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Candidates for School Committee and City Council at Thursday's forum.
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The forum was held at Greylock Works.
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The long line of candidates.

North Adams Council Candidates Talk Economic Development, Crime

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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Candidates Marie Harpin, Keith Bona, Eric Buddington and Keifer Gammell.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Fifteen of the candidates on the ballot for City Council pitched their experience at a forum on Thursday night that focused on crime, infrastructure and how the city's anchor institutions fit into its growth and development. 
 
The candidates, not surprisingly, were in broad agreement on how to address these issues ("ditto" was used several times), although they did take some time during the hourlong forum to try to distinguish themselves from the pack. 
 
The forum was held by the Department of History, Political Science and Public Policy at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and the North Adams Chamber of Commerce. Greylock Works hosted the event that was catered by Empire Cafe. The candidates mingled with community members prior to the forum, which was open to the public.
 
Three questions were provided in advance to the candidates and were asked by students in professor Samantha Pettey's state and local politics class: Shijie Wang, Huikang Fu, Emily Hardy, Logan Brooks and Kaitlin Wright. The group had also done a mayoral forum for the preliminary election in September. 
 
The candidates each got minute to introduce themselves; newcomer Merle Knight was not in attendance. Keith Bona noted he'd be the only councilor with more than four years experience if returned to office; incumbents Benjamin Lamb spoke to the experience he'd gained, Eric Buddington how he'd found a home here, Joshua Moran about his focus on health and recreation, and Wayne Wilkinson his background in planning. 
 
Newcomers Paul Hopkins got laughter and applause for pledging to fix the traffic backups on the Hadley Overpass, Bryan Sapienza vowed to be a voice for the people; Marie T. Harpin stressed her financial background and vision; Clarice Vanderburgh pointed to her long experience in banking; Scott Orr said he wanted to help the community his son will grow up in; Keifer Gammell said he wanted to give back to his hometown; Ashley Shade wants to bring more focus on jobs and economic development, Rebbecca Cohen promised to research her decisions; Jason LaForest said he'd work with the council to secure grants, state aid and expand the tax base; Roger Eurbin said, "I want to be your councilor, I'll listen to you and I'll speak up for you."
 
Economic Development
 
In regards to how Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and local businesses fit into economic development, the candidates all agreed that they were key to growth. A number of them referred to the city's Vision 2030 Master Plan developed several years ago.
 
Bona said the 2030 plan is like a business plan with great concepts, showing the thick documents to the 100 or so people who attended the forum.
 
"Where we go with that is up to us. It's not just the council, because it is ideas and some are already changing," he said. As a Main Street business owner, he sees people come from all over the area and the country. "They won't know MoCA is around the corner. Or you get MCLA people who don't know about the park. So part of it is not just the council. We all have to be ambassadors on how to promote our city." 
 

Gammell, Benjamin Lamb, Paul Hopkins and Wayne Wilkinson.
LaForest, a nurse, said the city should also continue to push for more in-patient services at Berkshire Medical Center's North Adams campus and regionalizing schools. He also pointed to transportation as critical to development.
 
"We need a full-service airport," he said. "There is no expanding Route 2, Route 7 or Route 8, and no option for passenger rail into the city. The airport is the only option we have for expanding transportation access into North Adams. We need to capitalize on that."
 
Eurbin and Shade, both graduates of MCLA, said the college should also be looked at as a recruting device to keep students in the region. 
 
"We should look at our businesses, MCLA and Mass MoCA as assets to the city," Eurbin said. "They certainly bring people here and when they bring people here, we have the opportunity to stay here if they like what they see."
 
He thought city officials should work more closely with its anchors to see what they need, and what they need from the city. 
 
Shade also said the city needed to better build on the existing institutions to foster growth.
 
"We need to use MCLA to recruit businesses to come her and say, 'look, we've already got a trained work force for you through MCLA," she said. "We need to keep these MCLA students here. With Mass Moca we need to promote better there events with our businesses on the Main Street."
 
Lamb also thought that there needed to be away for the city to embrace the hundreds of students who arrive each year to attend MCLA, and their families, and to better promote the area by showcasing its best events and opportunities.
 
"For me, I think there's a few things we could do better, one big thing is co-branding ... a lot of us know we have two world-class institutions here and a world-class city on the cusp of something great," he said. "And we need the rest of the world to know that."
 
Gammell said there was a stigma about leaving campus when he was attending MCLA and that students needed to be informed about the city's possibilities. 
 
"As someone who stayed and had a lot of peers from my same class and just before and just after me ... North Adams is a place of opportunity," he said. "And if you're young, freshly educated and looking for a place to strap down and just go, North Adams is your place."
 
Vanderburgh thought that the city and MCLA could work together to help landlords repair or redevelop their properties. Perhaps seminars could be held to help them find funding, or Mass MoCA could chip in low or no-interest loans for facade repairs. 
 
"I would like to see more small businesses open on Eagle and Main streets," she said. "However landlords need to renovate their properties to make them more attractive."
 
Moran said the three areas "need to become one community" and easily accessed by pedestrians and bicyclists. "We start with walking and biking, a sense of community that grows, friends come in, more tourists come in, more jobs come in," he said. 
 
"What I would do is continue what we already are doing on the City Council," Wilkinson said. Those entities are already collaborating and other projects are in process, including two more yet to be announced, the former Planning Board member said. "My job as city councilor is help shepherd those projects to fruition ... we've had too many proposed projects in North Adams that all of a sudden for one reson or another disappear."
 
Hopkins, who spent more than 20 years on the Planning Board and Redevelopment Authority, said the city is already very business friendly. 
 
"I will challenge you to find a community in this area that makes it easier for a business to open and succeed," he said. "We can always look for ways to streamline it and we should continue to do that ... I'm going to do everything I can to support the extreme model railroad project ... and we need to do everything we can to help the health care field in the area ... it's going to grow no matter what shape it takes or looks like."
 
Sapienza suggested commercials similar to those in Bennington, Vt., to attract people and for MCLA to help in encouraging its students to stay here and start businesses. Orr wants to sell off unneeded municipal property to expand the tax base and Cohen thought the city should continue along the 2030 path and collaborate with the North Adams Chamber and 1Berkshire, and take greater advantage of the activities at MCLA.
 
"One thing that I care about very much that would toward tourism and jobs is improving the internet access," Buddington said. He pointed out the window the utility lines, one of which is fiber optic and not easy to access. "I would continue, as I'm doing now, to find a way to negotiate with the state to get actual access to those lines. If we could have free internet access downtown for tourists, that would be attractive. We could have faster internet available for busineses. That would open up a whole range of businese that come to town because they can't get the interactivty they need."
 
Harpin, among the last to answer the question, thought other business opportunities often get overlooked when talking about the anchors. Businesses like Deerfield Machine, Morrison Berkshire, Crane & Co., Tog and many others.
 
"These companies contribute substantially to our economy but are lost in the shuffle of Mass MoCA, MCLA, and Main Street and Eagle Street," she said. "I would personally like to see some additional emphasis into our other business areas, opportunities that will create well-paying jobs, better tax base, small manufacturing, renewables and possibily, biotech growth."
 
Water Quality
 

Hopkins, Wilkinson, Bryan Sapienza, Joshua Moran and Scott Orr. 
The candidates were also given a question on water quality because of two recent incidents when testing or procedures were failed to be followed and the city was ordered to do extra testing and inform residents. All the candidates reiterated that the problem was in compliance and the quality of the water was not in questoin. 
 
All called for better transparency in testing requirements and oversight, and that communication should be better betweent the mayor's office, the City Council and the community. 
 
"The city has a responsiblity to test and report our water as required by law," LaForest said. "And we have a responsibility to fix irregularities in our water quality immediately, not wait for the understaffed DEP surveyor to roll in three years after the fact."
 
Vanderburgh felt the city could look into outsourcing the water treatment plant as had been done in the past.
 
"We do not have a water quality issue in North Adams, we have a PR issue," Moran said. "We should be holding workshops immediately before or after ... when you see things in the mail it scares folks. ... we need to do a better job of just explaining what these reports say."
 
Bona said it real problem wasn't with the water, but with the infrastructure: a $30 million problem that the city would have to address. "We need to consider setting up an entreprise fund," he said, to address the city's century-old water and sewer pipes.
 
"The last thing we want is people shying away because they saw something on television or Facebook," said Orr, because it give the city a bad name. "Let's explain it ... when people don't understand the names of the chemical, it scares them."
 
Sapienza said the city's water "is pretty good tasting," and that the problem was one of accountability, a viewpoint shared by Shade.
 
"We have to work on ways of doing this without making more of a burden on the taxpayer," Sapienza said of fixing the errors and replacing infrastructure.
 
Cohen thought officials should be looking at a more technically enhanced options or green options to address the millions in capital costs. 
 
"I think there's value into looking into technology in the future. ..  lowering the costs by reducing the need for maintenance and all that testing possibly through some green infrastructure," she said. "There are lots of systems out there that cities are using that there may be than initial cost but in the future your actually going to be cost saving and more sustainable. ... It's important that our city to remain sustainable and how could we do that? Maybe through some green measures."
 
Crime
 
North Adams was recently rated as having the highest number of violent crime per capita in the state, with 181 violent crimes reported in 2016 at 1.38 percent. The candidates were asked to address the statistics and what they could to do reduce them. 
 
The majority pointed to the opioid epidemic as a driver for the crime and called for better community policing and more resources for the Police Department. 
 
"We lower this number the same way we do everything else," said LaForest. "Hire more officers and, more importantly retain them." 
 
Moran said the crimes are systemic in nature and community had to focus on "the lefthand side of the equation": generational poverty, education, drug abuse, unemployment. That's where recreational, sports and cultural activities come in, he said, along with organizations such as Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, Unity, UNO, the teen Roots Center, and having police engaging within the community.
 
Candidates also complimented police for the investigative work they're doing and, like Moran, pointed to social ills and drugs that had to be addressed through community and service agencies. 
 
Youth programming is crucial, said Gammell. "I think there are ways we can step in with early intervention and catch some of these great people before something unfortunate happens." 
 

Ashley Shade, Rebbecca Cohen, Clarise Vanderburgh, Roger Eurbin and Jason LaForest. 
"The U.N. suggests one police officer for every 500 residents and were darn near close to that but we have to sustain that number and make sure we're bringing in folks that can stay onboard," Lamb said, adding he saw four areas to work on: education for youth, service programs including a drug court, engagement opportunities, identification of problems before they arise like neighborhood watches and tip lines.
 
Buddington said his sense of community comes from his neighborhood and seeing volunteer groups working within the city. When groups work together, they have a greater voice for bringing attention to their needs. 
 
"That grassroots organization is where the security comes from. It's not just the absence of crime, it's knowing we can trust each other," he said. "Once we have that organization, we need to open the lines of communication to the Police Department so they can get information from these neighborhoods."
 
Judges and prosecuters have to be tougher, said Vanderburgh. "We should involve all citizens to report any unusual activity or people in their area without fear of retaliation. We need to have more police presence. Let's look at when crimes are being committed the most and have mor officers on duty during that time."
 
Eurbin also called for a tougher approach on crimes largely fueled by drugs and alcohol with both education and law enforcement. 
 
"This problem must be aggressively pursued by our administration. We must develop or improve education and treatment as well supporting law enforcement," he said. Another city official had said the problem wouldn't be faced until the public got angry, Eurbin continued. "Well, we are angry. We want to see results we should demand that our courts handle those who traffic this poison in our city be dealt with the full power of the law."
 
"It's nice to see a police officer driving through your neighborhood during the day but you really need them is at night when a lot of these crimes are being commited," Sapienza said, but it is costly to hire more officers. "I think whoever our new mayor will be will need to talk with the Police Department and find out what they need. How we can help, how the community can help, how the City Council can help."
 
Several thought the crime statistics misleading in painting a picture of the city as more dangerous than it really is. 
 
"North Adams for the most part is a pretty safe place to live and grow up. Most people can walk down the street without a problem," said Shade. She saw the answers to the societal issues in economic development and quality mental health care. "They don't have anything else to go to. But without quality jobs that will continue to happen."
 
"A stronger presence of community policing and bringing well-paying jobs to the area will reduce these statistics," Harpin said. "Both of the ideas bring a sense of pride in the community and I think that is what will help."
 
Orr said it was "a little bit of a scare tactic." "We do have safe city. You can walk down the street not looking over your shoulder. No one's going to mug you," he said, but there are young people out there looking for something out of boredom, isolation, family issues and often finding it in drugs. That generation needed to be reached and educated.
 
"Let's embrace the problem, let's talk about it openly. Don't shame people, it's not going to fix the problem," said Hopkins of drug use. His nephew — good kid, good school — had died of an overdose, he said, as an example that it could affect anyone.
 
LaForest noted even on the FBI website it cautioned against misinterpreting the number. All communities have crime, he said.
 
"We secure legislation for specific funding, private sector grants and expanding our tax base would hire more officers and more imporatnlty retain them, we educate our students and extend public health dollars for outreach about addictions and domestic violence throughout the city," he said.
 
Cohen said she'd called the Police Department to find out what those statistics meant to them. 
 
"The first fact, and most relevant, is that the 1.38 percent of violent crimes are not all that result in a conviction, but are oftentimes times alleged reporting," she said. "Many of these reportings are repeat offenders of a similar crime. ... We have made progress and our Police Department has worked hard to keep our streets safe. Our focus needs to be on supporting our police with collaborative measures through community agencies to combat the bigger issues that oftentimes resulting in these violent crimes." 
 
Bona said he'd looked back to the 1950s and found the today's crime numbers are down over past years, even though the city is ranking higher than other communities.
 
"Are there more people reporting today versus maybe 20-30 years ago they were taking it, getting abused?" he said, whereas today victims of domestic abuse are encouraged to report abuse and take action. "So those numbers, in a sense, are a positive thing that they are reporting it and hopefully getting help."
 
Wilkinson said he was shocked when he first read the statistics and he, too, called the Police Department.
 
"If I were re-elected as city councilor, I would look for ways to increase the police force by at least four police officers," he said. 
 
Voters on Nov. 7 will select nine of the 16 candidates on the ballot to make up the new City Council; at least four new faces will join city government next year.
 
"Look at the variety. What makes us good as a council as a whole from technical to business to health," Bona told the gathering in his final 30 seconds. "That's how I vote because I don't want to sit there with eight other people that are exactly like myself."
 
This forum was taped for airing by Northern Berkshire Community Television; two School Committee candidates also participated and their remarks will reported in a separate article. 

Tags: candidate forum,   election 2017,   North Adams City Council,   


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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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