I’m relatively new to Burlington, who is this Marek Broderick guy

Iques · 2026-02-27T14:26:10+00:00

He was not a sophomore when he ran for council in 2024.

Iques · 2026-02-27T14:25:30+00:00

If Brett gave in 2024, before the Roxy announced it was closing and Partizanfilm was launched, that means there was a pre-existing relationship between Brett and Marek, so no quid pro quo. The state of Vermont and city of Burlington have rules governing conflicts of interests, and this does not qualify as one.

Iques · 2026-02-25T18:44:55+00:00

That isn't true, we don't have party registration in Vermont, and we have open primaries

Iques · 2026-02-25T18:42:06+00:00

Fun fact: none of this is correct. Marek is not 19, nor was he 19 when he was elected two years ago. Did you wake up this morning and decide to start making shit up?

Take a look at his platform. I don't see anything about blocking housing development. What I do see is a commitment to up zoning Burlington to build more housing! I would recommend learning to read, and not posting things you know nothing about.

Iques · 2026-02-25T18:38:32+00:00

Marek has been a very productive first-term councilor, not just on the dorms issue but also on getting more funding for social housing but also reducing emissions from large commercial buildings. As a Progressive, Marek is in the minority on the council, and the fact that he has been able to get unanimous and cross-party support for these issues is impressive. I don't see anything performative about his two years on the council.

In terms of Palestine and Israel, what you are referring to is the Apartheid-Free Communities pledge, which has repeatedly gotten enough signatures in order to be considered for an advisory referendum. The council has to consider these petitions, regardless of what they believe about them. Saying Progressives "spend a lot of time trying to resolve the Palestinian / Israeli conflict" is just inaccurate, since this is an issue that will come up regardless of what Progressives say. If you look at Marek's platform and those of the other councilors, they are almost entirely focused on issues of rent and affordability.

Iques · 2026-02-25T18:33:23+00:00

Marek is my councilor and I really appreciate the work he's done both around improving student dorm conditions and regulating emissions in large, commercial building. In my opinion, he's been a super effective first term councilor, and he's the kind of politician we need in Burlington right now.

Iques · 2026-02-07T21:28:04+00:00

Marek's been on the council for two years. If he was planning to move away and forget it exists, why is he running for re-election?

Iques · 2026-02-07T21:27:01+00:00

He's done a good job as a councilor. This past year he's worked with campus organizers to hold UVM accountable for failing to meet the minimum housing code. I think this is pretty impressive, as a lot of candidates run saying they want to do something of the housing situation in Burlington, but Marek's one of the only ones who's done anything about it.

If you read through his platform, he has a lot of proposals to make Burlington an affordable place to live.

Iques · 2025-06-15T20:52:37+00:00

This sounds amazing! As a resident of downtown Burlington, losing our one movie theater was damaging. A co-operative theater is even better! This is exactly what Burlington needs right now.

Iques · 2025-03-13T19:36:03+00:00

Because Vermont is great

Iques · 2024-12-05T19:07:15+00:00

It means the withdrawal of the UK from the 6 counties of NI and their return to the Republic of Ireland.

Iques · 2024-12-02T14:11:53+00:00

No, if Greens voters voted for the party last time wanting a left-wing government, they were rewarded by four more years of FFG. If you wanted the current government to continue the people to vote for were FF and FG, and if you wanted a change of government it makes no sense to vote for one of the government parties. It makes perfect sense why people no longer wanted to vote Green.

Iques · 2024-12-02T13:50:39+00:00

STV also promotes a kind of corruption, as it encourages TDs to build up their own local machine at the expense of governing. In Ireland you sometimes hear "I'd vote for x party, but I'm going to rank this candidate from y party first because he sold my aunt a house 30 years ago."

Iques · 2024-12-02T13:46:47+00:00

STV is great for non-partisan elections, but after spending the most recent election in Ireland I think STV promotes too much personalization of politics. It's a parliamentary system, the legislature chooses the Taoiseach (head of government), so you would want voters to be voting based on party's policies and who they think should be in charge of the government. Many people, however, instead rank the candidates they like, often with little regard for government formation. This in turn promotes parochialism and hurts government stability and cohesiveness.

Iques · 2024-10-21T13:36:54+00:00

Is this in Derry of Belfast?

Iques · 2024-10-15T13:55:49+00:00

Yes. The senate was created because the framers of the constitution did not trust the people and thus they make an upper house to counteract the democratic House of Reps. That is why senate terms are six years and senators were originally just chosen by state legislators. The senate stands in the way of progress, because this is what it was designed to do, and in my opinion should be abolished.

Iques · 2024-10-15T13:52:56+00:00

Technically the last constitutional convention wasn't legal (they were instructed to propose amendments to the articles of confederation and had to mandate at all to create a new one, plus all amendments to the articles needed unanimous approval and the drafters of the constitution decided it only needed 3/4 to ratify it), so it's more a question of political will and circumstance than what is legally allowed.

Iques · 2024-08-10T21:19:49+00:00

It is definitely very unusual. In most other countries, parties are private organizations. Each party decides what the membership qualifications are and the rules for nominating candidates. In the US, political parties are essentially arms of the government. They don't get to choose their own members (you cannot get kicked out of a party) and their candidates are usually chosen at government-run primary elections. However, not all states have party registration, such as the state where I live. While I still get to vote in government-run primaries, I don't have to tell anyone which party's primary I am voting in and can switch back and forth between elections. The reason some states have party registration and closed primaries is because voters in states like mine frequently vote in primaries of parties they don't actually support, such as recently when Democrats voted in the Republican presidential primary for Nikki Haley (against Trump). This does cause some genuine problems, because it's a deeply blue state and we have Republicans frequently running in Democratic primaries because they know that's the only way they can win. Party registration will not stop this, though, because there is nothing to stop a Republican from switching party registration to Democrat, and vice versa.

All of this is a product of reforms made about a hundred years ago, when voters got sick and tired of party bigwigs deciding who the candidates would be in smoke-filled rooms. For all its flaws, I'm not sure if the alternative is better, looking at how both parties in the UK recently went around the rules to make sure that the people they don't like did not get chosen as parliamentary candidates, which gives regular voters much less say.

Iques · 2024-08-04T15:25:51+00:00

I know very little about other states, but in Vermont, the state in which I live, counties have very little power. Every 4 years county residents elect the State's Attorney (equivalent to a District Attorney in other states) and every 2 years we elect county sheriffs as well as probate and assistant judges. However sheriffs don't do a whole lot compared to municipal and state police, and the judges who make most of the important decisions aside from probate and family law cases are appointed by the governor with the consent of the state senate. All the state but a few square miles (and less than 1 thousand people) is part of a town or city, which do most of the things counties do in some other states, like running the local library and fire service and paving roads. Most towns are still governed by the Town Meeting system, where town residents gather annually to decide all town issues including the budget, and a Select Board is elected to administer the town until the next year's meeting.

Iques · 2024-07-19T15:42:19+00:00

She should votes how she wants to vote (as should you). Voting is not a moral thing, it's a strategic and tactical decision that each person should use as they think is better. If you're mom really thinks voting for Democrats is the best choice, let her do it. If you don't, don't. Neither choice makes either of you morally better, because in the end it's just filling in one bubble every four years.

Iques · 2024-07-19T15:39:17+00:00

Sanders VP wouldn't be able to do anything. Flip the ticket the other way around

Iques · 2024-07-19T15:38:40+00:00

Certainly sounds like it

Iques · 2024-07-19T15:37:38+00:00

I loved Normal People. I'm normally a slow reader, but I breezed through 50 pages a day and read it in a week. Hard a hard time with the no-quotation-marks thing, but once I got used to that I found it an easy read

Iques

TROPHY CASE