Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), the inventor of dynamite, was a chemist, engineer, businessman and, most memorably, philanthropist; he was also a scholar, fluent in Russian, French, English and German. Above all, he loved poetry.
Economic development promised by both the 100 Bridge and hotel projects on Bridge Street helped the town get a $2.1 million state grant to work on roads and utilities along this emerging commercial corridor.
Because the regional agreement between Great Barrington, Stockbridge and West Stockbridge stipulates that towns pay in a per pupil system, Great Barrington bears 70 percent of the cost.
“I don’t think anyone should be under the illusion that changes at this point [in the Main Street Reconstruction Project] will be without a cost to the town.”
-- Sean Stanton, chair of Great Barrington Selectboard
A residential exemption would tax people progressively more or less based on the assessed value of their home. The more your home is valued, the more you pay, just like the income tax.
For a minor fire [Housatonic’s] gallons per minute is adequate — for anything major, they’re not. It would require thousands of feet of hose and multiple engines, and a delayed response. It would require a lot of manpower and laying in from the [Housatonic] river.”
-- Great Barrington Fire Chief Charlie Burger
“The heart of the question is how do you make the Housatonic School building financially feasible. It has to be financially viable and be a positive impact on the village. Any entity that can do those two things, we should be greasing the wheels for them.”
-- Timothy Geller, executive director of the Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire
We’ve been around and around the block about this. Is it expensive? Is it going to cost us a lot of money? Yeah, but ultimately I think it’s the right decision to make.”
-- Selectboard member Sean Stanton
I believe the high school renovation is a good project, and anything I can do to improve the money situation I will do."
-- Great Barrington Selectboard Chair Deborah Phillips
“You have to ask ‘What’s the risk?’ in taking this proposal to the voters. There are attitudes out there.”
-- School Building Subcommittee Chair Richard Coons.
