This drink goes down anything but easy.
An unknown artist created a series of at least four satirical postcards using old Kool-Aid ads to mock Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger and city councilors who are in favor of a zoning amendment that will allow developer Don Sinex to build up to 14 stories high.
“An appreciative City Council says … ‘Mayor knows best,’” reads the riff on a vintage advertisement. The original shows a family paying tribute to Mom, whose head in the edited version has been replaced by Weinberger’s. It reads: “He keeps Kool-Aid in the ice box by the pitcher full — and they’re drinking it!”
The altered ads were distributed at the South End Art Hop last weekend and were posted Sunday on the Facebook page belonging to the Stop the 14-Story Mall group. The post came one day before the council passed by a 7-4 vote the amendment that will allow the Burlington Town Center redevelopment to go forward. A public hearing and final vote on the proposal is scheduled for September 29.
“They were at Art Hop, but I don’t know who did it,” said Caryn Long, a member of the Coalition for a Livable City group, which has long opposed the Sinex proposal. “It wasn’t the coalition. I saw them; I thought they were cool and funny.”
Genese Grill, another Coalition for a Livable City member, told Seven Days by email that someone anonymously dropped off the artwork outside the door of the 8 Space Studio Collective on Howard Street.
The artistic expression, though, didn’t sit well with City Councilor Joan Shannon, who decried on Facebook the “baseless ridicule” of “people who step up to serve the City.”
Shannon, who supported the proposal at Monday’s meeting, is portrayed in one of the ads as a child, a bow in her hair, raising a glass of Kool-Aid toward “Mother” — Weinberger.
“That’s not a recipe for encouraging people to serve,” she wrote on Facebook in reply to the images. “That said, I do like my bow.”
In a phone call Thursday, Shannon admitted the images are pretty funny, but she stuck by her concern that such attacks could dissuade people from running for local political office.
“I don’t want Burlington politics to go the way national politics has gone — making a mockery of it,” she said. “That was my only concern.”
Weinberger went on to decry an image of him pouring Kool-Aid into a glass held by the city council president. “I am particularly disappointed by this poster, which questions the motivations and character of one of our best public servants. Anyone who thinks the City Council president is blindly following my plan without good reason does not know Jane Knodell, and is ignoring her thoughtful work on this issue.”
Art Hop featured another redevelopment protest when members of the Coalition for a Livable City released a two-minute video, projected on the side of a South End building, that slammed the Sinex proposal and encouraged residents to demand a public referendum on the project.
“City Hall is pushing spot zoning,” the video warned, “bowing to Sinex’s demands. This whole process was rushed, and dissent was crushed. Without your help, we will lose our town.”
The Art Hop political protest pieces were in the same vein as those displayed at last year’s event, when a group of artists erected “Miroville,” a faux housing development and advertisement that mocked Weinberger’s proposal to allow new housing in the Pine Street Enterprise Zone. The group worried the proposal would gentrify the South End and force artists out of the area.
As the artistic display went up, Weinberger changed course and pulled his support of the housing plan.
The mayor’s office told Seven Days that the art installation was not directly responsible for Weinberger’s change of heart, which came after months of public objection to the housing plan.
Updated, September 16, 2016 to add the statement from the mayor’s office and clarify timing of Weinberger’s decision on South End housing.
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For those who don’t know, the “Drinking the Kool-Aid” phrase derives from the November 1978 Jonestown deaths, in which over 900 members of the Peoples Temple, who were followers of Jim Jones, drunk a sweetened drink laced with cyanide, blindly following him in committing suicide.
The posters seem very creative. And apropos, as the Council is rushing this project through, as last week’s very divided Council vote showed.
Joan Shannon’s comments are out of place. Not only is she a realtor, but as a long time Councilor, along with Jane Knodell, Kurt Wright, and Sharon Bushor…who’s combined tenure on the Council is approximately 50 years…anyone else in their district doesn’t have an opportunity to “step up and serve”. How about “step down” and give others an opportunity? Maybe the Burlington Council needs term limits.
A fourteen story building in downtown Burlington will stand out like an upraised middle finger to those who value Burlington’s sense of scale and proportion. But, what should people expect from Miro the Wonderboy and his development happy cronies?
We can defeat this gentrification assault on our city. Kill the 14-story mall. Please turn out to protest at City Hall on Sept 29. Development for the people not the 1%…………$inexit
I made the video because I love my town. The cards I can’t claim; they indicate actual talent. I respect the mayor and everybody on city council because I know they are doing what they feel is best even if it’s totally illegal and imperils our people.
A tide of development will polish this city up, raise our population markedly, and correspondently escalate the cost of living from high to astronomical. This is setting up a “new normal” for housing and development that those elites who descend upon our city will be happy to pay. That’s fine–except that we already have a bunch of people here who are holding on by a thread.
This is the face of gentrification. I’ve seen it in Brooklyn, New Orleans, and Raleigh/Durham with my own eyes. The leaders of the business community are compelled to favor wealth over poverty amongst the populace. After all, those people have money to spend. It’s an objectionable attitude but it’s what they call vibrancy. I bristle at the bottom-line monetarists because there are forms of wealth that you cannot deposit in a bank and once lost they never return. Just look at your beautiful city!
My city government is supposed to be more than cheerleaders for eager developers with deep pockets. They are supposed to fight for my interests. Most of city council, by indulging this mania, is off course. So now we step in to bring the discussion back the working people of Burlington in the tradition of those dedicated souls who spent decades checking the immense powers that threaten our way of life. Our city history compels us to stand up for it.
Alexander, it must be nice to be so sure you know whats best for all of us. I’m certain that you have learned a lot during your less than 10 years as an adult on this planet, studying city planning and sociology and such. “Your” city? I beg to differ. Burlington and Vermont in general has been anti-development and anti-business for so long, getting one decent development project every 20 years or so really shouldn’t get your milk curdled. I’m glad you have such a firm idea of what you want “your” city to not be like, however, to assume that the majority is with you is to be sorely mistaken. The logical fallacies in your post are too numerous to list, but for one, to make broad sweeping generalizations of what the future holds for Burlington based on a single project which has been in process for years, is just the tip of the iceberg.
Has Joan Shannon voted against any of Miro’s policy proposals? Ever?!?!… seriously… everybody knows Shannon is in Miro’s pocket and his primary mouthpiece on the council… especially when it comes to development… And then they act all hurt when somebody creatively and humorously calls them on it?… what a bunch of babies!!!
I understand that people could be insulted by the cards or the slideshow/movie – many people felt insulted by the relentless push of the Council’s process which was custom-tailored to this project. It is not the only offer the city will ever get – we (those who feel the issue should be put to a public vote) would love to see things happening downtown – but some feel it should be up to Vermonters, and that the profits should stay in VT. I feel the developer should foot the bill if he’ll make the profit – the millions he would like from the city should perhaps go to the schools. I hope the Mayor doesn’t feel too insulted by those cards – I think the artist simply used the Mayor’s face to make his or her point. As far as being “a project that’s been in process for years” – that’s how every project here gets done. Why would we make such a change to the city without a public vote? How can we leave the decision to those who stand to profit? We had just set up a new zoning plan – Plan BTV. Let’s build something within that zoning that will profit the entire city and keep its unique character. As far as the pre-development agreement: Abraham Lincoln said, “A bad promise is better broken than kept.”
Cutting edged humor.. we need more creativity to offset the boorishly unimaginative humongous BTC design that threatens Burlington to start a city wide too tall buildout. We deserve better,
Great political satire with a strong wiff of truth to it. It’s a lot more honest than the pure baloney that the mayor fabricated about me during the last mayoral campaign. He has much to learn about honest public discours.
Steve Goodkind
Drinking the Kool Aid is now defined thus: demonstrating unquestioning obedience or loyalty to someone, or something [like an idea]. “his real ire is directed at the news media for drinking the Kool-Aid and not being tougher on the [mayor].”
Regarding the proposed downtown overlay district, not only are decision makers not asking the tough questions, they are perpetuating myths that have been debunked by experts: ~average renter in Burlington pays 44% of income for housing, market rates will decline if more housing is built, ~carbon footprint of cities is less than suburban areas, ~dense high-rise downtown development will bring prosperity to Burlington.
If incremental taxes are such a sure thing, why has Burlington required three extensions on our TIFs? Voters approved a 20 year TIF (using incrememtal taxes to pay off debt) that has now been extended to 36 years. Meanwhile, there are costs associated with growth that burden municipal budgets, and sidewalks crumble, raw sewage is dumped into the lake, public buildings are neglected. Wake up Burlington! Height, density, and TIFs are not the answer.
There was a time when Joan Shannon would have called this entire project, and its process, “a complete Sham!”.
Those were Joan’s EXACT words, spoken publicly at a Council meeting, for the Westlake proposal, which was nearly the identical same developer-driven scenario 10 years ago.
She also argued courageously for more modest buildings during the Zoning Rewrite of 2006-2007, insisting at that time that going to 105′ and increasing from 8 to 10 stories was more than high enough for any building in the City.
Apparently, she now hasn’t only drunk the Kool-Aid, but is mixing it up for everyone else, and insisting that they gulp it down. Just who is this woman? It’s like we’re all in a real-life “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” horror movie. If I were her husband, I’d check the basement for an opened seed-pod.
The Kool-Aid campaign is high quality, colorful, and engaging political satire in the best tradition of the genre. It is revelatory metaphor, not “baseless ridicule” as Joan Shannon suggests. There is nothing mean spirited or Trumpesque about it. Joan even remarks to her credit that she likes her bow. She has a sense of humor. Miro Weinberger is much further off base (not to mention humorless) in misrepresenting these bright and lively cards as “misinformation and offensive personal attacks.” This is nothing more than an attempt to smear those who disagree with him, to suggest that they are not nice or honest people. Now that is, in fact, a baseless attack. A more accurate characterization of the cards would be to say that they use pop culture images along with text germane to the political moment to elicit laughter that’s more than a joke, laughter that is a comedic instant laden with meaning.
The cards say in their funny way that there’s something wrong, something fishy, something that could only be Kool-Aid driven about putting major zoning changes on the fast track just to accommodate a single big development proposal.
Perhaps the Mayor can simply label this art-work “hate speech” in order to completely shut down the entire conversation and bring the terms of debate back to within his acceptable agenda. If that doesn’t work, perhaps he should follow the lead from Washington, DC and label these uppity artists who won’t get with the program “terrorists.” Best not to bother with something as silly as “free speech” if the mayor finds it offensive.
I hope that any judge who may be asked to review the zoning change will see this for what it is: illegal spot zoning. Yes, the City of Burlington received the legal advice to expand the 14-story district to the various parking garages, etc. immediately around the tall-mall proposal as a legal defense against spot zoning. Any judge worth his or her salt will see right through that defense.
The Mayor and the majority councilors have some valid points about tax revenue and the vibrancy of our downtown. The time to make that argument is during a rewrite of the Comprehensive Plan. The citizens and taxpayers will either agree or not; and will have to live with the consequences, good and bad. If this particular project is so critical, the City Council needs to drop some of the public amenity demands so the developer can build it in compliance with the existing zoning maximum of 10 stories. Continuing the road they are on of jamming it through destroys the integrity of the process and undermines the credibility of all involved.
Poor Miro and Joan. They’re so offended, and the First Amendment gives them that right. But if the artists of this city don’t tell them what people are really thinking, how will they ever know how unpopular they are becoming? Put something regarding this eyesore on the ballot in November and let the people speak. It may cause Miro and Joan to revisit their plans for future employment.
People have drunk the Kool-Aid alright, but it’s not who you think. It isn’t Miro and Joan. It’s the privileged, white, guilty, Massachusetts, protester-class, socialist-wannabe hippies. It is they, not Miro and Joan, who conform to the anti-everything orthodoxy. You get an email or a text alert that there’s a protest somewhere, about something, and you’re required to show up. It’s hip, it’s kool to be anti-development. It’s hip, it’s kool to protest. Especially when you’ve got nothing else to do.
Joan Shannon was clueless and had the wool pulled over her eyes, and bow, during the Burlington Telecom Fleecing of the Taxpayers as well.
Sinex (and everyone else that considers investing in Burlington, or really investing in Vermont) should take his money and go elsewhere and leave these “artists” (have you seen some of their grade school quality work?) and the rest of the hippy dippy, Sanders loving socialist wannabes to be the economic drive behind this ridiculous state. Maybe they can be the employment powerhouse by selling bad pottery, finger-paintings and macrame to unsuspecting tourists with no brains or taste. And lets not forget the herb and yoga places. They are certainly the answer for a state with a struggling economy!
But really, as for the rest of us, we’d kind of like a vibrant downtown that includes places to purchase clothing and housewares that don’t look like they came from a thrift store or a 1960s nightmare.
I remember when a lot of people were angry and vocal about change in Burlington – when Church Street was turned into a pedestrian mall, when City Market opened, when the bike path was built, and when the waterfront as we now know it was transformed. Seems to me that there were a lot of loud voices then too. Fortunately, enough people realized that a vibrant city is always going through changes, sometimes in ways that we’re not certain about.
Change is inevitable, like death and taxes. Everyone knows this. Anyone who attempts to label someone “anti change”, is basically belittling them.
As we learned from the Urban Renewal programs of the 60s and 70s, change is not always positive. In fact, it can be very negative and damaging, and even destroy a community.
Seems to me the Church Street Marketplace is a very human-scale project. The three 14-story towers of the Sinex proposal are not. In fact, academic studies have shown that buildings taller than 3-4 stories make people feel claustrophobic and boxed in.