On Sunday, Dec. 18, from 7 to 9 p.m., the Lucky 5 will perform at the Prairie Whale and will donate all tips received from their performance to the family whose Dresser Avenue home was lost to fire over the weekend.
Some Railroad Street merchants and firehouse neighbors have grown furious over the deterioration of the alley in the hands of private owners, its impact on delivery truck access, and the blighted appearance overall.
Local officials, developers, community organizers and business owners came to 47 Railroad in Great Barrington to meet, greet, and talk about the project as well as other projects slated for downtown.
“The trend nationally is that both baby boomers and millennials are migrating back to downtown centers for greater mobility options, access to shopping, restaurants, cultural venues, recreational facilities and healthcare options.”
--- Ian Rasch
“We live in a wonderful town...a beautiful community. How do we get people to realize that when we’re walking along shopping there are kids buying and selling heroin?”
--- Kingsley Little, whose son suffers from heroin addiction
In his letter to the editor, John Donovan writes: “There is a wonderfully growing appreciation for Organics today. Simply put, organic farming is the creation of new soil through wise, natural, husbandry and farming techniques.”
Sheffield Officer Brennan Polidoro stopped off-duty Great Barrington Officer Daniel Bartini in the early hours of Saturday, August 20, after observing him driving erratically, but was instructed to let him seek a ride home in what appeared to be an act of “professional courtesy.”
Housatonic Water Works Company says it needs to raise rates to both help pay its bills amid overhead increases and to fund state-mandated improvements to Housatonic’s aging water system.
Stanton said the state is already making medicinal marijuana dispensary companies jump through hoops, and that charging extra fees will ultimately punish patients by passing on those extra costs.
“The idea of bringing this into a residential neighborhood is hard for me to swallow. So many things that have happened...things we bet on and lost.”
--- Great Barrington Selectboard Chair Sean Stanton
“I feel that GE is just one in thousands of corporations that are doing the exact same thing to land and to rivers all across the world. We here have our small part to play in that big fight which is to stand up for our land and our water and the respect for humanity.”
--- Pooja Prema, an organizer of the Mega March against PCB dumps
The situation [with the Castle Street firehouse] is “ridiculous at this point. It seems crazy … If there’s a reason [why redevelopment of the firehouse hasn’t begun], then it would be nice to know what it is.”
--- Sean Stanton, chair, Great Barrington Selectboard
It appears the state may have made its decision to award the purchase option to North Plain Farms owner Sean Stanton because the initial proposal by Helia Native Nursery owner Bridghe McCracken did not conform to its guidelines for maximum commercial agricultural value for use of the land.
“The rug was pulled out from us after [Project Native’s] 15 years of work and investments of hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. [For the Department of Agricultural Resources] to not explain is just wrong — it’s an injustice.”
--- Erik Bruun, Project Native Board Chairman
