Letter: North Adams, My Favorite Hat
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To the Editor:
I wear a plethora of "hats" on a daily basis. Husband, dog owner, higher-ed professional, business owner, city councilor, Ph.D. student, the list goes on; but the one I thing I'm most proud of is my status as a resident of North Adams.
I adore this place, its people, its past, and its potential more than I can possibly emphasize in a single letter. Look at where we've come from and where we are today.
One hundred and forty years ago, we became home to one of the greatest feats of modern engineering when the Hoosac Tunnel opened. Flash forward: mills and factories in this city contributed key historical game-changers; metal for one of the first ironclad ships, uniforms for the Union Army, and eventually cutting-edge electrical components that would drive nationwide economic booms.
While we, too, like so many other mill towns, confronted an era of uneasy transition, we've entered into a new era in the past 20 years. Arts have taken hold, appreciation for the cultural communities has flourished, the development of Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and huge injections of innovation into our local higher education institutions have created new economies and drawn the eye of the outside world.
Today we stand at a precipice. We have private and public investments pumping new life into old buildings. Things like the Greylock Mill project, the Redwood Motel, and the development of Lever and Cloud 85 as new hubs in our downtown. We've seen community members become collaborative advocates and key stakeholders in the development of the new and future North Adams, through things like UNO, Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, NAMA Prom, and Common Folk Artist Collective. We have natural beauty that people would drive a hundred miles or more to see.
Beyond all that, we have a willingness to dream beyond the boundaries of the traditional box. People are inspired and empowered to drive projects like the Hoosic River Revival forward; to imagine scenic rail tours; to take the reins and push for dog parks and skate parks, and opportunities for our youth to do great things.
We are so incredibly lucky to be where we are and when we are. The diamonds in the rough are all around us, and we've been given great liberty to polish them as we see fit. We've come a long way, and I can't wait to see how much further we will go, or how many more hats I will have to fit on my hat rack.
Benjamin Lamb is a North Adams city councilor. He is running for re-election.
Benjamin Lamb
North Adams
Tags: election 2015, letters to the editor,
