People knew Art Ames as the very nice guy who ran the Berkshire Co-op. For a long time, he was part of the fabric of Great Barrington: always around, always friendly, patient, and kind. He was drawn here to take the new Co-op manager position. In his 13 years in that job, he oversaw the store’s move from Rosseter Street to Bridge Street, and much of its exponential growth since then. While part of the community here, he hosted a music show on WBCR, our low-power, member-supported radio station, joined the board of directors of Community Health Programs (where he still serves), led the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, and served on several Great Barrington town committees. He rented in West Stockbridge until last year, when his landlord decided to sell the house.
Ames posted his farewell letter to the Berkshires on his Facebook page. It is excerpted below.
August 2, 2021:
“I’ll be moving to Greenfield at the end of the month, a victim of rising housing prices and accelerated gentrification. I’m not really happy about it and I know there are hundreds of folks in the same predicament … It is the system that is the problem, the shortage of housing … and as a bigger picture, the harsh divide that gets worse every year between the haves and the have-nots.
I’m actually relieved to be leaving. The anger and vitriol and finger pointing in this community increases every year. The system pits us against one another … I love this area. I used to love the can-do attitude. I recognize that in spite of differences, when a neighbor is in distress, people jump in to help. I also firmly believe that if the current trends continue as we watch them escalate, in a short time, the Berkshire community will have lost the ability to turn this around and once again be more of an [exclusive] community, at least as far as income, as it was in the not-too-distant past.
My intent here is certainly not to insult anyone. Instead, those of you with resources and some privilege have a choice to make and you are running out of time. What do you want this community to be? Maybe a few of you are happy that myself and others like me are leaving … Perhaps you want a local economy completely made up of house cleaners and landscaping people and waitstaff as an example of the increased divide of resources, though heaven knows where they will live.
But I suspect you really don’t want that.
So instead … what WILL you do, because the time to simply complain about what is going on is over. With privilege and resources comes power. How will you use it?”
In thinking about the ongoing crisis in affordable housing in Berkshire County, I was reminded of Art’s poignant note, and reached out to him to learn more about why he left, and how he’s doing now. An edited first-person narrative from our conversation follows.
January 30, 2022:
I liked the challenge of taking the Co-op to Bridge Street. That’s what drove me to the Berkshires. At the time I’d been living in North Carolina for over a decade, with a very different cultural outlook.
The Co-op was a fantastic gig. I loved it. I loved the people. It was nice to lean into the beauty of the Berkshires. I’m into music, so nice to be near a lot of festivals in the summer. I used to say how diverse it was. Certainly not diversity of color, but diversity of outlook and age and financial demographics. Great Barrington was a perfect 25/25/25/25 percent differential, financially.
I grew up in Boston, Dorchester, Mattapan. When I first came back here to New England, to my roots, it was really exciting. When we talked about the word “local,” we were talking about local farmers and supporting small local industries. Now it seems we identify local by a $50 meal we can get at a local restaurant that has local beef. There’s a new store in town that sells local alpaca wool sweaters for hundreds of dollars.
Things really started to turn about six years ago. I noticed a culture shift. More money was coming in and more locals were being squeezed out. People up in the north part of the county could get jobs, but instead of talking about regional transportation we were talking about train rides to New York.
I was renting a single-family house that abutted the Mass Pike. It was so close to the Pike it was valued less than most properties in West Stockbridge. I’d always said to the landlord that when the time came, we should talk about me buying it. When he informed me that he was going to sell it, we talked about the price we had talked about forever. At the last minute, recognizing the crazy jump in pricing, he came in with a proposal that was tens of thousands of dollars more than what we had originally agreed on. While I had some bitter feelings, I also understand that we are a capitalist country. If he can make a profit, he makes a profit. I started looking for other places to rent in my price range and couldn’t find anything.
My final straw was when they passed the single bottle water bill in Great Barrington and raised tens of thousands of dollars for those dispensers. That’s a wonderful cause, but it was such a privileged thing to fight for at that time when homelessness was increasing. If we used that same energy to address needs amongst the population, that’s what a community is about.
Since I left, I’ve had three people from the Berkshires come out to Greenfield to look at my place and put their names on the waiting list because they’re being priced out, too. The most important thing to note is that I’m not destitute. I’m what would have been called middle class. My rent [in West Stockbridge] with utilities was well over $2,000 a month.
I won’t go back to the Berkshires. I think it’s past the point of no return. Even the proposal that Leigh Davis has for the Airbnbs is one of a dozen things that towns should be looking at. I wholeheartedly support it, but it’s only a baby step. I’m shocked and disappointed at the pushback it has created. It’s facing this voracious disagreement when everybody should be saying, “We really want to change what’s going on.”
The heart isn’t there to fix this. The investors have already taken over. Every time somebody proposes multi-unit, lower-income or market-rate housing, NIMBY comes out. We can complain about all the folks who came in and overbought property in the last year from New York and elsewhere, but we set that up for them.
I feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. In Greenfield, I’m about a two-minute walk from the back door of the co-op market. When [friends] come out, they have a delightful time. We walk into town. They’re shocked at how much more down-to-earth things are here, how much cheaper it is. The only thing I haven’t been able to replace is the damned cream cheese from the deli. Nobody does the bagels and cream cheese like they do there.
It’s shocking how much money I’m saving. Going out to eat in Greenfield is 20-percent cheaper. My rent, my utilities are cheaper. Even my cable is more modern and less expensive. I got a rebate on my car insurance. People are more friendly downtown. It feels like more of a mix of people. There’s a good music scene.
I’m just a normal guy who wants a variety of people in my community, you know? When everybody works, talks, acts the same and has the same bank account, you’ve lost any spark. I think it’s heartbreaking seeing what’s going on out there.
