Letter: Harrington Deserves Another Term

To the Editor:

I'm writing to express my wholehearted endorsement of Andrea Harrington — we have been friends for many years, through thick and thin. I look at the criminal justice system through the lens of our community's most marginalized neighbors. Andrea walks the walk on showing up to make change.

She understands the value of harm reduction better than any other politician I’ve worked with. She has been a champion for keeping drug use in the realm of public health where it belongs. She has focused the arm of justice on where it belongs — domestic violence and murder.

She has faced extremely biased reporting by our local paper of record. It has been very disappointing to see the repeated smears. It has made people afraid to support her publicly, even though in private they think she is doing a good job.

It is also worth noting that the courts were fully closed during a significant portion of her tenure. Now that they are open, violent crimes are being successfully prosecuted.

Andrea has earned your vote for another four years.

Stephen Murray
North Adams, Mass.

Clarksburg Looking to AG's Receivership Program to Help With Distressed Properties

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:34AM / Tuesday, July 21, 2026

 

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The town is looking to move two properties into receivership to get them cleaned up and back on the tax rolls. 

 

Health Agent Valerie Bird has raised the idea last month when a Daniels Road property was ordered vacated for multiple code violations. Bird and the Select Board didn't believe the owner had the capacity to address the myriad issues. 

 

Bird recommended the Attorney General's receivership program, which takes blighted property and, through the court system, gets it into the hands of a developer who can rejuvenate it. 

 

Maja Kazmierczak, assistant attorney general with the Neighborhood Renewal Division, offered a virtual presentation to the board on Monday, explaining the program and how it might be able to help Clarksburg. 

 

"We've partnered with over 170 municipalities, and we definitely have over probably about 215 active properties that we're working on," she said. "We've had just about $715,000 in back taxes returned to municipalities through our program."

 

The program has been around for 30 years in various forms, with the goal to turn abandoned and blighted properties that have code violations into safe housing. 

 

The state's receivership statute allows the court to appoint a receiver to a property if there are code violations and there is no one to repair them.