Letter: My Vote For Alcombright
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To the Editor:
Most of you probably don't know me. I tend to not be the "face" of any group or organization, more of a background doer myself. That said, I am a homeowner in North Adams, a member of the Northern Berkshire YMCA board, a business owner in the city, and someone who whole-heartedly loves and dreams for our little corner of the world here in North Adams.
When I first moved to this area in 2007, I was coming from a community that had gone through many similar changes to those that North Adams had encountered. Similar to my love for North Adams now, I loved that place, and loved what the people and leaders had done to make dreams a reality. At the time of my arrival, North Adams was ... OK. I lived on campus for my job, went downtown when I absolutely needed to, and had a decent existence. For my 22-year-old self, it was a very quiet life, and one that I figured I could survive for a couple of years and then move on to bigger better things.
Then something happened. A dramatic change toward vision, aspirations, and hope. While I could never give 100 percent of the credit for this dramatic change to a single person, I can whole-heartedly say it has been a matter of night and day from when I arrived here and where we are today. I see brilliant ideas being brought to reality through both public and private entities, a new pulse in this place coming from grassroots activities that I know were consistently shot down by previous administrations, and above all, I see happiness and a sense of pride in accomplishment. Through my own love for this place, friends and family have become inspired as well. Some are now even moving here to become part of this community to live, work and play.
The mayor of any city cannot do everything that the people in their city may want, but they can and should be the person who makes it as easy as possible for the community stakeholders to achieve greatness. They should support and advocate for businesses both established and new, advise those looking to do new and innovative things for the greater good, honestly care for ALL their residents (including the 1,400-plus college students that choose this community to live in), and be willing to step up in our times of need.
When I think of where we were a mere eight years ago and where we are today, I can only say that this place has grown from being a pass-through town on my professional career path, to a place I plan to raise a family, grow my personal community, and continue to make my own. For all of those reasons and more, my vote is with Alcombright.
Emily Schiavoni
North Adams
Tags: election 2015, letters to the editor,
