I'll paste my reply here for insight.

Wow. You need a bit of insight. But, I won't fault you're ignorance, as most fall in the same boat. I can speak to this because I was involved in the project. Your sewers were clay. Services filled with tree roots and failing. Storm drains dumping into the same system to overwhelm the plant during rain storms, causing raw sewage to dump into the local river. Oh yeah, there was sewer mains across the river. Failing.

The water system was ancient cast iron mains filled with scale so bad, once 8 inch diameter pipes with down to less than 4 inches. The town water department couldn't even tell the engineers what pipe existed or where many were. The services were in the same boat, water shutoffs buried under years of grass, frozen solid by rust, and non functional. You got brand new ductile iron mains, new gate valves, properly buried services, and the town can now shut down water in the event of an emergency or for general maintenance to REDUCE THE PIPE SCALE THAT WOULD MAKE YOU PUKE IF YOU SAW IT. The majority of the project cost was underground, which is why it took 3 years. We ran 2.5 miles of water main, 6- 12 ft underground, while maintaining current water services. Yes, that's ugly but necessary. Would you rather wake up one day to an entire street out of water because you've let the pipes rust into oblivion?
You now have a wonderful storm drain system with catch basins lining the entire road that properly accommodate rain storms, rather than the literal hodge podge of unknown drains feeding untreated turbid water into your local rivers and streams.
We buried miles of phones lines and electric, moving utilities into conduit to not only beautify the mains streets, but protect those vital services from major storms. We ran thousands of light posts, revitalized two historic broken water fountains to their previous designs in parks that used to be ADA nightmares. THE sidewalks were broken, cracked and impossible for much of the aging town to navigate. You must be young.
Sidewalks as now brick lined, ornate, and have far more character than the broken chunks of slab, heaved by the same tree roots ruining your sewer service.
The road was dug up 5 ft deep and replaces with dense graded crushed stone, to drain better and hold up the test of time. They were replaced with superpave, nearly 1.5 ft thick, on ground compacted so hard that pike said it was the best subbase they paved all year.
You got two brand new parks with water fountains, and plantings, and trees, maintained for summers to ensure they took well.
You got a number of really nice stone walls and retaining walls that allow for better navigation for wheel chairs.

I'm not sure how you could possibly skew this as negative now. Like, are you trying to say it was better before, because that's the most disingenuous thing I've heard on this site.
Also, an entire towns infrastructure rebuild for 34 million? THAT IS A STEAL!!!!!!!! You should feel fortunate you got so many state and federal funds to revitalize your town, when so many other towns would kill to get what you got.
Again, it's not your fault, but your ignorant.

Wow. You need a bit of insight. But, I won't fault you're ignorance, as most fall in the same boat. I can speak to this because I was involved in the project. Your sewers were clay. Services filled with tree roots and failing. Storm drains dumping into the same system to overwhelm the plant during rain storms, causing raw sewage to dump into the local river. Oh yeah, there was sewer mains across the river. Failing.

The water system was ancient cast iron mains filled with scale so bad, once 8 inch diameter pipes with down to less than 4 inches. The town water department couldn't even tell the engineers what pipe existed or where many were. The services were in the same boat, water shutoffs buried under years of grass, frozen solid by rust, and non functional. You got brand new ductile iron mains, new gate valves, properly buried services, and the town can now shut down water in the event of an emergency or for general maintenance to REDUCE THE PIPE SCALE THAT WOULD MAKE YOU PUKE IF YOU SAW IT. The majority of the project cost was underground, which is why it took 3 years. We ran 2.5 miles of water main, 6- 12 ft underground, while maintaining current water services. Yes, that's ugly but necessary. Would you rather wake up one day to an entire street out of water because you've let the pipes rust into oblivion?
You now have a wonderful storm drain system with catch basins lining the entire road that properly accommodate rain storms, rather than the literal hodge podge of unknown drains feeding untreated turbid water into your local rivers and streams.
We buried miles of phones lines and electric, moving utilities into conduit to not only beautify the mains streets, but protect those vital services from major storms. We ran thousands of light posts, revitalized two historic broken water fountains to their previous designs in parks that used to be ADA nightmares. THE sidewalks were broken, cracked and impossible for much of the aging town to navigate. You must be young.
Sidewalks as now brick lined, ornate, and have far more character than the broken chunks of slab, heaved by the same tree roots ruining your sewer service.
The road was dug up 5 ft deep and replaces with dense graded crushed stone, to drain better and hold up the test of time. They were replaced with superpave, nearly 1.5 ft thick, on ground compacted so hard that pike said it was the best subbase they paved all year.
You got two brand new parks with water fountains, and plantings, and trees, maintained for summers to ensure they took well.
You got a number of really nice stone walls and retaining walls that allow for better navigation for wheel chairs.

I'm not sure how you could possibly skew this as negative now. Like, are you trying to say it was better before, because that's the most disingenuous thing I've heard on this site.
Also, an entire towns infrastructure rebuild for 34 million? THAT IS A STEAL!!!!!!!! You should feel fortunate you got so many state and federal funds to revitalize your town, when so many other towns would kill to get what you got.
Again, it's not your fault, but your ignorant.

Stan lives in a literally creek bed. He protested the largest and most positive project to hit route 7 in decades. Yes, he did have a very large storm system installed directly through his front yard, but it was completely restored afterwards and noone would know its there. He has a new driveway, new sidewalks, new parks, new water service, new sewer service, new storm filtration to protect the very creek, and NEW TREES LINING THE ENTIRE PROJECT. He's also got tons of new investment in neighbors all around, rather than the decaying strip it once was. These projects are vital. He's disillusioned.

TBH, that housing probably isn't rated for the occupancy a family creates. People forget that they've voted for zoning and state regs that dictate how many bodies can use the systems in place ie. Wastewater or water supply.

I'm intimately involved in the maintenance side of things, and noticed this a while ago. While everyone was whining and resentful, I emphasized the actual supply and demand economics, and that it would soon correct. I was right.

It's not the apocalypse. There ARE only so many STRs that can be supported. AND it doesn't come with zero hassle. Once you start breaking even LTRs become more attractive and less needy.

No. If the chance of death from doing a hard drug is 10%, and someone does it once, ODs, then gets brought back with narcan, it's a saved life. If that person is going to continue taking the same exact chance of death over and over, it's the exact same chance of death each dose.

You have zero proof, ZERO, that those statistics aren't well, representative of the data they summary. You and others need to accept reality is disproportionate.

You're contradicting what you and everyone else really want, which is taking the disruptive students out of class by disparaging charter schools for doing exactly that. Public schools are actively dismantling traditional punitive measures, in favor of restorative justice techniques. Those technique are exascerbating disruptive behavior in the classroom. Parents merely want an environment where kids can learn, which is mpre common in a charter school. Is that too much to ask for?

Every school should have a streamline protocol to reject violent or disruptive students. They are denying other responsible and respectful students' right to an education. Let them reap what they sow.

Maybe public schools should enact a zero tolerance attitude for bad behavior, instead of leaving dead beat punks in the classroom. Then, maybe they'd attract higher talent.

We have no obligation to keep a disruptive student in the classroom to destroy others' education. The opportunity is there, it's those misbehaving students' choices to bypass an education.

GET. THEM. OUT.

I'll take a stab at one particular objection of his: the BLM flag. Have you ever looked up the local burlington chapter, and their charter?

They want to make interracial adoption illegal.

Noone should support that, but the school openly is.

A citizen publicly expressed generally conservative views regarding preferential subject treatment in a neutral learning environment....proceeds to get threatened to lose his job.

I'm sorry folks, I know it's easy to pile onto this guy. But, looking at 30 years of police work and scraping to find two stops where he may have treated a male passenger different than a women is, well, a nothingburger. If you're trying to skew someone like this guy as a villain, you need to reassess your outrage.

It wasn't long ago, at all, where the scientific concensus on Trans was "body dismorphia." Don't forget this guy's age. He grew up in a totally different Era, and doesn't subscribe to the new train of theory on the subject.

That's basically freedom of expression.

Vermont winters have always varied. It's been a very normal mix of that, with some steady winters of 12-15 storms, such as the past few, some with huge 2+ ft, and others that barely show up (2016, 2010).

It's always been all over the place. This is nothing new. I plow snow, and the storm numbers are usually 12-15, including this year.

Where is this coming from?

We need to pass statewide zoning regulation overrides for the construction of permanent primary residential housing.

I've never seen so many former urban and suburban residents move to rural areas. It's really telling.

Sadly, I think you're right. I truly believe there is no way this continues and that isn't the end point. Despite enormous levels of empathy from the left, at some point they will have to face the fiscal reality of unfettered immigration. It's a really easy policy win when it doesn't affect most of the geographic area of your constituents. That is rapidly changing.

First safe country absolutely would be Costa Rica for anyone coming from South America. It's a fucking tourist destination. Noone can claim it isn't a safe haven. Literally any place beyond is truly an economic migrant, which isn't seeking asylum.

Right? People can't see the nuance between some rules that create order and a nazi death camp. Pathetic.

That would requiring some compliance with drug policies. Weak backed politicians and people exhibiting much empathy are preventing real solutions from being implemented.

I've got family in the bay area, one of whom is Bulgarian and came from poverty. He acts completely ashamed of the way the area is deteriorating. It had changed A LOT.

I always admired the entrepreneurial spirit south of the border.

Yes.

Check their range, it's just west of champlain. I had one feasting on my chickens all 2021, and that's exactly what I identified!

That's only like 5 hours a damn week! Jesus, you got to be an idiot to get caught for 1 hr a day extra.