Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, on assignment for The Winooski News
Winooski voters said a big yes to Town Meeting Day ballot measures on Tuesday, approving both the city and school budgets, a proposal designed to protect tenants from unjustified evictions and an advisory vote supporting justice for Palestinians and criticizing Israeli “apartheid.”
Most measures passed by wide margins. The $33.2 million school budget, which carried a slight tax decrease, was approved 701 to 283. The city budget passed 715 to 258; and a charter amendment to create an ordinance protecting renters from evictions without just cause passed 770 to 208.
Voters also supported a nonbinding advisory question to support justice for Palestinians and end all support for Israel’s ”apartheid regime” by a large margin, 655 to 252. One of the few close contests was for a Winooski School Board seat. Emily Bowers defeated Kate Stattel in the race by just five votes, in a tally of 374 to 369.
At around 5:30 p.m. on Town Meeting Day, polls were slowly getting ready to come to a close at the Winooski Senior Center. Right outside the building in the parking lot, snow was beginning to fall lightly as the street lights turned on against the approaching dusk.
A group of people braved the cold to advocate for “an end to apartheid everywhere” in regards to Article Five on the ballot, the Israel/Palestine measure. Dana Keyes-Gibbons stood at a table with signs promoting the anti-apartheid cause.
“We’re advocating for an end to apartheid everywhere, particularly in Israel where Palestinians have been oppressed for decades, and we’re here just to show that Winooski doesn’t stand for that,” Keyes-Gibbons said.
“Everyone I’ve talked to has been really supportive, either just wanting to know more or in support, so far,” Keyes-Gibbons added. “I’ve been here for thirty minutes or so, so we’ll see how the night goes, but it’s been really positive.”
Keyes-Gibbons then added, “As a Jewish person, this is also personal to me, because oftentimes the idea of Jewish safety being under threat is weaponized by the state of Israel. So I feel like it’s really important to speak out about that and to say that it’s not anti-semitic to oppose this apartheid.”
Standing a few feet away from Keyes-Gibbons was Robert Millar, a candidate for school board.
“I’m running for re-election,” said Millar, one of the longer serving members of the school board.
Millar’s Town Meeting Day was different from his past experiences.
“I’m actually unopposed, which is a first for me in running for anything,” he explained. “But I still like to be out here. We don’t have a traditional town meeting, so this is the best option to just see people…Today, I just did the morning and then the evening.”
When asked about why he was running for re-election, Millar explained, “I think we do best when we just do our jobs as best we can. We use something called policy governance, where we just focus entirely on policies, is the best way to put it, and we don’t get into the day-to-day…I think some people, they get in running for school board because they want to change some big thing, you know? They have a problem with a particular student or teacher, and I don’t think that’s a good reason to do it.”
Millar was at the polls until they closed.
“I mean, obviously, I’m very hopeful the budget passes. We did a lot of work to try to minimize the increase,” he said, reflecting on the day.
Standing right next to Millar was his spouse, Aurora Hurd.
“I’m on the city council,” Hurd said.
“It’s a small town,” Millar chimed in.
Of Winooski’s 5,817 registered voters, 999 cast ballots.