image description
Committee member Andrew Hogeland, right, records responses from his table.
image description
Williams College economics professor Stephen Sheppard, left, facilitates a discussion.
image description
Sandra Thomas records input as Duane Griffiths, right, makes a point.
image description

Williamstown Economic Panel Hears From Local Business

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story
Realtor and Economic Development Committee member Paul Harsch records input from his group at Thursday's forum.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town's Econcomic Development Committee got an earful from the business community on Thursday.
 
Parking for brick-and-mortar businesses, better Internet service for companies that want to do business online and less red tape for all were some of the common concerns at a forum hosted by the committee.
 
"It there are two big problems, they would be parking and parking," deadpanned committee member Stephen Sheppard. "And the third problem would be parking. And, not to be redundant, there's also parking.
 
"It's a serious problem. It's a challenge and a constraint to business."
 
Sheppard was reporting out to the whole group from a 30-minute brainstorming session at one of eight tables set up for the lunchtime meet at the Clark Art Institute's Lunder Center at Stone Hill.
 
The EDC used the same format it had for two public forums in May. This time, the committee targeted the business community by inviting entrepreneurs to the session.
 
About 50 business people — some sole proprietors as well as representatives from larger firms — attended the meeting.They were grouped about six to a table with a member of the committee at each table to facilitate the discussion and record ideas.
 
Those ideas were wide ranging and included things like workforce development, town-led efforts to market the community and better communication from the town's two largest institutions, the Clark and Williams College.
 
But most of the small working groups expressed the same frustrations, including the lack of parking in the Spring Street and Water Street areas.
 
One group suggested there are "hidden" parking spaces in the town's Village Business District that are underutilized and that the area could benefit from more signage. Another group suggested that the town engage the college about making some of its parking available for the public during the summer months.
 
In addition to talking about how to increase parking downtown, several attendees said the town needs better public transportation. In particular, it was suggested that bus service be made available later in the evening to accommodate workers at downtown businesses whose shifts end after dark.
 
Participants broke into groups to discuss challenges to local business.
Labor needs were on the minds of several of the meeting's participants. Some pointed to a lack of skilled labor, others suggested the town ramp up its efforts to foster affordable housing — including multifamily housing.
 
At least one table noted that the town's zoning bylaws are an impediment to such housing, and that was just one criticism of town regulations expressed at the forum.
 
Frequently, the complaints centered on a regulatory process that many said was restrictive and confusing for new or expanding businesses.
 
"By far the big concern was the regulatory process," EDC member and Selectman Andrew Hogeland reported from his group. "Make the process better, clearer, cleaner and easier to understand."
 
"There's a general feeling the town is difficult to work with," EDC member Sandra Thomas said. "And it's a reality for some folks that it is difficult to work with."
 
Not all issues were universal. While many mentioned broadband as a priority for the town, Sheppard said it was worth noting that no one at his table said connectivity is an issue for their business.
 
All of the complaints and suggestions that were recorded at the meeting will help inform the Economic Development Committee's discussions as it moves toward its final report, expected late this year or early next year.
 
"We want to increase the opportunity for economic growth in the community," EDC Chairman Jeffrey Thomas said, explaining the committee's mission. "Our purpose is to identify and prioritize strategies to improve the local economy and recommend them to the Board of Selectmen."

 


Tags: business forum,   economic development,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

WCMA: 'Cracking the Code on Numerology'

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) opens a new exhibition, "Cracking the Cosmic Code: Numerology in Medieval Art."
 
The exhibit opened on March 22.
 
According to a press release: 
 
The idea that numbers emanate sacred significance, and connect the past with the future, is prehistoric and global. Rooted in the Babylonian science of astrology, medieval Christian numerology taught that God created a well-ordered universe. Deciphering the universe's numerical patterns would reveal the Creator's grand plan for humanity, including individual fates. 
 
This unquestioned concept deeply pervaded European cultures through centuries. Theologians and lay people alike fervently interpreted the Bible literally and figuratively via number theory, because as King Solomon told God, "Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight" (Wisdom 11:22). 
 
"Cracking the Cosmic Code" explores medieval relationships among numbers, events, and works of art. The medieval and Renaissance art on display in this exhibition from the 5th to 17th centuries—including a 15th-century birth platter by Lippo d'Andrea from Florence; a 14th-century panel fragment with courtly scenes from Palace Curiel de los Ajos, Valladolid, Spain; and a 12th-century wall capital from the Monastery at Moutiers-Saint-Jean—reveal numerical patterns as they relate to architecture, literature, gender, and timekeeping. 
 
"There was no realm of thought that was not influenced by the all-consuming belief that all things were celestially ordered, from human life to stones, herbs, and metals," said WCMA Assistant Curator Elizabeth Sandoval, who curated the exhibition. "As Vincent Foster Hopper expounds, numbers were 'fundamental realities, alive with memories and eloquent with meaning.' These artworks tease out numerical patterns and their multiple possible meanings, in relation to gender, literature, and the celestial sphere. 
 
"The exhibition looks back while moving forward: It relies on the collection's strengths in Western medieval Christianity, but points to the future with goals of acquiring works from the global Middle Ages. It also nods to the history of the gallery as a medieval period room at this pivotal time in WCMA's history before the momentous move to a new building," Sandoval said.
 
Cracking the Cosmic Code runs through Dec. 22.
View Full Story

More Williamstown Stories