All right. So hi everyone. Hope everybody's doing well. Thanks so much everybody for joining us on this evening. It's so exciting to see so many new as well as familiar faces. I'm David. I'm a UVM student. I'm a senior UVM been working with the Progressive Party for a couple of years. And I'm going to be doing the sort of emceeing tonight just helping to facilitate things a little bit, which I'm super grateful to have opportunity to do. Yeah, thanks so much again everybody for coming. You know, and for being here and for your interest and participation in the Progressive Party and for working to build. Yeah, the biggest third party in the country. And really helping to make some substance of changes in the city fighting for bike, BIPOC folks fighting for working class families and other marginalized groups. It's really exciting what we're doing together. Just a couple of introductory notes. One is just that as we have it now just to avoid kind of zoom bombing and for kind of other security issues right now everybody's muted and isn't going to be able to unmute themselves. But if you do really want to say something feel free to shoot a message and you're always welcome to share thoughts in the chat to communicate and talk in the chat. As well, just make sure that keep things respectful basically into focus on ideas rather than attacking individuals and so on but apart from that yeah thanks so much everyone. And I guess I'll pass it over to Josh run ski to talk about some of the caucus rules, if that's good. Hi everyone. Thanks so much for joining tonight it's really exciting this is probably our biggest. We have almost 220 people sign up so this is a good size caucus for us even in a year where it's not a mayoral race. So, you know, going through, going through the caucus tonight. We have a couple of rules that should be fairly familiar for folks who have participated in our nominating process before so generally speaking we welcome anyone to participate in the election and it's exciting that they support the progressive party which means they're supportive of our platform and our saving of principles which I'm going to post links to in the chat right now. Moving forward you're going to hear from the candidates so we, we will ask each candidate to have a nominator as and then from from their ward and then also they can accept the nomination so we've given each candidate. Five minutes between those two things so someone may make a short speech on their behalf and also the candidate may make an acceptance speech and we'll be getting into that. Very shortly. So that's the thrust of the agenda tonight, the main item after the caucus. I'm going to be sending out ballots via open vote to everyone who registered. Keep an eye out for that I'm at the end of the agenda I'm actually going to go through and I'll show you how how that works. In case folks have questions, and people can also feel free to post questions in the chat as well. But yeah this should be familiar to anyone who participated last cycle. The mayoral caucus it's a very similar process. And I look forward to engaging in this with all of you it's very exciting to see you all here. So that's all for me. All right, sounds great yeah. Thanks so much Josh. Okay, so next, we just wanted to note that. Unfortunately, but in sort of a bittersweet moment there are two progressive party city counselors who we know have announced to not run for reelection. This is March. So that is Ward eight city counselor Jean Stromberg and Ward two city counselor and city council president, Max Tracy, both have been incredibly admirable city counselors fighting for working class families over the past years. Max Tracy has been a leading progressive city council for over a decade now, as I'm sure folks are all aware of, and of course put up an incredibly admirable mayoral run last year. And then Jean Stromberg has been a leading young person who ran a really admirable city council campaign. A couple of years ago that I was really honored to be able to participate in. And so we're incredibly grateful for the work that they've been doing, building the movement fighting for some of these cutting edge issues, and just setting a model for for more candidates and leaders to come. So unfortunately, Max Tracy was not able to make it tonight. He has council work that he's working on right now but I do want to pass the floor over to Ward eight counselor Jane Stromberg. So she can talk about some of the work that she's been doing on council and in future plans so if you want to go ahead, Jane. Thanks, David. Thanks everyone for being here tonight. This is a very that it really is bittersweet for me because I don't know you kind of plan to run your race, and then sometimes you're like whoa did just get elected and that happened and you're like okay now I'm in office and then you never really think about what time looks like as you kind of move through those motions of being in office and and and kind of letting that go. I have been incredibly honored to have served in this role as city counselor as a young local leader. I started off my life here in Burlington as a student at UVM and quickly became involved heavily in climate activism and I never thought in a million years that I would end up on the Burlington City Council. And I kind of met some realities, you know, kind of face them myself and in many ways in the last couple of months and came to the conclusion that I did need to step down at this time to focus on my mental health, because, you know, the last two years have been very, very long in many ways. And I just, I felt like in some ways and not to sugarcoat it that I was kind of pouring from a somewhat empty glass and I don't want to, I want to do the best I can and I want to do everything justice moving forward and, and making sure that I, if I am to ever serve in the future that I am at my 100% again. I need to do what is right for me in this moment and I am just so incredibly grateful to have had this experience. I know for the rest of my life, no matter where I go or what I do or you know, pretty much not going anywhere but I know that my actions connecting with people and building the movement will always be a huge part of my life. I'm not closing any books or putting them away I'm simply throwing in a bookmark. And I just I would never have had an incredible time on this council or even during my campaign if it weren't for the numerous amazing human beings in my corner. There's too many to count, most of them are right in this meeting, which is amazing. But I'm so proud of the work that I was able to accomplish with my colleagues on the council with with Jack and with Zariah with Max with Brian pine when he was serving with Perry and and and you know Joe and and and even folks across the aisle I mean I've had so many fruitful incredible informative conversations with people I've learned a lot about myself I've learned about the issues that Burlington faces and I'm incredibly proud that my first ever resolution I actually passed was on divestment. For the city of Burlington which meant so much to me because I put in a lot of work ahead of time but I also had been really plugged in with the divestment movement when I first moved here to Burlington so it was incredible to see that pass unanimously after so on that particular resolution. I was incredibly proud of you know just standing with unions left and right throughout all of the pandemic changes and just incredibly unfair tactics and and a lot of the budget cuts at UVM and where people were feeling the most most pain in that way and and I will just literally stand with working people and nurses, you know, teachers, every like a whole plethora of just the people who literally make society work. And I just I really am so honored to have been a part of that. And there's quite a few things that we were able to pass but a lot of it focused on climate, the climate crisis and, and social justice and through this year's lane situation and having those those conversations with people are just really trying to fight for what is right. The one thing I'm so proud of probably the absolute most proud of was standing with counselor high tower in the racial justice that we passed in June of 2020 that was an incredible moment. It started so many conversations and so many committee meetings and so many pieces of the puzzle but it was, it was absolutely necessary and it is to this day, the most proud thing that I've ever done in my life was was to vote on that and work with counselor high tower and our progressive caucus with that. I think it was just, it was, it was time and there's a lot of work ahead of us and a lot of work for the counselors moving forward but I'm just incredibly proud to be part of that even if it's just a sliver so I think we go on forever and I'm not going to so thank you very very much for all the support and the love and the care and the inspiration. I would have never been in this position if it weren't for all of you so thank you very much. Anyway well thank you so so much Jane for that for all of your work and for that really inspiring speech to help to help ground us will miss you but no I will be in touch obviously and are excited for the next step on the road. So now I'd like to pass it over to Jill, who is the party co chair, along with any Schneider, and thanks so much Jill for all of your party work thus far and. Yeah, the floor is yours. I appreciate it and Jane I really do appreciate your passion. Hard work. It's been a really heavy lift for the last two years so I don't think anybody begrudges you taking a break. As I said I'm really fortunate to be co chair of the Burlington Progressive Party steering committee along with my, my pal any Schneider. Your financial support of progressive party in this moment is really critical for a variety of different reasons. The first State House policy receives a lot of support from the staff press party. So the good work of Celine and Brian and and others is is backstopped by the strong work work of the staff. Second, we do a lot of organizing as you know on critical issues and organizing requires time effort intelligence. And the importance of communication which is targeted at members of the press party but also the larger community, you know, educating about key issues and mobilizing folks around particular strategies, particular policies. And finally kind of what we're doing this evening, helping candidates understand what it takes to run what it takes to be successful, how to be organized and disciplined to be successful in securing important seats in city hall. So I really encourage people to give today give what you're able to do. My wife, Amy who's here next to me, she and I are sustaining members have been for a number of years. So if you're able to be a sustaining member by making a monthly contribution. That's really helpful so that the party knows, and can plan ahead for the essential investments and those things I just ticked off. Josh just dropped a link into the chat for folks who want to know how to give where to give to check there. So, so thank you again. Thank you David. Great. Thanks so much again Jill yeah if folks are able to donate that's incredibly, incredibly appreciated to help fund and sustain the party movement that we're building. Next up we are going to go into nominations for all of these seats. So first we're going to start with the city council seats. Next we're going to do inspector election seats and then we're going to do school board seats. So the way this is going to go is basically that we'll go kind of from the ward eight down to ward one. And I'll say nominations for city council seat ward eight or so someone can raise their hand. And then I'll give like, kind of a last second or third call. And then after that, if folks would like to they can give kind of a speech and introduction to themselves, or yeah the floor will be there as basically after they're nominated or if there are some, if there are multiple people running for a seat then, then they'll both have a chance to speak as well. So to start off, like I said, we're going to start with the city council seats, and the first one we'll do is ward eight. So are there any nominees for the ward eight city council seat. And I see Jane Stromberg raising her hand. Are there. Sorry, did you want to say who you're nominating Jane. Yes, please. And then I'd like to just kind of say a few quick remarks but I'd like to nominate alley house for word eight city council. Great. And then, can I continue. Yes, I want to say something. Sure. Go ahead, Jane. Thanks. Okay, thank you very much. I am officially and proudly nominating alley house to be the progressive candidate for the word eight seat on the Burlington city council. When I decided to step down from this role, I knew in my heart that the seat could not just be occupied by anyone if we want to continue making great strides of progress around real systemic issues people face day to day in the city. This is a leader that understands just how intertwined housing classes of racism, public safety and environmentalism really is. And this understanding must also be from a place that is genuine and open minded, compassionate and full of empathy. This is something that the world is very much starved of. This is why alleys voice is a crucial and important one in this fight against the climate crisis in this collective moment towards an equitable future in our movement as people and, you know, our progressive family and and just everything that we know right. I think that there's been no better time to have a voice like alleys on the council. I want to grow and expand and learn deeply from within, and, and most of all, you focus on one of the greatest building blocks in politics and in organizing it, you know, trust is a huge, huge thing and I trust alley with everything that I've got. I'm more proud of this incredible soul to come forward and be willing to serve in this capacity. The stakes have never been higher for working people and for the climate and like are just collective existence. So I, I just want everyone here to know how much I believe in you alley and I know that as people meet you and get to know you, they absolutely will to. I am just so confident that you will be a positive addition to the council because of your moral compass your diplomatic approach and your eagerness to be to be the change you literally want to see in the world. It's the only possibility when we raise voices like alleys in our government, and you know you are just, you are so full of intention, I hear in your voice, I see it in the work that you do in our community, and I feel wholeheartedly at ease that on March 1st if elected Ward 8 will be in the absolute best hands. I'm just so proud of your candidacy and I'm very much hoping to be your constituent. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for running for office for standing up for people and the planet. It is not easy. But if anyone can do it is you and it is time. Thank you everyone. Great. Thank you so much Jane for that great nomination speech is what anybody else like to nominate someone for the Ward 8 City Council seat. Progressive nomination. I'm seeing no hands. I guess last chance going once going twice and all right, the nomination goes to alley house. Yeah, Ali would you like to to talk a little bit floor is all yours if you'd like to. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much that that means so much coming from you, especially as I really appreciate those kind words. Yeah, so and thank you all for being here tonight, showing up and making this caucus happen. That's awesome. And yeah so as Jane mentioned, my name is alley house I use she her pronouns. I'm a social worker, public school educator and also student at UVM. I am seeking the nomination tonight for for Ward 8. And this this journey really has been inspired by so many people including many who are at this meeting. So thank you all as well. I felt really inspired and ready to go by the candidate forum the other night hearing the thoughts and insights and ideas of my fellow progressive candidates it was it was really an incredible experience and so I'm really excited for all of us to get to work this election season. Yeah, so so I want to take a moment just briefly to talk tonight about something that I don't think we talk often enough about. And that's hope. I think now more than ever, the hope of humanity is being tested. So many people I've talked to throughout this process have been brave enough to express their fears related to so many things including climate climate crisis, housing, public health. There are just so many issues impacting our world right now. And I also resonate with with many of these fears. Now is a really pivotal time in world history and therefore in our city and communities history. We as a state and as a municipality on the brink of some really exciting and amazing change, especially as it relates to climate justice. And now more than ever, I think we need leaders who are optimistic about our future and who are excited to fight to ensure that these changes happen and that they're decisive and rapid and equitable. I have so much hope. I really believe in our city I really believe that we the people of Burlington have the power to create this positive lasting impactful change and I believe that we can serve as an example to other cities and it starts in these small moments within our community and turning out to events like the one that we're at tonight, showing up, making our voices heard, holding each other up in collective care and refusing to let go of our hope even in the face of so many systemic challenges. Our future is really, really bright though hopefully that electricity comes from 100% renewable source and not fossil fuels. And so I want to express my my deep gratitude to you all for for showing up tonight and together we can do this. Thank you. Thank you so so much Ali so excited to have us the nominee for awarding city council seat for the progressive party. Okay. Um, so we are then going to move on to the ward seven seat. Are there any nominations for the ward seven city council seat. And I'm seeing a hand from Meg P. So awesome to see so many of you tonight and just want to mention as Ali house did that the form that was held on Sunday night was truly uplifting and just such a great way to like hear the common values that our candidates are bringing forth if anyone didn't get a chance to watch it I would really recommend that. I am joining you tonight from chili ward seven to nominate Olivia Taylor as our candidate from Ward seven. And while I can't say that I've known Olivia for a long long time I am so inspired by her desire to run right now. She's shown a commitment public service already in our ward. She's on our NPA she's an PA steering committee member here and she's on the housing board. So we know and she knows what it means to step up and step out into public service and I think that she is ready willing and able to do this. I will say that I love her drive and not that she just wants to watch or listen or explain about what's going on but to ask yourself why not me. Why not now, and to jump in so that's super exciting. And you're going to hear from her a little bit about the experiences and opportunities that are shaping her vision, and her drive to be our ward seven candidate. So I am really really excited to support her and really happy to nominate her as our ward seven candidate. Thank you Meg. Would anybody else like to make another nomination for the ward seven city council seat. All right. Going once going twice. And yeah I'm not seeing any hands there. So great the floor is all yours Olivia. Thank you so much and thank you Meg. So, since I seem like a very new face in Burlington politics. I do want to introduce myself a little bit. My name is Olivia Taylor, I use she her pronouns. I live on Ethan Allen Parkway across from the Ethan Allen Park, and I'm running for position of city counselor and board seven. I have rented lived worked and studied in Burlington for almost 10 years, but in 2019 I moved towards seven. Like stated I've joined the wards four and seven NPA steering committee, the housing board. I'm also on the Vermont State tennis league, and the junior league of Champlain Valley which manages the only diaper bank and all of Vermont. In addition to these activities I walk dogs care for cats chickens and ducks, all over Chittenden County. I currently work at residents where we provide business development services to small businesses all over the world. This includes creating partnerships between governments nonprofits private businesses, training and recruiting staff, and coming up with creative ways to adapt during the pandemic. When I returned to Burlington after grad school, I was deeply disappointed by the absence of affordable housing. I was lucky enough to find a building in the new north end with a porch and a garden and off street parking, which is winning the lottery. It was managed by a new American family who just recently became landlords. I'm excited to work with and be a part of the progressive party in Burlington. My first political experience in Vermont was actually interning for representative Molly Burke, progressive from Brattleboro. She was founded over her passions for transportation and combating climate change, and through her internship. I was hired as the energy and climate change intern at the agency of transportation. Since my time at UVM I've continued to look up to and feel really supported by others in the progressive party, including MMO Vanny Stannick and Zariah Hightower, who have just been incredible people that I've been looking up to. I have been very interested in politics, but I did not know where to start. This fall I was accepted into Emily's List Ignite Change Fellowship, which was a nine week virtual workshop to teach democratic pro-choice women how to run for office. So that experience gave me the skills and the confidence to actually run, which is why I'm here today. As a board seven counselor, my goals are to increase access to affordable housing, build community and support local businesses. To increase access to affordable housing I want to advocate for tax credits for landlords who house long term tenants, which will discourage unjust evictions, while lessening the tax burden on property owners like my landlord. To streamline the rental application process in Burlington, which would make it easier to apply for rent and find tenants, it could also prevent illegal rental applications and make rental applications easier to translate. To build community I really want to create more inclusive parks. Through expanding the data driven success of the is good program. I want to add edible gardens to parks and create a specific off leash trailed area for dogs to limit off leash dogs in other parks. If that sounds really obscure to you, come to an NPA meeting in wards four and seven and I promise that is very important to support local businesses I would like to see Burlington employ a business development specialist that would provide free support to BIPOC and women owned businesses. Throughout the pandemic I have been amazed at the mutual aid groups that have really been working all over the city and I really hope Burlington can use covert relief money to support these community initiatives. Once again, my name is Olivia Taylor. I'm running for the city to be city counselor for Ward seven. Thank you so much for listening thank you all for being here, and I look forward to partnering with the progressive party. Thank you. Great thank you so so much, Olivia. So we're now going to move on to the ward six city council seat. Are there any nominations for the ward six city council seat. Not seeing any hands going once. Going twice. All right. So, we don't have any nominations for the ward. The city council seat will move on to the ward five city council seat. Are there any nominations for the ward five city council seat. Great I'm seeing a hand from Andy. Take my hand down here. Hi, my name is Andy Simon I use he him pronouns and I live on Locust Street in Ward five. I've been involved with a progressive party for a long time and have run several progressive city council campaigns notably Charles Simpson campaign twice in Ward six and word five and six, the south district. And have supported a lot of city council candidates in our, in our ward. I'm happy to nominate for read Menacea for the city council seat in Ward five I'm excited that he's running and for read did did me the great favor of not asking me to nominate him until a couple of minutes ago so I didn't have to worry about what I was going to say, and I won't go on for very long because I haven't prepared anything but it's easy to talk about his sterling qualities. I'm assuming that most of you already know him, because for read is everywhere in in many different struggles across the city. I just certainly know him from eating the wonderful food of the people's kitchen that he organized and runs. And, and is people's kitchen has been absolutely everywhere in any event in any struggle in any demonstration. And that is a real testament to Farid's tenacity is hard work, and, and his absolutely wonderful values in terms of where he chooses to put his energy for read also was instrumental in the struggle to protect the Sears Lane encampment and was fierce in his defense of that of that community and continues to support and stay in touch with the people who who lived there for read ran the kitchen, among other things ran the kitchen and provided meals at Sears Lane in the worst of times in the worst of weather, and was a bulwark of that that struggle for read's work at the worker center has been years long and is has always been important to the Burlington community into working people in Burlington. And he is a uniquely interesting and funny and serious and delightful person. I am glad to nominate for read for city council in word five. All right, thank you so so much Andy for the nomination speech. Would anybody else like to make a nomination for the word five city council seat. Not seeing any hands. Going once. Going twice. Okay, not seeing any other nominations free to do you like to make a speech. Thank you. And thanks Andy. For all his pronouncements about the situation in Sears Lane, and his assurances about how homeless folks there were being taken care of. Daniel Weinberger never once visited the camp, not once. Yet decisions were made policies were carried out an agenda set with repercussions that impact not only the lives of the on house folks right up camp residents, but also pitted neighbors against public safety for the worst and expose our true character as a community. Sears Lane laid bare the contradictions between the values Burlington claims to share as a community against the reality of how decisions are actually made by whom those decisions are made and at whose expense. Like Burlington Telecom, or Memorial Auditorium, or the downtown improvement district, like City Hall Park, and that huge gaping hole in the heart of our city. In democratic societies policies reflect the values of the population and Burlington is a city with decidedly progressive values that same election that put our administration in power. Our voters also overwhelmingly support economic policies that prioritizes the need of the 99% over the interest of the 1%. And we supported that by 77 to 23% margin, and we overwhelmingly affirm that cooperation are not people by 80% to 20% more recently through the work of the good people here. We can show that our voting population support raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour support more affordable housing and just cause eviction. Something is really wrong in the way decisions are made.  But somehow, our decision making mechanism has not resulted in the results that we would expect from having these values that we all share. My name is Fareed. I live, I've lived in Ward 5 for most of my life, adjacent to the Sears Lane encampment. I'm here for Sears Lane. I'm here for my neighbors. I'm here for South Meadows. I'm here for the South and and for the community. I'm volunteer with the Proposition Zero project, and it is an electoral effort to change how decisions are made in the city. As we all learn through like the police accountability measure, which will be talked about, I think at the towards the end of the session, and others keep the park green at 35. The city council alone is not enough. We need people to be organized and we need people to be mobilized and we need people to have our power in shrine in our city charter. And that is the human right to participate in all the decisions that impact our lives. I'm here for the council seat. I'm here for direct democracy. I will be putting my name in with the electoral commission, but I want your signatures please support our efforts. I think there will be a presentation afterward. So please stick around on how to get involved with Proposition Zero and people for police accountability. I believe we are ready for a more participatory democracy for grassroots decision making process where our numbers matter, and our voices matter where we matter. We believe that we can have and can pass progressive policies through the ballot, regardless of which candidates win and which political parties in power. So please join our effort this town meeting day. My name is for read, and I'm here with Proposition Zero. Let's bring back power to the people. Thank you. Okay, thank you so so much for read. I'm now going to move on to the ward for city council seat nomination. So would anybody like to make a nomination for the ward for city council seat. Not seeing any hands. Going once. Going twice. Okay. We'll then move on to the ward three city council seat. Sorry, Barb was that for the war three or for the word for war three. Okay, great. So, sweet. Go ahead, Bob. I'm sorry you're muted right now. Now I'm still barbed prime, no longer muted. I'm a long time progressive. I've been active and progressive policies for 40 years and it's nice to see so many former city counselors on the call shout out to all of them. I'm here to nominate Joe McGee. How lucky have we been to have him for these past months and how he has been shot into the progressive policies like this. We have seen what he's done and we are ready to put him back there. He has been active for homeless and houseless people at Sears Lane, and he got the wonks together to come up and formulate a tremendous policy on help for homeowners with this disastrous property tax reform. He's been clear advocate for mental health and substance abuse, and he also brings that his own like family experience with police you know he is such a nuanced kind thoughtful person. I met him on Bernie campaigns and I just can't tell you how grateful I am that you know when we lost Brian Pine which was rough to get Joe McGee is hope I really appreciated the the talk about hope I feel like there's a lot of hope with Joe McGee and I'm so proud to get to nominate him. Great. Thanks so much, Barb. Are there any other nominations for the Ward three seat going once, going twice. All right, not seeing any hands so Joe if you'd like to make a speech, the floor is all yours. Thanks David, and thank you Barb for that nomination speech. It's really been such an honor to have you as a mentor and a friend over the last many years and to have your support in this election as well. I'm also really glad to be sharing space with you all so many friends on the screen I wish we could be in person but you know we're we're doing what we can with what we have so for those of you who don't know me my name is Joe McGee I have two pronouns and I'm currently the board three city counselor representing downtown and western part of the old north end. I am running for a full term on the city council to continue the important work we've done over the last four months, and really expand our efforts to bring harm reduction and trauma informed practice into our policy making process. And thinking about that I really need to start my speech, talking about seriously, because I'll be honest until we got involved, working with campers and advocates. I wasn't really sure that I was going to run for reelection. I wasn't feeling very connected to the work and that entire experience from mid October to December and to now, as we sort of try to figure out where we go from the disastrous city action that was taken to displace our house neighbors. In the coldest months of the year and ultimately destroy people's homes in December, you know I just that made it clear to me that I needed to just step up and do this again so I am glad to be here in that work. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks introducing the ordinance that would codify a camping policy that centers protections for campers and outlines city actions that will take place to make sure that we're really focusing on meeting the basic needs of the most vulnerable folks in our community. You know, some other things that I've been proud to work on like Barb said the citywide reappraisal was really terribly impactful for so many homeowners and we saw a real burden shift away from commercial property owners in that reappraisal and so I'm glad that we're going to be starting this process to see a citywide reappraisal and also our property tax system to see if that is something that really works for the people to live here and in having this conversation we're really going to start to address the issues that we have around affordability in Burlington. I've also opposed increases to police resources without going forward on the reforms that we've all agreed as a city that we need to move forward on. So I'm going to continue to push for the administration to release the RFP on a cahoots type model that will put mental healthcare workers and medical professionals in the field to respond to those calls because that's an urgent need that we have. I'm very supportive of community control with police and the organizing efforts that are going around to get an independent control board. I think that's an important step that we need to take as a city. And I was also really proud to stand with our union siblings and supporting the responsible contractor organs recently to ensure that workers on city projects are getting paid a living wage and have safe working conditions. So, you know, going forward, we need to make sure that when we're addressing the climate crisis that we're having a just transition there that we are bringing our infrastructure into the 21st century, and upgrading our electrical grid and making sure that our infrastructure works for everybody so that's fair free transportation buses that are so convenient that it doesn't make sense to get in your car, and more accessible by claims. So, I'm looking forward to doing all of this work, investing in the work, the great equity work that Taysha Green and REIB office have been doing, and continuing to really push for harm reduction and trauma informed practice and in our policy making and so I'm looking forward to doing that work with this strong slate of progressive candidates that we have here tonight and going into March 1. So, thank you all very much. Thanks so so much Joe. We're now going to move on to the Ward 2 city council seat. So would anybody like to make a nomination for the Ward 2 city council seat. And I am seeing a hand from Terrell, sorry. You can go ahead if you'd like to. But you are muted right now. I got it. Okay, hi. This progressive party is all about looking forward, but there's some value and also looking backwards. And I don't want to say Jean Bergman is looking backwards but institutional memory is very valuable. When I was first elected to the city council 41 years ago, Bernie Sanders. It was pretty stunning that we upset and defeated incumbent Democrats to create this revolution first openly socialist candidates elected, almost anywhere in the United States. Jean Bergman joined us a few short years later. I think his came on to city council 36 years ago. And he went on to become a lawyer and then served as a city attorney which means he has all kinds of inside knowledge about the workings of city government, how it works badly how it works well opportunities and things that can be done. And the issues that he's going to want to address issues of war and peace issues of climate change of the rights of working people on tenants are have to be addressed on a, on a national even global level, but there are things that can be done locally and Jean is very good at taking them local. I first met Jean when he was working on a rent control campaign. 43 years ago with the people acting for change together. He's, he's very committed very hard working. He's, he's, I'm so thrilled when I heard that he was willing to step up and, and, and take Tracy, max Tracy's seat. I'll stop there. I just, I'll just say the kinds of things that we need to deal with obviously our obviously climate change but things like the f 35 over flights, getting rid of them from the airport this there's a ton of issues that I hope that Jean and all of us will be working on. I'll stop there because I've gone too long already. Oh, Jean Bergman, I'm endorsing. I'm asking us to endorse Jean Bergman. Great. Thanks so much, Terry. Um, would anybody else like to make a nomination for the war to the city council seat. I'm not seeing any hands going once going twice. All right. If Jean is here for us. All yours, Jean. And thanks, Terry. You know, I think you've shown that the arc of the moral universe here in Burlington has been real long, but as Dr. King taught, it's been towards justice, not smoothly, and nonstop of course. But I want to in that regard, I, it's really important for me to thank you max I know you're not here right now but let me just say that thank you max Tracy for helping us navigate through some hard years, starting when you won a decade ago. You led when it was lonely and I've been calling folks for this caucus and many have shared how glad they are that you're their counselor. You listen to them, you fought for their needs for their values and a common hope for a better Burlington. So I just want to right now, add my voice to their voices and saying thank you max, thank you. Why should I run for max's seat. Well, my spouse and partner Wendy co says is because my record as a city counselor and the city attorney show that I know how this, this government works and how it can be better. I want to help other people learn and do the same. And I just want to say that it has been a joy to work with the current progressive city counselors to help them do a lot of amazingly good and important work that they've done over the last three years. Other people have said that I should run because since retiring in 2018, I've worked to stand up to injustice. And, you know, truth be told, that's why I work with community organizers on the independent police discipline board that got count that got vetoed by the mayor and that we're continuing to work on and Tyler has posted something on that for me to talk about it. I think it's an impartial and impartial policing policy that the nomas Polly Mira, folks pushed through and that we adopted and stopping the privatization of the church street marketplace, something that was just really a smack in all of our faces. And it's really why I walked the church that the nurses picket lines and helped organize community support. Some other friends have told me that I can be a bridge between the past and the present and Terry is sort of alluded to that and so I agree that these are all good things to run on and to hopefully be serving on, you know, we have done really good work on housing, but clearly, clearly it is not enough. That's why I've been working with Joe and with activists and other counselors on the new encampment policy, so that that Sears Lane debacle will not be repeated. I am really excited, really excited to join with all of you to help UVM push to build enough housing to really break the back of this housing crisis. We've done good work on climate change in the environment, but it is clearly not enough. I've been working with organizers and community, the community and city counselors to stop the airport's further expansion into the Chamberlain School neighborhood and decrease aviation emissions. You know that that neighborhood has been savaged by the F 35 and we want to expand into it further. That is just outrageous enough is enough. We have done some good work on progressive economics, including alternatives to the property tax, but as we've heard tonight from others. You know, that is clearly not enough.  I could go on but let me leave you with these thoughts. One, we are not alone. We have progressive counselors and candidates and movements who are willing to challenge the system and push push for transformational change. We are willing to see things that are and dream things that never were and say as Bobby Kennedy said, why not that my friends is hard work. The system is not going to change on its own, but it's essential that we change it if we're going to keep this planet habitable for our babies and for most other life. It's essential to change it if we're going to bring justice to our world. I'm going to end by actually quoting Nam Chomsky. Noam says the smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but to allow a very lively debate within that spectrum, even encourage the more critical and disinvues. I feel that there's free thinking going on, but you know what, all the while the systems values are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate. Nam Chomsky would be proud of our progressives, proud of our movement. I am, and it will be, it would be such an honor to serve with them with all of you to try to stretch the limits, try to bring values of solidarity and empathy, justice and equity into reality. And with your help over the next night, we'll be able to begin. So, thank you, and then we'll see you. Thank you so so much, Jean. Now we're going to move on to the ward one city council seat. So would anyone like to make a nomination for the ward one city council seat?  Oh, okay. I'm so sorry. I don't know if she's might not be on the home screen. Right. Thanks so much, Meg. Yeah. For as all yours Cheryl. Thanks. So my name is Cheryl Green. I live in Burlington co housing on the East Avenue in Ward one. And I am honored to nominate Zariah Hightower as our ward one progressive candidate for the Burlington City Council. I met Zariah two years ago. She came to go housing to speak to us because she had recently decided to run for this position. And I knew within an hour of talking with her listening asking questions that I wanted to work on her campaign. I appreciate Zariah's capacity to listen deeply to her constituents to research the issues at hand. I've watched her engage productively with all of her colleagues on the council, and make her decisions carefully. I have full confidence in Zariah. I know she will continue this important work, and that she will do it responsibly. I was so moved by Zariah's process to bring the racial justice resolution forward, listening, coordinating, risking and evaluating the merits over time. And she's also been a leader on public safety issues. And just recently on this weekend's progressive candidate for forum she put forward the issue of mental health, how clinics are needed to help so many people who are struggling at this time. And she also openly expressed her enthusiasm about working with this new slate of candidates. Zariah is authentic through and through. I place Zariah Hightower in nomination for city counselor from Ward one. Great. Thanks so much, Cheryl. Would anybody else like to make a nomination for the ward one city council seat. Nice job. Going once, going twice. All right. Is there is here. The floor is all yours. Hi everyone. Thank you for that Cheryl. I'm Zariah Hightower she her running for reelection Ward one. Yeah, two years ago, I was still new to the aggressive party and there were lots of folks who really welcomed me like Cheryl and Barb and Jack and others. It was really difficult and I remember I walked into the aggressive caucus and I didn't know what was going to happen if I would get the endorsement or if I would drop out of the race, not having got the nomination and man what a difference two years makes. I really feel walking into this caucus feel so different and I really feel like I'm a representative of so many things that the party stands for and I really feel like I have you all as a party behind me. So I stepped up pretty early to make some big changes on city council. Once I got elected, both think especially on public safety transformation and then on housing things like just cause eviction and then more recently short term rentals and it was really. Especially after the murder of George Floyd it was both very overwhelming to be in that position, but it was also empowering to be able to act in a way that was really meaningful to me at the time and to continue to do that, especially on public safety and on housing issues. And all that said I know lots of you know this is a difficult decision for me to run for reelection and not sure I'll be in Burlington politics for forever. But I do feel like I'm really excited to continue to be a leader in the progressive caucus for the next two years. I made a lot of mistakes in my time on council and I can only hope to not repeat some of them in my second terms. And if, if, if I get reelected. I'm going to miss Jane and Max regardless but I'm excited about the possibility of our slate of candidates. I think we're all incredibly different and I think that's actually really, really exciting to see for the progressive party slate so just want to applaud how different we all are and I think that.  I think that no matter what happens. I'm just excited that I'm a progressive and that I will continue to be part of this party, no matter what. And that you know maybe we're the largest third party but I think we're also going to be the most grassroots and certainly really diverse party in the years to come and I'm excited to help build that and thank you all for two years and hopefully here's to another team. Thanks everyone. And thank you so so much Zaria. Yeah, so so incredibly excited about our wonderful slate of of candidates this year. For city council seats. So now we're going to move on to the inspector of election seats. And this is kind of going to be the same basic structure but instead of somebody else nominating someone. And we're only going to give about one minute for folks to talk we just want to keep this a bit quicker. But before we jump into that, I am going to pass it over to Carter, who's going to give a quick plug for why y'all should consider running for inspector of elections. And I'm super inspired by that slate of candidates and really excited to work really hard in the coming weeks to make sure that those folks win. Wendy co, I've had many conversations with you and you could probably if anybody needs a lesson on why inspector and ward clerk positions are so crucial to our city. I encourage you to call Wendy co because I've heard a lot of stories as a young person getting involved in the party and the obstacles that our coalition has faced over the years. And just having access to free and fair elections and inspectors play a really critical role. So I really encourage folks, you know if you've thought about running it's a it's a great way to participate in our democracy it's, it's a non partisan way to participate in our democracy. And it's, you know, really crucial it's the better rock of everything we do. We believe in the democratic process as a party and hold that really dear. And so I think I always really value and folks step up for inspector and encourage folks to do that. If there's not a strong progressive running your word. And I'll with that pass it back to David. Thanks so much Carter. All right, so we can get started then with with these nominations so we'll start again with Ward eight. So, please raise your hand if you'd like to nominate yourself for the Ward eight city council inspector of elections. I know Joshua is saying that it has three open seats. Oh, I'm seeing a hand from Adam fronts ahead at him. I'm sorry I'm not picking up any audio right now it does say that you're unmuted but I'm not sure if the microphone is working. Does it work yet right now, you hear it. Yes, I can hear you. Yes, I would like to run for inspector of elections for Ward eight. I'll be very proud to be running alongside this the slate of progressives for the city council and all the other inspectors of election. Thank you. Great. Thank you so much Adam. Would anybody else like to self nominate for this seat. But for one of the three ward eight inspector election seats. Going once going twice. All right. I'm not seeing any other hands. So, we're going to move on to Ward seven. Would anybody like to run for Ward seven inspector election seats to self nominate not seeing any hands. Feel free to drop in the chat if I'm missing if somebody does drop a hand or just pick up but going once going twice. All right. So then we'll move on to Ward six. So would anyone like to self nominate for Ward six inspector of election seat. Oh, I just saw in the chat Jim noted Trish okay and would like to run for Ward seven election inspector. Great thank you Jim, if if Trish is Trish here and if so would they like to make a quick speech. Thank you for that. Yeah, thank you for, for letting us know Jim and we'll move on to, I guess Ward five. So would anybody like to set. I think Trish is with Jim okay. Feel free to speak up if you'd like to to Trisha to make a quick, a quick speech if you'd like to. Can you hear me now, David. Oh, yes, I can. Okay, thank you so much for what you're doing. Hi, my name is Trish okay. My name, I live in Ward seven. I teach environmental studies at University of Vermont, and I've monitored elections in Central America and Madison, Wisconsin. I would love to serve my community more and learn how to inspect elections here in Burlington. Thank you. Great thank you so so much Trish. Welcome. Okay. So I think we're on Ward five now. Would anybody like to run for Ward five inspector of elections. Go in once. Going twice. All right. We'll move on to Ward four. Would anybody like to self nominate for Ward four inspector of elections. Going once. Going twice. All right. Again, feel free to drop in the chat if I if I miss someone I'm just looking at the hands right now but someone if I'm missing someone or if someone's unable to raise a hand. Definitely feel free to let me know. I saw that kit says that the open seat is held by Democrats so I can skip over Ward three. I guess I haven't totally gotten verification of that is is there anybody who would like to run for word for the war three inspector of elections. So, yeah, let me just explain that really quickly because this is kind of, yeah, it's complicated. So essentially, essentially because of, you know, this is this is a job where you're inspecting the the election so you're a poll worker, you can't have one party, hold all the seats. So in word three and it worked to out of the three inspector election of elections we currently have to progressives elected to those seats. So someone could run for the third seat but they would have to, they would not be able to serve. So essentially if they ran in one, they would have to decline so you could you could appear on the ballot and it's, you know, a good opportunity for someone who maybe wants to get their, their name on the ballot. Maybe you want to run for higher office or something at some point. So you could still be nominated you just won't be allowed to serve if you went. Okay, thank you so so much for that clarification Josh I was really helpful. So I guess I will quickly ask for for both of those words if anybody would like to run for that third inspector of election seat for. I guess I'll do them both at the same time for either war three or war two. Would anybody like to run for either of those those third seats. David. Yeah, I'm the word. Clark and inward to. And I, I'm, I want to do something a little bit different. I want to ask the party's endorsement as Solvee over be she runs as an independent, but she's fantastic. And as Josh explained, because we have to have a balance we can't have all progressives. I just want people to know that we have great support and so Solvee, and she's been doing it for a while so she's running for reelection. And so it's not exactly a nomination. And it's just asking for the party's endorsement for her, but if that's too difficult, you don't need to do that I just wanted to tell everybody what a great person she is. Okay, bye. Thanks, Wendy. I'm seeing Josh says we can do that. Do you want to say anything else on that, Josh or should I move on to the ward one inspector of elections now. Yeah, I would just say that that's allowed. You can, you can run and seek our nomination and then your run as an independent. So that's perfectly allowable. Okay, sounds great. So we'll move on now to the ward one inspector of election seat. So, so what anyone like to self nominate for ward one inspector of elections. And I'm not seeing any hands so I guess we'll do a final call going once, going twice. All right. So, yes we can move on now. So our next stage of the caucus is we're going to go over nominations for the school board seats. So it'll be the same basic process for school board seats I are these ones. Sorry, are these ones self nominated or are they going to have a Josh. Yeah, these are also self nominated and you know for background we historically haven't endorsed many candidates for school board and we should give a shout out to Haji, who is one of the few candidates we've ever endorsed with school board and he's stepping down and board eight this cycle. But we typically we do put it on because occasionally there is a candidate. It's a non partisan position, but occasionally they'll be a candidate who like really wants our endorsement and support for those positions so we do have that and if someone, you know if there are folks out there really want the endorsement for school board from the party even though it is a non partisan position that is something you can consider. Okay, so should I should I run through the wards in the same way or would it be most helpful just to ask for all the wars if there's there's anyone. I don't know. Would it be most helpful. Do you think to to go through them one by one. Or maybe just, let's maybe just ask if there's anyone to. Yeah, for the whole city. Sounds good. Yeah. Is there anyone. So yeah, if anyone is interested in seeking the progressive party nomination for a school board seat, definitely feel free to raise your hand or drop in the chatter or speak up. All right, going once, going twice. Again, let's see in anyone. That's totally okay. But now we're going to move on to some movement updates from some local activists who are going to talk to us about two really important pieces of piece of policy that there's been a lot of action around trying to pass. And also community control of police and proposition zero. So I guess without further ado, I will pass it off to Tyler Daniel and Liam in whatever form that they would like to speak about those two campaigns that have been going on. Thanks David. Hey folks, thanks for the time tonight. My name is Tyler here they pronouns, I live in Ward eight. I'm here with Dan and Liam tonight to ask for your help and support and gathering signatures for two people powered charter change initiatives that read and Jean have both mentioned community control of police and proposition zero. Both of these proposed changes are fundamentally about democracy and putting power directly in the hands of the people. A very brief rundown of community control of police. And now the Burlington City Charter, which you can think of as basically our city constitution grants the chief of police soul disciplinary authority over Burlington police officers. No other person in the city has any direct authority and officer misconduct. This is why despite video evidence of violent patterns and unprecedented public demand for their removal. We are unable to remove officers Joseph Coro and Corey Campbell from the department. These failures of accountability have brought attention to the reality that our police department investigates its own misconduct. This is a fundamental conflict of interest, and the opposite of accountability. To change this, we have to change the city charter. This means a city wide vote, and then approval by the state to get on the ballot, a proposal must pass through city council, or a petition with signatures from 5% of registered voters. Thanks to progressive counselors version of this proposal did pass City Council in 2020, but was in vetoed by the mayor. So what is and around 2000 signatures are needed. So what's in the proposal, the creation of an independent board of Burlington residents with investigatory and disciplinary powers in matters of police misconduct. The board is built around transparency and representation of people historically harmed or underserved by police. Since this proposal has been frustrating at times, it's had a lot of time to mature. If you're already familiar with it, there are a few small but critical refinements being finalized that will make it a lot more robust as it is presented to voters and the state. Please come to our next info sessions to hear more about this, I'll give dates in a minute. There should also be a link in the chat to people for police accountability calm which has lots of great info, and will be updated with proposal changes in the future. Now Dan and Liam are going to give a quick summary of proposition zero, and then I'll wrap it up with our asks and next steps. I think Dan needs to be unmuted. There we go. Hey, sorry about that. I'm Dan, I live in Ward three, I've lived in Burlington for two years, and I quickly realized that I really love the city. And what I love most was all of the residents and all of the interactive communities that make it up in, you know, but also Burlington, like most every other municipality in the country has a problem, and that's that decision making power lays in the hand of the few and to the detriment of everyone else. What proposition zero seeks to do is to give power back to the people by changing the city charter to guarantee the right to citizens initiatives and referendum in much the same way that the Vermont city charter guarantees a right to petition proposed charter changes to be placed on the ballot with proposition zero citizens can petition the municipality to adopt changes the city ordinance or repeal an ordinance that had recently had recently been acted on by the municipal council. There's nothing radical to this, the when you ski city charter already guarantees this right to its citizens, and Vermont has a long history of this exact type of direct participatory democracy, going back to its founding, and it's tradition of open town meetings. Hi, hi, I'm Liam. So proposition zero is a petition to sit to change the city charter forever in effect it will follow the example of when you ski and restore democracy in Burlington which is withered terribly over time. We've seen the consequences of this decline in democracy, especially within the past decades, the sale of Burlington telecom, the outrageous veto power given to the mayor has been used to quash several urgent popular movements including the f 35, keep Park screen, police accountability, and recently the city's controversial destruction of Sears Lane in its residents of violent mark on the city's history. Frankly, this is something the city should already have in something our neighbors are surprised to learn isn't within our power to the proposition zero or to learn more and get involved with a volunteer effort. It's time to make the progressive party, the party of the people by making it the party of direct democracy. This is how the prods will draw a distinction between themselves and the speculative investment Democrats. Thanks Dan and Liam. So what's the ask for anyone on this call join us in talking to our neighbors and collecting signatures. We're aiming to get these items on the November 2022 ballot or possibly next March town meeting day this year will be a huge opportunity to have these conversations, and we need lots of help to do that. Thanks. We have sample blurbs for you to add into your campaign literature or website.  So next steps, we're pasting a stay in touch and get involved form in the chat, and we'll have evening follow up info sessions this Thursday and next Wednesday. So please fill out that form with your info and come say hi. Thanks everyone. Thank you so so much, Tyler Daniel and Liam for giving us such a thorough rundown on those policies and for all of your work. Yeah, if folks are able to to get involved with either those campaigns are assigned the petitions that are going around. That's incredibly helpful and useful. So yeah, thank you all three and everyone else has been working so hard on those pivotal campaigns. So, next up, we're going to move on to talk about how you can vote. In these elections for all the seats that we've just been doing nominations for so I'm going to pass it over to Josh Ronsky to speak on that. Hi David. This has been like an awesome process and always just so impressed by the group of people that come together to, you know, seek our nomination and actually want to like run for office this is great. So, you know, if you participated in the mayoral forum last, last cycle this will be very very familiar to you where as soon as this is finished. I'm going to be finalizing the list and folks will receive an electronic ballot from Opavote and I'm just going to share my screen quickly to hopefully give you a taste of what that actually looks like so this is. The actual email is going to look like. So it'll come from Opavote and will come from like a not progressive party.org email or come from Opavote directly so keep an eye out will also be texting and calling and emailing folks to make sure they got their ballot. So you get this email you hit the blue vote button right there. And then that should take you to to a screen with your actual ballot. So, for our process, we always include no endorsement on the ballot so none of these races are competitive at this point because you know, multiple candidate nominations so for each race this is what the Ward three one will look like. You get to check either Joe McGee or no endorsement and an endorse a nomination, or an endorsement requires a majority of those voting in each ward so these nominations is going to be decided by the specific group of people who registered for for that war. So it's not a citywide vote. I'm just going to stop the share, stop the screen share. So, once you get your ballot in the email either later tonight or early tomorrow morning depending on how quickly we can get get this out. It's 12pm on Thursday, the 20th to actually cast your ballot. So that's, that's going to be your last opportunity to to vote and at that point we will, we will tabulate the results and we'll announce. There are also two options for in person voting. This is an equity issue we don't want to make it so that you have to own a computer or, you know, speak English to participate so we did want to include in person voting options as well. If you're participating on this forum. You should be registered and you should receive an electronic ballot but if you are aware of anyone who would like to participate, who is not on who's not able to participate electronically or didn't register. There are two times the first is going to be tomorrow night from 530 to 730pm at our office in the soda plant in the soda plant and then the final option is going to be on Thursday from 830 to 1030 also at our office. So people can come on by if there will have voter registration forms if they're not registered. So people can register and vote at that point. Yes, send folks on by that's that's totally fine and good and then we'll have the will have the results available shortly after 12pm on the 20th. So, yeah, thank you so much and thanks. Thanks to and Gill and Annie our co chairs and all the candidates and current movies are who did a lot at work as the chair of our elections committee. You know making calls and making sure we had a good slate I think this is a really great process and I look forward to getting to work with all of you. So we thank you so much, Josh, for giving that rundown. Yeah, make sure to vote folks. Get your votes in. I guess with that that's about the last thing so we can wrap up now thank you so much again for for everybody who came who listened, who's involved in this in this political process who's getting involved with a progressive party interested in putting the effort you're able to into creating progressive change in our city and really building a bottom up working class movement fighting fighting for the most vulnerable people in our communities. Yeah, and thank you so much to everybody who contributed to this meeting especially and especially all the candidates everyone who gave nominations for candidates thank you again to Tyler Daniel and Liam for speaking on to keep policy campaigns. And with that, unless anyone has anything else to say I think we can wrap on up but thanks again everyone I'm super excited to work together with you all more going forward. Can you unmute the people whose hands are up or Chloe. There's folks in the corner that have things to say thank you. Josh had a quick question it was a $10 charge on that electronic ballot was what is that all about. So that's that's an RN we have to pay what you're probably seeing is just we were paying, we have to pay to actually use the service so no one no one is going to get charged to vote I promise you that. Do we have to do we have to as an organization pay $10 every ballot cast. No, no, no, it's like, it's like the total. It's very affordable. Yeah, I think air hard at his hand up as well. So, folks, great caucus. I just wanted to amplify bar primes question in the chat, which is, I didn't hear whether all the candidates were running to running with a P next to their name on the ballot. Yes, so I think so Zariah. I know I know that most are not sure. And maybe candidates can just chime in. Because I know I'm not sure it is possible and people sometimes to run with the P support but then they run as an I as well and that's Yes, so Olivia saying is going to run as an I it looks like and then I think for read is running as an I although I don't want to don't want to speak for him. He told me we told the support that you know that's what Bernie's been doing his entire career and he's really many ways the founder of the party so long history of that. Thanks for that just understand the strategic considerations just want to know. Great. Well thanks for those questions does anyone else have any other final questions or comments that they want answered before we wrap up. Go ahead. I, I was just hoping that we'd get an answer from all the candidates and I don't think we've gotten an answer from all of them yet. So if we could just wait until and if it for read can answer and if anyone else who hasn't answered yet could answer that'd be great. If he reads on right now I think he probably hopped off but he got in really late and we can. Yeah maybe send that to folks but my understanding is he was going to run as my. So I'm sure he would tell you himself if he was if he was on at this point. Josh, if I because I'm in word six. I won't get a ballot from you. No you will get a ballot. Yes, I will. I think there's a vote on. Well, there'll be I think there's an inspector candidate award six. Okay, so you get to you get to vote on the inspector inspector of election for word six on a post. All right, thank you. Unless do you want do you want to throw your name in Connie. Do you want to run for city council. Yeah, I think it might be a little hard, especially week off soon. Thank you though. Great. Yeah, I think we. All right, Barb is that is that a legacy hand or did you know it's now of course not. I just really want to thank all the work that our elections committee did to pull this together it's a lot of work it's a lot of phone calls and talking to people about thinking about running in.


What is going on guys welcome back to the channel critical overload here So we are gonna be talking about the scary movie franchise in this video here today because we got some very exciting news on the surface Anyway related to a scary movie six being on the way or a reboot as it's being reported as by reputable outlets First of all, how do you reboot this the franchise just pair these popular films from movie to movie as we got deeper into the franchise I'll go out on a limb and say that this reboot that is being framed as is just gonna be the six sixth entry in The franchise that leaves all the previous films Canon everything that came before is gonna be left cannon. They're not gonna be erasing Brenda or or Cindy or anything like that ray none of it shorty none of it I don't see that happening variety covered this news from Paramount Pictures out of CinemaCon today So let's talk about the concerns Because while this idea sounds exciting, we're gonna also address these concerns, but let's I guess firstly go over the report So it says scary movie the early arts comedy series that lampoon horror movies like scream And I know what you did last summer is getting rebooted Paramount Pictures announced that it is partnering with Fast and Furious mega producer Neil H. Moritz to resurrect the dormant franchise Scary movie is going into production in the fall of 2024 and she hit theaters in 2025 This series spawned five previous films before running out of gas with the 2013 installment But horror has continued to be a major force at the box office with movies like five nights at Freddy's smile and Megan Drawing big crowds. So there is a lot of new material for the scare movie team to parody scare movies also be made as a part of the pair as a part of the Paramounts first look partnership with Miramax the studio behind the film franchise Miramax will fully finance the production with Paramount handling distribution The indie label is a joint venture between Paramount and BN Miramax recently announced that it has a new CEO and former MGM chief Jonathan Glickman. So Again, let's talk about the concerns because while the idea sounds exciting when you look beyond Nostalgia and consider where we are today as a society is this movie already doomed So for one the Wayne's brothers absence from later entries clearly made those less favorable among fans me included So if they aren't back, there's the argument that you should just keep keep this don't even bother making the movie Obviously, that's not going to happen because it's their money They're gonna spend it how they want to to try to entertain us However with movies like Megan the screen franchise being revived Halloween Saw still going on Chucky hereditary talk to me any 824 hit movie from the past couple of years Annabelle Midsommar X and so many others That have supplied ammo for a scary movie return. It's not shocking that the franchise is making its way back to the big screen Marlin, I believe went on record to say that the franchise was snatched from him and his brother and How a deal couldn't be agreed upon etc Obviously as someone who will defend the idea that scary movie and scary movie two are the best I prefer that these two the Wayne's brothers do return and come back, but I don't see it happening I'd also like to see Cindy and Brenda's dynamic again because that was the dual of my childhood in terms of this franchise Ferris I believe also has stated she'd be down for a whole lot of money and Hall has also stated that she'd be down But I'm curious if they'd also like to see some form of justice for the Wayne's brothers before signing anything on the dotted line So here's the biggest concern that feels appropriate to talk about when it comes to an IP like scary movie Society has gone soft in a lot of ways some of the things in scary movie one and two and some of you some of the stuff Even in the later films More specifically three. I feel like would be considered well not would be I'm certain There's somebody out there who turns on these movies Especially those first three and goes oh, this is so offensive to people of color like myself when in reality Many of us people of color.  We don't need you to speak for us We don't need you to constantly defend us and be our saviors the first three movies are funny as hell There's material in them. Yes, that can be sensitive, but that's why certain people should not be watching certain things There is no need for this franchise to go soft That's what I would argue, but I know in my heart that we could be on the verge of seeing one of the most watered down entries that makes a four and five look like Oscar pieces Oscar worthy pieces I should say because of the direction we've gone in when it comes to the way everybody is Hyperly offended by every little thing Everyone wants to jump on a bandwagon and defend Some minority because you think we can't speak up for ourselves and that we don't have access to certain things this that in the third and Just always wanted to be a savior to minority groups or not even that Just in general when talking about any of these sensitive topics race other ideologies Politics how everything has so many people divided and heated with each other a movie like this Coming out now Probably is going to be watered down to not offend anyone and that's the last thing We should even be concerned about when addressing the scary movie franchise Are they going to water it down so that everyone can have a good time with it? Well, if you're doing that then is it really scary movie my answer would be no This is not scary movie and there would be no need to revive this IP if you're gonna just water everything down There's plenty of things they could try to parody and poke fun at Things that many people would again argue are not not funny Many people just wouldn't find these things funny today if you make fun of certain groups It's gonna come off as offensive to some while others like myself are able to take things on the chin And just keep it pushing because I know you're not being serious And you're just trying to throw jabs at me in a playful way But other people don't take things that's playful anymore They are very sensitive their emotions are high and it's easy to get a tear running down their cheek because they're soft That's just the reality for a lot of people that they don't care to admit. They're not built for this life and Scare movie 6 could end up being very weak in that department when it comes to giving us things that we loved about those first three films Because of the fact that there is a lot of material. I could argue is highly offensive depending on who is watching the movie. I Know there's at least one person out there or a few who have watched scare movie 2 and they find the Mystical scene where they're singing shake it fast and saying the n-word they find that offensive I'm pretty sure they do they think people of color find it offensive, too And I'm telling you a lot of people of color. We don't care.  So then if I Know where we are now as a society 2024. I Have no reason so far to think that we are going to get something on the level of those first three movies Especially the first two we're going to likely get something I hope not but I have to be prepared for it anyway We might get something that is Water down It is as I again stated very soft while it might get a chuckle out of me It's just not going to be in the same vein of what those first three movies were like And then especially the biggest thing again for many if the Wayne's brothers are not back They don't want it because they're probably Thinking okay. Well, it's just gonna be another movie like scare movie 5 scare movie 5 I would say is arguably the worst one isn't that the one with Ashley Tisdale and the planet of the 8th Stuff that was more recent one with Snoop Dogg and Mack Miller the cabin in the woods that that movie wasn't that wasn't all that That's the worst one. I'd rather watch the first four But hopefully scare movie 6 is able to live up to what we can expect coming from those first three films We'll just have to wait and see let me know just think about this down in the comments below If you haven't already course make sure you subscribe turn on post notifications that you never miss a video in the description I'll have links. I like my social media accounts. I'm on Facebook Twitter and Instagram You can message you there and let me know if there's any movies news or views Let me to cover in the future and with all that in mind guys. I will see you in the next video