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| News and events in Williamstown, Mass.
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Mount Greylock Gets Final Tab for School Building ProjectBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
06:17AM / Saturday, August 13, 2022 | |
 WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The final bill to Williamstown and Lanesborough for the construction project at Mount Greylock Regional School came in at $33 million, according to a final audit presented to the School Committee on Thursday evening. The Massachusetts School Building Authority gave the district its final audit on July 28. Superintendent Jason McCandless told the committee that the final cost of the renovation/addition project at the middle/high school is $64,693,600, just more than $44,000 less than the budget approved back in 2016. But the MSBA's contribution is about $1.5 million lower than the maximum grant projected by the state agency at the outset of the 1 Comment
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Letter: Why I Support Paul MarkLetter to the Editor,
04:00PM / Thursday, August 11, 2022 | |
 To the Editor:
I've known Paul Mark all his political life, and we couldn't ask for a better person to be our next state senator in Boston. Paul is an experienced and practical progressive who will hit the ground running in the state Senate. In 2010, Paul was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives to serve the 2nd Berkshire district. And ever since, he has fought for working families, calling for Medicare-for-all, higher-education funding reform, student debt relief, funding for vocational programs, and major transformative solutions to the climate crisis, among other issues. Yes, Paul knows what it means to work. He came from humble circumstances to earn associate,
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Williamstown Select Board Finalizes Charge for Charter Review PanelBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
05:15AM / Wednesday, August 10, 2022 | |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board on Monday approved the marching orders for the first comprehensive charter in more than six decades. It also sought to temper expectations about the scope of the Charter Review Committee that the board hopes to appoint next month. "This is not just the charter," said Andy Hogeland, who drafted the charge with Jeffrey Johnson. "This is the state laws and bylaws that affect the structure of town government – so not a substantive thing but a mechanical, structural review is our focus. "We added in here a couple of sentences that this review is not about non-structural things. This is not about 0 Comments
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Letter: Andrea Harrington for DALetter to the Editor,
07:08PM / Tuesday, August 09, 2022 | |
 To the Editor:
The election of Andrea Harrington was part of a wave of progressive DAs across the country elected by people who recognize that our justice system is too often unjust and in need of meaningful change. District Attorney Harrington has been true to her word as a reformer. Her opponent embraces the old paradigm that the justice system is the right way to rehabilitate, and embraces the use of diversion programs embedded in the justice system— expensive programs that expand the criminal legal system. District Attorney Harrington embraces an approach grounded in public health and a harm-reduction approach. She embraces diversion to public health programs that do not sit
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Williamstown Farm Reimagined as Education, Rescue CenterBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
07:09AM / Sunday, August 07, 2022 | |
Jane Swift shows some of the potpourri she has produced from cuttings from around the farm. WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — As she shows off the potpourri produced from cuttings around her Henderson Road farm, Jane Swift can joke that she has the best smelling barn in the Berkshires. "We're so lucky to live here," she says. "This is all stuff I just picked. People probably think I'm crazy. I go around sniffing stuff on the farm." In the near future, Swift hopes to add some new smells to the mix. She is working to transform the century-old family farm into the Cobble Hill Farm Education and Rescue Center. And by the late 0 Comments
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Williamstown Planners Still Split on Upzoning ProposalsBy Stephen Dravis,
02:53PM / Saturday, August 06, 2022 | |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – It took just two meetings of the newly constituted Planning Board for old fault lines to reemerge. About two hours into its July meeting, the board took up the question of how to address the numerous zoning bylaw amendments that were "referred to committee" by June’s annual town meeting. Several members of the five-person board indicated that some of the articles still merited consideration by the body and could return to town meeting in some form and with further explanation and analysis. Roger Lawrence was not having it. "I feel discouraged and got a sense of deja vu concerning this conversation," Lawrence 0 Comments
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Pittsfield Soccer League Summer Final SetiBerkshires.com Sports,
09:05PM / Wednesday, August 03, 2022 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. – The Maroons and the Crows survived Wednesday’s semi-finals in the Pittsfield Soccer League with a pair of 1-0 wins at Wahconah Park. The second-seeded Crows used a first-half goal from James Pow to knock off Barcelona. On an adjacent field, Matt Naventi scored a first-half goal to send the Maroons past the Vultures and into next Wednesday’s league championship game. Eight teams began play this summer in the 10-year-old league. PSL organizer Nigel Gayle said that about 130 players participated in the weekly seven-on-seven contests. The 18-and-over co-ed league summer league is one of several adult leagues in 0 Comments
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Williamstown Planners Advise Conservation of Oblong Road ParcelBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
04:30AM / Wednesday, August 03, 2022 | |
 WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board last week advised the Select Board to assign to a local non-profit the town's option to buy a 10-acre parcel of farmland on Oblong Road. In a unanimous vote, the planners recommended the town assign its right of first refusal to the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation for a lot currently conserved under Chapter 61 of Massachusetts General Law. Under Chapter 61, land in agriculture is eligible for property tax relief. Part of the tradeoff for the landowner is that when the land is sold, the municipality has the right of first refusal. The parcel's current owner, Beth Phelps, has a purchase and sales agreement for 8 Comments
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Wiliamstown Residents Raise Concerns About Water Street Housing ConceptBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
04:47AM / Monday, August 01, 2022 | |
 WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Residents who live near the site of a planned housing development on Water Street are expressing concerns about the now 28-unit project under consideration at the site of the former Grange Hall. Architect and resident Hicks Stone was back before the board of the Affordable Housing Trust, this time with his partner, Bill Freeman, to update the panel on Wednesday on preliminary plans to build duplexes on a portion of the 6.6-acre site. Stone began by sharing what he hoped would be welcome news for the trustees: By placing four apartments in the former Grange Hall itself and reconfiguring the layout of the duplexes, the pair now conceives 28 units 5 Comments
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Mount Greylock Panel Picks Designer for New Athletic FieldBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
05:07AM / Friday, July 29, 2022 | |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School District's Designer Selection Committee Wednesday chose CHA Architecture of Portland, Maine, as the preferred designer for a new athletic field and running track. After interviewing representatives from CHA and SLR Consulting, the committee voted unanimously to authorize the district's administration to enter into negotiations with CHA. The School Committee earlier this month voted to authorize the design group, which includes administrators, School Committee members and district personnel, to review responses to the district's request for proposals and make a final decision, provided that the preferred 0 Comments
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Williamstown Select Board Forming Charter Review CommitteeBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
04:30AM / Wednesday, July 27, 2022 | |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — A month after town meeting took small steps to amend the town charter, the Select Board is commissioning a full-scale review of the 1956 document that provides the structure for much of town government. At Monday's meeting, the board issued a call for nominees for a charter review committee that will be asked to engage in a more than year-long process to review and, potentially, recommend changes to the governing document. Andy Hogeland, who along with Jeff Johnson formed a working group of the board to look at charter review, said the board would like nominations submitted to Town Hall by Aug. 15 with the hope that the Charter Review Committee 0 Comments
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Williamstown Police and Community Council Works to 'Shepherd' ChangeBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
04:57AM / Tuesday, July 26, 2022 | |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — A group of more than a dozen residents are continuing the work begun by a daylong symposium on policing. The Strengthening Police and Community Partnerships Council met in June and July to begin addressing the goals and aspirations that emerged from March's community forum at Mount Greylock Regional School. "We had our first independent meeting in June, which was two working groups," facilitator Lucy Gerold said on Friday. "One was to finalize a drafted charter that outlines who we are and what our scope is so it gives us definition. The second thing was to take all those recommendations [from the March meeting] and prioritize 0 Comments
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