In a virtue-signaling display of institutional Trump Derangement Syndrome, the city of Burlington, Vermont, passed a resolution to spend $3,000 to rename its main shopping corridor from Church Street to Canada Street. The silly effort is premised on the goal of attracting more shoppers to the progressive Gotham’s dying commercial sector in a spiteful swipe at President Trump. Burlington is cutting off its nose on its path to self-destruction.
The Resolution recites its “shared values with Canadian neighbors” and data suggesting “Canadian visitors are vital to our local economy, particularly in the downtown where small businesses, restaurants, hotels, and retail shops rely on cross-border tourism.” Burlington has experienced a sharp drop-off in foot traffic to its downtown Church Street Marketplace following years of Seattle-like progressive policies. (RELATED: Vermont Pedophile Weekend Retreat Draws Parental Ire)
Burlington’s street renaming solution to its economic woes blames Donald Trump for its decline:
“WHEREAS, recent reporting indicates a noticeable decline in Canadian travel to Vermont, with travelers citing concern about the Trump administration’s political rhetoric and immigration policies that expose them to risk of detention as reasons for canceled or postponed visits
“WHEREAS, these policies from the Trump administration do not reflect the views and values of city leaders and residents, and the City of Burlington wishes to make sure our Canadian neighbors know this loud and clear;”
The truth is obscured from Burlington’s Progressives by the self-immolating ideology that has steadily destroyed the once-vibrant Green Mountain metropolis. Illegal immigrants populate the sanctuary city; gang violence is reflected in street shootings and the ubiquitous graffiti staining once-beautiful architecture; free needle sites ensure dirty syringes litter the shopping sidewalks. Drastically defunding the Burlington police and repeatedly electing far-left prosecutor Sarah George to set “marginalized” criminals at large have led Vermonters to shun the city for recreation or shopping.
A September 2024 article, bluntly titled “Burlington businesses sound the alarm over declining foot traffic, sales,” described the glaring reasons Canadians stayed home long before Donald Trump could be scapegoated:
Many Burlington businesses report a decline in revenues this summer amid an array of struggles downtown.
Store owners are often reluctant to say business is bad for fear it will make the situation worse. But many are frustrated over declining revenues caused by visitors’ concerns about public safety and an exodus of downtown workers.
The situation is prompting businesses to hit the panic button and ask people to shop locally because they are worried about closing … Th[e] challenges include crime, open drug use and other bad behavior.
Vermont’s Continued Decline
A recent letter, signed by over 100 Burlington business owners, petitioned the city to relocate a longstanding food shelf away from the public parking garage, where posting police at taxpayer expense has failed to control crime. This created a backlash and capitulation by the progressive-coddling Burlington mayor elected for her gay virtues to implement a “renewed sense of community empowerment.” (RELATED: Vermont Free Food Fracas Exposes Progressive Folly)
The city continues to sink in the quicksand of progressive folly while city councilors shift blame to Donald Trump and solicit rescue from Canadians chased away by crime, decline, and city taxes. Burlington can’t balance its books due to overspending, despite increasing property taxes and a sales surtax on businesses that is shrinking the city’s revenues.
Now the city is spending $3,000 on “bilingual signage, including street signs, Canadian flags and other marketing materials” to attract Canadians, it claims have been scared away by fears of arrest and deportation. A gaslighting Olympian has championed the street renaming ruse:
“Symbolism is important. It shows that we care,’ said Councilor Becca Brown McKnight (D-Ward 6), the resolution’s primary sponsor, who wore a Canadian flag-themed T-shirt to commemorate the vote.
Councilor McKnight said the name change is a playful way of showing appreciation to Canadians. It’s also a dig at Trump’s own penchant for rebranding national landmarks, such as the Gulf of Mexico, which the president renamed the Gulf of America on the first day of his second term.
Councilor Gene Bergman (P-Ward 2) said the gesture is also a rejection of the xenophobia perpetuated by recent unprecedented immigration raids.
Burlington is a self-proclaimed refuge for illegals and indigents that rolls out the red carpet for fentanyl-dealing street gangs while treating police like criminals. Now it proposes to solve these visible failures by “encouraging Canadian tourism, and celebrating our shared values and borderless friendship.” (RELATED: Sanctuary Cities: The Dangerous Illusion of Virtue)
The border between the U.S. and Canada remains intact, as does the border between economic reality and Marxist Utopia. Burlington is no friend to the businesses it is slowly strangling in its empty quest to fault Trump for its pernicious fatuity. (RELATED: The Scandinavian Lesson: What Malmö Warns Us About America’s Sanctuary Cities)
Burlington businesses are suffering the wokester ills that have infested progressive cities nationwide. Burlington is banking on Canadians risking their lives and treading where Vermonters eschew walking. French-language signs won’t conceal the stench.
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