Council Dems Call for Crackdown at City Hall Park

Burlington Democrats want the city to crack down on illegal behavior at City Hall Park, including overnight sleeping, following mounting pressure from downtown businesses and a pair of recent assaults.

City Council President Ben Traverse announced in a press release Thursday that he would be introducing a resolution at the August 25 council meeting that calls upon city officials to station cops at the park during “all open hours,” clear the park of people at night and “enforce all applicable statutes, ordinances, and regulations to the fullest extent necessary to end criminality and other unwelcome behaviors.”

The text of the proposal had not been published as of Friday morning. City ordinance prohibits camping in city parks between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., though sometimes a dozen or more homeless people sleep on blankets or the grass each night, as Seven Days recently reported. Parks department employees typically rouse sleepers each weekday morning.

City Hall Park got a $5.8 million makeover in 2020 that included a splash pad for kids. But drug use and dealing have remained persistent issues there, particularly since fentanyl fueled a resurgence of the opioid epidemic. The ongoing housing crisis has led to a spike in unsheltered homelessness.

The park also has been a site of deadly violence. In September 2022, a man was killed in an execution-style murder one night, even as numerous Vermont State Police and Burlington cops stood on watch a block away. Two people have been killed at downtown businesses — Red Square and Piesanos — in the last three years, as well.

In recent weeks, two more acts of violence took place in the vicinity of the park. On August 11, several juveniles attacked a man in the alleyway that connects the park to Church Street around 1:30 p.m; police were patrolling the park at the time and responded quickly.

Police have released very few details about the assault, but confirmed that the victim, whose name they have not released, died several days later at the hospital. They have not yet said whether the man’s death was caused by the assault; an autopsy has yet to be completed. The names of three juveniles who were apprehended have not been released, per state law.

Around bar close in the early morning hours of August 17, a man was struck in the head by what “appeared to be a rifle” after a “large disturbance broke out” on College Street near the park, according to police. The assailant then fired a shot into the air.

Police have not made any arrests in that case.

Despite problems, the park has remained a community gathering space. Burlington City Arts hosts midday concerts twice a week and other family-friendly events such as film screenings. Sherpa Foods and Deerly Yours Boba serve momos and bubble tea from a kiosk daily.

It was not immediately clear Friday how the city might carry out the enforcement approach that Democrats seek. The city has recently increased patrols downtown, including at City Hall Park, but the department remains short staffed. The city’s two urban park rangers, whose work was profiled in a Seven Days cover story earlier this month, do not work overnight hours.

Earlier this summer, Democrats on City Council pressured Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak to move more aggressively to halt a free-lunch service for homeless people that volunteers have provided for several years out of the Marketplace Parking Garage. Their resolution passed following a bitter debate. The activists who run the lunch declined to accept the mayor’s office of $10,000 to help them relocate. Instead, they moved to City Hall Park, and a second food service program has begun serving in the park, too.

Progressive councilor Gene Bergman (P-Ward 2) said Friday that he hadn’t seen the language of the Democrats’ forthcoming resolution. He agreed that behavior in City Hall Park is a problem, but said he thinks councilors should work together to bring forward a “collaborative” resolution.

Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak said she couldn’t endorse a resolution that calls for clearing out the park, noting that such a move would only push unwanted activity elsewhere in the city. She’s also wary of promising things the city can’t deliver.

“We need police officers to respond to more acute calls, so they can’t be standing at the park the whole time,” she said. “But we are also trying to explore how we can utilize other staff … to do some more presence and interruption of those behaviors in a way that continues to adapt to our existing, limited resources.”

Mulvaney-Stanak said she’s discussed the matter with Traverse, who seemed amenable to some of her proposed changes.

Monday’s council meeting begins at 6:15 p.m.

Courtney Lamdin contributed reporting.