BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Burlington city councilors have a wish list this holiday season that includes a safer downtown. They have three items on their agenda specifically geared toward safety and security.
A safer downtown– that’s the goal of a proposal in front of Burlington city councilors as the holiday shopping season approaches.
Some $60,000 would be used to put more uniformed officers on and around Church Street. It would be an overtime opportunity for an already understaffed force.
“We’re continuing to struggle with recruitment issues at the police department, and this proposal on the table to temporarily expand patrols is a way to use our own officers to create a safer space through these through the upcoming holiday season,” said Ben Traverse, D-Burlington City Council President.
It’s a similar plan to last holiday season and is welcome news for business owners who have long called for a bigger police presence downtown.
Another ordinance in front of councilors would authorize some city officials to issue notices of trespass and tickets to folks engaging in bad behavior, like open drug use and shoplifting at a business or private property.
“If someone commits retail theft from a Church Street business, we will have the opportunity to no-trespass that individual from being on Church Street at all. It’s a privilege that shouldn’t be extended to folks that are really terrorizing our downtown businesses,” Traverse said.
This would allow the entire suite of safety personnel from officers to unarmed security and even parks patrol to bar certain people from certain places and write tickets, making life a little easier for business owners with problem patrons.
“Private business owners or store employees shouldn’t have to if they’re not well equipped to hand somebody who may be causing a problem a notice of trespass,” said Gene Bergman, P-Burlington City Council.
Democrats and Progressives still don’t see eye to eye on those trespass orders and we expect there to be a lot of debate on that.
We told you last week that councilors want to put forward another charter change that would be guns in Burlington bars. It’s a renewed effort after Burlington voters overwhelmingly supported the charter change back in 2014. But lawmakers have never taken up the issue in the Legislature.
Councilors are expected to support putting it back on the Town Meeting Day ballot in what appears to be an effort to get lawmakers’ attention.
“There’s no place in bars for guns; alcohol and firearms do not mix,” Bergman said. “They should look at it statewide, and they should not make the perfect the enemy of the good. You should not do nothing if you can’t do everything.”
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott and others have questioned how a ban on guns in bars would be enforced.