Tag Archives: The Bridge

The City of Montpelier Needs a Lot Less of This

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Montpelier is in the beginning stages of a social and economic shift, and the city will have to make some significant changes if it wants to take advantage of emerging opportunities and avoid being left in the dust.

The evidence is outlined in a pair of recent stories by Phil Dodd in The Bridge, the city’s twice-monthly free newspaper. The first, published in mid-April, recounts the struggles of downtown merchants due to a dramatic drop in foot traffic. The second, posted on May 7, describes a “weak” market for downtown office space.

The root cause is a significant increase in remote working, first triggered by the Covid pandemic and intensified by last summer’s flooding — and likely to be exacerbated by the ongoing buildout of high-speed Internet. One example: The Vermont League of Cities and Towns, which has sublet part of its City Center offices because almost all of its 50 employees now work remotely. Right there, that’s 40 or more people no longer spending weekdays downtown, getting coffee, eating lunch, and running errands.

The big enchilada, as always, is the State of Vermont. Dodd doesn’t cite numbers, but it appears that a large percentage of state workers are now working from home. I can tell you anecdotally that it’s a whole lot easier to park near the Statehouse than it was before Covid.

Historically, downtown Montpelier has thrived on the foot traffic generated by all those office workers. Now it’s going to have to reinvent itself. My suggestion: Cut down on parking and build more housing. Lots more housing. Turn Montpelier into a living space. It’s a natural, thanks to its small footprint and the presence of key merchants like Shaw’s and Aubuchon Hardware. Easily navigable on foot or by bike or mobility device.

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Further Adventures in “Slum Management”

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The pace of news continues at breakneck speed on our developing and self-inflicted dehousing crisis. This installment’s title is courtesy of Barre Mayor John Hemmerick, whose city is desperately trying to plan for the first installment of The Great Dehousing, which is now only a couple of days away.

In central Vermont, two charities have combined to raise over $15,000 (the goal is $20K; chip in here if you can) for tents and sleeping bags and such to distribute to the soon-to-be-unsheltered. The city of Montpelier is looking into a possible winter shelter at the city’s Recreation Center, and Barre is hoping to offer shelter at the Barre Auditorium. The problem there is not so much setting it up, as staffing it. The city doesn’t have the means, and local shelter operators are already doing everything they can.

Both cities are discussing the seemingly inevitable encampments that will follow Our Great Leaders’ decision to end the motel voucher program that provides shelter to 80% of Vermont’s unhoused. Mayor Hemmerick offered this comment to The Bridge:

It is a sad day in America and Vermont when tiny municipal governments must look to … informal settlement and slum management policies to do the unthinkable in the wealthiest nation on earth: sanction substandard encampments and living conditions.

Slum management, folks. That’s where we’re at in good old caring old Vermont.

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…And It Begins

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Even as the Legislature moves forward with a budget that will end the motel voucher program this spring, local people are preparing to deal with the consequences. One little piece of that is covered in the new issue of The Bridge, Montpelier’s twice-monthly paper, in a front page story entitled “Local Orgs Prep for 30% Increase in Homeless Population.” (The above photo accompanies the online version of the story.)

The story outlines the frantic preparation efforts involving municipal officials and local nonprofits. It’s pretty damn daunting stuff, and I’m sure a parallel version could be written in any one of Vermont’s cities and larger towns — well, those blessed with an active media presence, anyway.

Short version: Local shelters are full, and the end of the voucher program will increase the area’s unhoused population by an estimated 30%. Two nonprofits that provide shelter and assistance, Good Samaritan Haven and Another Way, are trying to raise $20,000 to pay for camping supplies, food, medical supplies, and other basics.

Yeah, “camping supplies.” We’re giving tents to our unhoused and sending them out to fend for themselves.

The city of Montpelier allocated $425,000 in its current budget for addressing homelessness. That money is likely to run out. The city may open another shelter in its Barre Street Recreation Center, but would have to bear the cost of preparations (the building has issues with lead, asbestos, and lack of accessibility). and would need someone to operate it. Good Samaritan says it doesn’t have the capacity to do so.

These are small-bore examples of what I’ve said before: The costs resulting from ending the voucher program will exceed the cost of extending it. But the state won’t have to pay, at least not directly, so the budget writers can pretend these consequences don’t exist. At least for now.

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