Ivan Henwood is studying Digital Media at Saint Michael’s College. This article is published through a collaboration between The Winooski News and a journalism course at Saint Michael’s College.
WINOOSKI— In a quiet meeting room inside Winooski City Hall, maps line the walls and binders spill over with blueprints.
I’m sitting with Ravi Venkataraman, 34, the city’s director of planning since June 2024. He’s soft-spoken, deliberate and clearly at home discussing how communities of all sizes evolve and thrive.
Once a journalism student at the University of Washington, Venkataraman now finds himself on the East Coast steering Vermont’s most diverse city toward a future he envisions as “more sustainable, green, resilient, inclusive, just better connected.”
Q. Tell me about the work you do here. Any big projects right now?
A. Comprehensive plans are legally required in Vermont, and ours is set to expire in 2027. Right now, I’m pulling together all the data to get a sense of the lay of the land before I go out to the community and ask them, ‘Is this how you see the community and is this what you want to see 10, 20, 50 years from now?’
One key aspect is focusing on gaps in the information that we have, any questions that haven’t been asked, any parts of the community that haven’t been asked these questions at all. That way, we get a very holistic look into the community and their goals.
Q. So what’s that vision of yours?
A. We are already pretty well connected, well-knit, but there are ways that we could create stronger bonds and social ties across the city. A more well-knit community lends to social sustainability and more trust within each other.
One thing that we’re trying to piece together is bike parking. Because if there are places for people to park their bikes, then that would attract people to start biking. We need to provide that infrastructure to make people want to go by bike.
In terms of bus transportation, improving safety for all users is very important. We want high frequency transit on Main Street, on East Allen, on Mallets Bay, corridors where we’ve planned for growth. So we want people to have an option to take transit into downtown Burlington and have that transit available every 15 minutes.
Winooski is going to change over time. How do we adapt to that change? Ensure that we are making responsible changes, anticipating changes over time, responsible spending over time. With that change, we are anticipating growth.
Q. What does that growth look like?
A. There are certain elements that I will always advocate for, housing being one of them. So one vision is to make sure that we have different housing types that meet the needs of community members across the board, right? Not just small apartments, but also larger, family-sized housing and making sure that those opportunities are abundant.
Q. Given Winooski’s location, does it function as a bedroom community a little bit for people who work in Burlington? Do you want to get away from that, densify it more?
A. American cities are weird, very decentralized. We’re surrounded not by a single government, but by this constellation of governments around us.
I think it’s really important for us to work in partnership with my colleagues all throughout the county because all of our residents aren’t just within their municipalities. People are working, shopping, eating, living, and interacting across the entire metropolitan area. We have to plan with respect and with coordination.
We’re actually going to work on a project together – Winooski, Burlington, South Burlington, and Essex Junction – on advocating for housing, for gentle infill, because we know that this is an issue that all of us share.
Q. What’s your ideally planned city, and how can you apply that style to Winooski?
A. I’m a huge fan of Copenhagen. Because of its footprint and built environment, you can just walk through that city and be enthralled because of how diverse that form is and because of how comfortable that walk is.
I’m a huge fan of Mexico City for its transit. You can get to any part of the city by transit pretty much, by bus, by train, by walking.
We need to provide attractive streetscapes, places that people actually want to walk through. Downtown Winooski does a good job with that. It’s got trees, nice facades, it’s got very open storefronts and open entranceways and it’s pleasing to walk by. People don’t like walking by blank walls and parking lots.
Q. What do you define as good urbanism?
A. Concentrating growth within established areas and protecting our outlying areas as much as possible, protecting our natural resources.
It really comes down to a lot of the smart growth goals. Mixing uses, providing that attractive streetscape, providing greenery, building to scale, building diverse types of housing, providing for different modes of transportation. Making sure that we are providing for people and meeting their needs and desires to thrive in this community, and working with all of our businesses to help them succeed as well.
Q. It sounds like working here is special.
A. It’s a really great community, a very dynamic population. The people who have been a part of the process really range in age and ability.
The city has done a good job of trying to make our spaces and processes more inclusive. Winooski is open to change, really. Community members vary on how much that change is, but it’s definitely receptive to new ideas, to new modes of thinking and to new built environments.