Carole,

As a Stockbridge second homeowner I find your Updates a great resource for keeping up with what is going on around town. My wife and I own a home [personal information removed] and are distressed by the situation at the Former Lavan Center — the property is in total disrepair and getting worse daily. Until recently there was a tenant or caretaker living in one of the buildings, but that building is now empty, with some broken windows. Further up Rattlesnake Mountain Road is a small storage shack with an open door and garbage on the ground around it. Bottom line, the property seems to be abandoned.

I am writing this with the purpose of asking you if there has been any discussion regarding the property in any of the boards, committees, or other organizations that you cover?

Michael Breitman

Dear Michael,

Thank you for the kind words. No, no discussion in any meeting covered by SU in the last 16 months. You might ask Assessor Michael Blay who owns the property currently, and you might ask Building Inspector Ned Baldwin if he has taken any action.

So nice that you appreciate Stockbridge Updates and use it just as it was intended.

Thank you, Carole

Carole:

I, for one, am impressed by the dedication and the incredible amount of work that goes into the gathering of information that is presented regularly in Stockbridge Updates. The details of matters before the various Stockbridge boards and commissions reported by Stockbridge Updates is hard and arduous work. Thank you.

One issue of late sticks deeply in my craw: The Residential Exemption.

A friend of mine who is a second homeowner called me after the vote and asked me, “What are they thinking? Are they nuts?” He’s an attorney and a lover of our town, bless him.

When this issue came before our Select Board 2 weeks ago, it was defeated 2 to 1 with Selectman Patrick White in the minority. For the life of me I have no understanding of why that happened. The selectmen are there to represent the people of our town and the residents would benefit from their voting to enact this exemption. After the fog of disbelief faded away things became clearer to me, and they should also to all residents.

Some of us are ‘math people’ and some of us listen and accept what the math person, the assessor, reports. In my opinion, the assessor did not want to increase his workload, and he slanted the report. Two of our three selectmen listened to the gibberish presented by the assessor.

My family would NOT benefit from the exemption. I think our taxes would actually go up! Guess what, neighbors? For the benefit of those with fewer resources than me, I support it. This is my/our community, and we need to help each other. My second homeowner friend feels the same. This decision by Chucky Cardillo (whom many of us supported to get elected) and Roxanne McCaffery is absolutely atrocious.

I feel terrible writing this. I really want our town to be whole again but there seems to be an element of dissent among us that truly does not belong in Stockbridge. Dissenters, please think again. All of you. And those of you from elsewhere who have moved to our town because you love it, don’t try to bring where you came from here — it will not fly. We watch out for each other — we care.

Respectfully, John H. Hart

Hi John,

Thank you so much for the words of appreciation for Stockbridge Updates. We appreciate your decades of service to the Town.

Carole

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