Editor’s note: This section includes letters of support for candidates during this political season. We encourage, and will post, all letters we receive for all three candidates running in the September 3 primary election, and both candidates in the November 5 general election. Please submit.
To the Editor:
As you know, I have been a proponent of affordable/workforce housing since the Town first adopted the Community Preservation Act in 2002. The vitality of this town depends on young families with children. As the residential median age increases, along with the percentage of second homeowners, we make the entire town unsustainable. Almost everything we are discussing comes with a huge price tag. We cannot afford our share of the reconstruction of the high school for 40 students! We’d be better off “school-choicing” them out or sending them to a private school. We’re talking about shared services because we have fewer residents capable of being in our volunteer fire department. Same with EMTs and town employees (two come from North Adams!). Not long ago they were paying EMTs $10/hour? These are the people who may actually be the difference between our life and death!
I know the idea of higher taxes for second homeowners is controversial, but these same second homeowners will be hard-pressed to find someone to do any work on their homes if we have no one to do it. There will be no restaurants, museums or stores if there’s no one to work in them. Many businesses have already cut back hours or services — some have even closed — as there are no workers. Many used to rely on teenage summer help, but we have so few teenagers that that is no longer feasible.
While we may technically meet the requirements for 10% affordable housing, two of the complexes are restricted. Riverbrook is reserved for disabled women and Heaton Court is for our elderly with a few exceptions. This leaves Pine Woods. We need houses — houses that working families can afford and want to live in. This is the future of this town. Without it, we become a bedroom community for those who can afford such a luxury.
Sally Underwood-Miller
Carole,
I am in Maine with my grandchildren for a week. Yes, we need to:
Read the motion that passed Annual Town Meeting vote.
Talk to the Town Administrator to clarify study: who is in leadership relationship with contracting hydrogeologists?
Have a ‘scoping session’ including hydrogeologist to ensure that the hydrogeologic study will be ‘targeted’ to map & protect the bedrock aquifers associated with our Town’s present & future water needs.
[Such a meeting should] Include Board of Health, Water and Sewer Commission, Select Board, Town Administrator, and Stockbridge Bowl Association.
Denny Alsop
Editor’s note: The town is contracting for a geological survey to tell us about the condition and source(s) of the water in Stockbridge Bowl and our Reservoir. (See Notes from the Water and Sewer Commission.)
Denny Alsop is a subject matter expert in this area and has advocated for the study for some time. SU hopes he will follow these brief suggestions with a lengthy article to aid our understanding. Our quality of life is dependent upon our drinking water supply. The beauty of our surroundings and functioning of our lake is dependent upon the water supply in the Bowl. Land use decisions affect our waterways and wetlands — land use regulations are in place to protect wetlands and water supply.
To the editor:
Patrick White has been a tremendous friend to the Mohican people.
We first worked with Patrick to gain local support for the return of found documents from the 18th century that were discovered in Stockbridge’s Old Town Hall. He built support both locally and with the State House delegation, which culminated in a law signed by then-Gov. Charlie Baker.
I then worked with Patrick on the historic opportunity to secure 351 acres of Monument Mountain for the Tribe. Patrick privately counseled me to not settle for limited access to state-owned property, but instead to pursue the ultimately successful course of action to acquire the land on behalf of the Mohican people. Finally, after two centuries, we will once again steward land in western Massachusetts. We are grateful to the many folks in the Berkshires who helped us. Patrick was one of them.
He conceived of the Stockbridge Mohican Commission, which has been approved by both the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans’ Tribal Council and the Stockbridge Select Board. He successfully advocated for new signage at Housatonic River crossings, signs that celebrate the Mohican language and include a reference to the Tribe. He is now working with our Tribal Liaison to explore the creation of a new Mohican Cultural Center in the Berkshires.
American history has been brutal to indigenous tribes. Proud patriots, Stockbridge Mohicans volunteered together 250 years ago for the Revolutionary Army, and many of them died together at a battle in southern New York. The ensuing poverty and opportunistic greed of a few resulted in our departure from Stockbridge in the early 1800s. After our own trail of tears, we eventually settled in Wisconsin, but the home of our ancestors spans the Hudson and Housatonic valleys.
Patrick has shown he understands that the hard work of reconciliation brings healing and peace. He respects the fact that we make our own history and has been a consistent supporter of ours as we reimagine for ourselves our future in Berkshire County and beyond.
We have seen local leaders come and go over and over these past 200 years. We need more like him.
I wish my friend Patrick White the best of luck as he pursues new challenges and opportunities as the State Representative for the 3rd Berkshire District.
Joe Miller
Bowler, Wisconsin
Editor’s note: Former member of The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans’ Tribal Council
To the editor:
I am writing to offer words of support for my former business partner, Patrick White. Patrick and I co-founded a start-up company based on the plan he developed; we raised $12 million in capital and created over 30 jobs in the process. Working together to build the company from scratch, I got to know Patrick quite well.
Patrick has the ability to both have a big vision, seeing what is important in the big picture, and at the same time see the deeper details of what it will take to achieve that vision. Most importantly, Patrick understands how to get things done.
In my book, The Strategy Game: 41 Essays on Playing to Win for Competitive Advantage, I detail many of the qualities needed for leaders to thrive. Currently as a nonprofit consultant in the Boston area, building on my start-up experience, I work with leaders tasked with putting together a plan to further their organizational mission. As the CFO of a Berkshire nonprofit that has recently raised millions to secure a permanent home, Patrick has done just that.
I am confident that the people in the Berkshire region will be very well served by Patrick White.
Barry Horwitz
Newton, Mass.
