Letter: Lynette Bond Is My Candidate

To the Editor:

In a recent fund-raising campaign letter to supporters, the Jennifer Macksey for Mayor Committee wrote, "If people are happy with how the city has been run over the past 12 years Jennifer Macksey ISN'T their candidate."

I say ... If you like the way the city has run the past 12 years, Lynette Bond IS your candidate. If you don't like the way the city has run the past 12 years, Lynette Bond IS your candidate. If you liked or disliked any of the past mayors, Lynette Bond IS your candidate.

She will work for all of you despite who you supported, if you were born here or moved here yesterday, knew her in school or just met her. If you are a resident of North Adams, she IS your candidate, as all on the ballot should be, because if elected they should serve all of us instead of just those who supported them or their boss.

Despite having good relations with former and current North Adams mayors, Lynette believes all have pros and cons, and doesn't wish to be a stand-in for any of them, referring to John Barrett III calling Macksey his "alter ego."

Lynette is her own woman with her own style of leadership, never being an apprentice or having a career tied to any former mayor, making her a new face in City Hall with new energy to move old projects forward and develop fresh ideas. Lynette Bond is "for the future of North Adams" unlike being stuck in the past.

We need a mayor who doesn't see this city as those who supported John Barrett III prior to 12 years ago and those who didn't. The "you are with me, or against me" mentality is getting old and needs to stop, and not healthy for our small city even a little. We may not be able to convince everyone but having a leader who looks at us as one community instead of dividing us is a good start.

Keith Bona
North Adams, Mass. 

Keith Bona is a North Adams city councilor. 

North Adams Hopes to Transform Y Into Community Recreation Center

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:19AM / Thursday, May 02, 2024

Mayor Jennifer Macksey updates members of the former YMCA on the status of the roof project and plans for reopening. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city has plans to keep the former YMCA as a community center.

 

"The city of North Adams is very committed to having a recreation center not only for our youth but our young at heart," Mayor Jennifer Macksey said to the applause of some 50 or more YMCA members on Wednesday. "So we are really working hard and making sure we can have all those touch points."

 

The fate of the facility attached to Brayton School has been in limbo since the closure of the pool last year because of structural issues and the departure of the Berkshire Family YMCA in March.

 

The mayor said the city will run some programming over the summer until an operator can be found to take over the facility. It will also need a new name. 

 

"The YMCA, as you know, has departed from our facilities and will not return to our facility in the form that we had," she said to the crowd in Council Chambers. "And that's been mostly a decision on their part. The city of North Adams wanted to really keep our relationship with the Y, certainly, but they wanted to be a Y without borders, and we're going a different direction."

 

The pool was closed in March 2023 after the roof failed a structural inspection. Kyle Lamb, owner of Geary Builders, the contractor on the roof project, said the condition of the laminated beams was far worse than expected. 

 

"When we first went into the Y to do an inspection, we certainly found a lot more than we anticipated. The beams were actually rotted themselves on the bottom where they have to sit on the walls structurally," he said. "The beams actually, from the weight of snow and other things, actually crushed themselves eight to 11 inches. They were actually falling apart. ...