Editorial

Guest Editorial: Growing Up in Rockwell’s Stockbridge 

Editor’s note: This is a departure. It is a guest editorial double the usual length. It draws a picture, like a Rockwell, of a strong middle-class community in a safe and lovely place where children could strike out on their own, where one parent worked, and there wasn’t any extra but there was enough. It was a place where people were happy to live. It is a picture of the character of Stockbridge. 

Growing up in Norman Rockwell’s idyllic village of Stockbridge didn’t feel like I was in the heart of anything special nor in any way different from everyone else’s hometown experience. That is, until I grew up and moved away. 

Looking back to about fifty years ago, a typical non-school day would include hopping on our banana-seat bicycles and riding up Goodrich Street onto Route 7 over the railroad bridge and into town. 

Mother’s parting words were always, “Sidewalk only!” 

One late summer, I recall pedaling past the longest line of cars I’d ever seen as they waited to fill their tanks at the gas station at the corner of Park and South Streets. I was too young to know anything about gas shortages or OPEC and U.S., but I recall it was one of the first times I thought about there being “more” happening in the world outside of Stockbridge. I’m sure the thought was fleeting. We pedaled on to the penny candy store on Main Street to make our important purchases. 

From a kid’s perspective, the people of Stockbridge all seemed self-sufficient. They were working their jobs in the mills, shops, schools, and trades to support their families, and then volunteered to create special traditions like the Halloween night torchlight walk through Ice Glen, the Firemen’s Picnic at the Stockbridge Bowl boat ramp every summer, the Memorial Day parade down Main Street, the Garden Center autumn festival. It didn’t seem like they needed, or cared much about, the outside world. They cared for and about their fellow Stockbridge neighbors. Stockbridge townspeople were part of the fond memories of those of us who were the beneficiaries of their “everyday efforts.” For instance, that bicycle trip to town might have included picking up my parents’ mail. It was a treat to be able to enter the secret mailbox code (back before they switched to keys), but also to be greeted by the friendly men with crewcuts behind the Post Office counter. I knew them because, in addition to their jobs, some were also volunteer firemen. I knew they would drop whatever they were doing to help one of their neighbors when that long, low fire siren sounded from the old firehouse on Elm Street, made famous by the Rockwell painting. 

Once, I got a tour of the firehouse on a trip uptown to get the newspaper with my father. First, he let me select a soda from the Stockbridge Wine Cellar (which is now the adorable Sidetracks Gift Shop). My soda choice was “Purple Passion.” It wasn’t actually purple, just clear sugary soda in a can with a wavy purple, orange, and yellow volcano-like design. However, it seemed exotic, and I was growing more interested in things that weren’t plain and simple. 

Other townspeople who impacted our youth and helped glue the community together included the shopkeepers on Main Street, our teachers, coaches, and our town police officers, all of whom knew which kids belonged to which parents (and WE knew that THEY knew), so it was like a village of parents keeping us on “the sidewalk only!” and safe from harm. 

There are things I miss about the town from those days — the little barber shop on Main Street. Mrs. Fitz’s iron rule over the Red Lion Inn (RLI) and Country Curtains (where I worked summers). Stopping at the Stockbridge Pharmacy next to what is now the patisserie on Main Street. Sunday School at the First Congregational Church, and Gum Drop Square.

For a few years they made candy sculptures in the old firehouse in the late 70’s. That was where I had my first job sorting candies into jars based on their colors. (Yes, candy was my vice…okay, it still is.) 

Going out into the world after college and a career as an FBI agent, I can truly say that it takes about two sentences for people around the world to recognize Stockbridge. The conversation goes something like this: 

“You know the James Taylor song ‘Sweet Baby James’ where he sings “on the snow-covered turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston?” 

“You know the white-haired doctor in the Norman Rockwell painting that hangs in every doctor’s office in America?” 

“Yep, it’s two hours from Boston and he was my doctor growing up and that’s the town I’m from.” 

On a trip back to Stockbridge to visit my parents, I jogged into town and there in the crosswalk was our hometown police chief, still demonstrating professionalism and humility as he directed the hectic summer-tourism traffic in front of the Red Lion Inn. As I ran by him on the crosswalk with my music still blaring in my earbuds, we simply “high-fived” each other with no words exchanged, but with full recognition on my part that there was no other place on earth where that would’ve happened. 

I realized then that decades had passed since I’d left, yet here was a little spot on earth where “coming home” meant I would forever be able to immerse myself in the comfort of seeing people whom I’d grown up with, and being allowed to step right back in. It is a place where people just go about their daily lives, but in doing so, have created a truly exotic, special experience which, to the contrary of my 10-year-old self’s belief, is NOT like the experience of everyone else’s hometown.

by Julie Blanchard Patton

News

SU FYI

1. Stockbridge Cultural Council 2023 Community Survey 

The Stockbridge Cultural Council is our local member of the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Our mission is to promote excellence, education, diversity, and inclusion in the arts, humanities, and sciences to foster a rich cultural life for Stockbridge residents and to contribute to the vitality of our local economy. Annually, our council receives funding from MCC and the Town of Stockbridge to award grants that address cultural needs in our community. 

Please participate in our survey. The results will help inform the council’s funding priorities. Click: https://forms.gle/bcEpWDxsNSyYT8759

2. A Message from League of Women Voters (LWV) 

On Augst 6, The Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 passed. 58 years later, in 2013, Shelby v. Holder gutted many of the VRA protections. To this day the VRA must be defended so the message is heard that every person has the right to participate in our democracy. Join this LWV — a nonpartisan group that that believes the freedom to vote is a nonpartisan issue.

3. From Sara Regensburger Program Coordinator, Stockbridge-Munsee Community, Tribal Historic Preservation Extension Office Good day, and I hope you have had a lovely summer so far!

As you may or may not have heard, the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, the indigenous peoples of the Berkshires, opened a new exhibit at the Mission House in Stockbridge, MA this spring. This exhibit is titled “Our Lands, Our Home, Our Heart / Nda’keenã , Weekeyaak , Nda’anã” and goes over Mohican history and culture, particularly in the town of Stockbridge and their many travels to their current reservation lands in Wisconsin. As part of this exhibit, there is a five-person speaker series that will begin on September 23rd and ends on November 18th.

The registration links for this speaker series are now open! We would appreciate it if you could either spread the word and the registration links or publicize the event either on your social media pages or email chains. Here is an example of what you might say: “Registration is now open for the Stockbridge-Munsee Community’s Fall Speaker Series! As part of their homelands exhibit “Our Lands, Our Home, Our Heart / Nda’keenã, Weekeyaak, Nda’anã,” co-sponsored by The Trustees of Reservations, Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area, and The Clark Art Institute, this series brings members of the Tribe out to Stockbridge, MA to speak on issues relevant to the Mohican community of today. This is a free event, but space is limited, so register now to reserve your spot!” The link to the registration page is here: https://mohican.com/community-led-workshop-series/=[;p

News

Events

Stockbridge-Munsee

1. Sara Regensburger, Program Coordinator, Stockbridge-Munsee Community, “Join Maggie Bennett on September 23rd as she creates a broad overview of Stockbridge-Munsee travels and significant historical events through story mapping. This technique, which bridges geographic information systems, photography, history, and even archaeology, allows indigenous and non-indigenous learners alike to associate modern day sites with Mohican history.” 

Norman Rockwell

2. Norman Rockwell: The Business of Illustrating the American Dream 

On View through January 14, 2024

Norman Rockwell was a renowned illustrator and chronicler of American life for more than half a century, documenting the pulse of his times during pivotal moments in twentieth century history. During his career, he navigated many complex business relationships with publishers and advertisers, taking direction from his clients while solving visual problems and asserting his artistry and individualistic perceptions.

This installation will explore the nature of Rockwell’s client to artist negotiations with The Saturday Evening Post and a range of advertising entities and explores their influence both on the tenor and content of his images and on the readers who intersected with his published work. During the early and mid-twentieth century, Rockwell and other illustrators were expected to adhere to image parameters designed to sell magazines to middle class consumers and businesspeople, who in the view of the publisher, epitomized American Exceptionalism and represented achievers in their quest for the American Dream. Ticketing information at https://www.nrm.org/2022/11/the-business-of-illustrating-the-american-dream/

Berkshire Botanical Garden

3. Berkshire Botanical Garden presents

“Dog Days of Summer” — August 20, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

In partnership with the Berkshire Humane Society, Berkshire Botanical Garden’s beloved event, Dog Days of Summer, is returning on Sunday, August 20, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dog Days brings families and their furry friends together for a full day of canine fun in the Garden, offering dog-related workshops, vendors, demonstrations, and a dog pool party! Fresh hot dogs from Stylin’ Franks will be available for purchase, as well as complimentary refreshments, including the Tito’s Garden Elixir, provided by Tito’s Handmade Vodka, a sponsor of this year’s Dog Days event.

Admission is $18 for Non-Members and free for BBG members. An additional $5 per dog will be donated to the Berkshire Humane Society. The first 50 dogs to be admitted into the Garden will receive a Tito’s bandana provided by Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and waste bags and natural biscuits will be generously provided by Chez Pet. All dogs must be registered, up to date on vaccinations, and kept on a non-retractable leash.

“The Garden of Curiosity” — an art exhibition from Sept. 1 through Nov. 19, featuring botanic art works by Ann Getsinger, at Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Leonhardt Galleries

Opening reception is Friday, Sept. 1, from 5 to 7 p.m. Gallery hours are 9 to 5 p.m., seven days a week. Visit BerkshireBotanical.org for more information.

Council on Aging

4. Stockbridge Council on Aging hosts — A group of local ukulele enthusiasts on Tuesday evening, August 15th from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. Come join in, try it out or just listen and enjoy!

Small, portable, relatively inexpensive, and fun to play, the ukulele is a great instrument for beginners to pick. This group was part of a Ukulele Class led by Rob Sanzone at Berkshire South Community Center from 2014 to 2019. Then came Covid and the class ended. The group started to play together again in July and decided they wanted to start playing together on a regular basis.

Laurel Hill Day

5. The Laurel Hill Association presents Laurel Hill Day, August 26. Free and open to the public at The Rostrum at Laurel Hill Park. 

Schedule of events: Tom Riccardi “Rescued Raptors” at 1pm 

Keynote Speaker Starling Childs at 2pm

Childs is a naturalist and founder of Stonyfield Yogurt

News

Key Notes from the Cemetery Commission, August 1, 2023, Hybrid

The revisions to and definitions in the new cemetery bylaws were approved at Town Meeting so the Commission is moving forward with markers, plantings, and choice of burials. There followed a long discussion about burial choices: natural (accelerating decomposition with “mushroom coat” and not using a casket), traditional, and cremation by fire and by chemicals (For example, Alkaline hydrolysis uses water, alkaline chemicals, heat, and sometimes pressure and agitation, to accelerate natural decomposition, leaving bone fragments). The Commission urged folks to read up, make a choice, and inform the funeral director of that choice.

A discussion about replacing grass with thyme and/or strawberry plants. Avoiding mowing helps maintain tombstones.

There will be signs in the graveyard near the Naumkeag property and also on Naumkeag property (Church St) — coordinate design?

Tombstone cleaning will begin soon, funded by the Community Preservation Committee.

News

Key Notes from the Planning Board, August 1, Hybrid

Brian Koczela, Berkshire Associates, presented a Form A. Land immediately behind the “Van Olds” (?) property is for sale. There is no frontage and therefore not buildable. Endorsed by the PB — no approval necessary since not buildable.

Chair Kate Fletcher asked Lis Wheeler to give a report on the Affordable Housing Trust (AHT) public meeting. Wheeler, member of both PB and AHT, reported data collected by the AHT:

Stockbridge has met the state requirement for affordable housing. 

Stockbridge has 1638 houses — 811 owned by full-time residents and 827 owned by parttime residents.

Since 201, the median age in Stockbridge rose from 40 years to 60 years.

Income disparity increased.

Residents with income $100,000 and above rose from 128 to 223.

Residents with incomes $35,000 and below rose from 219 to 371.

77% of primary residents could not purchase the house they now live in at today’s prices.

Many primary residents pay 30% – 50% of their total income for housing.

Housing, for rent or purchase, is scarce in Stockbridge.

Those who qualify for affordable housing earn 80% of median income or less, that is, approximately $73,000 annually per family and $40,000 annually per individual.

Taking the stats together, it was suggested the need may not be for affordable housing but for what is sometimes called work-force housing, that is, housing for “the missing middle”. In the “missing middle” are the folks who do not qualify for affordable housing but cannot afford housing in the current market.

Wheeler reported that currently there was $225,000 in the AHT account. $250,000 was awarded by the Community Preservation Committee, of which $25,000 spent at Pine Woods. 

Patrick White (SB member and AHT member) added that given passage at Town Meeting (2023) of his initiative, the Residential Inclusionary Bylaw, development at Elm Court could yield an additional $2million in the AHT account.

Marie Raftery asked Wheeler, “Who administers the funds in AHT?” Wheeler deferred to Patrick White who answered that AHT decisions require a super-majority (5 of the seven-member AHT Board) and the Town administers the funds.

Editor’s note: [Mass law] “allows municipalities to collect funds for affordable housing, segregate them out of the general municipal budget into a trust fund, and use the funds for local initiatives to create and preserve affordable housing. Examples of what a local affordable housing trust can do include:

• Provide financial support for the construction of affordable homes by private developers (non-profit or for-profit); 
• Rehabilitate existing homes to convert to affordable housing; 
• Increase affordability in new housing development projects; 
• Develop surplus municipal land or buildings; 
• Preserve properties faced with expiring affordability restrictions; 
• Support rent assistance for low- and moderate-income households.” 

If “administer” meant who controls how the money in the AHT account is spent, then the answer is: the AHT account is “segregated out of the general municipal budget” and how it is spent is decided by at least 5 of the 7 members appointed to the AHT Board. If administer meant who does the mundane tasks of account management, then the answer is Town employees.

News

Key Notes from the Water and Sewer Commission, August 1, 2023, Hybrid

Beth Laster Nathan, President, Lake Drive Association attended to remind the Commission of the need in her community. Of the 38 houses, some do have but many don’t. Of those which have septic systems, all are old and some are failing. She reminded the Commission she had attended before in 2021 and 2022. The sewer question was put on hold as the Commission finished the Infiltration and Inflow Study. Now that is done.

Chair Don Schneyer agreed and said — as determined at the Town Meeting — money was set aside for a consultant to do a needs assessment and prioritize the need in the whole town. Tony Campetti, Superintendent of the Sewer Department, said the assessment is underway and he expects data and recommendations in November or December.

News

Key Notes from the Stockbridge Bowl Association (SBA) Annual Meeting, August 5, 2023, in person only (at The Mount)

SBA President Pat Kennelly called the meeting to order.

The business of the 501c3 nonprofit organization was conducted. For example, the Reports of the Treasurer and the Nominating Committee. 

The total cash assets appeared to be $1,765,000. The current officers are listed below.

The President’s Report laid out the FIVE STEPS for 2023 called “The Way Forward” — the initiatives for this year. 

1. Dredging

The SBA will assist the Town in working with GZA, a consulting geotechnical firm. Together, we will: (a) finalize plans for dredging as per the Bullard Woods dewatering site design; (b) obtain cost estimates and a timeline for completion of the project; (c) consult with the Town to determine how much of the dredging it will fund. If Town funds combined with monies already raised by the SBA are insufficient for the dredging project, we will work with the Town to determine how to close the financial gap.

2. Mechanical harvesting

The SBA will help the Town obtain a more robust mechanical harvesting permit that will allow for more cutting than the 10 acres allowed under the current permit. The SBA will provide the resources of our lake management consultants as well as legal review to draft a new Notice of Intent (NOI) for mechanical harvesting to be reviewed and filed by the Town.

3. Hand harvest

(a) The SBA will continue its partnership with the Town to monitor and hand harvest the invasive water chestnut that has been found behind the Kwuniikwat Island and down the outlet.

(b) The SBA is piloting a program to offer financial assistance (of up to $5,000 in matching funds) to our member lakeside residential organizations to hand pull invasive and nuisance vegetation from their communal swimming and boating areas.

4. Herbicide 

In pursuing possible use of the herbicide Fluridone, SBA will pursue the use of a newer herbicide, ProcellaCOR, which is more targeted and allows for spot treatment of Eurasian Watermilfoil rather than full lake treatment. We will seek approval of the use of ProcellaCOR by the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program. Once granted, we will file a new Notice of Intent for the project.

5. Bullard Woods

The SBA will establish programs for Bullard Woods that will protect the old growth trees and remove invasive plants.

Kennelly explained planning, permitting, funding, and fundraising for these five projects are currently part of the core mission of SBA. She then opened the meeting up to questions. One or two used the opportunity to vent anger at the Town. Kennelly made it clear that they were off topic and further that the best way forward was in cooperation with the Town.

Patrick White, SB member, said the sewer master plan will be discussed and developed this year. White urged second homeowners to organize and participate. White said elected officials could not do it alone and offered as arguments in favor that the sewer was good for the lake, would help avoid cyanobacteria blooms, and was a sound step in light of climate change. 

Following was a presentation about Shadowbrook by Amy LaFave, Lenox Library, and Kevin (Moose) Foran, Kripalu.

Editor’s note: 1. Sewer around the lake may help avoid cyanobacteria blooms, but it will also open undeveloped land around the lake to development. Non-conforming lots have been approved for 75 years and enforcing two- or four-acre zoning may be difficult. The marketplace will drive the rest and the number of homes on the lake will multiply. Density too may have an effect on the long-term health of the lake and the immediate ability to enjoy it. The various impacts must be weighed. 

2. Point of personal privilege: before the SBA annual meeting, a woman approached me and said she wanted to thank me for sending out the SU News Alert about the meeting. She was in charge of the event, was anxious that it would go well, and thought the good-sized turnout might be in part due to the SU email blast. 

She then told me, “I know we probably don’t agree on anything but thank you.”

I don’t know her name and have no idea on what we agree or disagree. This I do know: I don’t have to agree on anything to help if I can — to advertise an event, post a letter, or article. I am happy to do it. We don’t have to agree to greet one another on a sunny Saturday and I am grateful she walked over and said hello. I take this opportunity to thank her.

Photo Essay

Photos: Orleton Farm/Colonial Carriage and Driving Society

by Dana Goedewaagen/Blue Moon Images

Announcements

From the Desk of the Town Administrator, Michael Canales

Stockbridge Officials Have Released the Town’s Community Choice Power Supply Program Aggregation Plan

The basis of the plan is to allow the Town to create large buying groups of residential and business electricity accounts in order to seek bids for a stable electric supply rate. Here in Berkshire County, we will be looking to work with other communities to aggregate our usage when obtaining competitive bids to supply electricity. Last fall we saw many of the neighboring communities protected from large increases in electrical rates due to their aggregation plans and we are looking to do the same for the residents of Stockbridge. In addition to stabilizing rates, this program would be an easy and inexpensive way to increase the renewable energy content of our electricity.

The Town of Stockbridge developed the Aggregation Plan in compliance with Massachusetts law regarding public aggregation of electric consumers. The Town seeks to take greater control of its energy options, including enhancing the ability to pursue price stability, savings opportunities and the amount of renewable energy procured. The Town has distributed this Plan for public review prior to submitting it to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU).

Public Review and Comment Period

The Town of Stockbridge’s Aggregation Plan is available for public review and comment from Friday, August 4, 2023, at 9 a.m. through Tuesday, September 5, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. Please click the link below for more details.

https://www.stockbridge-ma.gov/media/9771

Announcements

Berkshire Botanical Garden Presents ‘The Garden of Curiosity’ 

The exhibit featuring works by Ann Getsinger, consists of oil paintings, mixed media drawings, and sculptures. 

“Creating visual art is the closest I’ve ever come to having my life make any sense at all. It’s both indulgent and essential,” Getsinger says. “It’s about balancing freedom and discipline in order to explore this temporary existence, to consider the meaning and sensuality of nature and my personal connection to it. I’m always challenged to go deeper.” 

The New Marlborough artist presents carefully observed and freely rendered objects in a range of outdoor settings, times of day, seasons, and weather. Oscillating between real and imaginary, each completed work is a fresh invention. Referencing her deep interest in natural history, subjects such as bones, insects, plants, seashells, fruit, leaves, vegetables, or the artist’s signature choice of orange peels, are often centrally placed at or near eye level — and life size to inhabit the scene.

The Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts are often referenced in the backgrounds along with occasional ocean sites inspired from the artist’s roots on the coast of Maine. The context presented between object and location becomes a question serving both artist and viewer as a starting place for curiosity to flow. Her work is lyrical, sensual, suggestive, scientific, romantic, conceptual, poetic, and ecological. This exhibit will also feature a small collection of Getsinger’s “odder work,” where subject and background lean towards a more overt metaphysical surrealism.

“Subjects are chosen for their capacity to delight me for any number of intentionally unexamined reasons,” Getsinger says. “They are chosen often because of an oddness, or subconscious suggestion, maybe a frilly edge or an orb-shaped object the size of a human head, or something off balance, out of scale, smaller or larger than expected, a rutabaga’s waxy exterior, or an antler for its specific way of tapering into a beaded riffle where it attaches to the deer’s head or the beauty of the shadows it casts, as if the bones and shadows contain every motion of the creature they once were.”

Ann Getsinger is a longtime collector of antique natural history prints and books. She enjoys finding resonance between seemingly different objects, scenes and subject matter. She says her inspiration comes from being in nature and through meaningful aspects and events of daily life. 

Hours for Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Leonhardt Galleries are 9 to 5 p.m., seven days a week.

by Felix Carroll

Perspective

Something’s Missing

Results Based Accountability (RBA) is a process used by thousands of communities and businesses to accurately, effectively assess, plan, and implement projects in response to the needs of a community. Some RBA ideas might be handy for Stockbridge to think about. 

Example 1: How do we know affordable housing is needed here? We are one of the few towns already meeting state requirements. Who are the stakeholders? Identify and include them, especially the majority of people in town who are not following these issues right now. By the way, you go to them – not the other way around. 

Example 2: Lots of data first, and no cherry-picking. Housing and jobs go together and are regional. Next door matters. How much new affordable housing has Great Barrington just added? How much will Lee be creating in their development? The Lenox numbers on their construction? What’s the impact? These towns are not in compliance yet. But they have recent Master Plans. And recent data. 

Example 3: Expand the sewer lines? Casual agendas make for flawed policy. Show us data. Prove it. Who would be better off? Who loses? Every big idea must answer questions. 

Example 4: Most of the middle-class folks who once lived in Stockbridge worked in the mills or GE, other towns. Where will the new occupants earn a family’s living wage? Don’t jobs come before housing?

We need data to change zoning bylaws, a serious and difficult undertaking. The “green necklace” Olmstead-inspired zoning we have used for decades is a story of careful planning by accomplished town citizens. 

In the parade of housing ideas that have sprung up in town lately, in the outcries of second homeowners, in the agendas of meetings at a time of year that is often used for reflecting and planning ahead, something is missing. I wonder if maybe we don’t entirely understand what we are talking about right now. We know that people from the housing industry don’t miss a trick. That’s fine. But too many others are unaware.

What is the outcome we seek from all this activity? Where is the consensus? How will we know what success looks like? Its a big picture, like a vision, or …. 

We could revise the 1996 Master Plan! We could ALL find ways to participate, All talk about the future, ask ALL the questions, survey EVERYONE. Maybe it’s the vision that is missing.

by Bruce Blair

Perspective

Division: How to Do It; How to Undo It

At the Select Board/Second Homeowners meeting, July 27, 2023, second homeowners made a point of how divisive they thought Select Board member Patrick White is. White did not stand mute, and it became uncomfortable for some to watch.

The second homeowners were referring to two policy initiatives introduced by White: Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) for primary homeowners only and the Residential Tax Exemption (RTE). Apparently second homeowners considered both purposefully divisive and unfair benefitting primary homeowners to the disadvantage of second homeowners. 

At the Stockbridge Bowl Association meeting, White suggested installing the sewer around Stockbridge Bowl. Since a majority of lake dwellers are second homeowners, and the cost of the sewer will be prohibitive, installation lake-wide will exhaust resources to the benefit of second homeowners and to the disadvantage of locals without sewer.

Even as the second homeowners expressed negative views of White, they articulated their wish for all of us to come together. We all want that. How do we do it?

Maybe second homeowners could ease the personal criticism. Read the data collected by Affordable Housing Trust and reported at the Planning Board above. We are not alike. We differ in needs, wants, and abilities. Start with an acknowledgement of our differences, and a realization of how, therefore, what serves one group may not serve the other. Imagine for a moment the difficulty of White’s job – governing (and pleasing) a nonhomogeneous group.

Maybe White will ease announcing his ideas as if they were perfect in every way, and their perfection leaves no room for disagreement. Maybe that is not the very best first step if the desire is to build consensus. Maybe establishing the worth of an idea is a goal not an introduction.

Maybe RTE will help us build a stronger more diverse community – help the old to stay and the young to move in. Or maybe, the old want to cash out and the young need jobs to move in. Maybe one village cannot do it all; maybe it takes an area-wide approach. To reach the answer takes a conversation — not pronouncements. Maybe pleasing one group or the other is not the goal at all. Maybe the goal is to accept each other, our differences, and with our varying skills, determine what is best not for one over the other but for the Town as a whole.

by Carole Owens

The Last Word

Reader to Reader

To Stockbridge Updates

The second homeowners are not being victimized or demonized. The primary homeowners are struggling to find a way to express the new problems caused by a new, bigger influx of second homeowners and their demand for a voice.

There are nine states that do not have income tax, and one state that does not have income tax or real estate tax. There is a definite financial advantage to selecting one of those nine states as a primary residence. Selection of a primary residence is a free choice made by the individual. 

Massachusetts has both real estate tax and income tax plus personal property tax and automobile tax. Some call it “taxachusetts”.

Some choose Massachusetts; most don’t. Once you make that choice, if you do not choose Massachusetts, you vote somewhere else, not Massachusetts; you run for office somewhere else, not Massachusetts. That is the law.

It is wrong to make that choice and then want to have their cake and eat it too by seeking ways to not vote but influence the vote. Not vote but seek to put up a pro-second homeowner candidate. Not vote but attempt to take over and influence the debate. 

Actually, second homeowners are denying locals their rights — the right to have their vote, elect their officials, and make their laws just as second homeowners do in the state they selected as their primary residences. 

Michael Roisman

To Stockbridge Updates for the Stockbridge Select Board 

Hi Jamie, Chuck, and Patrick,

First Thanks for all the time you put into the town…Really appreciate it.

Can you tell me why the town isn’t talking to LEE about the rest of the river problem. Seems to me we are downhill of the problem, and it is all hands-on-deck. Why are we not talking to our neighbors?

It’s embarrassing for the town, and I am wondering what the problem is and what the facts are. Hope all is well,

Tom Farley