Got a haircut this morning.
“Bully for you,” I hear you say. “Want a lollipop?”
Well, no. I bring it up because a classic barbershop conversation brought home a grim reality: Downtown Montpelier is in serious trouble and will never be the same. This, despite the robust community support for many businesses and the prospect of state and federal relief.
My barber plied her wares on Elm Street until July 10. After the flood, she quickly found new quarters on the Barre-Montpelier Road.
And she has no plans to move back, even though her business has “Elm Street” right in its name.
While I was in the chair, a familiar gent came in and sat down. Turned out he was the owner of Capitol Copy, a long-established downtown business we’ve patronized for years. He made it clear he had no plans to reopen, a decision he made easily and without regret. He also said he’d heard that another major downtown business was not going to reopen, in part because the landlord apparently had no plans to restore the property, which also contains two other businesses.
The press accounts of Montpelier’s recovery have tended to emphasize the positive: the robust community response, the doughty merchants rolling up their sleeves and getting down to work. But this encounter made me think that the real picture is much darker — that despite all the happy stories and successful fundraisers, Montpelier’s business district is in serious trouble.
In fact, the heart of downtown is in danger of emptying out unless serious changes are made in construction practices, zoning, planning, and land use — not only in Montpelier itself, but throughout central Vermont. It’s going to take some serious work to save Montpelier, not to mention all the other river-adjacent communities that don’t enjoy the same level of community support as our capital city.
Let’s take the absolute best-case scenario for a downtown merchant. Their GoFundMe campaign gets great returns. Customers show up in droves to help out. They get significant relief from state or federal sources — so much so that they can restore their business to its pre-flood state without incurring debt.
Even so, you’d have to be a fool to rebuild.
This was the third “hundred-year event” in the past 31 years — the flood of 1992, Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, and now this. It’s absolutely certain there will be more disasters, more ruinous rainstorms, more ice jams on our rivers. If that’s the case, why in hell would anyone risk their livelihoods by locating in Montpelier? Or Barre? Or Johnson? Or Ludlow or Weston or [insert your town here]?
The answer is, they wouldn’t — unless there’s a wide-ranging effort to build with resilience and prevention as top priorities in ways that will change the look and feel of the city and the surrounding region. And you know how Vermonters typically react to change. My fellow Smith Brother, Dave Gram, has posted a piece on VTDigger envisioning a downtown with no basements, parking on the ground level, and all the buildings moved to higher ground. He suggests turning College Hill into a business district.
Yeah, that’s not happening. But he’s dead right. The flood zone is no place for a working downtown.
Let’s say you don’t take things quite that far. You do have to eliminate basements and put stuff on the ground floor that can ride out a flood. Downtown architecture will have to change. Things won’t look the same. They can’t.
But that’s not all. A big part of resilience is rethinking our rivers and streams so they have room to breathe. More floodplains, more wetlands. Development will have to be controlled and concentrated. We’ll have to allow much denser housing. No more 10-acre minimum lots. No more building wherever you want, even if it’s lovely to live on a river or stream.
This is only one small part of how climate change will force adaptation in every aspect of our lives — if, in fact, we are able to survive in any meaningful way at all. Vermont will not be held harmless. We can’t expect it to stay anything like the same. We have to turn our attention away from preservation and toward reinvention to accommodate living on an increasingly angry planet.
The Vermont Political Observer. 
Amen to that.
The planet is only shifting as necessary to reshape as needed. There is no emotion or intention involved.
Moving with the energy of the reshaping is the path of flow and/or love. Pressing against it creates dissonance. The anger comes in from the loss and grief of having to let go of what was. This is ours to process. Villainizing the planet only creates more suffering. A shift in perspective is pertinent to move with her.
You’re right: Montpelier isn’t moving to College Avenue. Nor need it. Let’s make it a second story city, with flood resilient first floors. Costly, very costly, but in my view the approach to take. It would be a recommitment to a vibrant downtown, a commitment to the capitol itself, and a way, one hopes, to turn the too-frequent (but still occasional) floods into nuisances merely, rather than events destructive of a 200-year history. We are in Waterbury and were flooded by Irene and again (though less consequentially) on July 11th. Our plan, today, is to raise the house and, by doing so, to give ourselves a floodable garage. We regret not seeing this response as clearly in 2011 as we do now. I don’t mean to sound cavalier. My wife and I are fortunate that we have (or have access to) the resources to do this. But it seems to me that this is the kind of action that the state ought to be thinking about generally. It’ll be a long process, but I think it’s worth the effort. Humans came down off the mountains after the last ice age and settled near water for a reason. I’m not quite ready yet to retreat.
I fully agree that there’s no need to destroy a 200 year old history. Moving one floor higher is probably possible in most buildings. While adaptation to climate chaos is necessary – of course – there’s no need to throw the baby out with the flood waters. New construction doesn’t have to be ugly; the traditionally human scale cityscape we all love doesn’t have to be thrown to the dogs. My hope is that many existing buildings could be restored in ways that (as this author puts it) owners can “put stuff on the ground floor that can ride out a flood.” But WHY does it follow that “Downtown architecture will have to change. Things won’t look the same. They can’t.?” We all know that modern architecture can too often be labelled as “Corporate Sterile” – i.e., it’s ugly – lacking in warmth, human scale and charm. Adapt, absolutely. But let’s not ruin what makes this area so well loved by residents and visitors alike. Who wants another “Anytown, U.S.A?” Developers may want the pared-down costs, but doing what they want would be “biting the hand that feeds us.” Central Vermont and Montpelier area residents should have plenty of input, and the solidarity to make their wishes stick.
There are plenty of choices between “just like it is” and “Corporate Sterile.”
It’s very clear that we can’t keep re-doing what we’ve been doing. Major storms will only become more frequent. This is going to happen more often. At the very, very least, the center is going to have to move uphill.
It’s so tragic to see the downtown of Montpelier now. It was once so vibrant, a sort of different and smaller version of Church Street. Now it’s just hollow shells. I don’t know what the answer is, but you’re right with this column. It can’t be the same any longer. The next 100 year disaster might be in a year or two the way that our climate is getting so messed up so fast. Hell, we may not even have time for that change before the next titanic flood comes in.
Very true but TPTB are trapped in the past….and are determined to trap the younger generations in order to milk them to support their wanton, profligate and often criminals ‘lifestyle’. No hope….we will just squander immense resources and further wreck the planet to preserve the aesthetics of white mc affluence.
Seattle rebuilt one floor higher after a fire in 1889. Montpelier could do something similar. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Underground
Need to dredge the rivers. No room for all the water. Rivers have gotten wider but not as deep. Common sense
Dredging makes matters worse. “Channeling” rivers by straightening and deepening makes the water more powerful and destructive. Been doing it for a century or so and we’re paying for it now. The effects are even worse in Vermont because of all the mountains.
Absolutely not the thing to do. Dredging makes it worse.
See: https://vtdigger.org/2023/07/29/logs-in-the-river-keep-them-there-vermont-officials-advise/
This following goes a *little* beyond so called common sense and brings in expert knowledge. It seems that common sense is what got us in trouble to begin with.
You might find it interesting…
https://www.vermontpublic.org/podcast/brave-little-state/2023-07-14/why-vermont-streams-have-become-more-powerful-and-how-that-fuels-devastating-flooding
Absolutely!
My family has often stated this. We understand why the practice was halted but it has brought a host of problems, so let’s address more environmentally sound dredging. It’s time!
Whenever a national or state government embraces far left liberalism and socialism, one of the things you will see, slowly at first, then quickly (as someone once said), is economic decline, as people don’t want to work and want to live off the government. Meanwhile, those same government officials (think the Democratic and Progressive supermajority in Montpelier) vote themselves more and more largesse from the public treasury. The flood has only compounded what was already in decline due to our socialist-leaning leadership in Montpelier, and the voters who keep them in power. Socialism does not promote economic prosperity. Quite the opposite. As long as Vermont voters keep having a love affair with far left government (socialism) you will not see economic prosperity. Gone are the days of Jim Douglas and his fellows prior to him. Now we have a bunch of mini Bernies in Montpelier, voting themselves pay raises while the homeless and flood victims and others suffer. Good luck, Vermonters. You voted for this. And yes, I DO FEEL very sympathetic for the flood victims. But Montpelier was already in decline before the flood. The Vermont Legislature was much more interested in ensuring abortion all nine months, abortion tourism, propping up Planned Parenthood economically, etc. and other sexual agendas than they were with economic recovery, the homeless, etc. I don’t see this trend changing anytime soon. The flood exacerbated the situation, but the decline was already there. Yes, this is only my opinion — shared by quite a few other Vermonters, I might add.
“Quite a few others” who are largely invisible on Election Day.
Fubarvt, don’t change the topic. We are talking about Vermont, not the whole nation. My comment was totally relevant to Vermont, who has numerous times gladly elected a federal Congressman (Bernie), who openly proclaims himself a Socialist. I don’t recall FDR ever saying he was a Socialist, or am I wrong? Are you saying openly that FDR was a Socialist?? If you are, finally a liberal admits it. Socialism is nowhere to be found in the U.S. Constitution. Vermont is one of the more economically depressed states in the nation while at the same time being one of the most heavily taxed. The Democratic/Progressive supermajority in the VT Legislature leans heavily Socialist. You accuse me of being a right-winger because I point out the obvious. If the voters of Vermont have a love affair with Socialism, they need to accept the privations that will come with it. Socialism ALWAYS ruins a nation’s (or a state’s) economy eventually. Vermont does not really believe in capitalism any more, but in heavy government regulation. And as far as Republican economic policies ruining the Vermont economy (you referenced the nation but again I am talking about Vermont) — you can’t pin that one on the Republicans. They have not held a majority in the Vermont Legislature for, what, 30 years? The liberal Democrats and Progressives who embrace far-left ideas and Socialism have run the state for approximately 30 years. They own Vermont’s whole economic mess. They continually talk about fixing things but have NOT done so. They never will never fix Vermont’s economic mess. They just make it worse. It keeps them in power to perpetuate it and keep people dependent on the government. Our Legislature seems to have plenty of money for Planned Parenthood, to cite but one example, but little for what truly matters. The state’s embrace of Bernie’s false gospel of Socialism is to blame for much of our economic woe.
Vermont is not, by any measure, “one of the more economically depressed states in the nation.” That list is dominated by red states.
Uh-no. What socialism? Economic decline — or at leas the widening chasm of wealth inequity started with Reagan and the war on taxes. It’s been a steady sh@tshow ever since. The only expensive socialism practiced in recent years has been the propping up of failed business and banks… by Obama and Biden, incidentally. Once again, business, not the people benefited. Get a clue.
100% correct
What a load of politically biased crap. The Montpelier downtown was doing fine. Where is your evidence that it was in decline? Your words come off reminiscent of Jerry Fawell. Like the flood is God’s divune retribution to punish the heathen socialists in the state house. What does the political composition of Vermont government have to do with the recent flooding? Let me take a wild guess; you thonk globalwarming is a hoax made up by liberals. I’m so tired of everything being politicized. These people have lostvtgeir livelihoods and you want to score political points. Disgusting.
Not this one. The best of both worlds is possible, and ANY freeloaders need ousted. Robust economies can be rife with cold profiteers and grifters. Vermonters are smart enough to renew and rejuvenate without throwing out the proverbial baby and bathwater!
“Whenever a national or state government embraces far left liberalism and socialism…”
I always chuckle at the right wingers talking about us liberals embracing “far left liberalism and socialism,” and being dependent on the government, which merely returns to us what we are paying into it.
It should be noted here, however, that the dams like the Waterbury Dam and the Wrightsville Dam that prevented a catastrophe from becoming an annihilation were built by a far left liberal and socialist president, the most socialist we’ve had so far (who was socialist enough to fight WWII) under a purely socialist program called the New Deal. You’ll never hear the right wingers say that, but these projects of the far left during the worst economic depression that we’ve had so far, caused by Republican economic policies, is one reason why our state wasn’t completely drowned this July.
Truth – as anyone who’s learned even a little U S. history knows. No point stating facts to far-right believers in nonsense. They know so little that they’ll believe anything – the exact reason Trumpolini said “I love the poorly educated.”
Flood plains are flood plains. And with regard to climate change, people still don’t want to acknowledge the “inconvenient truth.” Talk about stolen elections: (https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/02/politics/bush-gore-oconnor-supreme-court-2000/index.html)
I think the new Central Vermont/Berlin mall can finally go upscale-ish, and that would be a good thing! I bet their rent is a lot cheaper too!
As usual we have to have the right wing interject with a rant against democrats and ” socialists.” Yawn. What does any of your right wing BS have to do with the floods we just experienced?
It’s worth looking at how Rise Up Bakery in Barre fared (and what they did to prepare). My understanding was that the building was built to be very flood resilient – all their electrical infrastructure was raised out of the flood zone, probably HVAC raised as well, walls with removable (and maybe cleanable?) panels and the studs were painted to resist mold growth. My understanding is that they got back in business very, very quickly, and while they probably lost some equipment that couldn’t be moved they didn’t do that badly all things considered. Apparently the old labor hall next door also had invested in a bunch of flood mitigation measures that failed, so it’s a worthwhile case study in what works and what doesn’t.
Rebuilding in that kind of way won’t work everywhere, and it’ll be harder for businesses with inventory that’s harder to move (and businesses will need to deal with disruptions to move their inventory upstairs for false alarms in the future), but it will work for some.
I find it fascinating that people who sling the right-winger label in my direction for pointing out Vermont’s love affair with Socialism conveniently forget that there is prima facie evidence of that truth. We have proudly sent Bernie Sanders — a self-proclaimed Socialist — to Congress for decades. There are three kinds of Socialism: National Socialism, Democratic Socialism, and Scientific Socialism. The noun never changes. Vermont has a love affair with Socialism and other leftist programs and policies. Our economy is NOT doing okay. It is slowly imploding. Montpelier is not doing okay. Neither is Burlington. And with some of the wrong-headed legislation passed in Montpelier this year, much worse is yet to slam the ordinary tax-paying citizens of this state. Socialism and its belief system always ruins a state or a nation’s economy eventually. Socialism is NOT the form of government set up for the USA in the Constitution.