Letter: Jennifer Macksey for Mayor

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To the Editor:

Jennifer Macksey is quite simply the best mayoral candidate for North Adams. As any of Jen's coworkers, current or former, will tell you, Jen is a strong independent woman who has been successful in every position she has held. I have personally seen her incredibly strong work ethic and she puts her whole heart into everything she does — just imagine what she will do for the city she loves.

What an incredible benefit to have our new mayor walk into City Hall with the knowledge of how city government works. She will brainstorm with all the city departments to figure out what needs to be prioritized and get to work on it. There will be no long learning curve.

I find it disturbing that the only reason I hear to not vote for Jen is that she will be our former mayor's "mouthpiece." For those of you who have made that statement, you obviously don't know Jen.


She is as passionate about this city as anyone I have ever met. Safety, jobs, education and housing are all on the top of her to-do list and she wants to work with the citizens of the city to improve them all.

If you are on the fence about who to vote for, I urge you to talk to Jen, she welcomes any and all conversations. I also urge you to watch the 10/21/21 debate.

I support Jen Macksey and urge you to do the same, she will make this city proud.

Rebecca Cellana
North Adams, Mass.

 

 

 


Tags: election 2021,   letters to the editor,   municipal election,   


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North Adams Regulating AI Use in Public Systems

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council is considering ways to control the use of so-called artificial intelligence for public services. 
 
The draft ordinance is proposed by Council President Ashley Shade, who said she has been working for more than a year on language for a new chapter in the city's code — "Safeguards for Artificial Intelligence, Fairness & Equity."
 
"The language that I proposed was from a mixture of different ordinances that other communities have adopted, but there are no ordinances like this in the commonwealth, or even in this country, that I could find," she said at Tuesday's General Government Committee meeting. "I built this so it could be built upon. The whole point of the language in here is so that it's a starting point, and that it gets continually built up. ... 
 
"The number one thing that this ordinance does, and the most important thing to me about this ordinance, is that we are protecting the civil rights of the people in our community."
 
Shade, a member of the committee, told the dozen attendees at the meeting that AI was happening; but the city could regulate it and require it be used in a responsible way. 
 
The AI Safety ordinance basically defines two types of AI: high risk and low risk. Low-risk are applications and software that hold no decision-making capabilities such as for transcription, spell checking, etc. So internal administrative, clerical, or productivity tools that "do not materially affect rights, benefits, or enforcement outcomes shall not be considered high-risk."
 
High-risk is any application being used for public services that could 1) affect someone's legal rights, benefits or access to services; 2) employment decisions such as hiring, evaluation, discipline or termination; 3) code and law enforcement; 4) surveillance, monitoring and tracking; and 5) that present a risk of discrimination or "disparate impact under applicable law."
 
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