Letters: Former Mayor Barrett Deserves Thanks
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To the Editor:
Former Mayor John Barrett's decision not to run for re-election to the North Adams City Council surprised many people in North Adams as well as Northern Berkshire. For the first time in nearly 40 years, his name won't appear on the ballot in this year's city election. During this span of time he served eight years on the McCann School Committee, four years as a Berkshire County commissioner, 26 years as mayor, two years on the City Council and several years on the Airport Commission. Clearly Barrett's record of public service was extraordinary and more than likely will never be matched again in the city of North Adams.
I was very disappointed by the comments of Mayor Richard Alcombright when asked to comment on those Councilors who were not running for re-election. He praised City Councilors Marden, Bloom and Harpin for their service and commitment to the city over the years yet failed to mention the fourth Councilor John Barrett. It would seem obvious to most that this would have been a perfect opportunity to thank Barrett publicly for his many years of service to the citizens of North Adams. Instead Alcombright took the opportunity to send the former mayor off with a cheap snub.
John Barrett is a leader in every since of the word. No matter how difficult the issue he always seemed to find a creative and positive solution in solving it. Who else would have found a way to save the YMCA from bankruptcy by building a new school around it and at the same time have the state pay 88 percent of the cost? No other mayor would have been successful in leading the charge to secure $35,000,000 from the state to convert an 800,000 square foot empty factory into a museum of contemporary art and call it economic development.
He convinced the state that North Adams could run the skating rink and then got a grant of $1.2 million from them to renovate the facility! At a time when many had given up on Massachusetts' smallest city, Barrett oversaw the construction of one new school and the $22 million renovation of Drury High School. Through his vision he secured millions of dollars in federal and state money to renovate downtown North Adams, built the beautiful Veterans Memorial to honor the city's veterans, spearheaded the new addition at the library, saved the Mohawk Theater from the wrecking ball and spent millions in saving the theater for future use, brought new and innovative programs to the schools and saved the historic Armory building. While all this was going on, he somehow managed to keep North Adams an affordable community.
As a North Adams City Councilor for 10 years, I was part of this amazing transformation which was taking place in North Adams. I saw firsthand how bad things were in North Adams as over 2,500 manufacturing jobs were lost in the mid-80s. John Barrett had the courage to tell the people that Sprague would no longer be part of North Adams' future long before the company would acknowledge it publicly. Barrett realized that North Adams had to restructure its economy and put in place an economic development strategy which would have many small businesses and no longer would the city’s economy be centered around one company.
What I remember best is his refusal to sell out the regular working citizens of North Adams for the special interest groups. To him these were the most vulnerable and the ones he cared about the most. From the meanest slumlord to the wealthiest commercial property owner, to the toughest union president, Barrett built up a long list of enemies because he would say "No" to those who didn't have the best interests of the community in mind.
After hearing about John Barrett's decision I called him up and asked why he didn't run for mayor. He laughed and said, "The reason, I was afraid I would win." He told me about a group who had a poll done which showed him with an 8-point lead. He was even more excited by his favorable ratings as they were pretty high. "I know some people were disappointed by my decision but it was just not the right time for a lot of reasons."
I like many others am disappointed that he didn't run this year but I'm sure we will hear from John Barrett again. He certainly deserves the thanks of so many people for his long and distinguished years of public service. I for one sincerely thank him for all he has done and continues to do for North Adams.
Bill Donovan
Adams, Mass.
Aug. 26, 2013
Tags: city council, letters to the editor, mayor, thanks,
