Posted on Wednesday, December 26, 2007 by
Michael •
Philip Baruth writes today about a controversy in Burlington’s New North End…
Fascinating little snafu in Burlington last week. A very hard-working local activist, Lea Terhune, called a meeting to organize against a new Senior Housing development slated for the Apple Tree Point section of Burlington’s New North End. Wet-land is at issue, and Terhune says that Infill Development Group’s project would “warehouse [seniors] in a swamp.”
When Infill representatives arrived at the meeting, they were barred from attending. The meeting was declared a private gathering of concerned neighbors and not a public meeting. The announcement that was posted on Front Porch Forum was not clear on this point and should have been. I certainly regret any misunderstandings.
FPF is breaking new ground… nothing else like it out there. So we openly request constructive feedback on ways to improve our service. And, as always, we invite participation (join your neighborhood forum in Chittenden County, VT, here). As Philip says…
What we do know is that the Front Porch Forum has now been elevated beyond a mere local-networking tool: it has become required political reading for those on any side of any issue, any policy debate, any ongoing campaign.