Economy & Business

From the Office of Senator Bernie Sanders:

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, Champlain Housing Trust (CHT), and other local housing leaders will come together this Friday, August 16, to celebrate breaking ground on the construction of new affordable housing and a veterans center in Burlington.

Sanders secured $1 million for the project through the FY2022 Congressionally Directed Spending process.

This funding will allow the CHT and the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ (VFW) Howard Plant Post 782 to redevelop the old VFW building into a new space that provides veterans services and permanently affordable housing to Vermonters – including apartments reserved for homeless veterans. The veterans service center will also expand programs to assist combat veterans with post-deployment reintegration, camaraderie, and navigating VA health care and benefits.

Senator Sanders is joined by Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak; Michael Monte, CEO of Champlain Housing Trust; Nancy Owens, President of Evernorth; Michelle Caver, Post Commander and Service Officer, VFW Post 782; Rev. Mark Hughes, VFW Post 782; and local leaders.

From the ECHO Center:

The Pigeon and his friends are finally here! Enter the whimsical world of award-winning children’s author Mo Willems. Have a hilarious conversation in the voices of Elephant Gerald and Piggie, spin the laundromat washing machine to uncover Knuffle Bunny, launch foam hot dogs at The Pigeon, and more in this interactive play-and-learn exhibit!

The Pigeon Comes to Burlington! A Mo Willems Exhibit is co-organized by Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

For more information visit: www.echovermont.org/event/the-pigeon-comes-to-burlington/2024-06-02

From the Business & Workforce Development Office:

A new kiosk made its way to Burlington’s City Hall Park from Brooklyn, New York earlier this summer. The food and beverage kiosk, designed by RENZ + OEI and operated by Sherpa Foods - Himalayan D’Lite, originally included in the design for the reconstruction of City Hall Park in 2020 concluded this month. A grand opening celebration will take place on Wednesday, August 14th at 12 noon in City Hall Park. Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak and other project partners will be in attendance.

From FreeHer VT:

We are calling on community members to join us on Monday August 12 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM in Burlington for a noise demonstration calling on local architects to drop out of designing a new women's prison in Vermont!

In these times of suffering, the state should be extremely cautious about how they allocate community resources. Yet, there has been no indication of postponing or canceling the upcoming women’s prison project, which is currently estimated to cost over $70 million. In fact, the Department of Corrections plans to announce the site of the new women’s prison before the end of the summer! In response, FreeHer is preparing to take action so please stay tuned and be ready to plug in!

The first step we are taking is to urge the subcontractor, Freeman French Freeman, to drop the contract! FFF is the local architectural firm contracted to design the women's prison. They have been unresponsive to our communications and requests for meetings, so we are going to make some noise outside of their office in Burlington!

Join us to pressure Freeman French Freeman to DROP THE CONTRACT.

We will be protesting outside Freeman French Freeman on August 12th from 11am-1pm, the local architectural firm contracted to design the new prison, to urge them to withdraw from the project. We will have speakers, music, activities, and more. Please bring pots, pans, instruments, or any noise makers you'd like. 

For more information visit: www.freehercampaign.org/vermont