Green Mountain Meandering Missives

Photo: Vermont State House, in Winter (taken by Morgan W. Brown; circa: Sunday, February 10, 2013) Had read in Friday's vtdigger Final Reading column about how the Vermont House of Representatives recently passed H.132 , a vastly amended version of the homeless bill of rights legislation (compared to what had been originally introduced), which is now in the hands of the state Senate (fourth item down page; related excerpts of column), here : [...] As Vermont continues to struggle with rising rates of homelessness , lawmakers are trying to ensure that people without permanent shelter aren’t discriminated against because of their housing status.   On Friday, the House passed H.132 , a bill that would essentially add homelessness as a protected class to the state’s various anti-discrimination laws, including Vermont’s Fair Housing Act and Fair Employment Practices Act . Under the latter law, an employer can’t refuse to hire someone based on their race, for example, or the...

  Although being retired from my thirty-plus years of volunteer activism and advocacy concerning various matters (including housing, homelessness and mental health), having learned of a press conference being held at the Vermont State House today regarding Housing First Vermont, since it concerns something rather near and dear to my heart, I attended in support of the cause.  Being retired, does not mean I stopped caring about these and related matters. Far from it. Photo: Housing First Vermont press conference placard (more photos of the press conference, here ). Update : Housing First Vermont:  Evidenced-Based Solutions to Homelessness:  2024 Policy Recommendations  (six page informational handout; scanned from hard copy; via Google Drive) , here . News articles and reports coverage of the press conference (this section will be updated as additional news coverage about the press conference becomes available): Brattleboro Reformer , here ; Vermont Public, here ...

First photo taken by a neighbor last weekend. For those who might have missed it, after posting the previous days reports and updates (12/22nd and 12/23rd), there was a follow-up update posted and also later edited, regarding Saturday’s events and related matters, as well, here . As had been previously mentioned in yesterday’s report and update, tentative plans for today (Sunday, December 24th), Christmas Eve Day, are yet to be determined, however Roaming Santa does plan to get out and about when he is able to do so. Second photo (taken by Ken Russell; shared with permission): Roaming Santa out front of the Vermont State House on Thursday evening. Roaming Santa’s Wish List : Recently, during one of the greet and waves in downtown Montpelier, Santa had asked someone what they wanted for Christmas and, after answering, the person asked him what he wanted as well. After pausing to think about it for several seconds, the reply was that what the person had mentioned sounded good to him too....