Democrats on the Burlington City Council held a press conference on July 24 to discuss a proposal that would take aim at criminal behavior downtown, including public drug use and illegal camping. The councilors’ patience with the current situation had clearly worn thin.  “We care deeply abo ut people in crisis and expect that they will be treated with humanity and with dignity, while also recognizing that every city, Burlington included, has its limits,” Council President Ben Traverse (D-Ward 5) told reporters who had assembled on Bank Street. That has reinvigorated the discussion about how to respond to the everyday scenes of despair on Queen City streets. Democrats and their supporters in the business community favor a tougher approach that includes greater accountability for lawbreakers and pushing the bad behavior out of the downtown core and popular waterfront spots. But the mayor and service providers want to stay the course, saying plans already under way are working, slowly but steadily. Without more systemic change, they say, the best approach is to continue to obtain treatment and housing for people who are mentally ill, homeless or using drugs. More patience, they say, is needed. In a series of messages last week, Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak accused the Dems of wanting to imprison people as a shortcut to fix complicated, intractable problems. The mayor took to Church Street in June to proclaim “Burlington is back!” But that led to rigorous pushback. “We are not ignoring the very serious challenges still in our city — but we need to cheer this city on through the good and bad if we are to get through this,” Mulvaney-Stanak said, defending her statement. We need to cheer this city on through the good and bad if we are to get through this.Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak At the crux of the debate is whether harm-reduction strategies are the right approach. The idea is to reduce the risks for substance users by providing them with medical supplies, clean needles and Narcan, an overdose-reversal drug. Each interaction with a service provider, advocates say, presents a potential first step toward treatment. They point to a reduction in overdose deaths and certain crimes as proof that the strategy is working. The services also help reduce the spread of communicable diseases such as HIV among intravenous drug users. But downtown business owners and their council allies worry that this strategy is encouraging unfettered drug use in public spaces shared by residents, visitors and workers. They believe drug users are not facing serious repercussions and are taking advantage of the situation. Michele Ready Ambrosino, the owner of Ready Funeral Cremation Services on Shelburne Road and the downtown arcade-bar the Archives, penned an open letter calling on Mulvaney-Stanak to support the wide-ranging public safety resolution backed by the Dems. She described making funeral arrangements with a grieving family that wanted to avoid certain areas of the city. Another family left her funeral home and encountered people shooting up in the yard. Archives employees worry about their safety downtown and the messes left in the bar’s bathrooms by people who aren’t customers. She noted that businesses must obtain permits and follow rules, unlike the homeless people and drug users living on her doorstep. Needles are discarded in public places. “There is nothing compassionate about asking residents, employees, visitors, business owners, and children to lower their expectations of safety in the name of progress,” she wrote, echoing the language used by Dems in their resolution. “Compassion without accountability is not compassion. It is abandonment.” One part of the council Democrats’ plan, called “Burlington Forward,” takes aim at two harm-reduction strategies: syringe service providers, where drug users can get free needles, and the city’s proposed overdose-prevention center, which would offer supervised space for people to use drugs. The Democrats want to create stringent new zoning policies for both public health initiatives so that neither can operate downtown. The city’s main needle exchange program was long operated by Howard Center on Clarke Street, one block north of the Church Street Marketplace. But neighbors sued, and the org shuttered the operation in June. In response, Vermont CARES expanded the needle program it runs out of its offices on Bank Street — directly across from where the Democrats held their press conference — with financial support from the Vermont Department of Health. Vermont CARES operates a needle exchange out of the green building on Bank Street. Credit: Luke Awtry Councilors Mark Barlow (D-North District) and Evan Litwin (D-Ward 7) described witnessing open drug use and dealing around the newly expanded location, which started operating on July 1. The Burlington Police Department has been called to the Vermont CARES office four times in the past month; three of those incidents were drug-related. A legal dispute prevented Vermont CARES from staffing up and organizing community outreach before it opened, according to both the nonprofit and the health department. The Dems’ resolution recognizes that needle exchanges prevent the spread of communicable disease but makes clear that the programs shouldn’t be allowed so close to Church Street.  “It’s not great for a downtown environment that we’re hoping to sort of revitalize and get beyond some of the reputational issues we’ve suffered the last few years as we’ve disproportionately dealt with this social service crisis,” Barlow said.  Last Thursday morning, just a handful of clients came and went from the Vermont CARES building when it opened at 10 a.m. A few homeless people had gathered in the alley by the First Baptist Church next door. The twin crises of homelessness and substance use have ebbed and flowed over the past few years, said Pastor Karen Mendes. The problem actually seems to have improved this summer, she said. The church rents the Bank Street building to Vermont CARES, which is one of two needle exchanges on the block. Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform runs the other. Both have offered harm-reduction services in these locations for years without criticism.  “Burlington’s got issues that we need to work on, but it definitely feels like people are looking for a scapegoat,” Mendes said. “The tension and the negativity is very high at this moment. I don’t think that’s helpful.” But the owners of the Burlington Square project across the street — developers Scott Ireland, Dave Farrington and Al Senecal — want Vermont CARES to stop operating its program.  There is nothing compassionate about asking residents … to lower their expectations of safety in the name of progress.Michele Ready Ambrosino The gleaming new Burlington Square building is home to an AC Hotel by Marriott and dozens of apartments. Hotel guests have been checking out early after being scared off by the activity around the needle exchange, according to Alyssa Buckley Couture, the marketing director for S.D. Ireland, which manages the rentals. She also said an apartment resident was afraid to take her young granddaughter to the splash pad at City Hall Park. “We just want to achieve the best outcomes for everyone, especially for our residents and businesses,” Couture said. “We’ve invested heavily in downtown.” Down the street, a woman named Stephanie was visiting the Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform office to get medication to treat her opioid addiction. She acknowledged that open-air drug use and littered needles were problems but defended the exchange.  “I never wanted to be an addict, you know. When you’re homeless, you have nowhere to go,” she said. “They’re just so hopeless that they’re just out in the open doing it.”  Councilors Melo Grant (P-Central District) and Laura Sanchez-Parkinson (P-Ward 3), who represent the downtown and Old North End neighborhoods, believe the Dems’ rush to blame needle exchanges for problems downtown reflects a fundamental misunderstanding. During a ride-along interview through the Old North End last week, Grant pointed out four problem properties where police have recently busted people for drug trafficking. At one property, on North Champlain Street, police have swooped in twice since 2023 to arrest drug suspects. A recent arrest on Williston Road in South Burlington, Grant said, involved drug dealers who were selling downtown.  Getting rid of the needle exchange would only create a secondary public health issue on top of the addiction crisis. The dealers would still find their buyers, Grant said, and the drug activity would continue to plague her district.  “We’re in open class warfare. The residents here don’t matter to them,” Grant said of her Dem colleagues. “The only ones that matter to them are their donor class. They only talk about the businesses. They don’t actually pay attention to those of us in the Old North End who experienced this first.” Sanchez-Parkinson, too, defended the needle exchange, citing public health best practices and years of national and local data that have shown the service is valuable and should be accessible. “I believe in having a thriving economy in this city,” she said. “However, what I’m seeing is that we can’t only blame our economic challenges on the homeless people who are struggling with substance-use disorders.” Credit: Sasha Goldstein In an interview, Council President Traverse reiterated his support for syringe service programs; he said he just doesn’t want them downtown. He also said business interests did not lead him to that conclusion.  “The main thing that drives my decision-making is families and kids,” he said. “I’ve got no problem in the South End sending my kids out to City Market to go pick up something at the store. I would have a lot of questions about whether or not I’m going to send them downtown to spend the day on Church Street, and that’s not OK.” The backlash against the needle exchange doesn’t bode well for Burlington’s long-planned overdose-prevention center. Prior city council votes have demonstrated bipartisan support for the proposal. But Dems are now sending a clear message: Don’t put it downtown.  A recent survey, though, found that downtown was the top choice for people who’d use the center, followed by the Old North End. A spokesperson for Mulvaney-Stanak said the mayor is not willing to bar needle exchanges or the overdose-prevention center from operating in the business district.  An article in the Atlantic magazine last week suggested a stronger approach was needed. It featured Burlington, Seattle and Vancouver as “the cities that said yes to drugs.” The article featured critics who believe the city has been too lenient with drug users and painted advocates such as Mulvaney-Stanak and Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George as the flailing defenders of harm-reduction strategies.  Even as city leaders debate strategies, many acknowledge that Burlington is drawing from limited resources. Both sides want more help from the state and neighboring communities but know that any support would be limited. Nonprofit partners including the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity and Howard Center say they are maxed out. Despite Vermont CARES’ rocky start, executive director Melissa Farr said in a statement that the needle exchange isn’t going anywhere.  “Our doors remain open, and our commitment remains strong,” she said. “Supported by the Vermont Department of Health, we continue to provide lifesaving health services, education, and harm reduction supplies to people throughout Vermont because every person deserves access to compassionate care, dignity, support, and respect.” On Monday, dozens of harm-reduction activists spoke during public comment at a city council meeting. Democrats, though, approved the “Burlington Forward” resolution on a 7-5 vote over vociferous protests from Progressive councilors and the mayor. Council committees will debate the measure before the full council considers it in September. One thing both sides agree on is the need for more help from the state. And Gov. Phil Scott delivered last week: He ordered Vermont State Police troopers to resume patrols downtown, though he did so without giving Mulvaney-Stanak a heads-up. They’ve already been out on Church Street and in City Hall Park. Troopers have gone to the Vermont CARES building on Bank Street, too, to make sure no one is loitering. ➆ The original print version of this article was headlined “Safety Dance | Burlington officials are once again debating ways to improve downtown. A free needle program is in the crosshairs.” The post Queen City Public Safety Debate Shifts to Needle Exchanges appeared first on Seven Days. ...read more read less