditorium, Matt Moore, a father of a high schooler, a member of the congregational church, and a frequent City Hall Park visitor, is deeply embedded in Burlington.

"I came here because I'm deeply concerned about public safety in Burlington... I want to participate in this discussion. I want to be part of the solution," said Moore.

The public safety forum was no ordinary meeting. It comes as Burlington has seen rising crime, open drug use, and a recent homicide investigation.

Calls are up for police, who report addressing more incidents this year than at any point in half a decade. So far there have been nearly 19,000 calls for service, slightly up from this time last year.

"I've seen this city have ups and downs before, and I do believe we have better days ahead. I think that there is always the potential for better days ahead, and I'm hopeful that this kind of event is at least a stepping stone toward starting to get to there," said Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad.

Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak presented a PowerPoint presentation alongside the city attorney and chief of police, among others.

"Things are still moving, but they're moving into more alleys from what we can tell at this point," said Mulvaney-Stanak.

Then, the nearly 100 attendees split off into four "breakout sessions", one focusing on gun reform, another on the courts, one on restorative justice, and another on youth and violence.

"Middle school kids need to be part of the discussion, and the decision-making right from the outset," said Burlington resident Carol Livingston.

At the end, mayoral representatives presented the collectively-curated solutions. For violence in youth, that meant organizing more programming for kids specifically aged 13-18.

Folks expressed frustration with Vermont's statutes, saying the law as it stands attempts to keep as few people behind bars as possible. And with court backlogs, people who pose a risk to the community are often too quickly back on the streets.

"Clearly, the court system needs to figure out how to staff itself better and be able to intervene in more cases in a more timely way," said City Attorney Jessica Bronn.

For gun safety, the Mayor said she would put a charter change about banning guns in bars back on the ballot, but reminded business owners that they have a right to prohibit guns in their shops. Senate Pro Tem Phil Baruth said he would support the charter change if it came to the legislature, and added in another promise for the upcoming session.

"I plan to put in a ban on assault weapons, and I plan to fight very, very hard for that," said Baruth.

The next public safety forum will happen on November 7th and will discuss victim services.