Hello Winooski, tomorrow the City Council and staff will have our annual strategy and priorities meeting to set out a plan for priorities over the next year as we continue to work on our Master Plan goals. This meeting will have virtual and in-person attendance options – click here for full details.
A few updates from our last meeting:
We approved the Housing Trust Fund and an agreement with Opportunities Credit Union to administer it. We have been working on the Housing Trust Fund for a few years, repurposing just under $350,000 in grant funding for community development into a fund that can support the creation of new affordable housing in Winooski, down payment assistance for first-time home buyers, and home improvements for low to moderate-income Winooski residents. There are big needs in our community in all 3 of those areas and we hope these funds can start to make a difference. View the meeting agenda for links to the policy, and contact Opportunities Credit Union to learn how to apply.
The conversation on how to utilize space at the O'Brien Community Center continues. Our Community Services Director, Ray Coffey, gave a helpful progress update on potential lease agreements. We hope to see the space continue to provide for our community members.
During the meeting, we also chose to end the to-go parking and the dining parklet located downtown as the state of emergency in Vermont has ended. Those parking spaces will return to normal use, for full details on parking in Winooski, please visit winooskivt.gov/parking. To keep up to date with our COVID-19 information, please visit winooskivt.gov/covid-19.
We also received a Legacy Campaign update from our Communications Coordinator, Paul Sarne. Winooski's centennial is coming up next year on March 7, 2022. We have begun our legacy campaign to celebrate this milestone, highlighting our people, places, and traditions. Visit the Winooski legacy site to see upcoming highlights and suggest your own ideas at legacy.winooskivt.gov
Councilor Jim Duncan attended the recent Burlington Airport Commission meeting and heard that the airport is on track to install a noise monitoring system here at Winooski City Hall in the next 6 weeks. The airport will make the data from that monitor and their radar available to the public online in the future. For full details, please visit btvsound.com.
Finally, the City of Winooski invites everyone to join us on Monday, June 28th, 2021 at 12:30 PM in Rotary Park for a ceremonial raising of the Pride flag to officially acknowledge our ongoing commitment to support and advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community. For full details, click here.
As always, feel free to reach out with any questions you may have.
Mayor Kristine Lott
klott@winooskivt.gov / 802 766 1988