How are things on the Church Street Marketplace? What sounds like a simple question is, for the city of Burlington, an existential one. For the past 45 years, the four-block pedestrian plaza for shopping and dining has defined and differentiated its downtown. There is nothing else like it in Ver mont. But the past six years have tarnished “the jewel in the Queen City’s crown,” as boosters call the European-style promenade. Many of its businesses took a beating during the pandemic, and in the same time period the street became a refuge for a disproportionate number of itinerant people with drug addiction and mental health issues. In Burlington’s living room, open to all, they found an inviting, relatively safe place to crash. Tourists don’t seem to notice, perhaps because they see the same social problems back home. But locals have clocked the shift. Church Street has scared off plenty of Vermonters who have either witnessed or heard about deviant behavior in the downtown core. The most pervasive source of reputational damage has not been negative media coverage but old-fashioned word of mouth. They say perception is reality, and Church Street stands to improve both. To that end, on Monday morning Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak held a press conference in front of Homeport on Church Street to proclaim, “Burlington is back.” Members of her cabinet took turns at the mic, providing encouraging updates on public safety, summer events, road construction, parks and code enforcement. Homeport owner Mark Bouchett, who is also a commissioner of the Church Street Marketplace, pitched the small crowd of journalists and onlookers: “If it’s been a while since you’ve visited downtown, now’s the perfect time to come see what’s happening, experience the momentum, discover what’s new and be a part of Burlington’s bright future.” Our diary-style report shows the vital complexity of Church Street — its dangers and dynamism, challenges and charm. Seven Days beat him to it. In early May, news editor Matthew Roy had the idea to dispatch a dozen journalists — in three- and four-hour shifts — to spend 24 hours on Church Street. “The concept was to simply spend a day on the bricks and record what we saw,” Roy explained. “We wanted to capture everything: retail, restaurants, bars, street life. We’d show scenes, not publish people’s opinions.” We picked a day — Friday, June 12 — and prayed for good weather. We got record heat, a dramatic downpour, a World Cup game in City Hall Park, ice cream eaters, Minnesotans buying flannel shirts, bouncers busting underage drinkers and, yes, lots of seemingly homeless people asking for money. What’s it like to be downtown when the bars close at 2 a.m.? Seven Days music editor Chris Farnsworth was there, taking notes. Roy teamed up with one of our summer interns, Middlebury College student Ian Curry, to stroll the street from 3 to 6 a.m. They found plenty of lost souls. Our diary-style report shows the vital complexity of Church Street — its dangers and dynamism, challenges and charm. Covering a single day, it’s decidedly not a comprehensive picture of the place. Nor are our journalists’ views static and dispassionate, like a webcam’s. While they strive to be impartial observers, journalists are drawn to what’s new, different, interesting. Their takeaways are, ultimately, subjective. For better or worse, Church Street is in the eye of the beholder. Read our group piece, then maybe go see for yourself. The post From the Publisher: Eye of the Beholder appeared first on Seven Days. ...read more read less