LENOX, Mass. — Despite what some may have thought, an angry GE didn't leave the town in the dark.
The power went out in Town Hall — and to some 3,500 other National Grid customers — about a half hour before the presentation of a controversial plan to clean the Housatonic River of toxins left by General Electric.
Emergency back ups were put in place and the show went on there, but the rest of the surrounding area didn't get the light until nearly three hours later.
The problem was a substation maintained by Western Massachusetts Electric Co., according to National Grid spokesman David Graves. "Until they figure out the problem at their substation we can't service our customers."
Graves said the substation lost power at 6:07 p.m., knocking out power to Lenox, Stockbridge and West Stockbridge.
Frank Poirot, spokesman for WMECo, confirmed the problem, just minutes after the power came back up for nearly 2,700 customers for the two utilities.
"The most current information is the customers have been restored," said Poirot shortly after 9 p.m. "We don't know what the problem was at this point; they'll take a closer look at the cause tonight and maybe tomorrow."
Two lines from the substation feed National Grid customers. Graves said if at least one had come back online, the electric company would be able restore power.
Power had been restored to about 900 National Grid customers before 8:30 p.m., leaving 2,600 still out just before 9 p.m. along with just over 100 WMECo customers.
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Social Service Organizations Highlight Challenges, Successes at Poverty Talk
By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
Dr. Jennifer Michaels of the Brien Center demonstrates how to use Narcan. Easy access to the drug has cut overdose deaths in the county by nearly half.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Recent actions at the federal level are making it harder for people to climb out of poverty.
Brad Gordon, executive director of Upside413, said he felt like he was doing a disservice by not recognizing national challenges and how they draw a direct line from choices being made by the Trump administration and the challenges the United States is facing.
"They more generally impact people's ability to work their way out of poverty, and that's really, that's really the overarching dynamic," he said.
"Poverty is incredibly corrosive, and it impacts all the topics that we'll talk about today."
His comments came during a conversation on poverty hosted by Berkshire Community Action Council. Eight local service agency leaders detailed how they are supporting people during the current housing and affordability crisis, and the Berkshire state delegation spoke to their own efforts.
The event held on March 27 at the Berkshire Athenaeum included a working lunch and encouraged public feedback.
"All of this information that we're going to gather today from both you and the panelists is going to drive our next three-year strategic plan," explained Deborah Leonczyk, BCAC's executive director.
The conversation ranged from health care and housing production to financial literacy and child care. Participating agencies included Upside 413, The Brien Center, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, MassHire Berkshire Career Center, Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Child Care of the Berkshires.
The federal choices Gordon spoke about included allocating $140 billion for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investing $38 billion to convert warehouses into detention centers, cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid over 10 years, a proposed 50 percent increase in the defense budget, and cutting federal funding for supportive housing programs.
Gordon pointed to past comments about how the region can't build its way out of the housing crisis because of money. He withdrew that statement, explaining, "You know what? That's bullshit, actually."
"I'm going to be honest with you, that is absolute bullshit. I have just observed over the last year or so how we're spending our money and the amount of money that we're spending on the federal side, and I'm no longer saying in good conscience that we can't build our way out of this," he said.
Upside 413 provided a "Housing Demand in Western Massachusetts" report that was done in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Donahue Institute of Economic and Public Policy Research. It states that around 23,400 units are needed to meet current housing demand in Western Mass; 1,900 in Berkshire County in 2025.
