Letter: Vote DeMayo-Wall for Planning Board

To the Editor:

The only way that you can live in Williamstown and say "let's wait for the new town plan to solve our housing problem" with a straight face is if you're new to town or you have been asleep. We know that Williamstown will not follow housing recommendations in a master plan because we have a near-perfect record of not doing so.

Here's the evidence we do have: Williamstown's 2002 plan outlined seven strategies the town should use to create a target of 200 new housing units that people at or under the area median income could afford. We then spent the next 20 years ignoring all but one of the recommendations, and disparaging those who sought to bring them about. The MP recommendation that a portion of the Lowry property, in the town center, be used for housing was shot down. The MP recommendation that the Water/Spring Street area be used for housing was nixed when our own Select Board voted not to accept a proposal to build affordable housing on Water Street (Jane Patton was the only vote in favor). When the
Planning Board drafted bylaws to encourage housing density in the town center, another MP recommendation, it was accused of over-depending on the residents of Cole Avenue to accommodate housing; when it recommended bylaws to encourage housing out of the town center, it has been accused of supporting sprawl and runaway development.

Cheryl Shanks
Williamstown, Mass.

Williamstown Fire District Dedicates New Station

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
06:37AM / Sunday, May 31, 2026

Chief Jeffrey Dias recognizes firefighter Alexandra Riggs, who will graduate from Williams College next week. See more photos here.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Massachusetts fire marshal came to town Saturday to congratulate the local Fire District and the taxpayers of Williamstown for the "amazing" station they have built on Main Street.

 

"I travel around the state, and I've seen hundreds of firehouses around the state — some great, some not so great," Fire Marshal Jon Davine told a crowd gathered outside the station for its dedication. "And I think we saw what the previous station here was in Williamstown. I'll tell you, especially in Western Massachusetts, we have a really big problem with deteriorating firehouses throughout Western Mass. These buildings are collapsing around our firefighters.

 

"And, as the marshal, it's my job to advocate for the departments for more funding. We've been working with our state reps and local reps and the fire chiefs association, trying to come up with different funding streams, so that we can help these departments build new stations, do better, safer stations, so that they have the equipment and the building they deserve to do their job safely."

 

The chair of the Prudential Committee, which governs the Fire District, and the chief of the department both thanked Williamstown residents for the 2023 special district meeting vote that paved the way for the station that went into operation earlier this year.

 

"It's an honor and a privilege to join you today as we celebrate this grand opening of the new firehouse," Chief Jeffrey Dias said. "This facility is so much more than a building that houses fire trucks. It stands as a symbol of our community's commitment to safety, preparedness and public service. It's a place where our members will maintain our equipment. They will learn about our craft. They'll share meals and, yes, from time to time, they're going to share sorrow.

 

"This isn't a fire station. This is a firehouse. And people have heard me say this a million times already. And it houses the very best second family that one could imagine."

 

Dias was joined at the podium set up in the parking lot for the noon ceremony by Prudential Committee Chair David Moresi, state Rep. John Barrett III and the the Rev. William F. Cyr, who gave an invocation.