Editorial

Editorial: Happy Birthday America

In every way, it was a lovely day. Not for the first time, the Declaration of Independence was being read aloud in Berkshire County Massachusetts. If there was a dark cloud anywhere, it was the nagging feeling that there were similarities between what was happening then, July 4, 1776, and now, July 4, 2026.

There will always be those struggling to be free; asking for laws to be fair; asking that every human be given an equal chance to succeed. Just as there will always be those who disagree.

They believe that there are superior and inferior humans. Believe the superior ones deserve more. They always will use might, money, or guile to take from others. They do not believe in the rule of law equally applied; they believe laws should favor the elite. They believe might makes right. As long as the people want democracy, they will have to want it enough to fight for it. Want it enough to pledge, “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” So it was and so it shall always be.

How did we arrive at the notion that everyone would support democracy because it was an intellectually superior form of government? All human history contradicts that notion. How did we arrive at the notion that we were entitled to democracy? Somehow, we did. When it began to slip away, we just stood and watched in disbelief rather than knowing we had to guard it and fight for it.

I know we kept thinking everyone agreed with us but were afraid to say so. Really? There were always those who disagreed. I know we kept waiting for “them” to come around and reject the bad guys and their bad ideas. I know we did not plan what we were being called upon to do. I know that is costing us our most precious values and the laws meant to underpin those values. It is a real puzzle how exactly we spent the last nine years believing everyone actually agreed with us small-d-democrats but was afraid to say so. Feels like hubris to ignore the fact that some see things differently and disagree with us. Even a cursory glance at recent history seems to clearly demonstrate that a pro-oligarchy faction was always present in our country.

So, is it too late? Yup. If we are unwilling to fight them and conned into fighting each other. Let’s not do that. Instead let’s triumph in certainty that our children and grandchildren will wish America a Happy 300th Birthday.

by Carole Owens, Editor

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From the Statehouse

Winding Down

By Christine Rasmussen

June 30, is the end of the regular legislative session and beginning on July 1, the chamber’s work moves to addressing gubernatorial vetoes and finalizing end-of-session negotiations on major bills. On July 31, the legislature shifts to informal sessions. During this time, they can only pass non-controversial bills, local matters known as Home Rule petitions, and emergency legislation.

This calendar gives residents that read Stockbridge Updates a brief time to let state leaders know their opinion on the Mass Ready Act (S. 3050) an environmental bond bill that is moving to negations between the House and Senate. Like previous bond bills, this $3 billion-plus legislative package authorizes state borrowing for climate resilience and environmental projects, The Senate version authorizes $500 million for Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) grants and creates a state drought management task force. The House version scales the municipal climate resilience funding down to $315 million. The overall borrowing amounts also differ. The Senate’s comprehensive version authorizes $3.94 billion in capital bonding, whereas the House package targets around $3.1 billion.

Concerns:
Housing vs. Wetland Tension: A late-stage Senate amendment inserted a “preference modifier” into the bill. This modifier penalizes municipalities that have strict local wetland and wastewater bylaws by making them ineligible for certain state environmental grants. Affordable housing advocates pushed for these measures, but environmental and local conservation groups heavily opposed them, fearing they threaten vital local water protections.

The Threat to Local Bylaws & Flood Protections
Unlike Eastern Massachusetts built out towns many Western Massachusetts communities rely on strict, localized non-zoning wetland bylaws. Organizations like the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions (MACC) point out that Western Mass towns use these local rules to establish “no-build buffer zones” and protect uncertified vernal pools.
The Conflict: The Senate version of the bill penalizes towns with strict local rules by withholding certain state environmental grants if those rules slow down priority housing projects.
The Impact: For a town like Stockbridge the local conservation commissions could be pressured to weaken these protections. Local advocates argue this would increase flood risks. As severe storms hit the Berkshires wetlands function as natural sponges. Eliminating local rules could lead to poorly sited developments that exacerbate regional flooding.

Funding Trade-offs for Small Towns
The core of the dispute is that the bill binds crucial climate resilience money to housing compliance.

• MVP Program Hurdles: The bill authorizes $500 million for the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program, which Western Mass towns use to upgrade aging culverts, fix rural roads, and manage stormwater runoff.
• The Pressure: If the Senate’s penalization clause survives the conference committee, small towns with limited budgets might be forced to choose between relaxing their local clean water rules or losing access to the state funding they desperately need to prepare for climate change.

Streamlining Rural Culvert Replacements
Both the House and Senate versions include measures to streamline permitting for infrastructure repairs.

• The Impact: This is a major win for Western Mass highway departments. It cuts through red tape to fast-track the replacement of failing culverts and bridges—a constant, expensive headache for rural infrastructure strained by heavy rains.

Forest and Agricultural Safeguards
Because Western Mass contains the bulk of the state’s open space, the bill’s land provisions are highly relevant:

• Forest Management: The bill creates clearer pathways to designate forest reserves and officially recognizes carbon sequestration as a valuable forest product under state law. This impacts regional logging, state park management, and private land conservation across the Berkshires.

What the Bill Funds
Despite policy disputes, the bond bill is meant to unlock crucial borrowing for urgent environmental needs, including:

• Water Infrastructure: Funding to protect drinking water and remediate PFAS (“forever chemicals”).
• Climate Resilience: Hundreds of millions allocated for coastal infrastructure (to protect against sea-level rise and storm surges), dam maintenance, and municipal vulnerability preparedness.
• Conservation & Land: Investments in state parks, agricultural systems, and land preservation.

Current Legislative Status
The legislation is currently in a House-Senate conference committee. Lawmakers are working to negotiate a compromise version before the legislative session concludes. Once the conference committee merges these policy gaps and borrowing totals into a final compromise package, the bill will be sent back to both chambers for a final vote before reaching the governor’s desk.

Local news

No local meetings, June 10 – June 29, were posted on CTSBTV

Reader to Reader

Reader to Reader

Carole:

I kept cutting, but it is a complicated bill that I think residents should be aware of, and you are the only coverage for it. Have a Happy Fourth

Christine

Christine,

We will always be here for the residents and news they should be aware of even if Stockbridge Updates is the only coverage. Maybe especially if SU is the only coverage. Have a Happy 250th birthday and may America have many more!

Carole

Dear Stockbridge Updates,

For me, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence brings conflicting emotions: love for my country but a recognition that despite enormous progress we still have work to do to live up to its ideals. That, and an unrecognizable fear for the nation’s future driven by Trump’s unbridled corruption, lawlessness, incompetence and cruelty which is laying waste to the greatness of our country.

But I’m not going to let that fear and revulsion keep me from celebrating and honoring the United States of America and its ideals.

That’s why on Saturday, July 4th I’ll be joining South County Resistance in front of Great Barrington town hall to celebrate our nation’s core values of freedom, equality, justice and representative democracy. Those are the principles on which our country was founded 250 years ago and that resonate as much today as they did on July 4, 1776.

By showing up you’ll experience the joy of having a voice in our collective future and get to witness the kindness and passion of our community. And no less important, you can count yourself among the millions across the country who have time and again turned out to resist Trump’s authoritarian regime.

Showing up is an act of commitment to our country and the values it embodies, and with our collective resistance, will stand for once again.

John Perloe

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