Letters to the Editor (4/16/25)

Council Needs Unity

[Re “On Message? Democrats on the Burlington City Council Talked Business — and Gossiped — in a Group Text Chain,” March 26]: While our federal government gets dismantled by oligarchic pillagers, it is the mandate of local government to protect our residents — especially unhoused neighbors and immigrants who now call Burlington home.

This should be possible among our city council, composed of elected officials committed to labels about democracy and progressivism. But text message threads revealed by Seven Days demonstrate that the Democratic caucus is more interested in disparaging its own constituents and council colleagues; comparing conversations about cats to Gaza, where ongoing genocide has taken countless lives; and writing off anyone with the audacity to hold a different opinion. In 171 pages of vitriol, there is little dissent; the Democrats just egg each other on.

We are lucky to live in a small place where people are civically engaged. When those elected to represent our community talk about us behind our backs, relationships are harmed, as is the idea that elected officials respect and care about their constituents. Among other negative impacts of these messages, it is the relational harm that hits hardest.

Burlington deserves a city council whose members work together in service of a thriving city. For the sake of Burlington’s civic health, it is past time for conflict mediation and relationship repair between the caucuses on city council. It is truly absurd that as the right dismantles our democracy, we cannot find unity around the obligation to keep Burlingtonians safe and well. We hope that relational repair is a top priority of the incoming council.

Lena Greenberg & Andrew Simon

Burlington

‘So Unprofessional’

[Re “On Message? Democrats on the Burlington City Council Talked Business — and Gossiped — in a Group Text Chain,” March 26]: I am writing to express my outrage that the Democrats on the Burlington City Council chose to take my voicemail and phone conversation with Joan Shannon and use it as fodder for their group texts. I left voicemails and talked with some council members after they had voted for the second time in a year to not let democracy happen. This was for the “apartheid-free community” pledge that more than 5 percent of registered voters signed to bring it to the voters on Town Meeting Day.

Their texts back and forth to each other about my voicemail and my conversation with Joan were so unprofessional. I almost thought I was reading a group text between middle schoolers. Shame on you! Aren’t you all embarrassed? Now the question might be: What else have you been saying behind people’s backs?

Sally Lincoln

North Ferrisburgh

What’s Really Wrong

The alcohol article [“Vermont’s Hangover: The Green Mountain State Has Long Had a Drinking Problem. It’s Time to Talk About It,” March 19] was yet another dismal reminder of how American culture and society are such grim failures for so many of us. It’s not that so many drink here: I’ve been in cultures where they imbibe far more liberally than here and do not have half the problems that we do with alcohol. What’s different here is that so many in America feel as though they have to resort to drinking like this just to make it through the day.

Some years ago, a legislator in Vermont made a remark at a public forum that I have not forgotten. She said, in effect, that “Americans live under pressures that are unknown in the rest of the democratic world.” The simple stress of living here, the enormous pressures thrust upon us by the nonsense of the American dream, and our hypercompetitive and destructive neoliberal society that does not believe in social safety nets and treats the failure to be a material success as a moral failing literally drive us to seek solace in the bottle or whatever else.

When we talk about alcoholism, drug addiction, housing and so on, we should also look at how American society itself produces these addictions. They are a sign of how much, and how deliberate, a failure the American society and its political system are.

Walter Carpenter

Montpelier

Local Growers Lose

[Re “Local Losses: Federal Cuts, Funding Freezes and Uncertainty Threaten the Momentum of Vermont’s Local Food Movement,” April 2]: Thank you for a comprehensive and data-rich article. These programs have been so important for kids’ nutrition and learning, and they were the start of what could have been a reliable revenue source for local growers.

It’s so discouraging when we see the Muskovite take healthy food away from kids.

I believe others will read your article, and perhaps some will rethink.

Paul Ralston

Middlebury

Ralston is the founder of Little Village Acres, an Addison County farm that gives away produce to Vermonters facing food insecurity.

Praise for Parenting Poems

With all due respect, I believe Jim Schley’s review of Julia C. Alter’s book Some Dark Familiar [“Reviews of Three New Books by Vermont Poets,” April 9] grossly misses the mark. Alter’s motherhood journey is not some flimsy muse she uses to create her poems. It is an inescapable identity that can be, at times, overwhelming and all-consuming.

However, my experience reading this book of poetry was not grim; it was empowering. The reigning tenor for me was hope. I read her book while clutching my own new baby in my arms. Her poems helped me feel not so alone in the middle of the night. Her poems gave me strength. I felt seen in the myriad ways she honors the experience of parenting a small person.

I wish Schley’s review had honored her journey instead of attempting to diminish it to the realm of the “casually sordid.” Parenting isn’t some binary experience; it is a kaleidoscope, and this book is a gift for those navigating it.

Vanessa Compton

Burlington

‘Why Did They Wait So Long?’

[Re “Bern Rekindled: In a New Trump Era, Bernie Sanders’ Crusade Against Oligarchy Is Resonating With Americans Once Again,” February 26; “Vermont’s Congressional Delegation Vows to Fight On Against Trump,” February 26, online; “Sanders to Kick Off Round Two of His ‘Fight Oligarchy’ Tour,” February 28, online]: It’s good to see our elected officials stirred up, but we should be asking ourselves: Why did they wait so long?

Why didn’t they get stirred up when Americans were telling them that they were struggling to make ends meet; or when tens of thousands of illegals were streaming over our southern border, bringing with them rapists, murderers, gang members and drug dealers; or when women’s and girls’ sports were being threatened by men and boys pretending to be women and girls and taking home the trophies because, after all, they’re men and boys; or when our constitutional right to free speech was being denied us as we were bullied by the so-called “woke agenda”? It’s astounding that the majority of voters found the direction of the Democratic party so ludicrous that they looked to Donald Trump as a point of sanity.

Even locally, why did it take the loss of their supermajority in Montpelier for the Dems to finally announce, “We hear you!” Why didn’t you hear us before?

Another question we should ask is: Why are we presented with only these two choices: the manic slash-and-burn policies of the self-made royal Donald Trump or an administration of do-nothings who allow their political friends to walk all over the American people?

Sanders and his buddies may not like what the president is doing, but if their alternative is simply going back to the way things used to be, we just might have a Trump presidency through 2032.

Douglas Hoffman

Burlington

‘Standing Up for Immigrants’

[Re Feedback: “Word Missing,” March 19]: Letter-to-the-editor writer Brenda Waters thinks the placard of a “Powder to the People” protester was missing the word “illegal.”

Perhaps the protester was standing up for immigrants who have contributed hugely to the U.S. economy for generations by harvesting food, milking cows and processing chickens to feed us.

Maybe the protester was voicing support for the hundreds of Afghan people who have immigrated to Vermont to avoid being killed for working with American troops in their homeland.

The protester might have been supporting the nurses, doctors, technicians and nursing assistants who have immigrated to the U.S. to work in hospitals, nursing homes and home care.

Waters did not mention that, in 2024, there was a bipartisan immigration reform bill that would have supported repairing our broken immigration system. What happened? Republicans blocked passage of the bill in order to satisfy then-candidate Donald Trump’s wish to abuse the issue in his campaign.

Republicans in Congress seem content to sit back while President Trump continues to break laws with impunity. That is what I mean when I say illegal.

Sally Cook

Burlington

Leadership, Not Silence

[Re “Lying Low: Gov. Phil Scott’s Subdued Response to President Donald Trump Is Frustrating Some Vermonters,” March 12]: We have been warned by historians and scholars that the slide into authoritarianism begins with people who give power away freely.

We are just over two months into this new administration, and the consequences are undeniable. This isn’t like last time. Anyone paying attention knows that. Vermonters are paying attention, as evidenced by the continuous protesting and the rise of grassroots groups across the state.

Vermont will not be immune to the turbulence gripping the nation. The stress felt by individuals around the state is palpable.

The people of Vermont deserve to hear from their governor. Gov. Phil Scott should convene a town hall. A town hall isn’t just a political courtesy; it’s a moral obligation. His job is not to stand up to the president, but it is to stand up for Vermonters. And if the policies coming out of Washington, D.C., harm our communities, our environment or our values, then silence should not be an option.

He needs to be transparent about where he agrees with his Republican Party and where he does not.

Vermonters are angry. Vermonters are afraid. And we are right to be. Scott can either acknowledge that reality and lead — or he can continue and watch as his party takes the state and the nation down a dangerous path.

Karen Cotrone

New Haven

‘Don’t Mourn; Organize’

[Re “Thousands of Vermonters Turn Out to Protest Trump, Musk,” April 5]: As I prepared for the Hands Off demonstration on April 5, thoughts of August 28, 1963, came to mind.

As a 17-year-old part-time employee at the Smithsonian Institution, while sitting on a bench eating lunch, I watched thousands of people march down the National Mall on their way to the Washington Monument to hear Martin Luther King Jr. speak. Seeing the March on Washington showed me the power of being united for a cause. That day sparked the work that influenced the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“Power to the people” and “Don’t mourn; organize” are more than phrases. We must remember that evil wins when good people do nothing.

Join protests or drive by and honk, as both show support for one another. Participate in any way you can. Through our united actions, “We shall overcome.”

David Rosen

Bristol

On to Saunders

I can see exactly what Education Secretary Zoie Saunders is doing [“Public Education: Zoie Saunders Would Prefer to Lead Vermont’s Schools From Behind the Scenes. But She Can’t Escape the Spotlight,” March 26]. She is manufacturing the corporate takeover of Vermont’s public schools. This is evident as Saunders hired an outside company, Denver-based APA Consulting, to develop her proposal. Being a Democrat means nothing when you favor corporate schemes over local knowledge and culture.

I appreciate the quote from Don Tinney, president of the Vermont-NEA teachers’ union. It’s very telling. If Saunders truly valued the unique culture of Vermont’s public schools, she would develop a plan that supported them and ensured their survival for current and future children, not one that will decimate them while boosting corporate profits.

If Saunders truly listened to Vermonters, she would address skyrocketing health insurance and construction costs, more money leaving communities and lining the pockets of greedy corporations at the expense of local schools.

Ethan Stein

Burlington

‘More Than Playground Lights’

Thank you, Seven Days, for an inclusive article about Vermont education [“Public Education: Zoie Saunders Would Prefer to Lead Vermont’s Schools From Behind the Scenes. But She Can’t Escape the Spotlight,” March 26]. Educators have created innovative and affordable curricula and learning styles. Sports, music, drama and the arts complement academics. During COVID-19, educators were asked to do many additional tasks. We all learned how critical a school community can be.

Vermont is rich with learning models. The $400,000 paid to Denver-based APA Consulting would have gone a long way for our schools. Retired-teacher associations throughout Vermont are structured to provide useful information. Enlisting classroom teachers — experience — is a good way to embrace the future education of all students. It is more than benches and playground lights.

Ruth Furman

Jericho