Broadband Bill Unanimously Passes The House

09:39AM / Friday, July 25, 2008Print Story | Email Story

BOSTON - The House of Representatives and Senate created the Broadband Institute and dedicated $40 million for the purposes of increasing high speed internet access to communities across the state. The Broadband Institute is charged with investing in un-served and under-served communities.

Currently there are 63 towns in Massachusetts where there is only partial broadband service, and 32 have no access at all. In those 95 communities, over 220,000 households and over 25,000 businesses lack adequate broadband access. This digital divide slows and deters economic development, threatens public safety and health, hinders municipal business and restricts creativity in the classroom.

Representative Daniel Bosley (D-North Adams) said, “This is the culmination of years of work to bring up the telecommunication infrastructure up to speed in my district. Now merchants will have faster access for their electronic transactions and business owners will no longer be at a competitive disadvantage.”

The passage of this legislation is intended to demonstrate to business leaders and tech-savvy workers throughout the world that Massachusetts expects to exceed all other states with regard to high-speed Internet access. Now, we can attract businesses to the Commonwealth by assuring them that they and their employees will have competitively priced and premium broadband access regardless of where they locate.

“Broadband providers simply do not have the financial incentive to build out their systems in these parts of our state. Without the public investment provided by this legislation, these communities would have been forced to wait indefinitely, and would fall further behind. Today, we put a stop to that inertia,” according to Representative Guyer (D-Dalton)

Representative Smitty Pignatelli (D-Lenox) said, “Today we are one step closer to closing the digital divide that persists in parts of our state, particularly in Western Massachusetts.”

Representative Christopher Speranzo (D-Pittsfield) said, “This is crucial for our economic health not only in my district, but the rest of the commonwealth.”

The bill awaits the enactment in the Senate and then the signature of the Governor.

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Lanesborough Looks to Dissolve Baker Hill Road District

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
06:00PM / Friday, November 13, 2026

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Select Board is looking to move forward with dissolving the Baker Hill Road District, which is hindering the Berkshire Mall sale.

On Friday, the Select Board heard from Vice Chair Juli Baker and Chair Deborah Maynard on how Tuesday negotiations went with Cypress Equities, JMJ Holdings, town counsel, the town administrator, and state Rep. John Barrett III.

Baker said that during Tuesday's meeting, everyone agreed the goal was to have a successful sale of the mall for redevelopment as it’s in the best interest of the town.

Baker said Barrett assured them the state is willing to take the Connector Road and that the state is willing to provide grants to the town to renovate the water and sewer infrastructure, with an estimated total of $4.5 million, to facilitate the property's redevelopment.

"We have received assurances from Representative Barrett that the Commonwealth will provide the monies and will take the Connector," Baker said.

While buyer Cypress Equities saw some benefit in keeping the district, it now doesn't since the state is willing to provide the funds and renovate the infrastructure, according to Baker.

Baker said that in the meeting, Cypress Equities prefers to enter into a tax increment financing (TIF) and will add to the agreement an amount of funding for public safety services, which would have come from the district. She said Cypress said it would rather enter into one agreement with the town than two agreements with the town and the district.

Mall owner JMJ Holdings is willing to pay $350,000 to the town upon closing, Baker said.

The meeting Friday was to consider moving forward with a dissolution of the district.

"But the decision that it hinges on tonight is whether to move forward to the dissolution of the Baker Hill Road District in some manner," she said.

Baker said she has worked long and hard to see if there was another alternative to this, working closely with the district which has been "very cooperative and very helpful" in making changes.

The district had agreed to make changes to its governance and taxation; agreeing to have a cap for Cypress as well as agreeing to work to have the state take over the road, sending letters of support.

"What changed this for me is that I've always said it's important to have the special district because we get the public safety funding, and it's also important for the economic district to bring the features that an economic district brings because of what we're up against with the infrastructure problems, and the change at this point is that we have a buyer who is willing to supply that public safety money and commit to it over time, along with the TIF that the town would do, which is essential," she said.

"At this point, I feel like it's in the best interest of the town and protects the town the best in terms of a future where we can develop a mall and bring that economic benefit in. You definitely need to reduce taxes, and you cannot do that without a fully developed retail operation right there. So it's been, you know, deeply difficult decision making," Baker said.

Board members Jason Breault and Jeffery Walters agreed it was the best decision to move forward.

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