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Mark Fenton informed a room full of county leaders about the Mass in Motion initiative.
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A table from Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter School discusses ideas related to Mass in Motion.
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Fenton shared statistics related to the obesity epidemic.
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Amanda Chilson, the North Berkshire Mass in Motion coordinator, welcomes guests.

Mass in Motion Kicks Off With Breakfast, Presentation

By John DurkaniBerkshires Staff
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Mark Fenton kept the audience involved at the Mass in Motion kickoff breakfast Friday morning, asking what changes can be done.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — An enthusiastic Mark Fenton energized local community leaders, residents and others at the Mass in Motion kickoff breakfast that was held at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' Church Street Center Friday morning.

"The conversation is changing, we got to demand it enough." said Fenton, an Olympian race-walker turned consultant for public health, planning, and transportation, as well as an adjunct professor at Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. "If you just sort of back off, you're going to get what the standard is still."

Mass in Motion is a statewide initiative funded by the state's Department of Public Health that aims to create conditions that encourage healthy behavior. In February, the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition received a five-year grant to work toward this goal in Adams, Clarksburg and North Adams.

Fenton shared statistics suggesting that not nearly enough adults get enough exercise. He presented the numbers 30, 20 and 365 during his slideshow — adults are supposed to exercise for 30 minutes per day, only 20 percent say they do and 365,000 people per year die because of obesity-related diseases. He also said he predicts that only five to 10 percent actually hit that exercise goal because of the inaccurate nature of telephone polls.

To solve this, Fenton said infrastructure needs to change to encourage more foot and bicycle travel, as well as creating better routes for schoolchildren.

Fenton said many bicycle-friendly initiatives could be implemented. Although he said adjusting Main Street to angled parking was "courageous," Fenton, a former elected official on the Scituate Planning Board, suggested implementing reverse-angled parking (where you drive past the spot and back in facing the street) would make cyclists, and incoming traffic, more visible.


Mayor Richard Alcombright offered opening remarks at the breakfast and presentation.
He said that during a brief drive throughout the
three communties, he noticed a handful of walkers, runners and cyclist along the pedestrian- and cyclist-unfriendly routes. Fenton believes more people would use these options if certain routes, such as Route 8 in North Adams leading into Adams, went on a "diet" and reduced to two single-car lanes with a shared left-turn lane and two bike lanes from the current four-lane layout.


"Let's make it rewarding, not punishing for the person who opts not to drive everywhere," Fenton said.

Fenton said that although public health officials love the ideas, elected officials are more cautious because of the costs and negative feedback from vocal "CAVE people" — CAVE standing for Citizens Against Virtually Everything. He stressed that everyone in attendance would need to show up and support the officials publicly to help them make these measures.

"If you expect your elected or appointed officials to have the guts to do this stuff, you got to give them some political cover," Fenton said.

Fenton, among others, said children also need to go outside and it's key to make an area reminiscent to how the audience grew up — playing outside for hours on end.

"Growing up in North Adams, our neighborhood was our playground, our street was our playground, the woods around us was our playground, the Cascades were our playground," said Al Bashevkin, director of the coalition. "In fact, our playground was our playground when we had playgrounds back then ... I know that we're living in a different world today than we lived back in the '50s, '60s and '70s.

"But the land is still here, the earth is still around us, and the opportunities exist for us to be able to continue to make our land our playground for ourselves and our children ..."

Amanda Chilson, the North Berkshire Mass in Motiohn coordinator, said the six work plans were listed around the room. They are:
  • Safe Routes to School
  • Improving School Nutrition
  • Healthy Markets (Working with convenience/small stores to promote and offer healthier products)
  • Food Assistance Sites (Working with pantries and low-income meal programs to establish healthier guidelines)
  • Use of Benefits at Farmers Markets
  • Health Element in Plans

Tags: health,   Mass in Motion,   NBCC,   public health,   

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Macksey Updates on Eagle Street Demo and Myriad City Projects

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

The back of Moderne Studio in late January. The mayor said the city had begun planning for its removal if the owner could not address the problems. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Moderne Studio building is coming down brick by brick on Eagle Street on the city's dime. 
 
Concerns over the failing structure's proximity to its neighbor — just a few feet — means the demolition underway is taking far longer than usual. It's also been delayed somewhat because of recent high winds and weather. 
 
The city had been making plans for the demolition a month ago because of the deterioration of the building, Mayor Jennifer Macksey told the City Council on Tuesday. The project was accelerated after the back of the 150-year-old structure collapsed on March 5
 
Initial estimates for demolition had been $190,000 to $210,000 and included asbestos removal. Those concerns have since been set aside after testing and the mayor believes that the demolition will be lower because it is not a hazardous site.
 
"We also had a lot of contractors who came to look at it for us to not want to touch it because of the proximity to the next building," she said. "Unfortunately time ran out on that property and we did have the building failure. 
 
"And it's an unfortunate situation. I think most of us who have lived here our whole lives and had our pictures taken there and remember being in the window so, you know, we were really hoping the building could be safe."
 
Macksey said the city had tried working with the owner, who could not find a contractor to demolish the building, "so we found one for him."
 
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