Town Meeting Day
Celebrate Burlington 2011!
The event was a tremendous success on March 31. A culmination of Neighborhood Night of Success and the Legacy
Town Meeting, it honored the dozens of residents who volunteer their time to serve on a city board or commission. Over one hundred in attendance, it also was an opportunity to put ideas onto the drawing board to keep Burlington’s momentum moving forward on realizing the Legacy Plan’s goals.
Yacouba Jacob Bogre is the recipient of the 2011 Peter Clavelle Award for his work with the Association of Africans Living in Vermont and Jon Greisser is the recipient of the Herb Blumenthal Award for Community Activism for his work on the Old North End bike path entrance.
Town Meeting Day
Legacy hosts an Annual Town Meeting to celebrate community successes, determine next steps towards realizing the Legacy Vision, and to share information and data relevant to the Plan. The Legacy Town Meeting is also used as a venue to announce and honor the “Peter Clavelle Legacy Award” winner. The Peter Clavelle award winner is a community member selected by the Steering Committee for “outstanding efforts to make Burlington a More Sustainable Community and to Improve the Economic, Social and Environmental Health for Future Generations.” Jeanne Collins, Superintendent, Burlington School District, was honored in 2010. Jeanne has been Superintendent since 2005, and has launched alternative public schools in Vermont and Arizona. Superintendent Collins also serves on several committees and boards, including the Burlington Legacy Project. Jeanne was honored for her commitment to equity and excellence in the Burlington schools, as well as the successful launch of two new magnet schools: Sustainability Academy at Lawrence Barnes and the Integrated Arts Academy at H. O. Wheeler.
In addition, a true testimony of community engagement…this years Legacy Town meeting and 10 year evaluation saw a broader, more representative turnout of community members who attended and were able to weigh in around the existing (5) sectors which included: high quality education for all, a healthy natural environment, strong economic growth, and a commitment to social equity all outlined in the Legacy vision 2030. A very engaged process, when asked for input from the audience, participants created a new sector, “Diversity & Unity”, and easily surpassed all the other sectors by number of dots/votes.
Stay tuned as the Legacy Steering Committee continues to review and update the 10 year blueprint for Burlington to ensure successful growth and sustainability. Additional information on Town Meeting can be found here.
Legacy intern and UVM student Devon Byrne completed her taped interviews with key stakeholders (including Wanda Hines, Chapin Spencer, Melinda Moulton and former Mayor Peter Clavelle) about the history and successes of Legacy. These are now available here and will help market Legacy and its visioning process.