Burlington mayor defends decision to clear out Sears Lane

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Burlington city crews used trucks to clear out the Sears Lane homeless encampment last week. Now, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger is defending the decision.

On Friday, the encampment was cleared out, nearly 60 days after the city first served eviction notices.

During Monday night’s City Council meeting, most of the public comments were against the administration’s decision.

Progressives on the council also said they were against the actions taken to tear down the camp.

Weinberger says because of the conditions at Sears Lane, inaction would have created harm, not prevented it.

“Doing nothing is all the councilors who are attacking the administration now offered as an alternative. Councilors made no alternative proposals since the two months since our plan to end the encampment was announced,” Weinberger, D-Burlington, said during the meeting.

The mayor says six people were at the camp on Friday morning and three were provided assistance to find housing alternatives. Two people have not responded to the city after reaching out. One person is camping in an unknown location.

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