BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - More than 20 stores on the Church Street Marketplace are calling on lawmakers to help them with some people who hang out downtown.
Specifically, they say simple citations from police aren’t enough to curb harassment, drug use, and what they call dangerous behavior in the area. Mark Bouchett, co-owner of the Homeport on Church Street, says the letter to lawmakers was sent to address, and help handle bad behavior, not to target specific populations downtown.
“We tried to put it together in such a way where we were clear that, that in fact, we were not concerned about loitering I mean, the marketplace is a place where people hang out, we get that," Bouchett said. “No one that I spoke to in all, had a concern at all about homelessness, in fact, it, it never came up.”
Amy Dorfman, who works at the Outdoor Gear Exchange, echoed that point and said that it really only comes down to a few people that don’t follow the law and are outwardly aggressive towards others.
“It’s really just like a couple of people here and there who I think is at the root of some of these negative interactions,” Dorfman said.
Some store owners say there are a few people downtown who are very often, aggressive, intoxicated, urinate in public, and harass customers and workers. Bouchett says what has been to try and curb the problem previously, hasn’t worked.
“You know, they’ll issue them a citation, and it just, didn’t make a dent in the behavior," he said, "it just, really didn’t have any impact.”
Homeport and other store owners told lawmakers that they want a more effective way of handling this type of behavior, to keep Church Street and everyone on it out of harms way.
“I want us to be safe for the homeless people, I want us to be safe for my staff as they come to and from work, I want us to be safe for my customers, I want it to be safe for residents of Burlington, this is our goal,” Bouchett said,
Lawmakers have yet to respond, but the store owners involved hope it will at least call attention to the issue they see day after day.
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The Link LonkSeptember 19, 2020 at 10:54AM
https://www.wcax.com/2020/09/19/church-street-stores-send-letter-to-lawmakers-want-better-regulations/
Church Street stores send letter to lawmakers, want better regulations - WCAX
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