Channel 17 Welcomes New Trustee for Winooski, Michele Palardy

March 23, 2015

You are representing Winooski on the Channel 17 Trustees. How did you end up in Winooski and get involved with the community?

I’m a native vermonter, born and raised in Waitsfield and Warren. I moved away after college and then came back a few years later. I wanted to be closer to my people, my dad, LJ was living in Winooski. I wanted to be around more people and I came up and found an apartment in Winooski. I rented for a while and then bought the building I was living in. For the first 12 years I lived here I was just living and working. I voted and went to high school basketball games. When the discussion of the f35s came about, some neighbors contacted me and we started digging into information on them. We are in the flight path, the city of Winooski is going to be affected the most, the building I own and the impacts on that. I moved here thinking I would live here for the rest of my life and now that decision is in question. I started going to city council meetings and with some other people started the group ‘Save our Skies. Doug D from RETN contacted our group and asked if we want to learn how to use a camera to record our protests and meetings. As the person who did photography in college, I stepped up and met with Doug. I have my own youtube page now and post the videos there. Because of my involvement in the F35 issue, I started going to a lot of community meetings and got much more involved.

In what ways is Winooski like or not like the towns around it - and Vermont?

Have you heard the expression, ‘Winooski is Burlington’s Brooklyn?’ We are kind of an extension of Burlington now. I have felt this especially being an apartment owner and dealing with tenants. I always wanted to be a good landlord and I think I am. Winooski is a community, just a lot smaller but  with all sorts of people we are very diverse. We have so many different languages and people in our city. That is one way we are different from the rest of Vermont. We worked with refugees when we were developing ‘Save our Skies’ so I got to meet new people through that.

How can you see community media serving Winooski?

It would be great to get more people involved in voting. I’ve stood at the senior center on voting day and I wish voter turnout was bigger. Maybe the media could help spur that on more? Community media could be used for getting important topics out there to the people of Winooski. A lot of things that people don’t know - They don’t know there is a community center, that there is a group against the F35s, general information about the city. Until the F35 issue came up, I paid my taxes, loved Winooski, but wasn’t involved. Now that I’ve gotten involved, I’ve met people and I have made real connections.

If you had a regular talk show on Winooski, who would your first three guests be?

Diana Gonzalez, our new state rep for Winooski. She’s wonderful. I met her at a couple of farmer’s markets. I don’t even know who owns Sneakers, but some of the restaurant owners in the circle there. Sneakers has been there for so long, it would be interesting to hear from them. And a person who is great for the city is ‘Deac,’ the city manager. She tries her best to help everybody in the city. Out of everyone in the city, she sent me a condolence card when my dad passed and that meant a lot.

What do you hope for in your role as Channel 17 trustee? Snacks, easy meetings, budget discussions?

I like the snacks idea, I work a lot painting and the meetings are held later in the afternoon, so I need snacks. At my first meeting, we talked about the budget some, but the conversation about combining the three area access centers is interesting. Ive never done anything like this before, I’d love to donate my time for something meaningful.  I’ve been doing a lot of fundraising around the F35 issue and I don’t know yet what Channel 17 needs from me so I am looking forward to learning more.

Do you want to be Mayor of Winooski some day? Do you aspire to further community involvement?

I would say no, not the mayor, but I would definitely like to be involved in the community. The best thing about being in the F35 group has been meeting people and all my neighbors. Its really helped me get out of my shell. I would definitely aspire to do more.

Do you think they should have built the dome over the onion city?

Interesting. This comes up every once in a while. I don’t know. Id like to know more about it. I don’t think the dome would have been good for us. How would the air have gotten recycled? Would it have been really humid or would they have had an air-conditioner running all the time? Its probably a good idea we didn’t try the dome.

Your Dad was LJ Palardy, the community media maker and radio show host, did you get your interest in media from him?

My Dad was LJ Palardy, he lived here in Winooski and he just passed away after a long time with cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. He was very outgoing and I have part of that, I learned it from him. I go to the same grocery store every week and know the girls working there, he was like that. We are both creatures of habit. Everywhere he went he knew someone, he could have run for Mayor. I think Im a lot like that. He and I never really connected around the media, because his focus was jazz and I was listening to 95xxx. We talked about doing radio shows together but didn’t connect on our music. His outgoing nature really rubbed off an me and his warped sense of humor. He donated his body to UVM and so he joked that he is still tormenting the students there. On February 14, valentines day, right there at the north end studios, we are having a remembrance party for him from 8-midnight.  His friends are getting together and we will ask for donations for the Respite House. He didn’t really want to go there but we needed the support and within the first week he was very comfortable and feeling that this was his new family. They are wonderful and we couldn’t have done it without them. The day after he passed we did an interview with WCAX for a story they were doing on the Respite House. We were so happy to be able to give them the praise and support they deserve. I can’t say enough about them.