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Burlington Progressives endorsed two more candidates for the Town Meeting Day ballot at a special caucus on Thursday night.

Dan Castrigano is running as a Progressive in Ward 4, and Lena Greenberg is running as an independent in Ward 5. The candidates are challenging Democratic incumbents Sarah Carpenter and Ben Traverse, respectively, on March 5.

The Progressive-endorsed candidates, who ran unopposed, won the backing by electronic ballot. Nine people participated in the virtual forum.

Progs have endorsed candidates in all eight wards, which are up for reelection on March 5.Democrats, meantime, are running candidates everywhere but in Ward 2, leaving Progressive incumbent Councilor Gene Bergman unopposed. The Dems, though, may still nominate someone before the January 29 filing deadline,Burlington Democratic Party chair Adam Roof said this week.

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Castrigano, a New North End resident, works for ReSOURCE's YouthBuild job training program. He's also an organizer with Flight Free Vermont, whose mission is to reduce air travel, and Safe Landing BTV, a campaign to halve carbon emissions at Burlington International Airport by 2030. Both he and Greenberg want to close the city's biomass-fueled McNeil Generating Station.

Castrigano's robust council climate platform includes mandating environmental education in Burlington schools, banning gas-powered lawn and garden equipment, and launching a city-wide tree planting campaign, his website says. He would also push for building more bicycle parking and bus stop shelters.

Castrigano supports rent stabilization, building transitional housing for people with substance-use disorder and opening an overdose prevention center. He also wants to upzone neighborhoods around major employers to reduce vehicle emissions.

"We have to legalize more housing within the city," Castrigano said at Thursday's caucus. "A dense, mixed-use city is strong, safe, more socially connected and more fiscally sound."

Caucus-goer Colin Larsen, who nominated Castrigano, said the candidate would bring new ideas to the council. "We need leaders who are going to push against the status quo," he said. "Dan is someone who always pushes."

Greenberg, who uses they/them pronouns, lives in the King/Maple streets neighborhood and serves on the Ward 5 Neighborhood Planning Assembly steering committee. They work as a consultant focused on food and climate issues in urban areas.

Greenberg supports moving to an income-basedmunicipalproperty tax and offering rent rebates to help low-income tenants, according to their website. They alsowant the city to hire more unarmed social workers; install needle disposal boxes in public parks; and help fund organizations that provide emergency food, such as food shelves and mutual aid groups.

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On Thursday evening, Greenberg said the housing shortage underlies other challenges in the city, including public safety.

"If we take the time to build affordable housing and work in [the] community, we are going to see change in a way that adding more police is not going to," Greenberg said.

Council races will be competitive this election cycle, particularly with a contested mayoral race. Democrats will seek to retain their functional majority on the council, and Progressives will try to win back some of the seats they've lost in recent elections.

The Progs also wants to keep the seats that party incumbents are vacating. Councilor Zoraya Hightower is stepping down in Ward 1 and will be replaced by either Progressive Carter Neubieser or Democrat Geoff Hand. Councilor Joe Magee isn't running again in Ward 3, opening the door for either Prog-backed Joe Kane or Dem contender Malik Mines.

A win by Castrigano or Greenberg in Wards 4 and 5 would be an upset and not just because they'd knock off incumbents: A Prog hasn't held either seat for more than a decade.

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"There is so much potential for change in this city that we haven't tapped into yet," Greenberg said. "That really excites me."

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Burlington Progressives Pick Two More Candidates for March Ballot - Seven Days