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Burlington
Pursues Controversial City Plan: Urban Renewal by Fire is all the Rage
Please click here
for an interactive tour of the VSF experience in downtown Burlington
 Burlington, Vermont has a long history of following
the most fashionable trends in urban renewal. For example, since the
early 1800s this stylish city has favored fire as the method of choice
when redesigning the city’s urban landscape. Arson has consistently
played an important role in this beatification scheme, targeting several
churches in Burlington’s historic downtown neighborhoods. City
sanctioned burns have also been important. Such events, including the
1829 celebratory burning of a streetcar to mark the end of streetcar
service in Burlington, prove once again that Burlington is a city with
its eyes on the future.
Modernity may not be all it’s cracked up to be
however, as many Burlingtonians have worked to preserve some of the
city’s historic buildings. Such sites include the Howard Opera House
(1878) and the Federal Building (1907). These brick and stone
structures have served many purposes through the decades, including as
private, state and federal offices, and storefronts. Many residents
argue that Burlington needs to do more to preserve these buildings and
others.
 According to Joseph Frank, a third generation
Burlingtonian, retired attorney, and historic tour guide extraordinaire,
urban renewal by fire is not the only thing that makes the city an
attractive place to visit or call home. Some of the other boastful
aspects of Burlington includes serving as the home of
Garry Davis, one
time bomber pilot, Broadway actor, and founding member of the World
Citizenship Movement.
Burlington was also the home of H. Nelson Jackson, a physician who in
1903 became the first person to drive across the United States in a
car. He drove a Winton touring car, and took 64 days to complete the
trip (follow
his journey here).
After our tour of
downtown Burlington, the class reconvened at
City Hall,
to learn about the city's longstanding
commitment to environmental and social justice via the
Legacy Project.
 In a presentation by the Project's Co-Coordinator,
Jennifer Green, participants in VT Field
Studies learned about a variety of sub-projects and programs from the
Don't "P" On Your Lawn campaign
(to reduce the amount of phosphorus being applied as lawn fertilizer and
running off into Lake Champlain) to the on-going development of a
municipal Climate Action Plan (report to be published early 2009), which
seeks to revamp its outdated predecessor -- the first of its kind for a
city government in the US! -- with one that establishes solid goals,
both short-term and for the long run, while including stakeholders from
throughout the community. To start getting involved in VT,
participate in the next
Town Meeting.
This longstanding tradition offers everyone the chance to weigh in on
the most important issues facing Vermont.
 After Jennifer's presentation, we heard from 2nd year graduate student,
Lexie Reiss regarding her research on land-use
planning through the use of dynamic modeling (click
here for details). There are numerous ways for graduate students to plug into all of the
wonderful work going on around Burlington and in the greater Vermont --
this was certainly one of the overarching themes of our week-long
exploration! Burlington's City Hall is rife with opportunities to make
a difference on the municipal scale and our input, as bright, invested
and low-cost environmental activists, is both needed and valued. Get
involved!
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