This week 7 Days featured a great article on Rutland, Vermont. Rutland's a city with reputation, called "RutVegas" by some and "the armpit of Vermont" by others. But as 7 Day's Kathryn Flagg reports, Rutland is in the midst of some sort of renaissance. People are moving back and trying to revitalize the downtown. The outcome, though, is unclear:

This leaves Rutland in the position of many small, once-bustling industrial towns in America: casting around for what’s next. Finding that thing — green energy? Local foods? New farms? — and agreeing on it can be tough for a community divided between can-do youngsters and a population segment that’s reticent in the face of change.

In Burlington, Project BTV is trying to involve community members in downtown planning, but with mixed results.

Rejuvenating a town or city is tough work. All across Vermont and the North Country, people are thinking about how to make their communities prosperous, sustainable, nice place to live. I'm wondering–have you seen revitalization efforts at work in your towns? Do you agree with them, and have they worked? What makes a community vibrant?

Paul O'Toole, a former carpenter from Middlebury who has been homeless for two years, was found dead this week on a heating grate in Burlington.  The cause of death was apparently hypothermia.

The 56-year-old man's passing has revived a debate in Burlington over how to help people suffering from addiction in our northern region, particularly when the weather turns dangerous.

This from the Burlington Free Press.

Family and friends say O’Toole might have benefited from a low-barrier, or “wet,” shelter that would have taken in drunken people when the air turned frigid. Burlington police have yet to determine whether O’Toole had been drinking at the time of his death and are awaiting the results of an autopsy report, Deputy Chief Andi Higbee said Tuesday.

In the meantime, city officials and social workers have resumed talks about whether Burlington should create a low-barrier shelter. O’Toole’s family and friends, joined by a former Vermont state auditor, say the city should.

“A low-barrier shelter would be so awesome,” Mary O’Toole said. “He was not able to navigate the rules of, ‘You have to stay sober, you have to do this or do that.’ He just really had a hard time navigating all that stuff. … Why should someone have to navigate getting a warm place to stay? It should be wide open.”

So what do you think?  Is our society doing enough to help those who spiral down to these dangerous depths?  Do you see people at risk in your community?

Comments welcome.