by Ali Jalili Former Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger once posted on social media his delight at seeing various construction cranes at work in Burlington. He was right to be delighted; and we don’t have nearly enough cranes at work. I’ve been lucky to travel all over the world and there is one sure sign that a city is on the rise, vibrant, and “booming” – lots of construction cranes at work. The reverse is also sadly true. Where you don’t see new development, you often see the signs of economic stagnation or decay, with closed storefronts and a general sense of malaise. There is little middle ground. Cities develop or stagnate.
I’ve spent the past few months in St. Petersburg, FL and the contrast in vibrancy with Burlington is stark. St. Petersburg is booming! You can see it everywhere, not only in the number of cranes at work – they are everywhere, with a new condo or apartment building seemingly announced every few weeks – but also in the buzz of a city full of festivals, events, and venues packed with residents and tourists alike. It turns out that St. Petersburg’s current vibe is a relatively new phenomenon.
As recently as 25-30 years ago, the now-bustling and beautiful waterfront and downtown were dilapidated areas of town, with cheap motels, empty storefronts, boarded up buildings, and nary a restaurant to be found.
Fast-forward to today and these areas are filled with restaurants and bars amid tons of new construction, various shops, museums, and galleries. Public amenities abound, with many nice and accessible parks, and an amazing pier complex that is a destination in itself.
But, I’m not writing this as an advertisement for St. Pete. I’m inspired by the transformation of a city in just a generation. It gives me great hope for Burlington. Burlington, too, can boom, if we want it to; if we let it. We need more cranes.
Burlington did have a cycle of re-development in the downtown and the waterfront, until the current period of relative stagnation. I’m hopeful it can happen again.
I’m encouraged by the projects that are in progress and planned. But we need even more. Our development seemed to stagnate right around the time CityPlace (now Burlington Square) was originally announced.
Instead of welcoming this new development, various groups of residents made it their mission to kill it through a string of legal and bureaucratic processes until COVID and other factors ultimately stalled it until today, 13 years after the original proposal.
It seems we are a city that prefers a decade or decades of review and community input to actual new development. For other examples, see the Moran plant, Memorial Auditorium, and the former YMCA, among others.
An economically dynamic and growing city would have fast-tracked redevelopment of those sites into new condos, apartments, and/or commercial developments that would have created new vibrancy.
I know that many will say “but we don’t want luxury condos for rich people.” I would ask those naysayers – why not? Do these critics really prefer the current state of the city? It took 40 years to turn the Moran plant into “the Frame.”
Nothing wrong with the Frame, but does it really add much vibrancy to the waterfront? Memorial Auditorium is going on a decade of sitting empty as a decaying eyesore. Is that really preferable to a luxury apartment building that adds hundreds of new and desperately needed housing units?
Even if they are all market-rate, new units free up older, more affordable units. Meanwhile you add tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to the property tax base and have hundreds of new residents patronizing stores and restaurants downtown.
Hopefully this is what will happen with the new Burlington Square. We need a dozen more Burlington Squares. Let’s not get bogged down with how tall the buildings are (tall buildings, too, can be quite beautiful), or whether the units are “affordable.”
All new housing contributes to affordability if you build enough of it. Let developers, who are the ones risking hundreds of millions of dollars of capital and employing their considerable project management skills, build what they believe people will want to buy, rent, and occupy.
If we want a vibrant, growing city - and we should! - let’s say yes to lots more cranes around Burlington.
Ali Jalili of Burlington is a retired Foreign Service officer who served with the State Department all over the world, primarily as an economic officer.
Vermont Business Magazine