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Tenants association officers Jesse Martinez, left, and Sandra Overlock speak with Rep. Gailanne Cariddi.
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A photo celebrating the park's purchase has a prominent display.
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Mayor Richard Alcombright joins parks residents at the table.
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The rec hall has been painted and its decks refurbished.
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Wheel Estates Residents Mark Project Completion

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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Wheel Estates residents threw a party to celebrate the completion of projects at the mobile home park and invited local officials, including Rent Control Board Chairman Wayne Wilkinson, right.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Things have changed at Wheel Estates Mobile Home Park, the most obvious symbol being the Rec Hall.

The aged structure has gone through a transformation from tired and rundown to freshly renovated as one of the first projects by the new resident-owned community. It has new ceilings and floors, is freshly painted inside and out and now has safe, usable back and front decks.

"It's big and clean and fresh," said Kathleen Cruz, who's lived in the park for 28 years. "Things are getting done. ... It's a lot of little things but it all adds up."

Cruz and her husband, Jose Cruz, were among the several dozen park residents and guests at a Christmas party and celebration of the completion of an even bigger project: a $1.3 million water line project that repaired lines to nearly half the homes in the park, road repairs and driveway paving.

"The projection was to get everything accomplished this year. We only had a short time," said Jesse Martinez, vice president of the Wheel Estates Tenants Association Inc. "The board worked very hard at this to get it accomplished and we did."

There's still some finish work to be done in the spring, but Martinez credited contractor D.R. Billings for pushing through on a short timeline.

The physical changes are creating pride of ownership in the park, said Sandra Overlock, president of the tenants association. "They're taking more pride, they enjoy owning it. They have a decision on what can be done."

The tenants purchased the park from Morgan Management last spring, the first to create a resident-owned community in a rent-controlled municipality. Some 130 residents have now bought in as shareholders.

It wasn't an easy path as the Mobile Home Rent Control Board struggled to find a way to fulfill its obligations and still accommodate the residents' need to raise rents to purchase the park.

"I remember saying it was fitting a square plug in a round hole. But we got the saw out and did it," said board Chairman Wayne Wilkinson, also a city councilor-elect. "We had concerns if it would work. Obviously, we were wrong.



"It's absolutely stunning the difference."

North Adams has become something of a model for how to navigate rent-controlled communities in the growing push for resident-owned communities, or ROCs. Wilkinson said there have been calls to the city seeking to look at the reformatted application form developed by rent control board member Joseph Gniadek that helps fit that square peg.

Martinez, also president of the Manufactured Home Federation of Massachusetts, said there are now 19 ROCs in Massachusetts. Another half-dozen parks in rent-controlled areas are also looking to buyout their owners.

"We had a good rent control board in establishing a precedent," said Overlock. "West Stockbridge and Easton just starting rent control and they were looking for a petition."

The tenants invited officials from the rent control board and the city, state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi and representatives from D.R. Billings to show their appreciation for supporting the park, said board member Liz O'Keefe.

Cariddi commended the residents for taking action. "This was not an easy thing to do," she said. "They had a good reason to and they've done a marvelous job here."

"They had a good idea, certainly it resonated well first with City Hall and then the rent control board," said Mayor Richard Alcombright. "Right now, it seems very very successful and everybody's happy."

The Cruzes are hoping that more residents of the 200-lot park would begin to come together for events such as the party, that it could become a tradition for the new cooperative.

"People were skeptical at first, they don't know what to expect, but they're beginning to come around," said Kathleen Cruz. "I think as they see everything improving they're starting to come around.


Tags: celebration,   mobile home park,   tenants association,   

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Armed North Adams Man Arrested Following Domestic Standoff

Staff Reports

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Matthew Parker, a 44-year-old North Adams man, is set to face multiple counts of attempted murder and weapons charges in Northern Berkshire District Court on Friday morning following an hours-long, armed standoff at a Houghton Street home.

The defendant is being arraigned for:

  • Domestic Assault and Battery
  • Assault with the Intent to Murder (3 counts)
  • Carrying a Firearm While Under the Influence of Alcohol (3 counts)
  • Possession of a hi-capacity firearm (4 counts)
  • Improper Storage of a hi-capacity firearm (2 counts)
  • Improper Storage of a firearm (6 counts)

According to a report, on June 10, at approximately 8:42 p.m., officers responded to 365 Houghton St. following a report of a domestic assault and battery. The caller said she and her husband had been involved in a physical altercation.

She said her husband was intoxicated, making suicidal statements about shooting himself, and had access to both a shotgun and a pistol.

Upon arrival, officers made contact with both the caller and Parker. During the encounter, Parker threatened to shoot officers before retreating into the home and refusing to exit.

Officers believed that Parker was armed.

To ensure public safety, police established a perimeter around the home and requested assistance from the Berkshire County Special Response Team (SRT) and North Adams Police crisis negotiators. The Brien Center was also contacted and promptly provided an emergency mental health clinician to assist with the incident.

Special Response Team personnel deployed drones to monitor the residence and provide aerial illumination. During the operation, officers saw Parker exit the house carrying a rifle. He pointed it at the drones, stated a report. Parker subsequently pointed the rifle toward several officers positioned behind their cruisers. After officers attempted to de-escalate the situation, Parker returned inside the residence.

Trained crisis negotiators maintained communication with Parker for several hours in an effort to peacefully resolve the situation. At approximately 2 a.m., Parker ceased communication with negotiators.

Drone operators later observed Parker unconscious in a recliner on the first floor of the residence, with a rifle and shotgun on the floor nearby.

Members of the Berkshire County SRT then executed a coordinated operation. Diversionary devices were deployed through a window while an entry team simultaneously entered the home, secured the firearms, and took the defendant into custody.

A search warrant was executed after Parker was in custody. North Adams Police seized four shotguns, six rifles, two handguns, and thousands or rounds of ammunition from the home.

During the operation, one SRT member sustained a minor injury related to a less-lethal bean bag deployment. Parker also sustained non-life threatening injuries during the arrest and was transported to Berkshire Medical Center for medical evaluation.

"We thank the community for its patience and cooperation throughout this incident, particularly residents in the affected area who complied with temporary shelter-in-place requests," Police Chief Mark Bailey said.  "The North Adams Police Department extends its sincere appreciation to the agencies that provided mutual aid and assisted by handling calls for service during this incident. We are especially grateful to the Berkshire County Special Response Team for its professional and decisive response, the Brien Center for the rapid deployment of a mental health clinician, and our crisis negotiators whose efforts helped maintain dialogue and contributed significantly to the safe resolution of this incident."

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