In addition to performing as a soloist, Chertock serves as principal keyboardist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and has been a professor of piano at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
2018 has provided enough Great Barrington news to keep journalists busy and observers of town politics highly amused, signaling that the community dubbed "best small town in America" by Smithsonian Magazine continues to be a place in transition.
Abrahams doubts anything will come of it because the ethics commission told him earlier there was no conflict of interest so long as he did not have a financial relationship with the applicant or otherwise stand to benefit financially.
The state sets a quota for the total number of licenses based on year-round population. Census figures set Great Barrington at two all-alcohol licenses and five beer-and-wine licenses. But the town currently has eight total licenses, only one of which is beer-and-wine only.
When Framework Properties first proposed the 47 Railroad Street project in Great Barrington, which included only 13 market-rate apartments, they learned that it was the first building permit taken out in the town for a structure containing four apartments or more since 1990.
After the planning board crafted a set of zoning regulations to deal with pot earlier this year, the selectboard reviewed them and most thought the regulations were a bit too lax since they would allow cultivation by-right in too many zones.
"I don't think this is good for Great Barrington. I think we already have conflicts with the other two towns over the school and I don't see this as bringing it together.”
-- Ed Abrahams, commenting on Selectman and School Committee Chair Steve Bannon also becoming Selectboard chairman.
At 33, Kate Feuer Burke represents a much-desired but disappearing demographic in town: a young professional with children who brings new vision and energy to the board.
The six candidates for Great Barrington Selectboard range from two men and one woman who have been on the scene for a long time to younger office seekers looking for generational change on the board.
The challenge for the state's 351 cities and towns is to revamp their zoning regulations so that they're not caught flat-footed by applications from cannabis retailers and manufacturers.
Less than a year after its formation, the Great Barrington Affordable Housing Trust Fund now has a total of $50,000 to lend to qualified first-time homebuyers.
Friday, March 23, is the last day nomination papers can be obtained from the town clerk for candidates who want to be on the ballot for the Tuesday, May 15, nonpartisan municipal elections.
In the last few years, Stanton has guided the selectboard through the sale of the old Castle Street firehouse, the reconstruction of Main Street, and the approval for the conversion of the former Searles High School to an upscale 88-room hotel on Bridge Street.
"The event offers all the students a sense of accomplishment by having their art chosen to be painted in downtown Great Barrington in what now had become a popular and highly competitive school wide competition." --Neel Webber, Monument Mountain Regional High School art teacher
Selectman Ed Abrahams said he does like the idea of a public-private partnership because, even if it means the town still owns the building, at least the town would retain some control over its future.
