About Brian Brown Expertise I can answer questions regarding living in Burlington, politics, recreation, shopping, restaurants, growing up in Vermont, history of Vermont and Burlington, geography of Vermont and Burlington, motorcycling, and hiking.
Experience I am a native Vermonter and have lived in Burlington for most of my adult life.
Organizations I am the creator of iBurlington.com, a website offering residents of Burlington a platform to share their thoughts through forums.
Publications My writing regularly appears on iBurlington.com, and has appeared in the newspaper The Addison Eagle in Middlebury, where I was a full-time journalist, contributor, and production manager.
Education/Credentials I attended High School in Vergennes and college at the University of Vermont.
Question Thank you, that is very helpful. One more question - what would be the advantages/disadvantages of living in essex/junction or s. burlington? Thanks again.
Robin
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Followup To
Question -
Hi Brian,
I anticipate starting a grad program at UVM in the fall - my husband and I would like to buy a townhouse/condo in Burlington this summer. What would you recommend for neighborhoods? I've read some of the other questions and answers and can see on a map that everything is quite close. Just wondering where the 'hip' neighborhoods are. We're not really suburban type people but would consider living on the outskirts if there was access to trails, etc. Are there in-town areas that are more conducive to walking to things such as grocery stores/coffee shops? Are there neighborhoods we should stay away from? We are thirty-somethings with no kids.
Answer -
This is a tough one. All of Burlington is somewhat hip, but I wouldn't classify any particular part of it being especially hip.
There actually isn't a single place in Burlington where you can live in a nice apartment, and have a grocery store within walking distance. Burlington, and Vermont for that matter, are very car-oriented. Although there is public transportation, it's nothing like large cities and everyone I know has a car and NEEDS one.
I live in the Red Rocks Townhouses off of Austin Drive and I would consider that about the hippest in the city other than the multimillion dollar condos adjacent to Waterfront Park. There seem to be tons of young people from Burton Snowboards that live in Red Rocks and the very beginning of the Burlington Bike Path is within a 4 minute walk from my front door.
Another fab location would be apartment on the 2nd floor of any building on the Church St marketplace, but again, I would think these are expensive and are very problematic for parking if you have a car.
One area to avoid for young professionals is the "old north end." This is the area north of Pearl Street for about five blocks. Much of the city's crime is centralized in this area. The flip side of this is that most UVM students who live off campus get their first apartments in this area because they are cheap. So in this sense, it may be considered a "hip" place to live, but there isn't anything special about the area itself other than a party at every other house on Friday night. The real hip parts of living in Burlington (imho) are the downtown marketplace (including the restaurants and bars) and the waterfront. You don't need to live with student neighbors to enjoy these areas.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
-Brian
Answer Hi Robin.
My sister lives in Essex and her son lives in South Burlington. One of the main differences is that both of these towns have better school systems than Burlington. However, neither one has any kind of downtown compared to Burlington with the good restaurants and shopping.
S. Burlington is very suburbia while Essex is an IBM town and a great deal of its residents work at "the plant." Essex is actually pretty suburbia too. Burlington is definitely the "hipper" of the areas to live in.
