Burlington—Expensive or “Cheap As Hell”?

Matthew Toll
3.21.2010

Burlington, Vermont can be one of the most expensive, or one of the cheapest places to live in the Northeast. With rent that can go as high as downtown Boston, or as low as any low-rent suburb, or concerts ranging from free to fifty dollars or more, one needs to navigate their financial way through Burlington with caution.

Prior to coming to Burlington, I thought I’d be experiencing the “cheap living” that Vermont has to offer. I had no idea how fast my money was going to fly, almost as if downtown was a vacuum. My bank account quickly emptied in my first few weeks in town.

One of my friends, Graham Kelly, a junior at UVM often says, “Burlington’s a black hole for bank accounts; it just sucks up all the cash you have.” I find this statement to ring true more often then not.

To begin, City Market is the only grocery store within walking distance of the general student population. City Market is known for their extremely high quality, completely organic and hormone-free food. They’re even more known for their outrages prices. This inhibits a broke college student from shopping for a large amount of food, or leaves the students to resort to far less healthy options for eating out.

(Going to go to city market, shaws, and price chopper to compare how much an average meal of the exact same food would cost at all of these places compared to city market).

Another major mark-up in the food expense that I noticed immediately is the price of something as average as a slice of pizza, or a whole pie. If one goes to Mr. Mikes for example, you could wind up paying six dollars or more for just two slices of pizza, and over twenty for a large. This is unheard of to anyone outside of Burlington, as in New York City or Boston, or any other town in my experience, it would be hard to find a place charging twenty for a large pizza, let alone delivery charges and tip when it’s all said and done.

This leaves students’ options extremely limited for food in Burlington, being that delivery is marked up far higher than other towns, and the only grocery store in walking distance has gained a solid reputation as an over-priced “money grubber,” as Graham described it.

Beyond food, the parking situation, and the money that it costs students is becoming a major issue as well. More often than not I’ve seen people forced to pay cash to get their car off a tow truck when they find that they’re being towed. In my experience anywhere other than Burlington the driver will take your car off the tow truck if you can get to him before he, or she drives away with your car.

Personally, I’ve paid someone as much as forty or fifty dollars to take my car down, as opposed to the sixty it would cost me if he actually physically towed it. I feel like I’m being extorted when someone asks me for cash to take my car down, when legally they’re allowed to do it for free if they haven’t actually towed me.

A lack of rent control is also a major factor in how expensive it is to live in Burlington or the surrounding area. With rent on two and three bedroom apartments coming to the same total as some equivalent places in major cities like Boston, it’s nearly impossible for someone to go to school here unless their parents are willing to pay for their rent in full. Studio apartments can be as high as eight, or even nine hundred a month, where as in some places out of Chittenden county can provide you with a full townhouse at your disposal for that amount of money.

Beyond the rapidly rising housing market, which saw at least a 25 percent increase over the last decade, the economy has been declining. While most housing markets and rentals are going down, the large student population and lack of sufficient housing for all of the students leaves the control in the hands of land-lords, who have taken full advantage of the demand for housing in Burlington.

This town, to me, seems on the verge of falling apart due to unnecessary expensiveness; and no one’s doing anything about it. There doesn’t seem to be any steps being taken to regulate the housing/rental market. Beyond that, the prices on food keeps increasing at the restaurants and bars, and there isn’t any alternative to the already over-priced City Market. Something needs to be done before Burlington turns into the “small-town New York City”, an over-charging, money hounding entity. Like what Graham Kelly said before, “Burlington’s a black hole for bank accounts.”

Burlington's New Addiction

Colin Mixson
03.16.2010

In January 2002 the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) released a report listing heroin as the primary drug threat to the state of Vermont. The Vermont Drug Task Force reported that the availability and abuse of heroin was, at the time, increasing in the cities of Brattleboro, Burlington, Montpelier, Newport, Rutland, and St. Johnsbury. The Burlington Police Department (BPD) stated that they too considered heroin as their primary focus. Today, while the chemical threat is nearly identical, that being opium, the form is radically different.

"It was about ten, fifteen years ago that we got hit hard by heroin," says Lt. Scharland, the Lieutenant in charge of detectives at BPD, "but that has since moved on. I don't want to say that it's no longer available, because it is, but currently the primary drug threat in Burlington is crack cocaine and pills."

While crack cocaine is an obvious and known drug threat, the term "pills" is less understood. Here Lt. Scharland is referring in large part to opioids, or narcotic analgesics such as Darvon, Opana, Demerol, Kadian, Ultram, and the most common, Oxycontin. Like heroin, prescription narcotic analgesics share opium as their main active ingredient. The human brain's neurons had specific receptor sites for opiate drugs: opium, heroin, Oxycontin and morphine. Opiates operate by locking onto the endorphin-receptor sites on nerve endings in the brain, resulting in a succession of events that leads to euphoria or analgesia. The end effect is euphoria, and relief from pain (analgesia).

Narcotic analgesics are commonly prescribed for the treatment of chronic pain as a result of anything from invasive surgery and broken bones, to extracted wisdom teeth and bad headaches. They are the direct descendant of what was once known as the "drug of mercy", morphine. However, like those who used, and still use the forefather of today's drugs, patients of modern narcotic analgesics commonly suffer from another potent side effect. During the civil war it was called "soldiers disease". Today it is known simply as addiction.

"I don't think it's limited to Burlington," says Stuart "Mickey" Wiles, director of the Turning Point Center of Chittenden County, a recovery center that provides group support and free sober environments for people with addictions ranging from cigarettes to heroin. "From my understanding prescription drug addiction is the fastest growing in the country, and a lot of it has to do with availability."

Aside from its administration, prescription pills are among the most reliable narcotics available on the street today. Produced not by criminal cartels, or in basement laboratories, prescription narcotics are constructed by legitimate commercial manufacturers. This results in prescription pills, as opposed to other illegal drugs, having consistent doses and consistent ingredients. In other words, while heroin found on the street can have anywhere from 30% to 80% purity, every single Oxycontin, aside from its size, which generally comes in 40-80mg pills, will be chemically identical to the next. This consistency generally leads to a safer product, devoid of unwanted chemicals that are often "cut" into other drugs in attempts to increase profit. However, this same level of relative safety inherent in prescription pills, as well as the manner they are often obtained has led many users to the conclusion that prescription pills are a different class of drug as compared to other illegal narcotics.

"One of the biggest things you'll see with cocaine is that you're buying it from the street, and you're buying it from generally unreliable sources. So, the worst thing for an addict is for them to call their dealer and find out that they don't have anything. Because people often obtain prescription pills through legal channels, it has a different perception. The reality is that if you are prescribed one Oxycontin every three hours, that one every four hours is your prescription. If you take four every three hours, then those extra three become as much of a recreational drug as cocaine."

As a result of this discrepancy in the perception of prescription pills when compared to typical illegal drugs like crack cocaine and heroin, so too exists a discrepancy in the perception of the typical drug addict and . While no local surveys have been conducted that explore the extent of prescription pill abuse in Burlington, numbers are more available within a broader context. Prescription Drug Abuse Information website states that prescription drugs are the second most commonly abused category of drugs, just behind marijuana, but ahead of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and other illegal drugs. The National Institutes of Health estimates that nearly 20 percent of people in the United States have used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons. In 2008, 2.5 percent of 12th grade males and 0.6 percent of 12th grade females reported taking the drugs in the past year. In 2000, about 43 percent of hospital emergency admissions for drug overdoses, nearly 500,000 people, happened because of misused prescription drugs.

"I was (speaking) in a class at Champlain College," says Lt. Scharland, "and it was made up of half sociology students, and half law enforcement students, and I said, 'hey look, I'm just interested, not asking anymore but, who here uses drugs?' and I was shocked to find that almost every person in the room, including law enforcement students, raised their hand. Then I asked, 'what is the prevalent drug of choice on campus, right now, for Champlain?' and everybody agreed, pills. Oxycontin, pills."

This isn't to say that Oxycontin is unavailable through illegal channels. Like cocaine and heroin, Oxycontin is often obtained from the larger cities surrounding the state of Vermont. In cities like New York, Boston, or Hartford opiate based pain killers can be purchased cheaply on the street, and in Vermont sold for as much as four times what they were obtained for, and drug dealers aren't the only ones cashing in.

"I've seen 80 year old women trying to meet their bills," says Lt. Scharland, " and so they start selling off their medication as a way to make ends meet."

In Burlington, Oxycontin is priced at around a dollar per milligram. With pills generally coming in 40-80mg doses, this leaves a single pill costing as much as $80.00. While new users will often divide the pill to be used over the course of several doses, a person who has become heavily addicted to Oxycontin, or other narcotic analgesics can go through as many as three 80mg pills per day. As a result, addicts will often turn to crime as a means of providing for their expensive drug habit.

"This is just my estimate," said Lt. Scharland, "and I've been a police officer in the city for 22 years. I would say that the majority of what we respond to here, in terms of property crimes, larceny, burglaries, retail theft, financial crime, passing bad checks, forgeries, and violence too, assaults, home invasions, the majority of those things we respond to is a result, or has some connection with drugs. Usually our property crimes, financial crimes, eight times out of ten those folks are committing those crimes because they're fulfilling their drug habit."

As Lt, Scharland stated, heroin has moved on from Burlington. It's here, but not in force. However, that does not mean that the threat heroin once posed has simply evaporated. Instead, it has changed its form. Cleaner, more available and easier to administer, pills like Oxycontin have risen in popularity to become the primary drug threat in this city, if not this nation. However, despite the nice veneer coated on prescription pills, Oxycontin is a powerful, expensive and highly addictive narcotic drug, whose only significant variance from other illegal drugs is not chemical, but psychological. Like the difference between imperialism and globalization, the perception of heroin and crack cocaine is different, and worse, then the perception of prescription pills. The reality is that the drug isn't important, it's suffering addiction that matters, and Burlington is addicted to pills.

Burlington Gay Scene

Jackie Stickley
03.13.21

Burlington has always broadcast itself as a very progressive, open-minded community, welcoming to people of all races, creeds, colors, and religions. In particular, Burlington has a reputation for being gay-friendly. Just last month, the world’s leading LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual) publication, The Advocate, named Burlington the second “gayest city in America.” However, it lacks a key factor that every other city on that list has—a gay bar.

The title of the second gayest city in the U.S. is partially justifiable. Burlington is in fact very open-minded. On April 7, 2009, Vermont became the fourth state, after Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, to legalize gay marriage. The legislature over-ruled Governor Jim Douglas’ veto of the gay marriage bill and the law went into affect in September 2009.

The City of Burlington has numerous LGBT support systems with specific focuses and missions. RU12? and Outright Vermont are organizations downtown that both advocate for the rights of the gay community. All three colleges in the Burlington area—UVM, Champlain College, and St. Michael’s College—have some sort of LGBT support, which goes a long way in creating a safe environment for gay students.

Dylan Kunkel, a senior at UVM has been involved with UVM’s LGBTQA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Questioning, and Allies) Services since day one. Over the course of four years, he has worked with several LGBT programs at UVM, including Free2B, an LGBTQA Club on campus funded by the Student Government Association, and P.R.I.D.E (People Recognizing Identity Differences for Equality) housing program.

“I believe Burlington is a gay friendly community in the way that it is a young town, and with youth usually comes understanding and a thirst for knowledge,” Kunkel explained. “Burlington would be considered a liberal or democratic town and with that label comes a sense of security.”

Simply having a sense of security in a location does not necessarily make it a perfect place to live. The social factor is arguably as important as the acceptance factor when considering where to settle. The Burlington community may be accepting to the homosexual lifestyle, yet the gay community does not have a place of their own. Every other city mentioned in the Advocate’s “Gayest City” article has gay clubs—even the cities ranked much lower. True, Burlington is substantially smaller than every other city listed but, considering the almost obscene number of bars in Burlington’s downtown, it seems strange that not one bar is dedicated to the sprawling local gay community.

Burlington has not always been gay bar-less. For 22 years, the gay bar Pearl 135 on Pearl St. hosted the gay community at night. However, due to management issues, its doors were closed on June 3, 2006 and it was unceremoniously turned into a Papa John’s chain pizza shop. Three and a half years later and there has been no replacement bar.

Briefly, South Burlington hosted a gay locale called Two Friends Bistro. Opened on February 6, 2009, Two Friends was seemingly destined to doom from the start, partially because its location was so far from downtown, but also because it catered to such a narrow clientele. They were forced to shut their doors a few months later. Kunkel claims that they were unfriendly to the younger set and its customer base completely lacked college students.

“The atmosphere consisted of older men, most of which were friends of the owners, and only a handful of women,” he elaborated. “There was no dance floor, no drink specials, and no tolerance for fun. The bar missed the market, the market being the college crowd and women!”

What has resulted is an underground gay scene. Certain bars downtown, such as 3 Needs, Drink, and the Green Room, tend to attract a gay crowd on the weekends, but are still straight-oriented bars. There is no guarantee that the entire crowd will be gay. Higher Ground, in South Burlington, is the only place that does consistently hold gay-specific events. First Fridays and Third Saturdays every month are dance parties especially aimed at the gays and lesbians. Unfortunately, since the venue is not walking distance of downtown, a large portion of the community is left out.

The question then becomes, how does a gay person new to the scene know where to go? None of these bars advertise their gay crowd and Higher Ground does little to market their LGBT nights. Word of mouth and Facebook is the answer. Kunkel mentioned a Facebook group he checks to find where others in the gay community will be hanging out:

“There is a Facebook group that sends out invites for “Guerrilla Queer Bars,” he said. “[About once a month] a bar is chosen in Burlington that will be the token gay bar for the night.”

The most effective way someone new to the scene can learn what is up is to get out there and meet people, whether through some sort of LGBT organization or Facebook group.

“Meeting people equals learning about the scene,” Kunkel summed it up simply.

He would like to see bars stepping up to the plate and advertising themselves as gay friendly, however, an action that would hopefully weed out the small percentage of people in Burlington that are homophobic.

“It would be awesome to see every bar [that is] willing to consider themselves gay friendly throw a sticker up on their window or door.”
Despite the fact that the LGBT community does not have a gay-specific bar to go to, the accepting nature of Burlington usually allows homosexuals to freely express themselves in public without having to worry about discrimination.

“I think that it is important to have a place to call home, so to say, but at the same time, I think it is an even better feeling to know I can walk into about 60% of the bars downtown holding my boyfriend’s hand and not [feel] nervous,” Kunkel commented.

The open-mindedness of the majority of Burlington’s residents and bar owners demonstrates that a gay bar may not even be necessary. The gay scene may be underground in Burlington, but it is thriving nonetheless. According to Kunkel, “As for the lack of gay bars, that doesn’t mean the scene is dead.”

Burlington Art Scene—The Underground

Matthew Toll
3.13.2010

Burlington, Vermont is a college town, stereotypically known for nights of heavy partying and days spent on the surrounding ski slopes. Often overlooked are the vast array and variety of events and gatherings that aren’t necessarily accessible to someone who doesn’t have an “in” or knowledge of the event. These range from poetry readings in small coffee shops, to rap concerts at pizza places and bars, to cultural events for refugees, places ranging from The Sudan, to Bosnia.

Burlington has a sub-culture that remains unknown to many students at the University of Vermont, Champlain College, and other colleges. While a large number of students strap up for the mountain on weekends, another demographic prepares to read poetry at various locations in the Greater Burlington area, including The Block Gallery coffee shop in Winooski.

The Block Gallery provides a haven every week, on Sundays, for aspiring and active poets to read in front of an audience, or just listen and have a coffee if they’re so inclined. Although there are numerous coffee shops downtown, there are few that allow such freedom for open expression, in such a welcoming environment, with a mixture of residents and students.

“The average size of an audience for any given Sunday reading is about fifteen to twenty people, about half of which read material,” said Block Gallery employee, and aspiring poet, Dan Ritter. Underground communities like this one are all over Burlington, and are often tough to find, but well worth seeking out.

Something else that remains unknown about Burlington, VT is the large population of foreign refugees, ranging from Bosnia, Sudan, and Vietnam, among others. Although solidifying its reputation as a college town, Burlington’s also a home to thousands of refugees, most recently from Sudan. This has given Burlington the assortment of restaurants and shops that make up a thriving downtown area, often voted the best downtown and best college town in polls.

On Church Street, the main drag downtown, one of the most popular attractions to students, residents, and tourists is a Vietnamese woman who makes dumplings from a street stand, all essentially from scratch.

“It’s great that there’s such a selection of food here. Sometimes people think we only eat organic food, and make maple syrup, but they don’t realize how much the different cultures have brought to the town,” said UVM student and artist, Kristen Newell. With an assortment of diverse restaurants and vendors, Burlington’s able to keep the city feeling more like a large-scale city, as opposed to a college town.

Another stereotype sometimes given to Burlington is that it’s a “hippy” town, with music that appeals to that demographic. Far from the truth, the town offers a number of outlets for musicians and artists of any kind to display their work. For example, Manhattan’s Pizza, and Radio Bean are often known for showcasing independent artists, and even student-musicians.

Especially at Manhattan’s there’s an atmosphere starting to be established far different than the “norm” for Burlington. Instead of instrumental music, there have been a number of underground poets/rappers who have been able to get a small boost in their career through playing at the pizza place’s bar, and the rapid “word of mouth” complex in a college town.

Burlington resident and Vermont native Aleck Woogmaster said, “The demographic in Burlington allows for so much free expression, and so many outlets to express yourself, that it’s inevitable that almost every genre of music and art will sneak their way into the Burlington sub-culture.” Woogmaster also raps at Manhattan’s Pizza & Pub, as well as other various small venues in the area.

Rap is a genre that wouldn’t necessarily come to mind when thinking about Vermont, yet Burlington houses tons of rappers, including more popular underground groups like The Loyalists, and completely unknowns who simply play for free at Manhattans, just to get the word out.

University of Vermont student Amanda Bell stated, “Before I came here I never expected to be seeing rap music, especially not at a pizza place. It’s what makes Burlington so great.”

Not to say there aren’t plenty of people who uphold Burlington’s stereotypical reputation. Although there are thousands who snowboard any chance they get, building backyard ramps and rails, or drink heavily on “thirsty Thursdays”, all of the groups and variety of cultures in Burlington interact extremely well together. It’s the students who keep many foreign businesses and restaurants open, and even help in efforts to contribute to help refugees make it to Burlington.

It’s also the students who make it possible for aspiring writers, musicians, rappers, poets, etc, to put their work our there, in an environment where they are comfortable having an audience; and furthermore the businesses give back to the community that keeps them running, for example the free “open mic” nights at various bars around town.

What makes this town special is the options for where you want to go, what kind of art you want to see, and any kind of food you could want to eat. On any given night one could see a rap show, or a bluegrass concert, or eat anything from hot wings to Chinese. Burlington, VT is full of surprises that one would never expect before living here, and many of them are so diverse they couldn’t be found anywhere else.