Letter: Adam Hinds: Our Next Step Forward

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To the Editor:

Rarely in this region do we find ourselves at such an important change in our regional leaders as we look to elect our next state senator. Challenges, successes, and dreams alike all speak to a need for strong, knowledgeable leadership and advocacy both locally and in Boston.

Locally we are faced with challenges impacting many places: decreasing population, needed infrastructure improvements, challenges with opioid addiction and abuse, and gaps in our economy that magnify socioeconomic difficulties and unemployment rates. These issues are ones that permeate the lives of everyone in the region. To tackle these issues, we need someone with a strong voice and significant, intimate knowledge. We need someone who can frame out solutions, and activate them through regional and state collaborations. On top of that, we need someone who will actually hear the public to better understand how they perceive and are impacted by these various challenges from the individual, household, and community levels. We need someone who values the stakeholders, and will represent them with strength and diligence. That someone is Adam Hinds.


On the other end of the spectrum, we are an area on the verge. We're a place that the world is starting to see for what many of us have always known; there is greatness here. This comes in the form of regional cultural development, grassroots initiatives, economic investment, a heritage of hard work, and a place of community pride. It comes from all types, from the concerned lifelong citizen working to preserve our history, to the newcomer looking to create the next "big thing," to the cities and towns working to do their best for the greater good. This palpable energy is something that our next leadership can't just observe from a distance, but is something they need to embrace and enhance by rallying support to amplify the impact. We need someone who will take this great opportunity and potential and help push it past the verge and into reality. That someone is Adam Hinds.

As a North Adams city councilor, I firmly believe we need Adam Hinds for both the good days and the bad, the challenges and the opportunities. He is someone with the skills, experiences, passion, and drive to be our next step towards a bright future as a region, and he is the person I believe should be our next state senator.
 

Benjamin Lamb
North Adams, Mass.

 

 


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Macksey Updates on Eagle Street Demo and Myriad City Projects

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

The back of Moderne Studio in late January. The mayor said the city had begun planning for its removal if the owner could not address the problems. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Moderne Studio building is coming down brick by brick on Eagle Street on the city's dime. 
 
Concerns over the failing structure's proximity to its neighbor — just a few feet — means the demolition underway is taking far longer than usual. It's also been delayed somewhat because of recent high winds and weather. 
 
The city had been making plans for the demolition a month ago because of the deterioration of the building, Mayor Jennifer Macksey told the City Council on Tuesday. The project was accelerated after the back of the 150-year-old structure collapsed on March 5
 
Initial estimates for demolition had been $190,000 to $210,000 and included asbestos removal. Those concerns have since been set aside after testing and the mayor believes that the demolition will be lower because it is not a hazardous site.
 
"We also had a lot of contractors who came to look at it for us to not want to touch it because of the proximity to the next building," she said. "Unfortunately time ran out on that property and we did have the building failure. 
 
"And it's an unfortunate situation. I think most of us who have lived here our whole lives and had our pictures taken there and remember being in the window so, you know, we were really hoping the building could be safe."
 
Macksey said the city had tried working with the owner, who could not find a contractor to demolish the building, "so we found one for him."
 
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