Letter: Clickers, Crickets & Cliques in 01267

To the Editor:

It's no secret that I feel strongly that Williamstown's town meeting is broken and should be largely replaced by the Australian ballot at the town election. I further suggest any expenditure greater than $50,000 be required to be approved by voters at the town election.

The town election permits all the electorate to have a 12 or 13-hour window to be able go to the polling place and vote, as opposed to voting on any item at a largely unpredictable time during a much shorter town meeting.

So, what is the Williamstown Board of Selectmen planning on doing? Spending an unpublicized amount of hard-earned taxpayer money on renting and buying clickers so a smaller number of attendees can vote "in privacy" at town meeting.

That's the purpose of the town election. The clickers will transmogrify the town meeting into an illegal town election. We are devolving rather than progressing.

Ken Swiatek
Williamstown, Mass. 

Swiatek is a former selectman.

Crust Serving Up Pizza Pies in Two Locations

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
02:03PM / Saturday, June 28, 2025

Crust owner Jim Cervone and manager Lexi Politis make pizza's at the Williamstown location. 

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Crust has been serving up classic and specialty pizzas since its opening in 2020 in Pittsfield, and for over a year now in Williamstown.

 

Owner Jim Cervone said his inspiration was his love for cooking and pizza.

 

"I love pizza, and I'm Italian, and I grew up with cooking. I remember my grandmother cooking. Some of the recipes we have here are from my grandmother, specifically the meatballs," he said. "So I've always grown up with food. I'm a good, amateur chef. Always liked cooking. Whenever I travel, I always look for pizza, because that's one of my things. ...

 

"I wasn't really crazy about the offerings, not just around here, just in general. And so the inspiration was, how can I make a really good pizza at an affordable price?" 

 

Cervone said his most popular pizzas are chicken bacon ranch and buffalo chicken, flavors requested by customers and not something he was planning to add to the menu at first since chicken pizza isn't usually found in an Italian restaurant.

 

"I personally think the Grandma's Pizza, which has got a sliced mozzarella cheese underneath, and the organic red sauce on top with meatballs, is one of my favorites," he said. "They're homemade meatballs. It's my grandmother's recipe — that's a popular one."

 

Also on the menu are red and white mushroom pizzas, a "green" version with housemade pesto, peppers and mushrooms, and the option to build your own pie with a wide variety of crusts, sauces, cheeses, toppings and finishes.