Letter: Caplinger for Williamstown School Committee

Letters to the EditorPrint Story | Email Story

To the Editor:

I am pleased to endorse Dan Caplinger for the Williamstown Elementary School Committee.

I had the privilege of working with Dan on the WES committee for several years. I was consistently impressed with Dan's dedication to children, understanding of the budget, and willingness to do all the hard work this position requires.

Dan has devoted untold hours over the past several years to understanding how the WES school district works. His financial background gives him keen insight into the budget and into possible future questions including regionalization. He has worked on several contract negotiating subcommittees as well as the regionalization subcommittee.



Last year, Dan was elected by his fellow committee members to chair the committee. Williamstown is fortunate that Dan was and continues to be willing to take on this challenging role which is so critical for our community.

Please vote for Dan Caplinger on election day, Tuesday May 10.

Valerie Hall
Hall is a former chair of the Williamstown, Mass., Elementary School Committee.

 

 

 


Tags: election 2016,   endorsement,   school committee,   town elections,   


If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Williamstown Affordable Housing Trust Hears Objections to Summer Street Proposal

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Neighbors concerned about a proposed subdivision off Summer Street last week raised the specter of a lawsuit against the town and/or Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity.
 
"If I'm not mistaken, I think this is kind of a new thing for Williamstown, an affordable housing subdivision of this size that's plunked down in the middle, or the midst of houses in a mature neighborhood," Summer Street resident Christopher Bolton told the Affordable Housing Trust board, reading from a prepared statement, last Wednesday. "I think all of us, the Trust, Habitat, the community, have a vested interest in giving this project the best chance of success that it can have. We all remember subdivisions that have been blocked by neighbors who have become frustrated with the developers and resorted to adversarial legal processes.
 
"But most of us in the neighborhood would welcome this at the right scale if the Trust and Northern Berkshire Habitat would communicate with us and compromise with us and try to address some of our concerns."
 
Bolton and other residents of the neighborhood were invited to speak to the board of the trust, which in 2015 purchased the Summer Street lot along with a parcel at the corner of Cole Avenue and Maple Street with the intent of developing new affordable housing on the vacant lots.
 
Currently, Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity, which built two homes at the Cole/Maple property, is developing plans to build up to five single-family homes on the 1.75-acre Summer Street lot. Earlier this month, many of the same would-be neighbors raised objections to the scale of the proposed subdivision and its impact on the neighborhood in front of the Planning Board.
 
The Affordable Housing Trust board heard many of the same arguments at its meeting. It also heard from some voices not heard at the Planning Board session.
 
And the trustees agreed that the developer needs to engage in a three-way conversation with the abutters and the trust, which still owns the land, to develop a plan that is more acceptable to all parties.
 
View Full Story

More Williamstown Stories