Peter J. Most is a member of the California, New York, and Massachusetts bars, practicing complex business litigation. He has been living with his family in Great Barrington since 2018, practicing law remotely.
Times have changed, but the formula remains stuck in 1949. The wealth disparities between neighboring towns simply did not exist at anything like their current scale. The founders of the regional school system could not have foreseen the inequity their formula has imposed on most towns today.
A new state designation under the Affordable Homes Act could give Great Barrington voluntary tools to preserve year-round housing for essential workers—but only if voters say yes at Annual Town Meeting.
We can honor the value of libraries while still asking the hard question: Are we funding a modern public need or maintaining a nostalgic institution whose scale no longer matches the town’s priorities in an era of diminishing resources?
When the walls are crumbling and the systems failing, achievement suffers. When modern spaces are designed for light, collaboration, and current learning models, students thrive.
Towns like Great Barrington and Lenox may find that, despite receiving state approval, many units still go to applicants from outside the community—fueling the perception that local residents are being shut out.
There will always be challenges at Town Meeting, as there should be. Bumpy though it sometimes feels during town meeting, the town gets to the right place in the end.
Beyond typical budget items, the most pressing issue on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant is Article 13, requesting funding for a “temporary” bridge to serve the nearly stranded Brookside Road community.
What is actually on the table is an ill-conceived proposal to merge two water systems now and figure out the details later. That is “ready, fire, aim” at its most reckless.
The Special Town Meeting Warrant is a half-baked idea posing as a solution. Proposing to purchase two utilities and working out the details later is neither a plan nor good governance.
To HWW ratepayers, the attorney general’s message is clear: “Let them eat cake.” To HWW, despite its ongoing breach of the Settlement Agreement, the message is just as clear: “Have at it.”
The disparity between cost and tuition begs two questions: Why do district towns subsidize the tuition for non-district town students, and is a fairness adjustment warranted?
HWW asserts that Great Barrington’s appeal of the Berkshire Superior Court’s Preliminary Injunction has impeded its ability to finance Phase 2, the manganese greensand filtration system agreed to in its Settlement Agreement with the attorney general.
Commercial properties must be maintained, secured, and either operated or transferred to those willing and able to do so. When buildings fall into disrepair—jeopardizing lives, livelihoods, and the community’s well-being—the burden ultimately falls on the town.
