Outsider in the White House (9 page)

Voter turnout for the aldermanic elections hit an all-time high, and on election night, March 2, 1982, we had one wild celebration. Ward 1—victory. Ward 2—victory. Ward 3—victory. Ward 4—defeat. Ward 5—a runoff election between the Progressive and the Democrat as neither candidate received 40 percent of the vote. The Republican was defeated. Ward 6—a runoff between the Progressive and the Republican. The Democrat was defeated.

If my mayoral victory one year before had been regarded by some as a fluke, there could be no mistaking what was happening now. A political revolution had occurred in Burlington. The people had spoken, loudly and clearly. With a very high voter turnout, the citizens of Burlington informed the Democrats and Republicans that they wanted change—
real
change. Progressives were on the move.

As expected, the Democrats and Republicans combined their efforts for the runoff elections in Wards 5 and 6. The Republicans supported the Democrat in Ward 5, and the Democrats backed the Republican in Ward 6. Although our candidates ran very hard, both Joan and Huck lost.

Consequently, we did not capture a majority of the thirteen-member Board. (And we never did in my eight years as mayor.) But with the votes of Rik, Zoe, and Gary added to Sadie's and Terry's, we now at least had veto power. We could block any Democratic-Republican initiative. They had no other choice but to work with us. There was a new balance of power, and we could go forward.

My life as mayor was immediately made easier when the Board of Aldermen, suddenly seeing the light of day, decided to accept my appointments to various city positions. After a year as mayor, I finally had an administration. No longer would the mayor's advisers have to meet around my kitchen table to write the budget as volunteers. Now we could actually work at City Hall, and they would get paid for their work.

I was able to bring in a topnotch financial analyst, Jonathan Leopold, as treasurer. Jonathan revamped the city's entire financial operation, saving Burlington substantial sums of money. Barr Swennerfelt as assistant treasurer, Peter Clavelle as personnel director, Jim Dunn as assistant city attorney, Jim Rader as city clerk, David Clavelle as constable, and Steve Goodkind as city engineer rounded out my early appointments.

The Sanders administration and the Progressive Coalition were aggressive on all fronts. We were a very activist city government. The property tax, the major source of funding for education and municipal services in Vermont, is regressive because it is not based on ability to pay. Many senior citizens and working people were (and are) paying far more in property taxes than they can afford on their limited incomes. For seven straight years I did not raise the general property tax for homeowners in Burlington. At the same time, I fought hard for more progressive forms of taxation.

While I had strong backing from city residents in this fight, I did not have the support of the state legislature. In Vermont, municipalities must get approval for charter revisions from the state legislature. Time and again the legislature refused to approve the progressive charter changes that the people of Burlington had voted for—sometimes overwhelmingly. It was very disheartening, and one of the reasons I ran for governor in 1986. But more on that later.

Nonetheless, we did become the first municipality in Vermont to develop alternatives to the property tax. After a major struggle against many of the restaurant owners, we implemented a one percent room-and-meal tax. We also passed a classification system of taxation which raised to 120 percent the tax rate on commercial and industrial property. After a court battle, the utilities were forced to pay for the damage done when they tore up our streets for utility work. Following a heated battle with a cable TV company, and an effort on our part to create a municipally owned system, we managed to get substantial revenue from them and reduced rates for seniors.

The large tax-exempt institutions in the city, the University of Vermont and the Medical Center Hospital, successfully resisted most changes to the status quo. However, we did substantially increase payments from them for police and fire service. As a result of opposition from the governor and legislature, we were unable to generate the revenue we wanted from the municipally owned airport in South Burlington. But by taking over the administration of the large parking lot there, and deploying our own police officers for security, we did improve our cash flow.

Needless to say, our administration and movement were about more than progressive tax policy and efficient government. We were also about involving people in the process, about community, empowerment, fun, and excitement. For instance, the Mayor's Council on Women, which soon became the Burlington Women's Council, brought together women's organizations representing diverse professions and political orientations, from radical gay feminists to conservative businesswomen. Initiatives by the Women's Council included legislation, far ahead of its time, on domestic violence and specialized training for the police department, a study of “comparable worth” that resulted in a financial upgrading for many female municipal employees, and funding for a very successful program which trained low-income women in male-dominated, non-traditional types of employment, such as the building trades.

Jane O'Meara Driscoll, who later became my wife, headed up our Youth Office—first on a volunteer basis, later on the payroll. Jane launched a very successful municipally funded child care center, as well as a Teen Center. Everyone yells at teenagers and tells them to stay out of trouble and not do drugs. We offered them a social space, and opportunities for music and dance. Jane developed an afterschool program for younger kids, a youth newspaper, a theater program, a youth employment program, a summer garden project, and a public access TV show. She also implemented Operation Snow Shovel, a wonderful service program through which young people cleared snow for the elderly and disabled.

We started a number of cultural activities that took art into the streets. A jazz festival—with free concerts and music on our buses. A blues festival. A reggae festival. A country music festival. A chew-chew festival. Free summer concerts in the park. A First Night event on December 31, attended by thousands of people. Almost all of these events continue to this day.

One of my favorite evenings was a poetry reading in which Allen Ginsberg joined Burlington schoolchildren to read their poems in Burlington City Hall. Noam Chomsky, perhaps the best-known radical author in America, spoke to a full house in City Hall. Studs Terkel visited us during a Workers' Rights celebration. Abbie Hoffman, Dave Dellinger, and I spoke on a panel in what turned out to be a very amusing evening. Ella Fitzgerald showcased a jazz festival. Burlington was becoming one of the most exciting and culturally alive small cities in the country.

These brief descriptions of the councils' work imply that implementation of their programs was a breeze. But the creation of the councils was a major political struggle, complete with blood, sweat, and tears. Almost every funding request was accompanied by vituperative and vicious debate. Everything was partisan. Nothing came easy.

I remember a letter to the editor written by an older man that said: “I don't know anything about this socialism, but Sanders is doing a good job repaving the streets.” My administration never lost sight of the fact that, while broadening the scope of city government and developing new policy were important and satisfying, we could never forget about taking care of the basics. And in this area, we out-Republicaned the Republicans.

We expanded and improved the Police Department, and began the process of paying our officers a living wage. Ironically, one of my major allies in improving the Police Department was Tony Pomerleau, the chairman of the Police Commission and one of the wealthiest people in the state. (It was Tony's disastrous high-rise condominium waterfront development project that I had campaigned against in 1981.) Tony became such a good ally on police matters that he lost the support of the Democrats and Republicans and had to be reappointed with Progressive votes.

We upgraded the very expensive and life-saving trucks and apparatus used by the Fire Department. We merged the Street and Water Departments, and created a much more efficient Public Works Department, with new and more capable leadership. We developed and implemented a major street repaving program. We purchased an entirely new fleet of snow removal vehicles, and developed a new and more effective snow removal plan. And we brought in competent managers to run the city departments.

We instituted the largest and most costly environmental improvement program in the state's history: a $52 million city-state-federal project to rebuild our sewer system, upgrade our wastewater plants, and stop the pollution of Lake Champlain. We shut down the environmentally unsound landfill, and killed a proposed trash-burning plan that would have been both an environmental and fiscal catastrophe.

We initiated an extensive waterfront beautification plan. The previous mayor had supported a disastrous high-rise condominium project for the downtown waterfront. After an enormous amount of public discussion and fierce debate, we ended up with a very successful people-oriented waterfront of public parks, a nine-mile bike path, and a community boathouse. Today, cyclists can travel from one end of Burlington to the other. Swimming is free of charge at any one of four public parks. We've got some nice athletic facilities as well.

We also developed some very innovative concepts in affordable housing. Against opposition from a segment of the local real estate industry, we became the first city in America to fund community land-trust housing. Through the Burlington Community Land Trust, working-class people were able to purchase their own homes at a lower cost than offered on the commercial market. The housing remains affordable in perpetuity because the owners must agree not to resell the property at market rates, accepting only a reasonable and limited return on their investment.

Working with a tenant organization and nonprofit housing groups, we prevented the largest subsidized housing development in the state, Northgate, from being converted into expensive condominiums. With a federal grant secured by Senator Leahy, and other sources of funding, we managed to convert that development into a cooperatively owned housing project—and saved 336 units for people with modest incomes. Through a variety of mechanisms, we were also able to build a number of units of affordable housing.

We also improved life for low-income people in Burlington's public housing. Every year I was able to appoint one new member to the Burlington Housing Authority. At the end of three years we finally had a majority, at which point we brought in an outstanding new director, Mike McNamara, who made major improvements in city-run low-income and senior citizen housing.

While we were able to pass the most sweeping tenants' rights legislation in the state, we were not successful in our major pro-tenant initiative, rent control. In 1982, the landlord organization defeated us decisively in a citywide vote on that issue. They raised a substantial sum of money, hired a consultant, and outpoliticked us.

In 1983, working with a citizen's committee led by local businessman Tom Racine, we managed to bring minor league baseball to Burlington. After interminable discussions with the owner of an AA Eastern League franchise and the Cincinnati Reds, minor league baseball returned to Burlington after a hiatus of thirty years. We worked out a deal with the University of Vermont to use their field, and the Vermont Reds became a huge success. In their first year, they drew over 120,000 fans. The team won three straight Eastern League championships and, amazingly, were one of the great minor league teams of their time. At least a half dozen players on the Vermont Reds became major leaguers, including such stars as Kal Daniels, Paul O'Neill, Chris Sabo, Jeff Montgomery, and Jeff Treadway.

I happen to think that Burlington is one of the most beautiful cities in America. But the truth is that a number of cities have nice waterfronts, good streets, honest police departments, and even minor league baseball. But how many cities of 40,000 have a foreign policy? Well, we did.

As you may recall, I was not the only elected official in America during the 1980s. There was that other fellow, Ronald Reagan. Many Burlingtonians, including myself, supported the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. President Reagan did not. We disagreed with him. We expressed our displeasure.

Somewhere in the Reagan archives, or wherever these things are kept, is a letter from the mayor of Burlington on this subject. There are also official proclamations from the Burlington Board of Aldermen, made after long and emotional public hearings. “Stop the war against the people of Nicaragua! Use our tax dollars to feed the hungry and house the homeless. Stop killing the innocent people of Nicaragua.”

This was an issue that many of us in the progressive movement felt very strongly about. Not only was the war against Nicaragua illegal and immoral, it was an outrageous waste of taxpayer money. As a mayor, I wanted more federal funds for affordable housing and economic development. I did not want to see taxpayer dollars going to the CIA for an appalling war. While most of the Democrats and Republicans on the Board of Aldermen disagreed, to us this was very much a municipal issue.

In 1985, I was invited by the Nicaraguan government to visit Managua for the seventh anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution. I was—believe it or not—the highest-ranking American official present. The competition wasn't too keen. I think the only other elected American official was a school board member from Berkeley, California.

The trip to Nicaragua was a profoundly emotional experience. Along with other “foreign dignitaries,” I was introduced to a crowd of hundreds of thousands who gathered for the anniversary celebration. I will never forget that in the front row of the huge crowd were dozens and dozens of amputees in wheelchairs—young soldiers, many of them in their teens, who had lost their legs in a war foisted on them and financed by the U.S. government.