Ward 8 NPA — Burlington, VT
Date: 2026-02-26
Time: 18:30

Ward 8 NPA Meeting Agenda
 Thursday February 26, 2026
 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM

 Join in person: Sharon Bushor Conference Room, 1st Floor City Hall
 Join virtually: https://zoom.us/j/91523077007

Facilitator: (Tom Carroll) Note Taker: (Amy Malinowski)




6:30 PM Preliminaries | 15 min.

 • Introductions
 • Nominate and vote Amy Malinowski onto Ward 8 NPA Steering
 Committee
 • Community forum


6:45 PM Candidates’ Forum | 45 min.

 • Introduction -- Candidates for Ward 8 City Council
 • Candidates' statements
 • Q&A


7:30 PM Proposition Zero Ballot Initiative | 30 min.

 • Discussion and Power Point presentation by FaRied Munarsyah. Proposition
 Zero seeks to amend Burlington's municipal charter to grant voters the ability to
 put public questions on the electoral ballot.


8:00 PM Adjourn

 • The next Ward 8 NPA meeting is scheduled for March 26, 2026, 6:30 –
 8:00 PM


 Ward 8 Steering Committee:
 To email the full steering committee: ward-8-sc@googlegroups.com

Ward 8 Neighborhood Planning Assembly
February 26, 2026 | 6:30 - 8:30pm | City Hall, Sharon Bushor Conference Room

 Recording & transcript available on Town Meeting TV →
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USURyWWJZ44

FACILITATOR: Tom Carroll | NOTETAKER: Amy Malinowski
STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE: Tom Carroll, Amy Malinowski


 6:35pm Preliminaries
 start time ●​ Tom calls meeting to order
 ●​ Introductions
 ●​ Ryan nominates Amy Malinowski to join the NPA Steering Committee, seconded by Stephen and
 passed unanimously
 ●​ Opens public forum
 ○​ Nikhil Goyal shared that they are running for Vermont State Senate in Chittenden Central which
 will be voted on at our November 2026 election. Link to their campaign page:
 https://www.nikhilgoyal.com/


 6:45pm Candidate's Forum for Ward 8 City Councilor
 ●​ Marek Broderick was sick and unable to attend–his campaign manager, Adam Franz, stepped in to
 read a statement written by him on his behalf. To learn more about Marek’s platform, email him at
 marekbbtv@gmail.com or visit his campaign page: https://www.marekbtv.com/ (For inquiries related
 to city council work, email mbroderick@burlingtonvt.gov)
 ●​ Ryan Nick read a statement. To learn more about Ryan’s platform, email him at
 Ryan@Ryanforbtv.com or visit his campaign page: https://ryanforbtv.com/
 ●​ Questions from neighbors:
 ○​ Cam: How do you see the partnership and relationship between UVM and city? And how do you
 plan to cooperate with UVM over the course of your future term?
 ○​ Stephen: Are there times you have or would have disagreed with the majority of your party on a
 vote?
 ○​ FaRied: Several times now, we have seen our city council prevent a petition from reaching the
 ballot for an advisory question–how do you feel about that? Would you be in favor of Burlington
 voters getting the power to put advisory questions, initiative, or referendum on the ballot or to
 repeal existing ordinance by vote?
 ○​ Tom: What about ballot questions that do not necessarily pertain to Burlington or Vermont but
 have national or global significance? How do you feel about the relevancy question?
 ○​ FaRied (repeat): Would you be in favor of Burlington voters getting the power to put initiative or
 referendum on the ballot or to repeal existing ordinance by vote?
 ○​ Jeffrey: Can both campaigns be specific about how they are going to advance a pro-housing
 agenda while also making sure that those new housing units are affordable for the incomes
 people working in Burlington actually make?
 ○​ Carter: Would either candidate ever support decreasing or rolling back the inclusionary zoning
 (IZ) requirement which is the thing that has guaranteed that about a quarter of our housing
 stays permanently affordable in this city?
 ○​ Melo shared a quick recap of the history and timeline on the UVM MOU.
 ○​ Amy: Who do you see yourself in the learning lineage of? Who has shaped your political analysis
 and framework for how you are moving through the world?
 ○​ Ann: As we increase housing in ward 8 and other wards, parking is going to become more and
 more of an issue. Do you have any ideas?
 ○​ Allie: A lot of the challenges that come up at city council need to be addressed at a regional or
 state level and not a city level — I think a lot about what can we do that’s in our control and that
 is immediate? When we see a reduction in gross receipts, we keep having to consider raising
 property taxes to balance the city’s budget. As a way to address some of our affordability issues,
 how do you approach addressing some of our downtown issues and reverse the trend we have
 been seeing with downtown businesses and gross receipts?
 ○​ Jim: Living on college street, I see cars parked taking up space and not moving all week – I
 suppose there is an opportunity to work with UVM to talk about the practice of students having
 cars in town and what the rules are. Do you see an opportunity to work out an agreement about
 cars?
 ○​ Stephen: I love living in Burlington because I get to know my city councilors or people running
 for city council. What book/movie/youtube/tiktok is exciting to you right now that I should
 check out?
 ○​ Cam: Food insecurity is surprisingly high among students. Do you have any ideas about how we
 can combat the problem?
 ●​ Adam (on behalf of Marek) and Ryan both read a closing statement


7:32pm Proposition Zero Ballot Initiative
 ●​ FaRied Munarsyah presented on behalf of ‘Proposition Zero’ community organizers. To learn more
 about Proposition Zero and read the petition, visit https://propositionzero.org/
 ●​ Proposition Zero is a proposal for a charter change–“we think of it as the ‘missing part’ of our
 municipal charter.” City charters set the basic rules of Burlington. All proposed changes to the city
 charter have to be brought before the voters at the ballot, and city charters are owned by the State
 Legislature, so any change voters make to the charter has to also be ultimately approved by the State
 Legislature.
 ●​ FaRied shared that if you look at every municipal charter in Vermont, they have the same or a similar
 section called “Power to the People” and Burlington is the only one that is missing that section. This
 section reflects Vermont’s tradition of town hall democracy — it allows people who are most impacted
 by issues to weigh in on those decisions.
 ●​ FaRied shared that they are hoping to gather enough signatures in time to get this charter amendment
 on the ballot for the November 2026 election. It has to be passed by simple majority and then it goes
 to the State House. Because it is based on the charters or other municipalities, he doesn’t expect any
 challenge passing it there.
 ●​ Powers that would be available to voters with the passing of Proposition Zero: (1) ability to add
 non-binding advisory questions on the ballot; (2) binding initiative where voters can place a proposal
 on the ballot that can be enacted as an ordinance; (3) power of referendum which is where voters force
 a reconsideration of an existing ordinance. Note: Other municipalities have a fourth power to do a
 recall vote of elected officials but FaRied shared that they are not pursuing including this power.
 ●​ To act on any of these powers, neighbors would need to create a petition, gather signatures from 5% of
 all eligible voters, submit it to City Hall to be verified, and then the initiative goes to city council and
 they have the option to adopt it or put it to a city wide vote.
 ●​ Questions and discussion:
 ○​ Ann: Is this different from what we voted on in 2023?
 ○​ Allie: Why was it decided to not include recall powers in Proposition Zero?
 ○​ Amy: What are some examples of what we could do with this once it is passed?
 ○​ Ann: Would you ever be concerned that somebody would obtain 5% of signatures for something
 you object to and that you would want your city councilor to protect you from?
 ○​ Ann: What about something highly technical that really requires a lot of research and inside
 knowledge? For example, Brexit?
 ○​ Folks were encouraged to share examples of things they would want to happen if Proposition
 Zero passed. Amy shared the ideas of citizen assemblies (or people’s assemblies) and
 participatory budgeting as examples she would like to see happen that Proposition Zero could be
 a possible pathway too.
 ●​ FaRied shared that they are in need of volunteers on town meeting day to collect signatures during 2
 hour shifts. Folks can sign up by visiting the website.


7:55pm Adjourn
adjourn ●​ Tom adjourned the meeting
Ward 8 Steering Committee: Contact us! Next meeting:
Tom Carroll ward-8-sc@googlegroups.com Thursday, March 26 6:30pm
Amy Malinowski
 Submit a request to present!
 https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/
 221/NPA-Request-Form