Housatonic Water Works Co-owner Jim Mercer explained that there is no threat to public health. Nor does the unilateral administrative order from DEP state that there is such a threat.
"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.
"My plan has always been to give my full effort to this job for six years and then broaden my professional experiences by pursuing other opportunities."
-- Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin in her letter to Selectboard
In total, of the $222,476 in cuts Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin presented, about $190,000 was approved by the Selectboard and Finance Committee.
"This is a year of real austerity.”
-- Finance Committee Chairman Tom Blauvelt.
These projects will change the face of the Bridge Street corridor, coming as they do on the heels of the redevelopment of the former Bryant Elementary School by Iredale Mineral Cosmetics Inc.
"If you don't think we have a problem, watch drivers circle our streets on Saturdays like desperate sharks.”
--- Writer and downtown resident Mickey Friedman
“This isn’t about Black history. It’s about American history. It’s time we bring it into the light where it can be shared and studied.” — state Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli
Great Barrington has recorded $37 million in new construction in the past year, resulting in permit fees totaling more than $88,000 and new tax revenues of $538,690.
We don’t have a local role to play in enforcing federal immigration law. Undocumented residents should not fear calling the police for assistance or to report a crime.
-- Great Barrington Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin
Great Barrington is buffing the edges of its new granite Main Street curbing that has punctured so many tires since MassDOT installed it last year. The town took action now that the DOT has signed off on the project.
“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 her letter to the editor, Pooja Prema writes: "To ask the people of Great Barrington to pay for protesting an ongoing ecological atrocity that was committed by corporate greed – to put the bill on citizens instead of taking up the responsibility as a town government – is both ridiculous and shameful."
The town, apparently, is now considering a more active role in the anomaly, as Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin had declared before the DPU, of “a privately owned company that provides public water.” This report newly updated with statements by Town Counsel David Doneski regarding two executive sessions dealing with the Housatonic Water Works Company.
