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MountainOne Building Rising at PEDA Park
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North Adams Starting Merchants Association
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Working in conjunction with Develop North Adams and the city's Office of Tourism, the group will hold a networking event on Monday, Oct. 3, from 6 to 7:30 at Desperados on Eagle Street.
The topic will be how local businesses and shop owners can work collectively to promote business and shopping here in North Adams, particularly during the holiday season. The group encourages participants bring along ideas of how to market the city or about organizing events.
While many of establishments here are part of the larger Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, the city's been without a formal merchants group for years. DNA was started more than a year ago to more broadly bring businesses and community together to benefit the city. It positioned itself not so much as a business group, but an umbrella under which a merchants association could develop.
Those planning to attend the meeting should RSVP by noon on Friday, Sept. 30, to Veronica Bosley in the Office of Tourism at 413-664-6180 or vbosley@northadams-ma.gov. Anyone wishing to bring up specific topics at the meeting is asked to send them to Bosley as soon as possible.
NBT Bank Gets Approval For Legacy Locations
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The banking locations being acquired by NBT Bank are in Great Barrington at 700 Main St.; Lee at 76 Park St.; North Adams at 331 State Road, and Pittsfield at 609 Merrill Road. These bank offices will undergo a systems conversion during the fourth weekend in October and open to the public as offices of NBT Bank on Monday, Oct. 24, 2011. All current employees at these locations have been offered positions with NBT Bank.
"Receiving the final regulatory approval for our upcoming branch acquisition in Berkshire County is an important milestone in the acquisition process," said NBT Bank Director of Marketing Florence Doller. "We are now engaging the employees and customers of these bank offices as we prepare to welcome them into the NBT Bank family. We are confident that our focus on top-notch customer service and quality financial offerings will be received positively in Berkshire County."
Legacy Bancorp Inc. closed a number of branches as part of a merger with Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. (Berkshire Bank) earlier this year. The State Road branch opened in 2007 in the former Pizza Hut location. The bank was approved for signage at the location at the last Planning Board meeting.
NBT Bank, headquartered in Norwhich, N.Y., offers personal banking, asset management and business services through two NBT Bank and Pennstar Bank, with a network of 123 branches in three states. NBT Bank has 30 offices in New York's Capital Region and a total of 87 offices in upstate New York and northwestern Vermont. Pennstar Bank does business from 36 locations in northeastern Pennsylvania. NBT Bank's parent company, NBT Bancorp Inc., had assets of $5.3 billion as of June 30, 2011.
Pittsfield's Whole Life Pet Products Expands
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Whole Life Pet Products is expanding in scope and size. The company, established by John Gigliotti in 2005, is moving from Hawthorne Avenue into a 10,000 square-foot building at 1520 East St. and investing $300,000 in a high-tech freeze dryer to make its all-natural pet treats.
Gigliotti says Whole Life Pet treats are the world's first "Farm to Friend" treats for dogs and cats. The fresh ingredients used in the company's products are sourced from farmers and fisherman with whom Gigliotti directly works and are produced in small, fresh batches that are micro-tested for quality and safety at a level he says is "unprecedented in the pet treat industry."
"I am thrilled that my Berkshire-based company has grown to the point that expansion was necessary in order to fulfill our goals and sales on a national and international level," said Gigliotti, who had more than 20 years experience in the natural pet food industry before founding Whole Life. "I could not be happier to be bringing a very specialized manufacturing process to the area."
The products are made from human-quality, free range and organic meats and are freeze dried. The company plans to launch an organic product line of pet treats scheduled in early October.
The move will consolidate manufacturing, shipping, sales and marketing under one roof. Whole Life employs six full-time staff and recently hired a national director of sales and marketing.
"This expansion would not have been possible without the support of the Berkshire Opportunity Fund," said Gigliotti. "In addition to providing funding, the business mentoring I've received from the BOF's general partners has been an invaluable asset to me in managing the growth of Whole Life Pet. At the end of the day, it's all about aligning yourself with the right people and BOF has proven to be exactly that."
Whole Life Pet Products will host an open house on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 11 to 3. Dog owners are invited to bring their pets and the opening celebration will include tours, free samples, a free rabies clinic for dogs from 11 to 1 courtesy of Dr. John Reynolds of the Pittsfield Veterinary Hospital, dog adoptions through the Berkshire Humane Society, and complimentary apple cider and doughnuts from Bartletts Apple Orchard. A professional photographer will take photos of owners and pets for a small fee.
For more information contact Whole Life Pet Products at 877-210-3142 or at www.wholelifepet.com and www.facebook.com/wholelifepet.
Bay State Senators: Stop The Presses
 'All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, so much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation.' |
The Currency Efficiency Act of 2011 was filed by U.S. Sens. Scott Brown and John Kerry to prevent a program they are calling "runaway waste" and stop minting a coin that nobody wants. The extremely unpopular coins have been piling up in vaults to the tune of $1.2 billion.
"The one dollar coin is misleading because it costs taxpayers so much more. A broken law requires taxpayers to spend millions of dollars a year minting and storing coins they don't want," said Brown.
Kerry said, "Streamlining the dollar coin program is a simple fix when we have over a billion excess coins sitting in a vault."
The presidential coins series started in 2007 by an act of Congress and is designed to honor the nation's presidents (at least those who have died by 2014), similar to the very popular state quarters. However, dollar coins have been a tough sell to the public — they don't fit in most vending machines and are often confused for quarters.
A dollar coin featuring Adams native daughter Susan B. Anthony had a brief unpopular run and was replaced in 2000 by the Sacagawea coin, which has continued to be printed alongside the presidential coins.
The unwanted $1 coins cost $300 million to produce and the overflow is forcing the Fed to build new vaults to store them, say the senators. Shipping alone will cost $3 million and the idle coins cost the government $37 million a year in lost investment income.
The Federal Reserve reports that it has more than $1.2 billion in excess $1 coins sitting in its vaults, growing every day toward an estimated $2 billion by 2016 when the program ends.
A Harris poll in 2008 found 76 percent of Americans prefer a folding bill, like the kind printed on currency paper made by our own Crane & Co. in Dalton.
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