But those differences pale in comparison to Greg's reaction to Mayor Weinberger's many unwelcome proposals. We already know, for example, that the mayor is promoting an “anything goes” housing boom. It's "build, baby, build!" – any place in the city, up to 8 stories high. Meanwhile, he stands on the sidelines while the city’s few remaining open spaces are over-developed -- that is, when he isn't making stealth deals for a waterfront hotel and other major projects he declines to discuss until after the election. His proposals and policies will triple the city's retail space, replace working families and local artists with wealthier newcomers, and turn the city into a resort town.
To do this, he's speculating with public funds in the form of Tax Incremental Financing bonds geared to the plans of his developer friends, while trivializing democracy by replacing transparency with press conferences and the engineering of consent.
Wimping Out on the F-35s
Until weeks ago, Steve Goodkind didn’t have an opinion. When asked about F-35 basing at the Progressive Caucus in December, he claimed that he wasn’t familiar with the issue, yet also asserted that he would have found a better way to resolve it. Easy enough to say. A few weeks later, when asked about the jets again, he said the fight was over. Here’s something on which he and the mayor apparently agree – they both say the matter is settled and we should just move on.
Is Steve wrong? Absolutely, both on the
facts and on the politics.
Greg
Guma's Position: Last July a lawsuit
was filed in U.S. District Court to ensure that this basing decision really
meets environmental and legal standards. The plaintiffs are hundreds of area
residents and the Stop F-35 Coalition. It’s just one of several strategies
being pursued. Burlington should join that lawsuit and, as Winooski has
considered, allocate modest funding to help with the legal defense. If elected,
I will recommend $10,000 to start and ask the City Council to reconsider the
issue, with a full and balanced public debate. If residents want to place an
advisory vote on the local ballot, I can’t control the City Council, but I will
actively try to persuade them. And if they decline, I’ll support a petition drive
for an advisory vote.
This is not just about money – or even
about noise and jobs, as important as these are in the overall equation. It’s
also about the most expensive boondoggle in US military history. The F-35 is a prime example of how militarism
corrupts the entire political process.
Sen. Patrick Leahy supports the jet
because it will create some temporary jobs building an engine. He and others
also warn that, if we don’t let the federal government have what it wants, they
might close the National Guard base. This possibility is remote, and there is
no evidence. But if that is true, the Pentagon’s decision becomes more like an
occupation or a public seizure that will turn parts of South Burlington,
Burlington and Winooski into sacrifice areas – virtually uninhabitable
neighborhoods sacrificed in the name of national security. In any case, this
federal overreach should be resisted.
This fight is far from over. After the
federal government built the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, Vermonters
didn’t just roll over or walk away. We fought on for decades. And we constantly
heard objections about jobs, the economy, how we were unreasonable idealists
who wanted us all to live in the dark. We were ridiculed and told we couldn’t win.
Today the plant is closed!
Let’s not suffer through decades with
another federally-imposed mistake.
STOP THE F-35 AND SAVE OUR SKIES ENDORSE
GREG GUMA'S STATEMENT ON BASING OF THE F-35s
GREG GUMA'S STATEMENT ON BASING OF THE F-35s
"The F-35 is a prime example of how militarism corrupts the entire political process." Furthermore, it corrupts a community on every level, warping our sense of priorities placing a horribly expensive and flawed war machine above fiscal responsibility, the environment, and social programs that go begging while the war hog slurps at the trough. The planes flying overhead are more than noise, they are fear mongers. I think of children who have come here from war torn countries, and how emotional it must be for them when the F-16s are screaming overhead. The tentacles of militarism are increasing their grip on Burlington, on UVM, on the job market. Arghhhhh.
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