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| News and events in Williamstown, Mass.
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Letter: Zoning Proposals in Williamstown 'Not Ready for Prim Time'Letter to the Editor,
04:00PM / Monday, June 13, 2022 | |
 To the Editor:
A recent letter urged Williamstown residents to vote on all 10 proposed zoning articles – some with many subsections –at the Tuesday, June 14, town meeting at the high school gym. Is debating such a long list of complicated, highly technical articles at a town meeting really the best way to do zoning?
Is debating these articles now, with a new, complicated, confusing set of voting rules and percentages advisable – especially when town counsel issued one set of answers on the number of votes required to pass the former Planning Board’s recommendations and then later had to issue a revised set? Wow. I don't think so. Has the board done anything
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Letter: Why Williamstown's Zoning Proposals Should be TabledLetter to the Editor,
03:15PM / Monday, June 13, 2022 | |
 To the Editor:
I am writing in response to Peter Beck's letter of June 12, which argues that at town meeting, Williamstown residents should "discuss" the 10 articles the Planning Board has put forward and then vote them up or down.
Beck's suggestion makes sense only if you've never been to a town meeting. There simply isn't time for several hundred people to vote on the town budget and many other issues and then, after all that is done, discuss 10 separate zoning articles.
Had the Planning Board actually been interested in public discussion of its proposals, it would have held a series of meetings for this purpose months ago. Instead, it rushed the articles
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Letter: Williamstown Planning Board ProposalsLetter to the Editor,
02:30PM / Monday, June 13, 2022 | |
 To the Editor:
An elected planning board member tells us that voting on the zoning proposals at town meeting will let the Planning Board know how we "feel." Any zoning changes passed at town meeting will be "forever," and virtually irreversible. Cite the research that indicates what effect these changes will have. Perhaps the Planning Board should have spent more time reaching out to all the town's citizenry long before any town meeting. These articles were approved by the Planning Board long before this unnecessarily delayed town meeting will be held. Better yet, place the items for a vote at the town election, even if as non-binding questions if legally
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Letter: Let Town Meeting Vote on the Zoning ProposalsLetter to the Editor,
07:00PM / Sunday, June 12, 2022 | |
 To the Editor:
The Planning Board split its work into 10 articles because they're not an interconnected, inseverable mass. They are all about allowing more homes to be built in Williamstown, but they do that work in different ways, in different parts of town. I'm a Planning Board member and a high school civics and history teacher, and I love how civic-minded and participatory this town is. I'm looking forward to us discussing and then voting on each article at town meeting. I hope we don't stifle that debate by demanding that whole unrelated groups of these articles be "tabled" or otherwise made undebatable or delayed. Let's discuss them, let's vote on
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Mount Greylock Class of 2022 Awards & Scholarships| 07:10PM / Saturday, June 11, 2022 | |
 WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The following awards and scholarships were presented to the Mount Greylock Regional School class of 2022 at class night on June 9. National Honor Society: Zoe Armet, Catherine McAllister, Henry Art, Sophia Mele, Edward Brannan, Livia Morales, William Broadwell, Teague Murphy, Jillian Bump, Derek Paris, Jack Catelotti, Emma Sandstrom, Cayden Conry, Alayna Schwarzer, Takiera Darrow, Mackenzie Sheehy, Maisie Dufour, Christian Sullivan, Diego Galvez, Katherine Swann, Ryan Goss, Alexis Toomey, Jonah Hane, Rona Wang, Luca Hirsch, Anthony Welch, Rosario Larios-Sontay, Malina Woodbury Mary Dempsey Memorial Scholarship: Edward Brannan Paul O. 0 Comments
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Mount Greylock Class of 2022 Urged to Know Themselves By Tammy Daniels, iBerkshires Staff
03:55PM / Saturday, June 11, 2022 | |
The class was told they were a resilient group who'd overcome plenty of obstacles during the pandemic. See more photos here. WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School class of 2022 had to overcome more than a few obstacles on their way to graduation on Saturday. Class President Henry Art said it was a "singular example of the resiliency" the cohort of 73 had shown particularly through the last three years. "High school itself is a challenging environment in many different ways for many different people — academically, socially, logistically. But adding in the pandemic on top of that created an obstacle which 0 Comments
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Mount Greylock Announces Student Speakers for Class of 2022| 04:06PM / Thursday, June 09, 2022 | |
 WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Alayna M. Schwarzer and Anthony J. Welch are the student speakers selected to address the Mount Greylock Regional High School class of 2022 at graduation exercises on Saturday, June 11, at 11 a.m. in the school gymnasium. Respected and highly regarded by her peers, Schwarzer was chosen by her classmates to speak. She is respected and highly regarded by her peers and considered welcoming and outgoing. She is well-known to the senior class for her thoughtful and kind ways. Similarly, her staunch support and advocacy to build empathy and work to end bias and hate is valued and admired. Academically talented and curious, Schwarzer has 35 Comments
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Letter: Not NIMBY, It's Common SenseLetter to the Editor,
02:00PM / Thursday, June 09, 2022 | |
 To the Editor:
Here in Williamstown those of us opposed to the former Planning Board's complex and radical zoning changes – because they were dumped on us with no time for review their impacts on our neighborhoods, no supporting documents, and while our Comprehensive Plan is still in the works – are already hearing whispers of NIMBY-ism ahead of our June 14 town meeting. So, I address the whisperers.
NIMBY, or "Not In My Backyard," is credited to Lois Gibbs of Niagara Falls, N.Y. It was her rallying cry for neighbors to oppose Hooker Chemical's dumping of toxic waste in nearby Love Canal. Gibbs declared that "people fighting for their own back yard is
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Clark Art Presents Soundings: The Other Mozart| 11:49AM / Thursday, June 09, 2022 | |
 WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Soundings: The Other Mozart, the final concert in this year’s series Soundings: New Music at the Clark takes place on Saturday, June 18 at 7 pm in the Clark’s auditorium. Soundings is presented by the Clark Art Institute in collaboration with the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas. The Other Mozart is an award-winning play telling the true, forgotten story of Nannerl Mozart, the sister of Amadeus. Nannerl was a prodigy, keyboard virtuoso, and composer, who performed throughout Europe with her brother to equal acclaim, but her work and her story faded away, lost to history. This celebration of music and history has toured the world, from 0 Comments
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Letter: Zoning Changes Will Have Cumulative EffectsLetter to the Editor,
05:30PM / Wednesday, June 08, 2022 | |
 To the Editor:
What might the cumulative effects be of the Williamstown Planning Board's proposed warrant articles to be voted on at town meeting?
The former chair of the Planning Board stated that breaking their proposal into multiple articles would allow residents to vote on the merits of each specific change to the bylaws. While this approach seems considerate, it also masks two crucially important aspects overall: the broad scope of the proposed changes across many bylaws; and the cumulative effects of these changes if passed.
The Planning Board has put forward 10 warrant articles total. Contrary to claims of only "tweaking around the margins," these articles encompass
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Letter: Williamstown Planning Board ProposalsLetter to the Editor,
05:00PM / Wednesday, June 08, 2022 | |
 To the Editor:
How many citizens voted at the last town election? How many will vote at the town meeting? Town meeting is quaint AND irrevocably broken. A holistic approach to town zoning is far preferable. Selectively passing one or two of the failed Planning Board's proposed zoning changes amounts to spot zoning. All related articles should be tabled or voted down. Here is something to consider if you think the GR proposals, at minimum, are harmless. If you own land that can be divided into two or more now buildable parcels, guess what? Your property taxes will be jacked up because now, your property is "more valuable!" Voila! These ill-thought out zoning changes have
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