August 6, 2025 • 31 mins
Kurt Wright (born February 7, 1956) is a former American politician and radio host from Burlington, Vermont. A Republican, he served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 2001 to 2019 and on the Burlington City Council intermittently between 1995 and 2020, including as president from 2007 to 2009 and 2018 to 2020.
Born in Middlebury, Vermont, Wright graduated from Vergennes Union High School and took business courses at Champlain College. He managed local businesses before entering politics, including Kerry’s Kwik Shop and the Vermont Lake Monsters. Wright ran unsuccessfully for mayor multiple times and was a delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention. From 2019 until June 2025, he co-hosted WVMT’s *The Morning Drive*, retiring for health reasons to travel with his wife, Kimberly.
Myers Container Service Corp. is the area's most reliable in garbage removal and recycling services. We are a locally owned company with 12 years of industry experience. Every week here on the Trash Talking and Giving Back Podcast, we highlight local heroes and organizations that are doing great work in our community.
Born in Middlebury, Vermont, Wright graduated from Vergennes Union High School and took business courses at Champlain College. He managed local businesses before entering politics, including Kerry’s Kwik Shop and the Vermont Lake Monsters. Wright ran unsuccessfully for mayor multiple times and was a delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention. From 2019 until June 2025, he co-hosted WVMT’s *The Morning Drive*, retiring for health reasons to travel with his wife, Kimberly.
Myers Container Service Corp. is the area's most reliable in garbage removal and recycling services. We are a locally owned company with 12 years of industry experience. Every week here on the Trash Talking and Giving Back Podcast, we highlight local heroes and organizations that are doing great work in our community.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Hi, everyone, Welcome to another episode of the Trash Talking
and Giving Back Podcasts. I'm Aaron Coolefield Barker. This is
Joe Snadra. He is my co host. He does it
all over at Myers Waste and Recycle. Joe excited to
be here. I can say thanks for joining us, but
you don't get you don't get back things. I'll save
that for the guests. What's been going on? What's new
(00:36):
over there at Myers?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
H You know what, Myers.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
We're trucking, trucking right along through the summer here and
the dog days of the hot weather. But things are
going in the right direction. We've been spending a lot
of time talking about bears and wildlife. We have a
lot of those issues, but it's okay. We're going in
the right direction. But overall things have been well well.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So what's worse or what's better? Let's be half full
or half empty? The dog days of summer or what's
the winter term from that? Like the like the polder
bear days of winter.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I think if you ask our guys, they would say
the dog days of summer are better because it's daylight longer,
it's it's easier to take items off than put items on.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
So so they're they're better.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
I think that's what I would pick.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
What would you pick them? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Likewise, likewise sweat you feel like you're working out. Burn,
burn a few extra calories. You don't have to bundle
up and not feel your fingers exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
But I did, you know.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I try to use the podcast to be honest about everything,
and I'm my life's an open books. So this week,
I my knee has been acting up a little bit.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
So a coworker told me I should try it edible.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Of course, it's a link, go now, and and I'll
be honest that I have only done things related to
edibles twice in my life as a forty eight year
old person. So I go to one of our local
dispensaries explain my situation. She said, you should try gummies.
Says great, I say, okay. My wife was with me.
(02:21):
I said, do you want to try a gummy?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Sure? So I told the lady I would take two.
She said it was fifty four dollars.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
I pay the bill and she's starting to give me
the stuff, and I had this very perplexed look on
my face, and my wife was standing next to me.
And she turned to the lady and she said, you gotta.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
You know. Excuse my husband.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
He thought when you said gummies that he was buying
two gummies, not two containers of gummies. So I thought
I was buying so of course, well.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I would have done the same thing. I would have
been like when you said it was fifty four dollars
for two, I was like, I know they're that expensive.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, yeah, so I bought a hundred.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
She didn't at that point let you.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
She said, well, I can change if you want. But
you know me, mister naive or monitor here. You know
that I have no experience in buying anything uh.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Pop related, So so.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Anyone earns the next I was considering this podcast that
I could bring you over some edibles beforehand.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
We could do the show after we had a few edibles.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
But well, did it work. It didn't work for starters.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
So I said, I explined it. So the lively lady
who was working said, oh, start with two milligrams. So
I did two the first night, did nothing. So no,
I'm up to fifteen milligrams and it's still not doing
anything in.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Like one pop, like fifteen gummies in one boy.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
There are two milligrams per gummy. So last night I
did seven gummies and yeah nothing, So yeah, I just.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Instead pictured you and Vicki at home just like gorgeing
and giggling and having a great time.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So yeah, I like it.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
That's funny. I wouldn't have known how it works either.
I would have That's like when people started doing the
online groceries and they'd say they need like bananas, and
they'd put like one, thinking it'd be a bunch, and
then they'd literally get like one ready on the Yeah,
I love it. So. Our guest today is a former politician,
so I'm not sure if edibles in marijuana is something
(04:31):
that will be disclosed and discussed. But he was also
a morning radio host, so many people that are listening
here on the podcast will likely recognize his name or
remember hearing him. And he's recently retired and enjoying the
retired life. We have Kurt right with us, who was
on WVMT, and Kurt, I gotta say I was actually surprising, impress,
(04:54):
you still have that WVMT radio email as well. So retired,
but you still still got a little bit of a
little bit hanging on.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Well let me say first, Hi, good morning.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Now, good afternoon, Aaron and Joe, And just hearing your conversation,
I was going to take a break and go over
and back grab a bag of potato chips because I
feel the munchies. I don't know why you have.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Any of the good you know, I was expecting your
take them and I would have all the great side effects.
I would fall asleep, great, you know, be able to
eat all the talk and it's done nothing.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
So so you take it easy on those, well, eat
what you have.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Absolutely again, just this discussion has me wanting a bag
of chips in front of it, so I need some munchies.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
But yes, Aaron, I did just about a month ago I.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Retired, But I I do still have the VMT email
address because I'm going to be doing some filling in
for them after after an appropriate amount of time away,
when the new hosts take time off or or whatever
I will be, I'll be filling in sometimes.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
So do you find yourself checking that email regularly or
do you do a good job of saying I don't
need to worry about the day to day stuff, or
do they not send you all of the day to
day stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I check it regularly, but nobody contacts me anymore.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
I mean my boss told me, Ken told me, like Kurt,
you used to be somebody. Now you're nobody, So which
sort of is verified by nobody's contacting me. You're the
first people I've heard from in a month.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Has it maybe been a little nice?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
What's that?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Has it maybe been a little bit nice? To relax?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
I love I don't have to get I got up
at four o'clock in the morning for the show, so
it's uh. While I missed doing the show because I
do I did love doing the show, I do not
miss getting up at four o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So so yes I am.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
I am getting to sleep in and you know, clean
the garage out, first time I spend on in a while.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
That was badly needed.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
So, Kurt, one of the other things you did for
so long was you served, you know, your community, both
as a city councilor and as a state rep and
you recently retired from both. The question I always have
for people like yourself who served, you know, you started
in the nineties and went through you know how much
it changed and the.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Negativity.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
You know, I can remember coming to Burlington City Council
meetings in the late nineties where there was the progressives
and the Democrats and Republicans. But for the most part,
you know, everybody got along and you heard each other out.
And now it seems like mont Peelier in Washington. You know,
you're a Republican, you're a Democrat. You hate each other.
There's fight back and forth. So you know, you must
(07:45):
have saw that change over the years, and it's just
I almost want to say, it's almost sad how it's happened.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Well. To be honest, I couldn't stand most of the
people I served with. No I'm just kidding.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
I'm kidding, but I will just say, Joe, when you
said that I stepped down from politics.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I stepped down involuntarily. They beat me.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
After eighteen years in the legislature, I lost my last election,
and it's you know, I was like the I'm a Republican,
and I was I kind of I was kind of
like the last Republican standing in Burlington.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I was the last.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Republican on the city Council. I was the last Republican
that served in the House from Burlington.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
So I'm kind of the last one standing in Burlington.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
And there so there are none on the city council
now and there are no Republicans from Burlington in the legislature,
in the House anymore so, but I do I have
talked to a lot of people to get to get
back to your question. I haven't talked to a lot
of people that serve now in Montpellier, and they do
say that it's different than it used to be, that
there's not the collegiality. Although we had our moments. I
(08:55):
got to be honest. I don't want to pretend like, oh,
everything was great when I was there, but uh, we all.
I mean, there's always politics. But a lot of people
that served there now told me tell me that it's different,
that there's kind of a new class that feel like
they wanted to be their way, sort of the old
phrase their way or the highway. So it's from that
(09:19):
angle it's a little different. But you know, I have
to say, there's always when you serve in a body
like the city council in Burlington, which is a hot
bed of politics, or in the legislature. I don't want
to pretend like that we were you know, we were
pure and there was no politics involved, because there was.
But I do, but I do think things are a
(09:42):
little different now, and of course on a national.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Basis, it's it's it's we're probably more polarized than we've
ever been.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
So I should know the answer to this, but I don't.
But when you lost, as you say, I'm assuming this
was a while ago.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So why do you have to bring that up again? Aaron?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
You can talk about it now. Well, I have two
questions related to that. There have two questions related to that.
The first one, though, is that is that when you
switch over to do the radio show, so then are
you able to look back on it as like a
hidden blessing and you actually found this other thing you
really enjoyed doing. But the second one is I always
wonder when you see these like political races and then
(10:20):
it's like you're used to seeing like kids and teenagers
lose their sporting events or student council president, but when
like you know, grown professional people have their heart in
this thing and then they don't win, it's like I'm
always like, oh, how does that get handled? Like it's
like don't talk to dad for a few days. Guys
like that.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I mean I cried for about a month. No, I.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Let's see, thinking back to that, I still was on
the city council when I lost for the legislature. And
let's see, Yeah, it wasn't too long after I lost
lost the race for the legislature the last time, which
was twenty eighteen November twenty eighteen, that I landed the
job with the radio station. So I guess you could
(11:07):
look at it that way, because I mean, I love
serving the legislature.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I loved serving on the city council.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
I loved being involved in all the big issues of
the day for my constituents, for my neighborhood. But I
also loved doing the radio show. So it was a
new adventure. So I guess you could say in that
sense it was.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I mean, because it did. I wouldn't have I might
not have found it at that particular time if I.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Continued on in the legislature, but it was you know,
I'd been there eighteen years, so it was I was
getting close to it being time anyway. Just you know,
it's the old phrase, get off the stage before they
yank you off.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Yeah, well, in that case, they yanked me off.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
But Kurt I was going to say, you know, we're
booth big baseball fans.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It's similar to ninety nine point.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Nine percent of people are told they're done playing base
Very few say they're done.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
So I think that's similar to politics.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Most people in politics are told they're no longer in politics,
rather than retire on.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Their own lists.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
You know, you know, you know there was you know,
of course, if there was a Montculier Hall of Fame,
you would be in a kurt obviously.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
But I don't know about that. But but I do, Yeah,
I hear you. On baseball, I think I think in
baseball it rarely happens that they retire on their own.
Derek Jeter did it the smart way, and Marianna Rivera
and some of my Yankee players. But but in politics,
some are smarter than me and no when to retire
(12:39):
and get off the stage.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
But I do. But I appreciate that. So is actually a.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Good comparison because it's true and and maybe in football
they retire maybe more because of like injuries in medical
baseball is when like you could just keep playing.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Well that's the thing.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
In baseball and football, they never know when to walk
away because you you making big bucks.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
I can't say that was the case. That was not
my that was not my motivation.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
But in in sports, whether football or baseball or basketball
or whatever. I think it's very tough for somebody because
that's what they've done. That's that's all they do, is
play baseball or football, and you take it's it's hard
for a lot of people in sports to walk away
from that kind of competition and to walk away from
(13:29):
the money that they're making. So it really is Joe's right.
It really is rare that they they they know when
to walk away. There's a few that have done that,
like you know, Big Poppy with the Red Sox and
Derek Jeter and a few others. But for the most part,
you're right. They most often they just you can't rip
it away from them.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
See, Aaron was a division ie diver in college and
she still dies today, so you know they she hasn't
been told she can, so you know she's still.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
She don't have no reason to stop doing that.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
This is right.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Diving up a fair actually, So no one is going
to tell Aaron to stop doing that.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
No one tells Aaron what to do ever. Just ask
my husband.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
I've seen videos of Jack telling you what to do.
So but we'll move along from that.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
I'm guessing he tried unsuccessful. So Kurt, I want to
talk a little bit about Burlington.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
You know, you were on the council and still involved
throughout the whole Square.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Mall demo and the rebuilding and everything.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
So you know Myers is doing the trash all the
demo removal from the project and then the construction. But
the question I have for you is, you know, the
first building is set to be opening here in less
than a month, and looking at the rents, you know
six thousand dollars for the top four apartment average studio
is going to be set twenty seven hundred dollars a month.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
We have to have the techn city Place, City place, Yes.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
So my question to you is, somebody that lives in
Breeze and Burlington, is there going to be in your opinion,
will we have the market in Burlington for those types
of rent and those types of facilities.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
It just seems like big numbers. It is, And of
course a certain percentage of the units have to be affordable.
It's the that's that's the way it works in Burlington,
so they have to they have to have a certain percentage.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
But I am I am confident that the developers know
what they're doing and that there is a market for
those type of units, and I think that there will be.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I'm excited by this project starting.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
It's supposed to it's supposed to open up officially, I.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Think in August.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
If you know, you know how these things work, it
was going to be June, it was going to be July,
and I think it's August. It was a long and
winding road for this project, probably, like well, a lot
of projects do work that way, but this one in
particular was really a long winding road. But I do
think it's going to add vitality to downtown Barrington, badly
needed vitality. It's going to bring more people. I do
(16:11):
think the units will fill up. They're going to have
some good businesses on the bottom floor. I have taken
a tour of the building and been up to the top.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I have to say I was a.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Little scared going up on the on the out the
what do they call it, the work elevator, that's not
the term, but when you're on the outside of the
building and the thing sort of shaking with the wind blowing,
and I was trying to pretend to Dave Farrington that
I wasn't scared.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
But I was like, can we get off? But I
was a little nervous, But it's.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
It's And this was a few months ago and it
was still being developed and it's almost finished now. But
the views are just absolutely spectacular up there. Obviously one
side you see the lake, but even on the other side,
just looking down on the whole city. But it's going
to be it's I I am convinced that it's going
to work. It's going to get filled up, and I'm
(17:05):
I was so excited to see that the other building
is starting to go up now and what they're referring
to as a lot of people were convinced that this
project would never happen because of all the problems that
it had. But kudos to the local developers, Dave Farrington
and Senecal and Ireland.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
For bringing us home.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
And I think it's gonna the more people that are
brought to downtown that are living downtown and are shopping
and going to the restaurants, because look at we just
got the sad news today that Nectar's is done in Burlington.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
That's that is the year when.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
I'm talking about this as a good thing. Boy, I
wish they'd been able to hang on until this happened.
But obviously it's it's a bad sign of the times,
you know, seeing a long iconic staple of downtown Burlington
not coming back.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah, well, I think right the high rent and obviously
it's you know, gonna be very bougie, and I would
think we'll you know, justify that ticket. I think having
the hospital just up the road will help because Joe,
the folks like you and I don't have a career
where that's what we can afford. But some of those
doctors at the hospital, like I'm sure that they can
(18:19):
or they maybe live really far away and now they've
got like a downtown place they can stay. But also
I think it'll bring that like level of people to
Burlington to spend their disposable income in the restaurants which
are struggling, in the stores which are struggling, and also
just I hope help the overall vibe of downtown because
it's kind of had a bad rap lately, which really
(18:41):
like drives me bonkers because it's a really great place
to go.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Absolutely an and you see rape personalities like Hallie Carr.
They have these big million dollar mansions and Rushland Ball
when he retired before he passed away. So Kurt, you
know you're retired media personality. Maybe you're on that Howie
car Rushland.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I wish I made it big enough to have salaries
like they had.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
I would have I would have one of the houses
in the new building. But yeah, I won't. I won't
be able afford that either. But I do think. I
do think it's going to be successful. And and you know, Aaron,
what you just said about the reputation downtown, it's it
is sad. I live in Burlington, I've lived here for
a long time. I love Burlington, and there's a lot
of great things in Burlington. But the leaders in Burlington
(19:26):
can't stick their head in the sand or elsewhere about
the problems downtown because they're real.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
You.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
You know, if you start losing the tourist dollars in
Burlington because they see people shooting up on the street
or or what have you, or just people engaging in
anti social behavioral to put it mildly, because I've seen
it myself many times, and it can it can scare you,
(19:53):
and it can make you not want to come back downtown.
So that people that are running the show in Burlington
now from the city council to the mayor have really
got to get a handle on this. It's a great city,
but we have to make sure the tourists keep coming
back to Burlington, and it'd be nice if the locals
want to go back downtown too.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I had lunch.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
At one of the outdoor cafes just a few weeks ago,
and it was great and it was a nice day,
but the number of people downtown was nothing like it
used to be, and we.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Got to get it back to that.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Yeah, absolutely, Kurt, you're involved in Over your twenty plus
years of public there were so many important moments in Vermont,
So you know, maybe talk a little bit about some
of the ones most memorable or maybe you're most proud
of from your time in Montpelier and in Burlington.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Well, one of the things that I'm most proud of
in Burlington that I had at least a small part
in was the sort of restoration and refurbishing the bike
path in Burlington. I what a number of years ago,
the bike path had really fall into disrepair.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
It was the fault of all of us that just had.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
I mean, I would see rollerbladers on the bike path
and I was like, I don't know how they're even
doing it. It was, you know, was heaving up in
different places and but so I put out a resolution
at the Finance Bart at the time saying we need
to dedicate more money to fixing the spots that really
need fixing. Javid Spencer at the time was the leader
of Locomotion. Now he's the DPW director. But he called
(21:29):
me and said, you know, I think we need to
do more than that. And when we talked, I agree,
they said, and we so he started what was called
the Burlington Bike Path Task Force, which led to and
I want to give credit to Mayor Burow Weinberger, because
we could come up with the idea and have a
task force and come up with you know, ideas and
funding solutions, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
But somebody's got to actually do it.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
And to Moro's credit, he brought it home and so
I had a part in that, which every time I
go on the bike path now it's been widened, repaved,
there's pause points where you can stop and look at
the beautiful Lake Champlain and so it's really been turned
back into a world class bike path. We also made
(22:10):
some improvements in the not enough improvements, mind you, but
We made some improvements in the permit system in Burlington,
made it some of it more into a one stop
shop instead of go here and get a permit, and
go back over here and do something else.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
And we made.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Some changes there and so's there's a number of things
that I'm proud of my involvement. We tried to keep
I also was also looked out for the taxpayers always
in Burlington. Tried to keep things under control because it's
a beautiful city, but it's not cheap.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
And mopel here.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
I mean, tons of big issues over the years. There's
one that was very controversial in two thousand and nine,
which was frankly same sex marriage, and I cast one
of the deciding votes in favor of that, and some
people were angry at me for a long time and
some people were happy with me.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
But that was I can't deny that.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
That was a very controversial vote at the time, and
it was decided by one vote.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Mhm.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
There's the one.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Well, anybody that voted on the on the they could.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Call themselves the one. That's fine, that's the finest.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
That was one of the last right and I was
one of the last most person people to cast the vote.
Because my last name being W it's alphabetical, right, So
so I was you know.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
That's a funny. That's a funny politics thing there to
like someone with the last name Z on their platform
when they run and can say, if it comes down
to one person, you're gonna want.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Me at the very end, you mean, like Dave Zuckerman. Maybe,
like sure, it was one of the few that was
left after me. Funny, but but I was honored to
serve my failure. There were so many big issues over
the years, and I had to remind myself sometimes driving
there when I would see the Golden Dome, like what
(24:03):
a privilege it was to represent my district and my
neighborhood there because that's such a historic, beautiful building.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Absolutely all right.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
We played as trash you're not you ready for trash?
You're not, Joe, I.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Am, I am so kurk trash, he're not.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
I always ask a question, usually it's Aaron, but with
you coming on this week, I know you have experience, so.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Trash, here're not. You're out on trash day.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
So it's today, your trash is going to be picked
up and you're out taking your lovely dog for a
walk around your neighborhood, and you clean up after your dog,
as I know.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
You both do. But are we supposed to do that?
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Well, not in Burlington, in Willston, so you clean up
after your dog and you have your your poop bag.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Trash.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
You're not throwing that poop bag in your neighbor's tope
because it is trash dag.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Throwing it into my neighbor's trash.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Correct, The bins are at the road, so like rather
than carrying a bit to your house and someone else's
bin is out.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
At first, Sie walks away from your house and it's
trash day, so you know the trash are going to
be emptied later this morning or in the afternoon.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Do you carry the At first I was gonna say trashy,
but now on reflection, I think that it's in fact,
you know what, I did it just the other day.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I did it just you're out in the walk back,
you're actually walking.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
Downtown and she did her business and we picked it up,
and I said, you know what we can we don't.
We were going to walk to UVM and put in
one of the big dumpsters, and I said, you know what,
somebody's got through trash been out right here, it's going
to be picked up.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
What's the problem. And so I say, not trashy.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
I'm going to agree, not trashy. But I feel like
a lot of people think trashy and that frustrates me
because to me, it's just being like efficient and logical
and resourceful. But I always do fear that, like the
little old lady is like staring out every window and
like why are you putting your jobs poop in my trash?
But like who cares that you're about to empty it?
(26:12):
Like what does it matter?
Speaker 3 (26:13):
So it wasn't trash day. What if the trash has
already been emptied?
Speaker 1 (26:17):
No, definitely not.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, then it'd be trashy.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Then it'd be trashy. I would agree with that, only
if the bins are at the road right waiting to
be emptied.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
And I so, where to God, that's what happened when
I did.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
So, we had so I witnessed this happened in my
neighborhood and it was trash day. And my wife and
I start having this conversation and I said, what you
guys did?
Speaker 2 (26:40):
What? No big deal? And so Vicky was adimily opposed
to it.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
And so I went online and it is a big
topic online and we're all minority. Majority of the people said,
you can't do that because they smell when the bin
is out.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
But does the internet classify like when only when the bin.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Is at the road? Yeah? Did that? Well no, of course.
And you know it's the internet.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
So you take everything you know if you believe everything
you read on the internet, Curt and eye and you
know we were in travel.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Well, I think that's the key. I think that's the key,
though I'm being I'm being hypocritical. But when we lived
in a condo that had like a community trash you know, shed,
we would get annoyed because our pod of three units
at the time didn't have a dog, and other people
with dogs would then put the who in our trash bed,
(27:31):
not on trash day, just like oh I walked by,
but then now our trash area would stink and like
none of us should have had to deal with that.
Oh Hi, where's mine?
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Mine must be upstairs? Hip hope.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Now I don't remember that, and you a lot I remember.
Was it Jeter?
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Who was your pup that passed away recently? Not recently,
but a couple of years ago.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
It was a Yankee name right, Yeah, Joe toring To
was named Torri.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
What's name?
Speaker 2 (28:08):
This is Casey Casey. And so I.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Think those people that are online saying it's trashy, don't
do that. I say, lighten up, light up, come on,
We're just put in the back of poop in your trash.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
It's gonna be picked up later. What's the problem, That's
what I say.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
And I have to point out your dog having a
human name, because that's like a running joke.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
And she she's definitely the brains of this operation.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
And so I I mean, now people that don't pick
up their poop.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Like they they poop in your yard as they're walking by.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
That I have many I have many positive characteristics, but
I have many negative. So one of my negative is
I'm very petty. So I've had a neighbor dog do
their business on our lawn. I collect it, and I
believe brought it to his scoop and left it.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Well, recycle is back to recycling. And wait, real quick,
is there ever a time real world where like is
there like a like a recycling thing that could be
done with? Like right, if all the dog who got
put in the same place, does that turn into something? Ever?
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Or just straight train now now you know, so Green
Mountain Compost and Williston used to accept dog waste for
compost and they have since now gone away from it
last year or so. They now don't want because of
all the other stuff that's involved in both human and
animal waste.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
See we cite. We brought it right back around to
Myers waste and recycled. But fact for everyone to learn today,
there will never be huge piles of dog poop getting
put into a bin to be.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Picked up outside of your house. There you go, all.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Right with that. I think we're gonna wrap things up
on this episode of the Trash Talking and Giving Back Podcast.
Thank you again to Kurt Right for taking a little
time out of his retirement to join us, and we
look forward to seeing you else to do. I have
plenty of honeydew items for you.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
You're at our house as my I know you get
ready to go. But just as my boss Ken Barlow
said to me, Kurt Right, who used to be.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Somebody, Oh you're still somebody somebody.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
We even get to talk much baseball, So we have
to have you back on anytime, anytime?
Speaker 1 (30:41):
All right, like us, share us, subscribe us, and We'll
see you guys another week.
Hi, everyone, Welcome to another episode of the Trash Talking
and Giving Back Podcasts. I'm Aaron Coolefield Barker. This is
Joe Snadra. He is my co host. He does it
all over at Myers Waste and Recycle. Joe excited to
be here. I can say thanks for joining us, but
you don't get you don't get back things. I'll save
that for the guests. What's been going on? What's new
(00:36):
over there at Myers?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
H You know what, Myers.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
We're trucking, trucking right along through the summer here and
the dog days of the hot weather. But things are
going in the right direction. We've been spending a lot
of time talking about bears and wildlife. We have a
lot of those issues, but it's okay. We're going in
the right direction. But overall things have been well well.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So what's worse or what's better? Let's be half full
or half empty? The dog days of summer or what's
the winter term from that? Like the like the polder
bear days of winter.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I think if you ask our guys, they would say
the dog days of summer are better because it's daylight longer,
it's it's easier to take items off than put items on.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
So so they're they're better.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
I think that's what I would pick.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
What would you pick them? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Likewise, likewise sweat you feel like you're working out. Burn,
burn a few extra calories. You don't have to bundle
up and not feel your fingers exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
But I did, you know.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I try to use the podcast to be honest about everything,
and I'm my life's an open books. So this week,
I my knee has been acting up a little bit.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
So a coworker told me I should try it edible.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Of course, it's a link, go now, and and I'll
be honest that I have only done things related to
edibles twice in my life as a forty eight year
old person. So I go to one of our local
dispensaries explain my situation. She said, you should try gummies.
Says great, I say, okay. My wife was with me.
(02:21):
I said, do you want to try a gummy?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Sure? So I told the lady I would take two.
She said it was fifty four dollars.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
I pay the bill and she's starting to give me
the stuff, and I had this very perplexed look on
my face, and my wife was standing next to me.
And she turned to the lady and she said, you gotta.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
You know. Excuse my husband.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
He thought when you said gummies that he was buying
two gummies, not two containers of gummies. So I thought
I was buying so of course, well.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I would have done the same thing. I would have
been like when you said it was fifty four dollars
for two, I was like, I know they're that expensive.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, yeah, so I bought a hundred.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
She didn't at that point let you.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
She said, well, I can change if you want. But
you know me, mister naive or monitor here. You know
that I have no experience in buying anything uh.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Pop related, So so.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Anyone earns the next I was considering this podcast that
I could bring you over some edibles beforehand.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
We could do the show after we had a few edibles.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
But well, did it work. It didn't work for starters.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
So I said, I explined it. So the lively lady
who was working said, oh, start with two milligrams. So
I did two the first night, did nothing. So no,
I'm up to fifteen milligrams and it's still not doing
anything in.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Like one pop, like fifteen gummies in one boy.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
There are two milligrams per gummy. So last night I
did seven gummies and yeah nothing, So yeah, I just.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Instead pictured you and Vicki at home just like gorgeing
and giggling and having a great time.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So yeah, I like it.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
That's funny. I wouldn't have known how it works either.
I would have That's like when people started doing the
online groceries and they'd say they need like bananas, and
they'd put like one, thinking it'd be a bunch, and
then they'd literally get like one ready on the Yeah,
I love it. So. Our guest today is a former politician,
so I'm not sure if edibles in marijuana is something
(04:31):
that will be disclosed and discussed. But he was also
a morning radio host, so many people that are listening
here on the podcast will likely recognize his name or
remember hearing him. And he's recently retired and enjoying the
retired life. We have Kurt right with us, who was
on WVMT, and Kurt, I gotta say I was actually surprising, impress,
(04:54):
you still have that WVMT radio email as well. So retired,
but you still still got a little bit of a
little bit hanging on.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Well let me say first, Hi, good morning.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Now, good afternoon, Aaron and Joe, And just hearing your conversation,
I was going to take a break and go over
and back grab a bag of potato chips because I
feel the munchies. I don't know why you have.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Any of the good you know, I was expecting your
take them and I would have all the great side effects.
I would fall asleep, great, you know, be able to
eat all the talk and it's done nothing.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
So so you take it easy on those, well, eat
what you have.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Absolutely again, just this discussion has me wanting a bag
of chips in front of it, so I need some munchies.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
But yes, Aaron, I did just about a month ago I.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Retired, But I I do still have the VMT email
address because I'm going to be doing some filling in
for them after after an appropriate amount of time away,
when the new hosts take time off or or whatever
I will be, I'll be filling in sometimes.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
So do you find yourself checking that email regularly or
do you do a good job of saying I don't
need to worry about the day to day stuff, or
do they not send you all of the day to
day stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I check it regularly, but nobody contacts me anymore.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
I mean my boss told me, Ken told me, like Kurt,
you used to be somebody. Now you're nobody, So which
sort of is verified by nobody's contacting me. You're the
first people I've heard from in a month.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Has it maybe been a little nice?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
What's that?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Has it maybe been a little bit nice? To relax?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
I love I don't have to get I got up
at four o'clock in the morning for the show, so
it's uh. While I missed doing the show because I
do I did love doing the show, I do not
miss getting up at four o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So so yes I am.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
I am getting to sleep in and you know, clean
the garage out, first time I spend on in a while.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
That was badly needed.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
So, Kurt, one of the other things you did for
so long was you served, you know, your community, both
as a city councilor and as a state rep and
you recently retired from both. The question I always have
for people like yourself who served, you know, you started
in the nineties and went through you know how much
it changed and the.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Negativity.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
You know, I can remember coming to Burlington City Council
meetings in the late nineties where there was the progressives
and the Democrats and Republicans. But for the most part,
you know, everybody got along and you heard each other out.
And now it seems like mont Peelier in Washington. You know,
you're a Republican, you're a Democrat. You hate each other.
There's fight back and forth. So you know, you must
(07:45):
have saw that change over the years, and it's just
I almost want to say, it's almost sad how it's happened.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Well. To be honest, I couldn't stand most of the
people I served with. No I'm just kidding.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
I'm kidding, but I will just say, Joe, when you
said that I stepped down from politics.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I stepped down involuntarily. They beat me.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
After eighteen years in the legislature, I lost my last election,
and it's you know, I was like the I'm a Republican,
and I was I kind of I was kind of
like the last Republican standing in Burlington.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I was the last.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Republican on the city Council. I was the last Republican
that served in the House from Burlington.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
So I'm kind of the last one standing in Burlington.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
And there so there are none on the city council
now and there are no Republicans from Burlington in the legislature,
in the House anymore so, but I do I have
talked to a lot of people to get to get
back to your question. I haven't talked to a lot
of people that serve now in Montpellier, and they do
say that it's different than it used to be, that
there's not the collegiality. Although we had our moments. I
(08:55):
got to be honest. I don't want to pretend like, oh,
everything was great when I was there, but uh, we all.
I mean, there's always politics. But a lot of people
that served there now told me tell me that it's different,
that there's kind of a new class that feel like
they wanted to be their way, sort of the old
phrase their way or the highway. So it's from that
(09:19):
angle it's a little different. But you know, I have
to say, there's always when you serve in a body
like the city council in Burlington, which is a hot
bed of politics, or in the legislature. I don't want
to pretend like that we were you know, we were
pure and there was no politics involved, because there was.
But I do, but I do think things are a
(09:42):
little different now, and of course on a national.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Basis, it's it's it's we're probably more polarized than we've
ever been.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
So I should know the answer to this, but I don't.
But when you lost, as you say, I'm assuming this
was a while ago.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So why do you have to bring that up again? Aaron?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
You can talk about it now. Well, I have two
questions related to that. There have two questions related to that.
The first one, though, is that is that when you
switch over to do the radio show, so then are
you able to look back on it as like a
hidden blessing and you actually found this other thing you
really enjoyed doing. But the second one is I always
wonder when you see these like political races and then
(10:20):
it's like you're used to seeing like kids and teenagers
lose their sporting events or student council president, but when
like you know, grown professional people have their heart in
this thing and then they don't win, it's like I'm
always like, oh, how does that get handled? Like it's
like don't talk to dad for a few days. Guys
like that.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I mean I cried for about a month. No, I.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Let's see, thinking back to that, I still was on
the city council when I lost for the legislature. And
let's see, Yeah, it wasn't too long after I lost
lost the race for the legislature the last time, which
was twenty eighteen November twenty eighteen, that I landed the
job with the radio station. So I guess you could
(11:07):
look at it that way, because I mean, I love
serving the legislature.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I loved serving on the city council.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
I loved being involved in all the big issues of
the day for my constituents, for my neighborhood. But I
also loved doing the radio show. So it was a
new adventure. So I guess you could say in that
sense it was.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I mean, because it did. I wouldn't have I might
not have found it at that particular time if I.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Continued on in the legislature, but it was you know,
I'd been there eighteen years, so it was I was
getting close to it being time anyway. Just you know,
it's the old phrase, get off the stage before they
yank you off.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Yeah, well, in that case, they yanked me off.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
But Kurt I was going to say, you know, we're
booth big baseball fans.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It's similar to ninety nine point.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Nine percent of people are told they're done playing base
Very few say they're done.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
So I think that's similar to politics.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Most people in politics are told they're no longer in politics,
rather than retire on.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Their own lists.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
You know, you know, you know there was you know,
of course, if there was a Montculier Hall of Fame,
you would be in a kurt obviously.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
But I don't know about that. But but I do, Yeah,
I hear you. On baseball, I think I think in
baseball it rarely happens that they retire on their own.
Derek Jeter did it the smart way, and Marianna Rivera
and some of my Yankee players. But but in politics,
some are smarter than me and no when to retire
(12:39):
and get off the stage.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
But I do. But I appreciate that. So is actually a.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Good comparison because it's true and and maybe in football
they retire maybe more because of like injuries in medical
baseball is when like you could just keep playing.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Well that's the thing.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
In baseball and football, they never know when to walk
away because you you making big bucks.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
I can't say that was the case. That was not
my that was not my motivation.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
But in in sports, whether football or baseball or basketball
or whatever. I think it's very tough for somebody because
that's what they've done. That's that's all they do, is
play baseball or football, and you take it's it's hard
for a lot of people in sports to walk away
from that kind of competition and to walk away from
(13:29):
the money that they're making. So it really is Joe's right.
It really is rare that they they they know when
to walk away. There's a few that have done that,
like you know, Big Poppy with the Red Sox and
Derek Jeter and a few others. But for the most part,
you're right. They most often they just you can't rip
it away from them.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
See, Aaron was a division ie diver in college and
she still dies today, so you know they she hasn't
been told she can, so you know she's still.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
She don't have no reason to stop doing that.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
This is right.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Diving up a fair actually, So no one is going
to tell Aaron to stop doing that.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
No one tells Aaron what to do ever. Just ask
my husband.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
I've seen videos of Jack telling you what to do.
So but we'll move along from that.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
I'm guessing he tried unsuccessful. So Kurt, I want to
talk a little bit about Burlington.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
You know, you were on the council and still involved
throughout the whole Square.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Mall demo and the rebuilding and everything.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
So you know Myers is doing the trash all the
demo removal from the project and then the construction. But
the question I have for you is, you know, the
first building is set to be opening here in less
than a month, and looking at the rents, you know
six thousand dollars for the top four apartment average studio
is going to be set twenty seven hundred dollars a month.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
We have to have the techn city Place, City place, Yes.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
So my question to you is, somebody that lives in
Breeze and Burlington, is there going to be in your opinion,
will we have the market in Burlington for those types
of rent and those types of facilities.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
It just seems like big numbers. It is, And of
course a certain percentage of the units have to be affordable.
It's the that's that's the way it works in Burlington,
so they have to they have to have a certain percentage.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
But I am I am confident that the developers know
what they're doing and that there is a market for
those type of units, and I think that there will be.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I'm excited by this project starting.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
It's supposed to it's supposed to open up officially, I.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Think in August.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
If you know, you know how these things work, it
was going to be June, it was going to be July,
and I think it's August. It was a long and
winding road for this project, probably, like well, a lot
of projects do work that way, but this one in
particular was really a long winding road. But I do
think it's going to add vitality to downtown Barrington, badly
needed vitality. It's going to bring more people. I do
(16:11):
think the units will fill up. They're going to have
some good businesses on the bottom floor. I have taken
a tour of the building and been up to the top.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I have to say I was a.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Little scared going up on the on the out the
what do they call it, the work elevator, that's not
the term, but when you're on the outside of the
building and the thing sort of shaking with the wind blowing,
and I was trying to pretend to Dave Farrington that
I wasn't scared.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
But I was like, can we get off? But I
was a little nervous, But it's.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
It's And this was a few months ago and it
was still being developed and it's almost finished now. But
the views are just absolutely spectacular up there. Obviously one
side you see the lake, but even on the other side,
just looking down on the whole city. But it's going
to be it's I I am convinced that it's going
to work. It's going to get filled up, and I'm
(17:05):
I was so excited to see that the other building
is starting to go up now and what they're referring
to as a lot of people were convinced that this
project would never happen because of all the problems that
it had. But kudos to the local developers, Dave Farrington
and Senecal and Ireland.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
For bringing us home.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
And I think it's gonna the more people that are
brought to downtown that are living downtown and are shopping
and going to the restaurants, because look at we just
got the sad news today that Nectar's is done in Burlington.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
That's that is the year when.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
I'm talking about this as a good thing. Boy, I
wish they'd been able to hang on until this happened.
But obviously it's it's a bad sign of the times,
you know, seeing a long iconic staple of downtown Burlington
not coming back.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah, well, I think right the high rent and obviously
it's you know, gonna be very bougie, and I would
think we'll you know, justify that ticket. I think having
the hospital just up the road will help because Joe,
the folks like you and I don't have a career
where that's what we can afford. But some of those
doctors at the hospital, like I'm sure that they can
(18:19):
or they maybe live really far away and now they've
got like a downtown place they can stay. But also
I think it'll bring that like level of people to
Burlington to spend their disposable income in the restaurants which
are struggling, in the stores which are struggling, and also
just I hope help the overall vibe of downtown because
it's kind of had a bad rap lately, which really
(18:41):
like drives me bonkers because it's a really great place
to go.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Absolutely an and you see rape personalities like Hallie Carr.
They have these big million dollar mansions and Rushland Ball
when he retired before he passed away. So Kurt, you
know you're retired media personality. Maybe you're on that Howie
car Rushland.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I wish I made it big enough to have salaries
like they had.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
I would have I would have one of the houses
in the new building. But yeah, I won't. I won't
be able afford that either. But I do think. I
do think it's going to be successful. And and you know, Aaron,
what you just said about the reputation downtown, it's it
is sad. I live in Burlington, I've lived here for
a long time. I love Burlington, and there's a lot
of great things in Burlington. But the leaders in Burlington
(19:26):
can't stick their head in the sand or elsewhere about
the problems downtown because they're real.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
You.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
You know, if you start losing the tourist dollars in
Burlington because they see people shooting up on the street
or or what have you, or just people engaging in
anti social behavioral to put it mildly, because I've seen
it myself many times, and it can it can scare you,
(19:53):
and it can make you not want to come back downtown.
So that people that are running the show in Burlington
now from the city council to the mayor have really
got to get a handle on this. It's a great city,
but we have to make sure the tourists keep coming
back to Burlington, and it'd be nice if the locals
want to go back downtown too.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I had lunch.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
At one of the outdoor cafes just a few weeks ago,
and it was great and it was a nice day,
but the number of people downtown was nothing like it
used to be, and we.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Got to get it back to that.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Yeah, absolutely, Kurt, you're involved in Over your twenty plus
years of public there were so many important moments in Vermont,
So you know, maybe talk a little bit about some
of the ones most memorable or maybe you're most proud
of from your time in Montpelier and in Burlington.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Well, one of the things that I'm most proud of
in Burlington that I had at least a small part
in was the sort of restoration and refurbishing the bike
path in Burlington. I what a number of years ago,
the bike path had really fall into disrepair.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
It was the fault of all of us that just had.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
I mean, I would see rollerbladers on the bike path
and I was like, I don't know how they're even
doing it. It was, you know, was heaving up in
different places and but so I put out a resolution
at the Finance Bart at the time saying we need
to dedicate more money to fixing the spots that really
need fixing. Javid Spencer at the time was the leader
of Locomotion. Now he's the DPW director. But he called
(21:29):
me and said, you know, I think we need to
do more than that. And when we talked, I agree,
they said, and we so he started what was called
the Burlington Bike Path Task Force, which led to and
I want to give credit to Mayor Burow Weinberger, because
we could come up with the idea and have a
task force and come up with you know, ideas and
funding solutions, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
But somebody's got to actually do it.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
And to Moro's credit, he brought it home and so
I had a part in that, which every time I
go on the bike path now it's been widened, repaved,
there's pause points where you can stop and look at
the beautiful Lake Champlain and so it's really been turned
back into a world class bike path. We also made
(22:10):
some improvements in the not enough improvements, mind you, but
We made some improvements in the permit system in Burlington,
made it some of it more into a one stop
shop instead of go here and get a permit, and
go back over here and do something else.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
And we made.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Some changes there and so's there's a number of things
that I'm proud of my involvement. We tried to keep
I also was also looked out for the taxpayers always
in Burlington. Tried to keep things under control because it's
a beautiful city, but it's not cheap.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
And mopel here.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
I mean, tons of big issues over the years. There's
one that was very controversial in two thousand and nine,
which was frankly same sex marriage, and I cast one
of the deciding votes in favor of that, and some
people were angry at me for a long time and
some people were happy with me.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
But that was I can't deny that.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
That was a very controversial vote at the time, and
it was decided by one vote.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Mhm.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
There's the one.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Well, anybody that voted on the on the they could.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Call themselves the one. That's fine, that's the finest.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
That was one of the last right and I was
one of the last most person people to cast the vote.
Because my last name being W it's alphabetical, right, So
so I was you know.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
That's a funny. That's a funny politics thing there to
like someone with the last name Z on their platform
when they run and can say, if it comes down
to one person, you're gonna want.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Me at the very end, you mean, like Dave Zuckerman. Maybe,
like sure, it was one of the few that was
left after me. Funny, but but I was honored to
serve my failure. There were so many big issues over
the years, and I had to remind myself sometimes driving
there when I would see the Golden Dome, like what
(24:03):
a privilege it was to represent my district and my
neighborhood there because that's such a historic, beautiful building.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Absolutely all right.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
We played as trash you're not you ready for trash?
You're not, Joe, I.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Am, I am so kurk trash, he're not.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
I always ask a question, usually it's Aaron, but with
you coming on this week, I know you have experience, so.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Trash, here're not. You're out on trash day.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
So it's today, your trash is going to be picked
up and you're out taking your lovely dog for a
walk around your neighborhood, and you clean up after your dog,
as I know.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
You both do. But are we supposed to do that?
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Well, not in Burlington, in Willston, so you clean up
after your dog and you have your your poop bag.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Trash.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
You're not throwing that poop bag in your neighbor's tope
because it is trash dag.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Throwing it into my neighbor's trash.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Correct, The bins are at the road, so like rather
than carrying a bit to your house and someone else's
bin is out.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
At first, Sie walks away from your house and it's
trash day, so you know the trash are going to
be emptied later this morning or in the afternoon.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Do you carry the At first I was gonna say trashy,
but now on reflection, I think that it's in fact,
you know what, I did it just the other day.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I did it just you're out in the walk back,
you're actually walking.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
Downtown and she did her business and we picked it up,
and I said, you know what we can we don't.
We were going to walk to UVM and put in
one of the big dumpsters, and I said, you know what,
somebody's got through trash been out right here, it's going
to be picked up.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
What's the problem. And so I say, not trashy.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
I'm going to agree, not trashy. But I feel like
a lot of people think trashy and that frustrates me
because to me, it's just being like efficient and logical
and resourceful. But I always do fear that, like the
little old lady is like staring out every window and
like why are you putting your jobs poop in my trash?
But like who cares that you're about to empty it?
(26:12):
Like what does it matter?
Speaker 3 (26:13):
So it wasn't trash day. What if the trash has
already been emptied?
Speaker 1 (26:17):
No, definitely not.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, then it'd be trashy.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Then it'd be trashy. I would agree with that, only
if the bins are at the road right waiting to
be emptied.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
And I so, where to God, that's what happened when
I did.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
So, we had so I witnessed this happened in my
neighborhood and it was trash day. And my wife and
I start having this conversation and I said, what you
guys did?
Speaker 2 (26:40):
What? No big deal? And so Vicky was adimily opposed
to it.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
And so I went online and it is a big
topic online and we're all minority. Majority of the people said,
you can't do that because they smell when the bin
is out.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
But does the internet classify like when only when the bin.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Is at the road? Yeah? Did that? Well no, of course.
And you know it's the internet.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
So you take everything you know if you believe everything
you read on the internet, Curt and eye and you
know we were in travel.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Well, I think that's the key. I think that's the key,
though I'm being I'm being hypocritical. But when we lived
in a condo that had like a community trash you know, shed,
we would get annoyed because our pod of three units
at the time didn't have a dog, and other people
with dogs would then put the who in our trash bed,
(27:31):
not on trash day, just like oh I walked by,
but then now our trash area would stink and like
none of us should have had to deal with that.
Oh Hi, where's mine?
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Mine must be upstairs? Hip hope.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Now I don't remember that, and you a lot I remember.
Was it Jeter?
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Who was your pup that passed away recently? Not recently,
but a couple of years ago.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
It was a Yankee name right, Yeah, Joe toring To
was named Torri.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
What's name?
Speaker 2 (28:08):
This is Casey Casey. And so I.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Think those people that are online saying it's trashy, don't
do that. I say, lighten up, light up, come on,
We're just put in the back of poop in your trash.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
It's gonna be picked up later. What's the problem, That's
what I say.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
And I have to point out your dog having a
human name, because that's like a running joke.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
And she she's definitely the brains of this operation.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
And so I I mean, now people that don't pick
up their poop.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Like they they poop in your yard as they're walking by.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
That I have many I have many positive characteristics, but
I have many negative. So one of my negative is
I'm very petty. So I've had a neighbor dog do
their business on our lawn. I collect it, and I
believe brought it to his scoop and left it.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Well, recycle is back to recycling. And wait, real quick,
is there ever a time real world where like is
there like a like a recycling thing that could be
done with? Like right, if all the dog who got
put in the same place, does that turn into something? Ever?
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Or just straight train now now you know, so Green
Mountain Compost and Williston used to accept dog waste for
compost and they have since now gone away from it
last year or so. They now don't want because of
all the other stuff that's involved in both human and
animal waste.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
See we cite. We brought it right back around to
Myers waste and recycled. But fact for everyone to learn today,
there will never be huge piles of dog poop getting
put into a bin to be.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Picked up outside of your house. There you go, all.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Right with that. I think we're gonna wrap things up
on this episode of the Trash Talking and Giving Back Podcast.
Thank you again to Kurt Right for taking a little
time out of his retirement to join us, and we
look forward to seeing you else to do. I have
plenty of honeydew items for you.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
You're at our house as my I know you get
ready to go. But just as my boss Ken Barlow
said to me, Kurt Right, who used to be.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Somebody, Oh you're still somebody somebody.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
We even get to talk much baseball, So we have
to have you back on anytime, anytime?
Speaker 1 (30:41):
All right, like us, share us, subscribe us, and We'll
see you guys another week.
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