Vt. House candidate Roberts shares views on opioids, housing
From the Brattleboro Reformer, Oct. 24, 2022:
Candidates in the Nov. 8 General Election were sent the following questions:
• What are your concrete plans for addressing the growing opioid epidemic and its related rise in the crime rate?
• How would you tackle the existing housing crisis and workforce shortage, and what do you see as the keys to flourishing economic development?
• Pick one other issue that is important to you and explain how you would address it.
Candidate for STATE REP, WINDHAM-6 (Wilmington, Whitingham, Halifax), Tristan Roberts, of Halifax:
The problems the Reformer poses bring to mind a book I used to read aloud to my son. In it a baby penguin says, “The world is big and I am small.”
“Concrete plans” in 500 words from a novice Halifax Select Boarder and first-time state rep candidate? As I’ve told Windham-6 voters, I’m in listening-and-learning mode. I don’t yet speak in complete sentences punctuated by “H.007” and “S.42,” with one exception, as follows.
I support women. I support anyone who is oppressed. I am voting “Yes” to Proposals 2 and 5.
Visiting the Moving Wall last year put something in perspective for me. And with my son at my side, the stakes were clear. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial lists over 58,300 names of U.S. soldiers killed or M.I.A. over a 20-year war.
We’re on pace to lose twice as many Americans this year alone from drug overdose.
And the numbers only begin to tell the stories. Statistics record that Emmy Bascom died of homicide here in August by a criminal. But the story Emmy’s brother Rick told me is that in the War on Drugs, the drugs took another one. And the loss and trauma is shared by four motherless kids and a family.
You and I aren’t above it any more than we’re above COVID. Risk factors for opiate abuse include being 18–25, being 65-plus, having a respiratory condition, and using pain medication. I’ve had morphine after surgery. I can’t begin to imagine what fentanyl, with 100 times the strength, would do.
China could end the fentanyl supply chain if it wanted to. But until they do, Vermont is a triage unit for a war being waged from outside our borders that our nation’s leaders have decided is a lower priority than trade in rare-earth minerals.
If it were up to me, I’d favor American lives over electric cars.
It wouldn’t be up to me if I’m elected state representative. So what can I do?
I can stop othering our problems and start owning them.
I would be a strong voice for rural Vermonters having full access to state’s best health care resources, and feeling no shame in asking for help.
We can blame the housing shortage on inflation or the labor market or investors, but what can we do? Our towns can be reviewing zoning for obstructions to development in transit corridors and downtowns. Some would tax “Airbn’bucks.” I say let’s ask owners if we can do more to cost-share the higher capital risk they carry in long-term rentals.
Whether it’s families, farmers, small-business owners, or the folks running our towns, Montpelier has a habit of asking more while giving less. I can’t blame voters who feel discouraged looking at their property tax alongside their heating bill.
The world is big and I am small.
But together, we Vermonters are the most capable, forward-thinking, and values-first people in the world. That’s the vision I’m running for. If you like it, please support me.