Knodell will retain her Central District seat after a hard fought campaign by Grill, an activist who made her mark during the debate last year surrounding the Burlington Town Center redevelopment.
The Progressive Knodell told two dozen well-wishers who celebrated at Butch + Babe’s in the Old North End that she had her doubts about the race’s outcome. “I think I’ve lost,” she said she confided in fellow councilor Sara Giannoni in the final hours before polls closed.
In the end, though, her supporters came through, giving her the victory by a 6-point margin. For the celebration, Knodell donned a T-shirt emblazoned with a quote that referred to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.): “She was warned, she was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”
“It was a great team effort,” Knodell said to cheers.
Knodell was one of the three incumbents up for reelection — and all three prevailed. In the South district, Democrat Joan Shannon handily beat the opposition with 66 percent of the vote, fending off Progressive Charles Simpson and independent Abdullah Sall.
Dave Hartnett, who ran unopposed, was reelected to his seat in the North District. Hartnett will return to his seat as a Democrat after a two-year stint as an independent.
Meanwhile, Richard Deane, a Democrat and political novice, beat out Progressive Charles Winkleman by a 6-point margin. Deane will replace Progressive Selene Colburn, who vacated her seat after winning election in November to the state legislature.
At a gathering of Democrats at Nectar’s, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger lauded the advances the party made Tuesday. “We’ve got a lot to celebrate tonight,” he told the jubilant crowd.
With the three victories by Dems, the party will hold six of the council’s 12 seats. The rest of the council consists of three Progressives, two independents and one Republican.
“We’re going to have to work together,” said Knodell.
Among the challenging issues the council faces is the sale of Burlington Telecom, Knodell noted. But she vowed to run for a third one-year term as city council president, a position that the council will pick in early April. “I think I have the votes,” she said.
There was pizza and 12-packs of beer and hugs all around as the results became clear.
“This is the most amazing, amazing thing I’ve ever been a part of and I’ve been a part of a lot of amazing things,” Grill said, standing on a chair to address the gathering of 25 supporters.
“I don’t want to be a city councilor,” she later admitted. “I wanted to show people we could make a change. We did — just not enough.”
Grill said she doesn’t plan to run again, though she does plan to keep fighting for issues she holds dear. “We have no other choice,” she said. “There’s a lot at stake.”
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Governing isn’t a game. Don’t run if you aren’t taking the possibility of winning seriously. This isn’t just for Grill but anyone who thinks that “politics” is fun and doesn’t think ahead to the governing part.
It’s shocking to hear that after what she did, after all the name calling and accusations of bad conduct, Grill says she “doesn’t want to be a city councilor.”
Is it just sour grapes? Or did she actually not want to be a city councilor from the start? If the latter, why did she waste the time of all the people who supported her campaign? Either way, it is a very bad thing to say in respond to a loss.
Well, I’m relieved we elected individuals actually interested in serving on the City Council. I guess we all dodged a bullet.
Thanks for running Genese, Charles S. and Charles W. You all were a voice for those who don’t want business as usual in Burlington. Judging by the close results, there are a lot of constituents who agreed with you. Hopefully City Hall will notice they don’t have as wide a margin as they thought they did and act accordingly.
“I didn’t want to be a City Councilor anyway” sounds like a sore loser to me (or a kid who lost a student council election)! Agree with the @Scott Pavek that we dodged a bullet on this one. Also agreed that she ran a very negative and hateful campaign for someone with no interest in governing anyway…or maybe just a stunt to get some publicity and help legitimize the CLC (and herself)?
I feel sorry for voters who devoted their faith, time, and nearly $5,000 in Kickstarter funds toward a campaign for a seat at the table Genese never wanted. She promised a lot in her run for office, but in the end, couldn’t even deliver honest intent? Way to spit in the eye of democracy.
The quote at the end of this otherwise good article was taken completely out of context, or misunderstood by Ms. Jickling, whose work I usually admire very much. Of course I wanted to win and I am deeply disappointed at the outcome of the race. Those of you who choose to scoff from the comfort, safety, and anonymity of your homes can have no idea what it takes to run an election campaign, to go door to door in the freezing cold, to have meetings every day and night, to have to listen to nasty unfounded attacks by people. You also have no idea of the joy of working with neighbors for something to believe in. Of course I wanted to win. The point is, I am not a career politician and running and serving as a City Councilor, had I won, is a sacrifice I was willing to make because the need, in my opinion and the opinion of the 47% of the people who voted in 2 and 3, was so great as to make that sacrifice worth it. I am so grateful for all the people who worked to get us as far as we did, and to all the people who donated money, time, advice, encouragement. Those of you who want to scoff will just keep scoffing. The rest of us will keep working for a better democratic process that welcomes more and more people into the discussion. Onward!
Genese is a remarkable person who contributed enormously to this community through her campaign, as did all of the candidates who gave their time and energy to run.
I question the civic value and utility of a comment platform like this that allows those so disposed to lurk anonymously in dark corners and spew venom. That’s not the civic discourse that supports and advances democracy, but quite the opposite.
The last quote about Genese not wanting to be on city council was taken out of context. I was there and heard Genese talking about how this run was for and about the people and not just about being on city council. I believe the point was that it is beyond one person. Sad to see this taken out of context and all of the nasty comments here. Perhaps we have become so cynical in regard to politics that people can’t recognize humility and the desire to actually serve.
Let’s face it – all candidates are honorable, and all actually wanted to be on the City Council. I think the opposition to the contenders (especially to Genese), is out of line with these spiteful comments and dislikes. If Jane was so superior to her opponent, why did she just barely win? (including a last day flurry of pamphlets mailed to everyone in her district) It will disappoint me greatly if I don’t get a storm of dislikes for this comment. Come on, ye happily victorious ones, let’s see you kick this letter to the curb. Until next time, farewell! Change will come to this city, eventually. A good change.
I was with Genese Grill at the Victory Party and this quote was clearly taken out of context. Genese was jubilant, brave and strong throughout the whole campaign and she very nearly won! We all felt so positive. The nameless voices who say ignorant, mean-spirited things should not be in this dialog. This comment section should either be eliminated because it is so often abused or it should require people to identify themselves.
It’s a sad commentary on the state of the media that a reporter decides to grab something out of context in order to make the news more sensational. I think the real story of a concerned citizen who decided to make a run for City Council against a long term, well funded and political machine-backed incumbent AND got 47% of the vote in that effort, is far more interesting. If reporters were like friends they would ask – what do you mean by that? A deeper understanding would be revealed rendering the “sound bite” version inaccurate.
I have just got to say something here, because I’m astounded by some of these last comments. “Nameless voices?” “Ignorant and mean-spirited?” Are you kidding me? The people who have commented here (at least 3 of whom did use actual names) were stating their opinions and expressing concern over the attitude of a former candidate, based on a direct quote. Why on earth is this “ignorant?” It seems that any opinions Genese Grill’s friends don’t agree with are “ignorant” and any criticism that they don’t approve of is “venomous.” People with differing opinions from yours should not be “allowed” in a public dialogue? That sounds scarily dictatorial. Several people just said they were just glad that someone who expressed disinterest in actually holding public office didnt win. How is that abuse of the comments???
Also, regarding your outrage at people not using real names…Genese Grill has only begun using her real name very recently! People were complaining in the comments section of a few other articles after someone noticed her posting under a pseudonym during her campaign.
From the article: “I don’t want to be a city councilor,” she later admitted. “I wanted to show people we could make a change. We did just not enough.”
A poster here who supports Ms. Grill thinks a journalist should be “more like a friend” and ask, “What do you mean by that?”, but I disagree. Anybody who interviews people for a living would find that statement self explanatory.
The candidate has a responsibility to be clear as well.
So, who got it wrong? The reporter or the celebratory campaigners?
We’ll all be hanging on the edge of our seats waiting for the retraction. P.S. to Michael Long- this forum doesn’t really exist for its civic value. For spleen venting, however, you’ve come to the right place.
Guess some folks are steamed up about this. Step One: article possibly slanted. Step Two: defense and explanation of misinterpreted statement. Step Three: Attack defenders of person who seemed not to come off so well in article. Be offended. Step Four: reconciliation.
Those claiming to have been offended shouldn’t feel they’re taking the high road. The questions are basically about serving the community, right? Why bother “disliking” what people say here? You can do better. There’s a common goal in here somewhere.
Compare the two photos 7 days chose to run with this piece
That about says it all
They are in bed with the establishment faux progressive dinosaur
(how much did she spend in advertising in 7 days in the last few weeks?)
dinosaur jane gets a nice powerful smiling shot with supporters in cheering adoration around her
The other gets a shot where she looks like this weirdo, bizarre, deranged harpy Shame on you 7 days – an appalling use of photos to editorialize
So unsubtle and not cool
Btw, Jane the fake progressive, should be ashamed and embarrassed that she barely won this entrenched dinosaur barely eked out a victory –
How much did she spend how much did all those ads in last weeks 7 days cost her?
How much did her developer friends contribute and she BARELY won
Why not some term limits for the dinosaur fake progressive councilor for life
Where’s all the criticism of the anti-Knodell people for posting anonymously? And what’s with all the name calling by the pro-Grill mob? The hypocrisy is astounding.
Pardon me for answering the most recent comment: where is all the criticism? Why the posting anonymously? What’s with name-calling? Hypocrisy is astounding? Well, Mr. Knowyourassumptions, it’s baffling that you are trying to call someone out on hypocrisy. Do you feel this should be a more civil and well-reasoned discussion? That would be fine. Several good points have been made, and several not-so-good. Onward.
I just re-stumbled on this gem of a comment thread and was a little disturbed by the attitude of the candidate (Genese Grill) in her own comment which she posted. I will excerpt the parts that bothered me below and explain:
“Those of you who choose to scoff from the comfort, safety, and anonymity of your homes can have no idea what it takes to run an election campaign, to go door to door in the freezing cold, to have meetings every day and night, to have to listen to nasty unfounded attacks by people.”
Yes, actually, many of us do. Vermont is full of politically active citizens who (mainly) volunteer their time to help get people like you, Genese elected. The people who volunteer often have work, school, family, housework, and other responsibilities but they give up their “free time” because they believe the candidate when they say they are take the work seriously. This is one of the reasons that many people found your comment so offensive. You asked other people to give their time and energy and they did so because the unspoken contract was that you actually WANTED to do the job you were running for. And, thus, your comment in this article sounds like you broke a social contract and now it sounds like you are complaining that you even put the effort in in the first place. What you are describing above is nothing unusual to anyone who has been involved in politics, community organizing, or government. Your comments sound like the excuses of someone who never thought through her own actions or how her actions would affect others and is only concerned with herself.
To be Continued:
Continued:
“The point is, I am not a career politician and running and serving as a City Councilor, had I won, is a sacrifice I was willing to make because the need, in my opinion and the opinion of the 47% of the people who voted in 2 and 3, was so great as to make that sacrifice worth it.”
There are two issues here:
Get off your high horse. No one was asking you to be a career politician. City Councilors can’t be career politicians. Vermont has a citizen legislature. Unless you were confused and thought you were on the ballot as Governor, this should not be an issue. Instead, what I see is someone trying to use a dog whistle. “career politician” is a nasty word in Vermont and by associating those hard working public servants who did win and who will not be fully compensated for their time with this tern Genese is trying to degrade a group of people she failed to be a part of.
Finally, serving isn’t a sacrifice: it’s an honor. And this is at the crux of all that is wrong with Genese’s attitude. If running for office isn’t something that you hold high and holding office isn’t something that you think of with reverence because of the decision making power the people have entrusted you with you should never have submitted your name for the ballot in the first place.
Shame on you Genese.