Ward 8 NPA

Ward 8 Neighborhood Planning Assembly February 26, 2026 | 6:30 - 8:30pm | City Hall, Sharon Bushor Conference Room Recording & transcript available on Town Meeting TV → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USURyWWJZ44 FACILITATOR: Tom Carroll | NOTETAKER: Amy Malinowski STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE: Tom Carroll, Amy Malinowski 6:35pm Preliminaries start time ●​ Tom calls meeting to order ●​ Introductions ●​ Ryan nominates Amy Malinowski to join the NPA Steering Committee, seconded by Stephen and passed unanimously ●​ Opens public forum ○​ Nikhil Goyal shared that they are running for Vermont State Senate in Chittenden Central which will be voted on at our November 2026 election. Link to their campaign page: https://www.nikhilgoyal.com/ 6:45pm Candidate's Forum for Ward 8 City Councilor ●​ Marek Broderick was sick and unable to attend–his campaign manager, Adam Franz, stepped in to read a statement written by him on his behalf. To learn more about Marek’s platform, email him at marekbbtv@gmail.com or visit his campaign page: https://www.marekbtv.com/ (For inquiries related to city council work, email mbroderick@burlingtonvt.gov) ●​ Ryan Nick read a statement. To learn more about Ryan’s platform, email him at Ryan@Ryanforbtv.com or visit his campaign page: https://ryanforbtv.com/ ●​ Questions from neighbors: ○​ Cam: How do you see the partnership and relationship between UVM and city? And how do you plan to cooperate with UVM over the course of your future term? ○​ Stephen: Are there times you have or would have disagreed with the majority of your party on a vote? ○​ FaRied: Several times now, we have seen our city council prevent a petition from reaching the ballot for an advisory question–how do you feel about that? Would you be in favor of Burlington voters getting the power to put advisory questions, initiative, or referendum on the ballot or to repeal existing ordinance by vote? ○​ Tom: What about ballot questions that do not necessarily pertain to Burlington or Vermont but have national or global significance? How do you feel about the relevancy question? ○​ FaRied (repeat): Would you be in favor of Burlington voters getting the power to put initiative or referendum on the ballot or to repeal existing ordinance by vote? ○​ Jeffrey: Can both campaigns be specific about how they are going to advance a pro-housing agenda while also making sure that those new housing units are affordable for the incomes people working in Burlington actually make? ○​ Carter: Would either candidate ever support decreasing or rolling back the inclusionary zoning (IZ) requirement which is the thing that has guaranteed that about a quarter of our housing stays permanently affordable in this city? ○​ Melo shared a quick recap of the history and timeline on the UVM MOU. ○​ Amy: Who do you see yourself in the learning lineage of? Who has shaped your political analysis and framework for how you are moving through the world? ○​ Ann: As we increase housing in ward 8 and other wards, parking is going to become more and more of an issue. Do you have any ideas? ○​ Allie: A lot of the challenges that come up at city council need to be addressed at a regional or state level and not a city level — I think a lot about what can we do that’s in our control and that is immediate? When we see a reduction in gross receipts, we keep having to consider raising property taxes to balance the city’s budget. As a way to address some of our affordability issues, how do you approach addressing some of our downtown issues and reverse the trend we have been seeing with downtown businesses and gross receipts? ○​ Jim: Living on college street, I see cars parked taking up space and not moving all week – I  suppose there is an opportunity to work with UVM to talk about the practice of students having cars in town and what the rules are. Do you see an opportunity to work out an agreement about cars? ○​ Stephen: I love living in Burlington because I get to know my city councilors or people running for city council. What book/movie/youtube/tiktok is exciting to you right now that I should check out? ○​ Cam: Food insecurity is surprisingly high among students. Do you have any ideas about how we can combat the problem? ●​ Adam (on behalf of Marek) and Ryan both read a closing statement 7:32pm Proposition Zero Ballot Initiative ●​ FaRied Munarsyah presented on behalf of ‘Proposition Zero’ community organizers. To learn more about Proposition Zero and read the petition, visit https://propositionzero.org/ ●​ Proposition Zero is a proposal for a charter change–“we think of it as the ‘missing part’ of our municipal charter.” City charters set the basic rules of Burlington. All proposed changes to the city charter have to be brought before the voters at the ballot, and city charters are owned by the State Legislature, so any change voters make to the charter has to also be ultimately approved by the State Legislature. ●​ FaRied shared that if you look at every municipal charter in Vermont, they have the same or a similar section called “Power to the People” and Burlington is the only one that is missing that section. This section reflects Vermont’s tradition of town hall democracy — it allows people who are most impacted by issues to weigh in on those decisions. ●​ FaRied shared that they are hoping to gather enough signatures in time to get this charter amendment on the ballot for the November 2026 election. It has to be passed by simple majority and then it goes to the State House. Because it is based on the charters or other municipalities, he doesn’t expect any challenge passing it there. ●​ Powers that would be available to voters with the passing of Proposition Zero: (1) ability to add non-binding advisory questions on the ballot; (2) binding initiative where voters can place a proposal on the ballot that can be enacted as an ordinance; (3) power of referendum which is where voters force a reconsideration of an existing ordinance. Note: Other municipalities have a fourth power to do a recall vote of elected officials but FaRied shared that they are not pursuing including this power. ●​ To act on any of these powers, neighbors would need to create a petition, gather signatures from 5% of all eligible voters, submit it to City Hall to be verified, and then the initiative goes to city council and they have the option to adopt it or put it to a city wide vote. ●​ Questions and discussion: ○​ Ann: Is this different from what we voted on in 2023? ○​ Allie: Why was it decided to not include recall powers in Proposition Zero? ○​ Amy: What are some examples of what we could do with this once it is passed? ○​ Ann: Would you ever be concerned that somebody would obtain 5% of signatures for something you object to and that you would want your city councilor to protect you from? ○​ Ann: What about something highly technical that really requires a lot of research and inside knowledge? For example, Brexit? ○​ Folks were encouraged to share examples of things they would want to happen if Proposition Zero passed. Amy shared the ideas of citizen assemblies (or people’s assemblies) and participatory budgeting as examples she would like to see happen that Proposition Zero could be a possible pathway too. ●​ FaRied shared that they are in need of volunteers on town meeting day to collect signatures during 2 hour shifts. Folks can sign up by visiting the website. 7:55pm Adjourn adjourn ●​ Tom adjourned the meeting Ward 8 Steering Committee: Contact us! Next meeting: Tom Carroll ward-8-sc@googlegroups.com Thursday, March 26 6:30pm Amy Malinowski Submit a request to present! https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/ 221/NPA-Request-Form