Letter: Bond for Mayor

Letter to the Editor07:20PM / Tuesday, October 12, 2021Print Story | Email Story

To the Editor:

I support Lynette Bond as North Adams' next mayor. I trust her experience and personal sensibilities, and believe her leadership would provide a breath of new life to the city.

Lynette Bond has been criticized as not being "from North Adams." This criteria sometimes is seen as between those lifers who "know what North Adams needs" versus those new arrivals having new ideas, new blood, and a vision to make change. I believe Lynette Bond will bring people who have lived here since birth AND those who arrive with the energy, excitement to participate in helping make this small city shine.

Lynette served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras in the business development sector. Her service is a show of the commitment she will bring to our city. I also served in the Peace Corps in the Philippines, and understand how that two-year submersion into another culture makes one a stronger, more resilient, and an understanding person.

I strongly endorse Lynette Bond for mayor of North Adams. She brings the needed skills, passion and a deep connection to our city.

Michael Bedford
North Adams, Mass.

Tags: election 2021, letters to the editor,

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Walnut Street Repair Project Expected to Begin This Fall

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:42PM / Thursday, August 13, 2026

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council on Tuesday approved four temporary easements to accommodate the $2.2 million reconstruction of a collapsed section of Walnut Street over the next year.

Walnut Street runs above and parallel to State Street and the section that collapsed is above a large gorge just north of the closed Oak Avenue. A pipe runs under the road and streams water into the gorge — a 20 or 30 foot drop.

Mayor Jennifer Macksey said the easements are for two years and are required to move utilities from one side of the street.

"As we get ready to do this project and make it come to life, we need to move the utilities," she said. "So, as you will understand in true City of North Adams fashion, all of the utilities run along the wall. So we have to temporarily remove the gas and the electric, telephone cable and whatever else is attached up there to the opposite side, and move the utilities onto properties."

Residents have been expressing concerns about the road's condition for 30 years. The more than century-old dry stone stack retaining wall on the steep grade began to significantly deteriorate four years ago and the roadway was blocked off to one lane along the wall. The east edge of the road gave way in April 2022 and collapsed during the night, reportedly loudly enough that it woke the occupants in the home across the way.

"We tried for several grant rounds, and we finally were successful last year, receiving a grant from the MassWorks Infrastructure Program in the amount of $2 million," the mayor said. "Part of that grant application was a required match, so the city is basically matching $200,000 that we have remaining from our flood recovery money that we received a few years ago. ...

"The project has been a long time coming."

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