Whether it is the business of Burlington City Government, Chittenden County public safety issues, Vermont State Government layoffs all the while the Governor’s favored employees receive bonuses, or the latest Bush/Cheney fiasco, open government is fast becoming obsolete.

Not so with your rights or your tax dollars.  In spite of the Feingold, Dodd, Leahy, amendment, the Senate is poised to pass a FISA bill that grants immunity to telecom giants who listened to your phone calls and read your emails and without court order and without cause turned your records over to the Bush administration.

If you are a Burlington resident or business owner, you may wish to have tonight’s open government task force and forum on your agenda.  The meeting is tonight, Wednesday July 8 at the McClure Facility onNorth Winooski Avenue from 7 pm – 9 pm.

Look at Burlington’s skyline and you will see the Marriott Hotel, which did not provide the affordable housing that was part of the approval process.  You will also see a building that dwarfs everything around it and has the look of a 1950’s style commercial high-rise.  This issue and the muffed zoning rewrite brought the public forward to let city council know it’s concerns are not being heard, and its tax dollars are being misused.  

Fast forward to late April and new hope was on the horizon when Mayor Kiss and City Council teamed up to create an open government task force, which will hold its 4th very public meeting tonight.

Still, it is not all roses… local residents from across the city responded to the invitiation to fill three resident seats.  By random selection Steve McIntyre, Damon Lane and Jeff Royer were selected and agreed to serve on the Committee as  resident members, according to Mayor Kiss.  At that point in time, I and others were heavily critical that no women and no minorities were appointed.

So far I have sat in on two open government meetings.  The first has only public comments, which was OK, but also like sending something into a black hole, and the third meeting (my second) seemed to be a surprisingly honest and frank discussion about CEDO — Burlington’s Community Economic Development Organization.

Missed meetings and want to know more?  Open Government Committee was recorded on 2008-06-25.  You can watch this program on Channel 17/ Town Meeting Television, on Comcast Cable and Burlington Telecom systems at the following times:

Saturday July 12, 10:30 PM, Sunday July 13, 3:30 AM, Sunday July 13, 9:30 AM, or Sunday July 13, 3:30 PM.

Have things to say about open government in Burlington, then tonight is your last opportunity.  Believe me, after the Task Force makes its recommendation, you will hear me and others comment again.