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John Barrett III receives a standing ovation.
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Greeting friends after his speech.
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The hall was packed with supporters.
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The former longtime mayor makes his pitch for being returned to office.
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Barrett Launches 15th Run for North Adams Mayor

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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John Barrett III is greeted by supporters after launching his campaign for mayor on Thursday night at the American Legion.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — It was a back to the future on Thursday night as the state's second-longest serving mayor launched his campaign to take back the seat he lost six years ago.

John Barrett III said he would attack crime, blight and taxes to an enthusiastic and packed American Legion Hall.

"I think this is one of the biggest turnouts I've ever had in my political career," Barrett said afterward. "We had a nice cross section, some of the younger people here, that is important."

Still, there was a lot of gray hair in the crowd, and they cheered Barrett when he spoke of the city's past with its close-knit neighborhoods and hard-working people. 

He said a petition drive urging him to run led to his decision to throw his hat into the race — just over a week before the deadline.

"It was a difficult decision to run and I still don't know if it was the right thing to do," he said.

But he quickly took aim at the tenure of the current incumbent, Richard Alcombright, who ousted him in 2009, saying he was running to get the city "headed back in the right direction."

"I'm not running against Dick Alcombright — as a mayor, or person or anything — I'm running against his policies and priorities that have put the middle class of this city in a bind that is very difficult to get out of right now," Barrett said.

He criticized decisions to pursue a skateboard park with state and federal grants, the use of police officers for daytime ticketing, raises given to department heads and others and what he described as a growing blight problem.

Taxpayers were being hit from two sides, he said, with increases in property taxes and water rates, and the implementation of a sewer fee. He estimated the average home at assessed at $138,000 had seen its taxes jump a total of nearly $1,000 over the past six years.

"I want to step in and right the ship to make sure North Adams' headed in the right direction," Barrett said. "That's why this election is about new priorities, new policies and new direction."

Barrett was first elected in 1983 and won 12 more terms, often running unopposed. He returned for a two-year stint on the City Council in 2011, more often than not finding himself on the losing end of an 8-1 vote, which he joked about to his supporters.

He also admitted his famed temper may not have mellowed much since leaving office. "I didn't have the sweetest personality in the world but you know I used to tell people, you try being mayor for 26 years," he said to laughter.



Barrett is also running against developer and artist Eric Rudd in the three-way preliminary race on Sept. 22 to narrow the mayoral candidates to two. Should he and Alcombright come out on top, it will in a sense be their fourth election battle. Barrett quietly supported challenger Ron Boucher in 2011 and more publicly Robert Moulton Jr. in 2013.

Barrett said his priorities will be far different than Alcombright's, immediately targeting the proposed skateboard and BMX bike park long sought by youth groups and one of the incumbent's priorities.

The nearly $700,000 park would be the first phase of alterations at Noel Field Athletic Complex; the city has applied for a $400,000 federal grant that, if approved, would be matched by a $276,000 application for Community Development Block Grants next winter.

Barrett said he would not build the park and instead would use the CDBG funds to set up police substations and hire another code enforcement officer to tackle what he says is growing blight that is encouraging addicts and the drug trade. (The city in 2013 consolidated inspection services as a cost savings.)

"We've seen blighted properties all over this city springing up," he said. "What attracts drug dealers and gang members is poor housing stock and they're coming to this city in droves."

Peter Mirante welcomed the gathering introduced the candidate.

He particularly pointed to the delayed demolition of the long-vacant Houghton Street houses that angered many residents in the North Street area, and claimed the incumbent had found the money to demolish a property by City Hall but not Houghton Street. (The Historical Society had been given a year to come up with a plan for the houses; they are expected to come down this year.)

As for the former North Adams Regional Hospital, he said he would have had state and federal representatives in months before it ran out of money and claimed he could have saved it.

"It probably would have downsized but I can tell you this, it never would have closed," Barrett said.

He also blasted the thousands of dollars in wage increases given out to school administrators, the rental for the new Central Office and a $25,000 contract spent on redistricting while going without a curriculum coordinator. "Go get'em John," shouted one supporter.  

"They're spending money like drunken sailors out there now," he said.

Barrett said he would institute an economic development plan to bring in business, and continue efforts on the Mohawk Theater, which he saw as key in promoting downtown residences and restaurants.

He promised that, once again, he would "mayor for the whole city," citing services like street sweeping and sidewalks as good management.

"I want to be back, I want to be back for you," he said. "What I have is a ambition, a fire in the belly, and a passion for you, this city and what we can get done ... I want us to be happy again."


Tags: candidates,   election 2015,   NorthAdamsElection,   


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Clarksburg Sees Race for Select Board Seat

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The town will see a three-way race for a seat on the Select Board in May. 
 
Colton Andrews, Seth Alexander and Bryana Malloy returned papers by Wednesday's deadline to run for the three-year term vacated by Jeffrey Levanos. 
 
Andrews ran unsuccessfully for School Committee and is former chairman of the North Adams Housing Authority, on which he was a union representative. He is also president of the Pioneer Valley Building Trades Council.
 
Malloy and Alexander are both newcomers to campaigning. Malloy is manager of industrial relations for the Berkshire Workforce Board and Alexander is a resident of Gates Avenue. 
 
Alexander also returned papers for several other offices, including School Committee, moderator, library trustee and the five-year seat on the Planning Board. He took out papers for War Memorial trustee and tree warden but did not return them and withdrew a run for Board of Health. 
 
He will face off in the three-year School Committee seat against incumbent Cynthia Brule, who is running for her third term, and fellow newcomer Bonnie Cunningham for library trustee. 
 
Incumbent Ronald Boucher took out papers for a one-year term as moderator but did not return them. He was appointed by affirmation in 2021 when no won ran and accepted the post again last year as a write-in.
 
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