Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger isn't seeking re-election in 2024: What people are saying

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger will not seek re-election in March 2024, which will be the end of his fourth term and 12 years in office.

Weinberger has been in office since 2012, making his tenure one of the longest in Burlington's history. The 53-year-old Democrat beat Wanda Hines (I) and Kurt Wright (R) to win his first election.

In 2021, Weinberger beat Progressive runner-up Max Tracy by less than 200 votes. The Progressive Party is already talking about who will seek the position in 2024.

Burlington will decide their next mayor on Town Meeting Day in March 2024. That will be Weinberger's last month in office.

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What Weinberger says he accomplished

Weinberger made the announcement Thursday at the Burlington City Arts Studios on Church Street, which he picked because it was where he first announced he planned to run for mayor of the city.

“After twelve years – the longest unbroken stretch of any mayor – with the pandemic behind us, the economy largely recovered, and investment and progress on track to continue, I have decided that now is the right time for me to conclude my service as mayor," he said.

Weinberger touted a number of successes and changes during his years in office. He is proud of the improvement in the city's bond rating to Aa3 rating and keeping "local taxes well below the rate of increase of state property taxes," according to this statement. He also talked about the creation of the Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging and Business and Workforce Development departments.

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Weinberger also talked about the increase in housing construction - more than 2,000 new homes since 2011. Since he took office "27% of all new housing units built were permanently affordable, and revenue to the Housing Trust Fund has increased more than 400%," according to this statement.

He also cited improvements in green and renewable energy consumption and production, the completion of the Downtown Transit Center, over $100 million of historic public investments as well as investments of federal and state money in the city’s infrastructure and buildings.

He also talked about activities that he has brought to downtown.

Criticisms of Weinberger

But those items were not without their issues and Weinberger has faced criticism for the persistence of homelessness in Burlington.

While the city does not count its homeless population, statewide there has been a 127% increase in the number of people who are homeless in Vermont, from 1,450 people in 2014 to 3,295 in 2023, according to a report by the Chittenden County Homeless Alliance and the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness.

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“I was homeless 11 years, and they’re afraid to interact with us, they’re afraid to talk to us,” said Cheryl Green, a Burlington resident, about the city administration. “Are you making some place where people can go? Winter’s gonna come, and everybody’s gonna be out here. People are gonna freeze to death this winter.”

Chittenden County has had a 79% increase in homelessness, from 423 homeless people in 2014 to 758 people in 2023.

Weinberger did build 30 shelter units in 2022, colloquielly referred to as "the pods" on Elmwood Avenue, which is about as many units were torn down when he ordered the demolition of the Sears Lane homeless encampment in 2021.

"I think the thing that stands out to me the most is the way the mayor would create a problem and people would congratulate him for solving that problem," said Dalton Bassett of the Burlington mutual aid organization Food Not Bombs. "Like, bulldozing homes at Sears Lane, and then building the Elmwood Pod Village. Some of the people that got unhoused at Sears Lane moved into the pod village, and to me that's just not a win."

Contact April Fisher at amfisher@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AMFisherMedia

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Miro Weinberger isn't running for Burlington mayor: What's the reaction