The City Council’s bipartisan, 9-2, vote today on the City Hall Park resolution is a recognition that we need to do more to ensure our downtown spaces work for everyone. Recent incidents have raised concerns about safety and accessibility in City Hall Park. Families who once used the park as a place for play and connection are now choosing to stay away, which is a loss for our community. At the same time, people struggling with addiction and mental health challenges aren’t getting the support they need. Both realities point to the same conclusion: we have more work to do, and the city needs more resources to do that work.

Today’s resolution is a practical step toward restoring a sense of safety in our downtown. It reinforces the efforts to ensure consistent public safety personnel presence during park hours, enforcement of our current rules and ordinances, and measures to address criminal activity while asking city staff to report on current capacity and propose solutions.

Meeting this moment cannot be the work of one entity or one leader. We must empower community members, direct-service organizations, and businesses to bring forth new solutions that will have an intentional and broad impact.

We must work collaboratively with the Mayor’s Office and the state to leverage additional resources to provide support for those in need outside of our downtown core, while at the same time working to deter and curb illegal activity in our streets.  

We must shift the focus of our efforts toward empowering a full-scale community response that addresses root causes. We must support individuals to get off the streets, into temporary emergency housing, into effective mental health and treatment programs, and ultimately into more stable, long-term housing. At the same time, we cannot have any tolerance of open illegal drug use and dealing in public spaces. We must be focused on creating pathways out of crisis, in addition to stricter enforcement.

Building Burlington’s Future supports today’s resolution and the council’s vote, but it’s clear the city must go even further to foster genuine community safety in our downtown. BBF is committed to working with city leaders on these long-term solutions.