BURLINGTON – On a hot Tuesday, several people stopped for food and water by tables set up in a tree-shaded spot on Church Street at the entrance of City Hall Park.
A longtime volunteer-run free lunch program, Food Not Cops, served an estimated 50 to 75 people by 1:45 p.m. with brioche, peanut butter, kale salad and kale chips, fried plantains, white beans, pizza and more.
Running quietly out of the Marketplace Garage for years, the effort received more public attention this year after 150 area businesses signed on to a letter alleging the operation in the garage “has had a negative impact on the area” and asking that it “be relocated to a more appropriate and secure setting—not eliminated.”
That led to a counter letter signed by dozens of organizations and businesses expressing support for the meal program, followed by a protest outside City Hall before the May 20 City Council meeting. Sam Bliss, one of the organizers of the lunch program, further wrote an op-ed stating that Food Not Cops makes downtown safer.
Amid intense debate, Progressive Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak signed a resolution last month allocating $10,000 to support relocation of the effort “to a more accessible and better-resourced location.”
The money has not yet been claimed, however, and the City Council-imposed deadline for the mayor to come up with a proposal for relocation passed Monday. Meanwhile, volunteers two weeks ago relocated the mutual aid effort to the park downtown on Church Street.
Whether that is a better or worse location depends on who you ask.
Some who came for lunch Tuesday said they like the visibility that makes the free food more accessible to those who didn’t know about the program. Others said the central location makes them uncomfortable, pointing to heavy police presence in the park.
“I just think it’s a lot better here because there’s a lot of people who didn’t know about it before,” said Amberina Gonzolas, who stopped for a bite there.
Volunteers with Food Not Cops pack and clean up after providing free food at lunchtime in City Hall Park Tuesday, July 15. Photo by Auditi Guha/VTDigger
Originally from Puerto Rico and in Vermont for 12 years, Gonzolas said, “I like that people like me who have issues with the state (such as access to food stamps) can get free food.”
A social worker and volunteer since 2022, who declined to be named without her employer’s knowledge, said she used to come from St. Albans to eat at the Food Not Cops lunch.
She said it’s unfortunate there is police scrutiny over a free food distribution program, a basic necessity. “It keeps a lot of people away now that there’s this social barrier, so we are thinking of moving again,” she said.
There were three police officers and two community service officers in the vicinity Tuesday. At least two arrests were made in the park during the last half hour of the 1-2 p.m. lunch distribution. Volunteers weren’t sure if they were among those who came for the lunch program.
“We have not directed staff to increase patrols in response to the food distribution program,” Shawn Burke, the city’s interim police chief, wrote in a brief email. “We have been providing a strong presence in the park, and the downtown in general, since April.”
At Monday’s City Council meeting, organizer Brian Clifford from Essex said he didn’t want the mutual aid service to become a fight between the group and the city.
“So I know we’ve arrived at sort of an awkward situation here, but I’m hoping that the city can take this as an opportunity to recognize our legal rights to do our little daily anti-capitalist and abolitionist protest in public places, and just to back away from the idea that you can decide where we go without respecting our consent and agency,” he said.
Mulvaney-Stanak, who has been engaged in talks with Food Not Cops since last October, wrote in her June 3 memo that she is looking to find “a mutually beneficial path forward” and that “the insistence upon placing a deadline on these efforts has only hindered our ability to make progress.”
She plans to continue to engage with the volunteers while considering the needs of all who enjoy City Hall Park, she said this week.
“The administration is committed to supporting people accessing food in our City given the high number of community members living with food insecurity, while also remaining committed to everyone being able to access and safely use public spaces,” her July 14 memo states.
