Letter: North Adams, My Favorite Hat

To the Editor:

I wear a plethora of "hats" on a daily basis. Husband, dog owner, higher-ed professional, business owner, city councilor, Ph.D. student, the list goes on; but the one I thing I'm most proud of is my status as a resident of North Adams.

I adore this place, its people, its past, and its potential more than I can possibly emphasize in a single letter. Look at where we've come from and where we are today.

One hundred and forty years ago, we became home to one of the greatest feats of modern engineering when the Hoosac Tunnel opened. Flash forward: mills and factories in this city contributed key historical game-changers; metal for one of the first ironclad ships, uniforms for the Union Army, and eventually cutting-edge electrical components that would drive nationwide economic booms.

While we, too, like so many other mill towns, confronted an era of uneasy transition, we've entered into a new era in the past 20 years. Arts have taken hold, appreciation for the cultural communities has flourished, the development of Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and huge injections of innovation into our local higher education institutions have created new economies and drawn the eye of the outside world.

Benjamin Lamb
North Adams

Cost, Access to NBCTC High Among Concerns North Berkshire Residents

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
06:15PM / Thursday, April 25, 2024

Adams Select Chair Christine Hoyt, NBCTC Executive Director David Fabiano and William Solomon, the attorney representing the four communities, talk after the session. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Public access channels should be supported and made more available to the public — and not be subject to a charge.

 

More than three dozen community members in-person and online attended the public hearing  Wednesday on public access and service from Spectrum/Charter Communications. The session at City Hall was held for residents in Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg and North Adams to express their concerns to Spectrum ahead of another 10-year contract that starts in October.

 

Listening via Zoom but not speaking was Jennifer Young, director state government affairs at Charter.

 

One speaker after another conveyed how critical local access television is to the community and emphasized the need for affordable and reliable services, particularly for vulnerable populations like the elderly. 

 

"I don't know if everybody else feels the same way but they have a monopoly," said Clarksburg resident David Emery. "They control everything we do because there's nobody else to go to. You're stuck with with them."

 

Public access television, like the 30-year-old Northern Berkshire Community Television, is funded by cable television companies through franchise fees, member fees, grants and contributions.

 

Spectrum is the only cable provider in the region and while residents can shift to satellite providers or streaming, Northern Berkshire Community Television is not available on those alternatives and they may not be easy for some to navigate. For instance, the Spectrum app is available on smart televisions but it doesn't include PEG, the public, educational and governmental channels provided by NBCTC.