Whether your family is vacationing or “stay-cationing” in the Berkshires over the February school vacation, there are events to keep you entertained and inspired all week long!
There are five sections on the poster: birth and childhood, familial ties, civil rights activism, a return to Great Barrington, and lasting impact. Photographs and captions accompany each section and there is a scannable QR code to learn more about Du Bois.
A four-page memorandum outlines a timetable for accomplishing specific goals during a one-year period of due diligence in advance of the redevelopment of the abandoned school in the center of the village of Housatonic.
"I think Great Barrington needs to have a more robust business community than it currently does. Great Barrington needs to become that small town that, besides great food and culture, is also a very interesting place to set up your business and that's the missing piece."
-- Tim Newman, WiredWest spokesperson who would move his business to Great Barrington if affordable high-speed communications were available
Lori A. Robbins, the attorney for Berkshire Aviation, stunned the packed selectmen's room when she announced that her client wanted to withdraw its application without prejudice.
The latest episode saw the public hearing on the airport's quest for three new hangars continued to July 10, but only after the selectboard heard from both sides of the controversial proposal, with noisy airport antagonists drowning out proponents.
The Great Barrington book includes fascinating details about many of the veterans, from the Revolutionary War through 1938, along with illustrations of each gravestone, and a locator map for each grave.
Among the projects that would receive support from the CPA are elderly housing at Bostwick Gardens, Lake Mansfield improvements, Great Barrington Historical Society, Great Barrington Land Conservancy, Town Hall repair, an elevator for Rubin Mill building in Housatonic, Berkshire Natural Resources Council and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
“The loss of federal dollars to support the Elder Nutrition Program, which represents one third of the program’s funding, would present a significant challenge to replace."
-- John Lutz, executive director of Elder Services of Berkshire County
"There is no discernable evidence leading me to conclude future real property values will be negatively impacted by such an occasion and to assert otherwise is speculation."
-- Town Assessor Chris Lamarre
Neighbors are worried about what will happen when an increasingly busier airport changes, possibly leading to even more future expansion. The pilots and plane owners say the airport is a critical piece of the town’s economic engine and a treasure that brings people here from far and wide.
Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire's executive director Tim Geller noted that these changes are “insubstantial” enough not to trigger another public hearing, as state regulations require it for “substantial” changes to the comprehensive permit, which was already granted last fall.
In his letter to the editor, Great Barrington Selectboard member Bill Cooke writes: “Many people choose to live here for that certain ‘small town’ quality of life. The problem is, that small town lifestyle is evaporating, as our local population is being priced out.”
Developer Jeffrey Cohen says the town should deal with the property no matter who eventually develops it since it will require the town’s capacities in both finding funding and shouldering liability for the legacy of dry cleaning chemicals that are still migrating across town in groundwater.
The solar field below the Rising Paper Mill in Housatonic, built last year on a brownfield, is saving the town and the Berkshire Hills Regional School District each between $70,000 and $90,000 in annual electricity costs.
