Burlington, Vermont City Council South District Democrat Joan Shannon announced her candidacy for mayor on Thursday. She has served on the council since 2003 and from April 2012 to April 2015 was the council’s president. After Democrat Miro Weinberger said he will not seek a fifth term, Shannon is the third candidate and the third woman to announce a campaign for the city’s top seat. She tells WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley she thought long and hard about entering the race:
I think Burlington needs help. I think that I am the right person to really give voice to the actions we need to be taking. And I was really persuaded by really the huge number of people that kind of stepped up, asked me to run and offered their help in solving Burlington’s problems. I don't see this as something that is simply the job of the mayor. I feel like this is going to be a community effort. You know, as I'm sure you know Pat, Burlington and many cities around this country are struggling right now. And I really think that we need to ask people to step up. And we need to get people the help that they need. And we also need more accountability than what we've had.
When you say that Burlington needs help are there specific issues that you're looking at whether it's been ongoing issues or new issues that you're seeing crop up? Can you explain more when you say Burlington needs help?
Well, we have a severely depleted police force. We have an unprecedented volume of people in our city who are struggling with homelessness. We have, you know, rampant drug use with fentanyl now on the scene. And these are not problems unique to Burlington but Burlington is feeling it pretty hard.
You've been on the city council for about 20 years. You began serving in 2003. And you have also served as city council president for kind of a short time, about three years. How will this position you to attack those problems that you just outlined and any potential new problems that crop up?
Well, I think over those 20 years I've kind of stood the test of time. There are a lot of people who stood with me today who at times have vehemently disagreed with me. But they kind of respect my process. And the way I tend to approach things is try to bring everybody to the table. You know, you might remember 10 years ago when we had the Burlington Telecom fiasco, which did take 10 years to resolve. It was a little more than 10 years ago when it started and resolved in 2019. But the way we resolved that was with the blue-ribbon committee, which I wrote the resolution and worked to bring those community members with different areas of expertise to the table. And that's the way I would work on this problem as well. I think we need those trusted community members participating with us to find solutions. We need to rely on science and evidence-based decision making. You know, we are fortunate to have the hospital here and people doing good work in this area that I think we can tap into. And you know that would be my approach.
How will your business background, you’re a real estate agent, help you as mayor of Burlington?
I think my lens as a realtor is really looking at the workers in our community who are now struggling to buy homes. And, you know, just before the pandemic it was difficult for first time homeowners. But that has become so much more difficult with the continued rise of prices and the continued rise of interest rates. And one of the things that is really important to me is providing homeownership opportunities. So that is something that I would like to work on. I think that we have room for more development in kind of a neighborhood friendly way, as well as we're developing some mid-rise type buildings in the South End, which is my end of town. But as we build those things, I think it's really important to be cognizant of how do we provide homeownership opportunities when we do that? How do we make that accessible for our workers? Because you cannot have financial stability without stabilizing your housing cost?
That and some of the other issues that you've mentioned are things that the current administration, Miro Weinberger’s administration, has been working on for a while and over the years you've supported a lot of his initiatives. If there is a Shannon administration, how would you either continue those policies or change those policies? You're both Democrats so I'm kind of curious what would happen there.
Well, I think one difference between the mayor and myself is the mayor is a developer and he's really looked at everything, well I don't want to say everything, but he has looked at his job a lot through that lens. There's a big difference between being a realtor and being a developer. I really think the focus of energy for me is going to shift to the public safety side. And that's not to say that... I do think that the housing piece is a piece of that. But I think the emphasis is more on public safety at this point in time and creating housing that supports that. We have a lot of people in our community who need help. They need substance use disorder treatment. They need mental health treatment. You know, our system in Vermont is not working for people. I think we need to partner with the state to provide those services and then transition people into housing from that
There is a Progressive and another Democrat in the race. What do you think sets you apart from them or any other candidate that might enter the race?
Well, that would be different things depending on which candidate that we're talking about. But I do think that I have been a really strong voice for public safety. I did not vote to defund the police and in fact had offered an alternative to that. I have been a strong voice in other issues with regards to policing changes we want to do that were pursued here. And I don't want to say we wanted to have because I didn't. But you know, I think I have really been out there with my positions. They've been known to people. I have at times paid the price for being vocal like that. And I'm happy to do that for Burlington. You know, I think people should know where the mayor stands. And I think that the public should know that my decisions are going to be based on rational and evidence-based decision making.
Joan Shannon, you could become Burlington’s first female mayor and a lot of people have been talking about that. Right now all of the candidates are women. How and why is that so significant to folks in Burlington, and perhaps for you, if you become Burlington’s first woman mayor?
Well it's about damn time, Pat, don’t you think! I do think the next mayor is going to be the first woman mayor and I am happy to celebrate whomever that next woman mayor is. I'd be very, very proud if I got to serve in that role. I'll also say I'm not running because I'm a woman. And I'm not asking for your vote because I'm a woman. That would in no way differentiate me from the others. But I would be very, very proud to be the first woman mayor of Burlington.
And the Democratic caucus is going to be held in December. Obviously, we've mentioned that there is another Democrat in the race. If you don't get the party endorsement would you consider running as an independent?
No. I'm a Democrat. I'm only running if I get the Democratic nomination. I look forward to supporting a strong Democratic woman for this job. I hope it's me. But if voters choose something else, I will honor that too. I believe in democracy.
Current City Council President Democrat Karen Paul and former city councilor and current state Representative Progressive Emma Mulvaney-Stanak are also running. The election is on Town Meeting Day in March.
