Burlington residents react as Mayor Weinberger ends his term

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - After Mayor Miro Weinberger’s 12-year term, some Burlington residents say they’re sad to see him go.

“I was disappointed, he did a great job, and I hope we find someone else who can do what he was doing.”

Burlington resident, Allyson Murdock says he appreciated the mayor’s conflict resolution in city council and his progressive policies. Looking towards the next election, she says she wants to see a similar leadership style.

“I think dealing with the homeless situation would be a good thing to deal with, in a progressive way, just like Miro was trying to do as well” said Murdock.

She also says she’d like to see the next mayor take steps to making housing in the area more affordable for everyone. Karen Stewart feels similar - sad to see the mayor go.

“As an individual and as a public servant he’s done a great job, and he’s kept the city going through a lot of rough years.”

Stewarts says she feels the mayor handled the COVID-19 crisis well, managing city council the best he could and appreciates the improvements to the Burlington Airport.

She adds that changes of leadership is essential and there’s a lot she’d like to see from the next mayor.

”We’ve got to do something about the houseless population here, and we’ve got to do something about the drug problems” said Stewart.

Not everyone we talked to had glowing reviews for the mayor’s time in office.

Eric Hodet says he feels like the mayor does not do enough of everything - and the things he does do are not as helpful as they could be. He says the mayor did not make the efforts to change the homeless or drug crisis.

“From what I’ve gathered it doesn’t seem like there’s been a huge effort towards changing those things, or addressing the issues behind them” said Hodet, of Burlington.

He says he’s ready for someone new. “I’m definitely ready for a fresh face. Again, it feels like the issues are just not being addressed or just being made worse sometimes.”

There are many people around the city who declined to talk on camera because they had a conflict of interest -- either they worked with the city, or they didn’t feel comfortable commenting on this topic.

Many also said they did not know much about the mayor and his time in office,

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