In a press release Friday, Mayor Miro Weinberger said Redmond helped the Marketplace become “one of the Northeast’s great urban places.”
“I am grateful for Ron’s service to the City and the Church Street Marketplace, helping to grow and strengthen the Marketplace as a downtown destination for residents and visitors,” Weinberger said.
Redmond has served as Marketplace executive director since December 1998. Created in 1981, the Marketplace is technically a city department that oversees the Marketplace Business District, which draws more than 3 million visitors each year. Redmond’s office is in charge of licenses and permits, marketing, and capital projects.
“Serving the City and the Marketplace for over two decades has been a privilege,” Redmond said in Friday’s release. “Burlington’s downtown will always hold a special place in my heart, and I am looking forward to taking on new challenges.”
The release did not mention Redmond’s future plans and he did not immediately return a request for comment.
Voters recently considered a measure that would have drastically changed the Marketplace. This past Town Meeting Day, residents rejected a ballot item that would have replaced the Church Street Marketplace Commission — a group of nine City Council appointees that set policies for the shopping district — with a nonprofit organization.
In the press release, Marketplace commission chair Jeff Nick said Redmond “shepherded the Marketplace through a changing and challenging retail environment.”
“While the Commission is sad to see Ron go, we wish him well in his future endeavors,” Nick said.
Redmond will serve as executive director until December 1 “to ensure a smooth transition to a new director,” the city press release said. The mayor will appoint Redmond’s successor.
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Redmond’s legacy is that parade mural of white supremacy on the marketplace, a violation of Gina Carerra’s VARA rights for which the Marketplace Commission should be sued, incompetent management having no signed contract for the ELAP artist, no record of donors and donations, no accountability for a $100,000 project that would be a shameful embarrassment to the city if Burlington wasn’t such a racist environment. A task force and City Council agreed to a cover-up, but as long as that mural hangs there on the wall, all associated with it are complicit.
Oh, yes. Let’s all agree that Burlington’s single biggest problem, by far, is a little noticed wall painting in a little used alley, that a small handful of white obsessives with nothing else to do insist is a symbol of pure racist evil when it’s actually just . . . . a silly, little noticed wall painting. Let’s all agree that if that mural were painted over today, all of Burlington’s problems would instantly vanish, Burlington would instantly become a happy, minority-majority city with no racism, all of its citizens would instantly become prosperous and joyful, everyone would get along, and the weather would instantly improve forever.
We have three actual cases of police brutality against the public, two involving minorities, the potential for Winooski to lose the first house owned by people of color in the state to new construction (although it seems like many are using this as a stopgap issue when their real goal is no new construction, which is sad as we need places for young people to live and a way to keep housing costs down), there’s the seemingly dismissive way the police treated Kiah Morris in Bennington, there’s a lack of services for the emerging refugee population in almost every part of the state save for Burlington (which still has gaps, admittedly), there was the whole debate about the Confederate references to the South Burlington Rebel name, there’s a distinct lack of people from the Chittenden County area in state government that are minorities, you could go on….
Why on God’s Green Earth do you stay so f@cking stuck on that damn mural? Of all the issues that are actually offensive, that ranks so utterly low its annoying. Stop acting like Burlington is under some tyrannical WW2-era regime because of this mural. Just stop. It’s embarrassing.
If you don’t like it, don’t hang out in side alleys as much, weirdo.
The really fun bit is not just Lea’s standard spittle flecked diatribe, but that she cites VARA “rights” while demanding an artist’s work be destroyed. Utterly oblivious and totally un-self aware.
Church Street is an abysmal, unmitigated commercial failure.
Wait. I meant “The Marketplace.”
Church Street in its original iteration was a total success. Big locally owned stores such as Magram’s, Abernathy’s, etc., selling quality merchandise.
Those were the days when you could drive on Church Street and – get this – park along the curb.
The snowflakes decided cars were bad and that people should walk or use bikes. What a joke. No one walks or bikes to shop.
Now all Church Street has is doodad shops with cheap trinkets, such as refrigerator magnets in the shape of Vermont. For $12 each.
Can’t wait to ride my bike downtown to grab one of those.
And trip over the drugged dregs lying on the sidewalk begging for spare change.
Thanks Bernie and Miro. You have really improved your adopted hometown.
The “Marketplace” members ought to petition to abolish the stupid thing and reopen Church Street to cars.
No, wait, then they’d have no room for all those piles of tables and chairs stacked like trash on the sidewalk – linked with chains to prevent theft. What a sight.
Ron was/is an amazing cat herder and cheerleader for Church St. The question now is do the businesses, and in particular the Board of the Church st. Marketplace who are responsible for 100% of the REVENUE ( and associated taxes) have a hand in the decision making of who Ron’s replacement will be?
Oh, that big bad mural on the wall, that no one had an issue with until a miscreant came along and defaced it in his self-anointed proclamation of ‘racism’.
It’s racist white supremacy to the elitist liberal class, always playing the victim card.
Another example of downtown Bumbletown dropping the ball, when they enabled the defacing miscreant instead of bringing him to justice for his crime.
I also miss the way church st used to be. You were actually able to drive up and park with no problems. I also remember when you could drive through battery park and sit in your car and look across the lake. But so called progress has ruined it all.
Get over your misplaced nostalgia. Church Street was not “better” 38 years ago when it was clogged with cars, for god’s sake. The Church Street marketplace is a fantastic institution and that’s the one and only compliment I’ll grudgingly give Bernie. Yeah, I wish there was a higher percentage of local stores on the marketplace, but the local to national mix is a factor of the national and state economies and economic trends. Um, have you noticed that in all cities, regardless of whether they have a pedestrian marketplace, the locally-owned department stores are gone??? That’s hardly Mayor Weinberger’s fault, or Kiss’s, or Clavelle’s.
Burlington and the entire area is a much better place due to the Church Street Marketplace.
Church Street Marketplace was a city life-saver. It brought the Mall downtown in an age when downtowns were dying from Malls taking their business. Now the Internet is the new Mall, and the physical Malls are in trouble.
Church St. is great – it was a great idea, and has been great all the time I’ve been up here (since 1997 – glad I got to see the city before the big ice storm that took half the trees).
Sure, Church St. needs some repaving and some new ideas, but Don has really done some fine work, and if he feels it’s time to go, I’m sure it is. As for the Mayor appointing a successor, I wish us luck. The more local merchants and restaurants we have and the fewer chain stores, the better. My hope is that most of you agree with that.
As far as the sniping in the previous comments – come on guys, grow up! “Spittle-flecked,” “snowflakes,” “weirdo,” and “drugged dregs” are real comment-crowd pleasers, but let’s face it – such talk is divisive and rude. You guys sound like the nuts who used to yell out their windows. If you can’t make a reasonable argument without being insulting, you may not get 83 likes, but you can be a lot more constructive. I know the mural seems like a bother, but who are you to decide what’s worthy of discussion?
I salute all who have done good work, both in running things and in exposing hypocrisy. I don’t want all of downtown to be Developed, but Church St. is wonderful. Thank you, all who have made it so – and all who strive to increase its integrity! Time doesn’t stand still; times change – either gradually or suddenly. See you all in the future.
Best of luck to Ron and to his successor who will have to face many challenges and not many options. My concern with the Marketplace is there is nowhere to go in terms of growth, except upwards. There is no “attraction” to further bring in additional tourism which helps reduce taxes for residents, other than the open air feature, events and ala carte dining, surrounded by retail, which has remained the same formula since its inception. The proposed City Center doesn’t change that formula except to possibly offer expanded retail (at higher rental price per square footage, you can be sure).
Charlie,
Do spare me your attempts at parenting me, I’m good. Lea has, and continues to bang her drum for her ludicrous opinions, makes outlandish claims against others, and endorses the destruction of private property based on her unhinged opinions. Neither I, nor anyone else, is under any obligation to treat her with anything more than the barest minimum the rules of this platform require, nor are we required to pretend her opinions are sane, or that she is a decent person. Nor are you. Part of growing up is realizing that not all opinions have value, there are not always good people on each side of an issue, and just because somebody really, really believes something is true does not immediately make it true. It is odd, though, that if you feel so strongly about civility in the comment streams you only pipe up now. Perhaps you haven’t seen Lea’s descriptions of others as racist, white supremacists, on the take, duplicitous, weak willed, militaristic, etc. etc. etc.Now that youve been made aware of her comments, I eagerly await you peremptory waving of your finger and tsk, tsk, tsk in her direction.
By the way, it’s “Ron”, not “Don”.
Patrick,
My apologies – I got his name wrong. You’re right. It’s Don.
There are a few other things in your comment I’m not so sure about. What’s wrong with being civil? I agree that people on both sides of an issue can get excited and blustery, but I don’t want to.
I’d rather we comment on the article.
I had no intention of “parenting” you. I’m pretty sure you have no intention of parenting me. I don’t agree with Everything Lea or you say – hell, I don’t even agree with everything I’ve said.
Feel free to insult anyone you like, till the cows come home. Hope you feel better having done so.
Even the second time, after being corrected and after acknowledging that you got Ron Redmond*s name wrong, you got it wrong yet again. Care to try for three times?
Hey there Dr. Know,
If you ever leave another nasty comment about my comments again, I will figuratively punch you in the nose. Assume That.
Apologies – there’s something in my brain that reverses things. I reach for Ron and get Don. Did it twice now. Nothing personal – my flaw/fault. My bad. Let’s move on.
I take back my smart remark
I appreciate it.
It’s a beautiful day, and we’ve really so little fight about. I wish RON’s successor (and the new CEDO Director too) much luck.
So no condemnation of Lea’s hateful attacks?
Hi Patrick,
Well, I’m just not Hot about the mural. My complaint was to point out that it did not include George Aiken, a far more important Vermonter than many of those displayed. It’s not my type of mural – it’s glib, shallow, and not well thought out. I’m glad it’s in an alley. I’d rather put energy into finding homes for the homeless.