People who moved to Stockbridge in recent years would likely agree with the rest of us that we want the town to remain committed to its values, character, and heritage. This benefits our quality of life and the thousands who visit and support our economy.
Norman Rockwell’s town: a town that didn’t commercialize its Rt 7 corridor, a town that met its affordable housing needs years ago while balancing density and sensible development. Whatever brought you here, it probably wasn’t posh resorts, big housing projects, or shopping outlets.
It turns out that we have a right to insist that the town not be substantially altered by overdevelopment. Other towns like ours have legislated to preserve character and scale. Sometimes “by right” is invoked when someone is more concerned with personal economic gain than the welfare of the town. “By right” in the broad sense also includes allowing us to preserve what we invested in.
Look around you. Why are you here? Why stay? Do you talk to town officials? Neighbors? Some agendas here are not always clear or agreeable, or even known to us. But preserving this town and passing it on intact as it was passed to us is agreed on by almost everyone.
Our Master Plan, is the oldest, most outdated in the county. We are a hodgepodge of sometimes disconnected committees and boards. The common thread is no longer clear. Not everybody is involved and aware.
Communication and transparency have declined. Who knows how we dealt with GE on the toxic river? You paid big tax dollars for negotiations, but it’s a secret. Now we are stuck with a terrible outcome that may not even work. The Affordable Housing Trust was appointed, not elected, without a results-based accountability plan. The “why” remains unclear. The numerous living-wage jobs that drive new affordable housing are…where?
Master Plans are costly, time consuming. Can we revise the old Plan, using best practices for updated polling and stats analysis? Pass a bylaw limiting building permits for five years, giving us time to plan? Other towns have done this.
The Housatonic “clean up” health/environmental threat, emergency services, overbuilding the Bowl, infrastructure, short term rentals, wild lands conservation, enforcing permit restrictions, big development plans that will keep coming… How do we find out what’s going on? Town officials point out all the ways to get information, but are these things working? What might this town look like in ten years?
Community relations are at the heart of the democratic process. It’s not just about voting. Turnout depends on outreach. There can be no planning in a democracy without informed citizens. The FIRST step in planning our future is reaching out more effectively to all of our residents. Sixty percent of us don’t vote. Maybe some prefer drinking coffee in town in a cloud of diesel vapor. Or they just don’t know. Saving Stockbridge for the future is the agenda that could unite all of us. Look ahead. Your happiness here depends on it.
Editor’s Note: 1. The Affordable Housing Trust is apppointed, not elected, according to Massachusetts General Law. 2. “How do we find out what’s going on?” We warmly and cheerfully suggest you read Stockbridge Updates and pass it along to your friends.
