Geographic inequality for city council

If South Burlingtonians select challenger Matt Cota over Meaghan Emery, all five City Councilors will live south of the I-189 and I-89 interstate.

Meaghan is our only councilor living north of I-89. All the rest - Helen Riehle, Tom Chittenden, Tim Barritt, and Dave Kaufman live in the southerly part of South Burlington. If elected, Matt, who lives in the Cider Mill development, will join this geographic group.

Does it matter?

City Council grapples with a wide variety of issues. It’s human nature to for us to be especially aware of, and perhaps take special interest in, issues impacting our home and nearby neighborhood(s).

Meaghan’s home is on Myers Court in the neighborhood near the airport, Chamberlin School, Williston Road, and our new City Center. This area has an outsized impact, both positive and negative, on our community. It hosts much of our city’s lower and moderately priced housing, part of which is in jeopardy due to airport expansion that, coupled with our rapidly expanding fleet of F-35s, pose a series of possible negative consequences – hearing damage, crashes and being targeted for a nuclear first strike – to weigh against economic positives.

Before we vote March 3rd, we each must decide which candidates will most effectively shape the issues we feel are most important for South Burlington. In my view, issues related to the airport and area north of I-89 are immensely important to the health, safety, and even the existence of our city as we know it. For these and other reasons, I’ll be voting for Meaghan Emery to maintain some balance of geographic equality and advocacy on our city council. Who will you vote for, and why?

Rick Hubbard

South Burlington