NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — North Adams is getting $750,000 in federal funding to rethink the Central Artery and consider ways to better connect the downtown to Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
The city partnered with Mass MoCA on the application last fall for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act's Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program. The program is providing a $1 billion over the next five years for planning, construction and technical grants for communities affected by past infrastructure projects.
Mayor Jennifer Macksey told the Mass MoCA Commission on Monday that they had received word on Friday that the grant was being awarded.
"We have been told that we were awarded the grant so that is a big, big, big accomplishment and I have to commend the Mass MoCA group and Carrie Burnett from my team," she said. "There were a lot of weekend phone calls we had and conference calls on Zoom to get it done. But we're moving in the right direction."
Update: The grants were formally announced by U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey and U.S. Rep. Richard Neal on Tuesday. North Adams and Boston's Chinatown received the funding in Massachusetts. Boston gets $1.8 million for outdoor community space to help improve air quality and public health. Both grants are tied to the urban renewal projects in the 1960s that built freeways disrupting and bisecting neighborhoods.
"President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has already delivered more than $3 million for the commonwealth, addressing the most pressing infrastructure needs confronting our communities,” said Neal. "The funding announced for the city of North Adams under the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program will help connect the city's downtown, providing a catalyst for economic growth and sustainability throughout the region."
Commissioner Gail Sellers, who had inquired about the status of the grant, questioned if more analysis had to be done.
"I have a concern about that, because we've done a number of things to try to bring people from Mass MoCA to Main Street," she said.
The mayor agreed there's been a lot of analysis but this one will have a "different spin."
She explained that part of the study would be assessing the deteriorating Veterans Memorial Bridge, which is owned by the city; it would look at pedestrian connections and traffic patterns, and would include a community component.
"This does not mean in any way we're taking down the bridge, but that is something that we need to explore," she said.
Visitors trying to get to downtown from the former Spraque Electric campus have to navigate a sea of parking lots, a street that's four lanes as it approaches the city center, numerous lights and crosswalks and a massive overpass.
That area was leveled in the mid-1960s by the Central Artery Project that straightened out and widened Route 2 through the city and included the construction of the overpass.
"Fixing the bridge is not going to help, in my mind, getting people from MoCA to downtown," said Sellers. "The bridge may need fixing and it's really a chunk of money. And that kind of money probably could be sucked up by the bridge repair or whatever in a heartbeat."
She said she hoped the study would look at the park MoCA put in along Marshall Street and if that was driving foot traffic downtown.
Macksey said wayfaring and signage would among the components of the study.
Commissioner Eric Kerns said the application was "fantastic work" after reading it.
"You're going to see that it's not like what we've done before," he said to Sellers. "A big part of this is about taking a look further back and addressing the circulation and connectivity of downtown that was destroyed by urban renewal. ...
"It's incredible that there's the opportunity now to take a look at this in a much larger way, a much more ambitious way that's not just about, hey, let's get some people to walk downtown."
They haven't been thinking big enough, said Kerns. "This is a huge, like swing at a much further fence that I think is an exciting thing for us to be undertaking."
Macksey said she and the Mass MoCA team could give the commission more information at its next meeting.
In other business, commission approved two new rentals on the museum campus.
• Chef Xavier Jones will be opening another Bigg Daddy's Philly Steakhouse, this time in the former gatehouse where A-OK Barbecue had been located. He's previously opened them in Adams and Pittsfield and currently operates the Fire House Cafe in Adams.
Jones said he will have hamburgers, salads and barbecue in addition to his hometown Philly steak sandwiches. The eatery will be grab and go, although outside seating is available in the warmer months. He is shooting to open by the end of April and his hours will be 11 to 9 daily except Tuesday.
• Dalton-based Berkshire Dream Home Real Estate signed a three-year lease for a small office on the second floor of Building 13.
Kimma Stark, project manager at MoCA, said the agency will be using the 345 square foot office as needed. It employees 27 agents and support staff but is also recruiting two more agents specifically for North County.
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New Greylock School Vote Edges Yes Victory
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
The vote was close with some 1,309 voting no for the debt exclusion over concerns of burdensome tax increases.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The new Greylock School project will move forward after a successful debt exclusion vote on Tuesday.
The proponents won a narrow victory with a 136 votes. The unofficial tally was 1,445 yes to 1,309 no.
The vote was to determine a debt exclusion that would allow the city to bond out nearly $20 million over 30 years. The Massachusetts School Building Authority will be picking up $42.2 million of the $65 million cost with the balance being covered by a federal grant for a geothermal system.
"We're very excited, and we look forward to moving this project forward, in the best interest of our kids and the future generations of North Adams," said Mayor Jennifer Macksey.
Opponents of taking on the debt are considering appealing. One of the leaders of the effort, Marie T. Harpin, said she thought there were enough irregularities in the close vote to take another look. She referred to a number of voters who had been deemed inactive and other issues.
Both opponents and proponents of the new school, however, were cheered by the amount of engagement they'd seen from the community.
Harpin, a former city councilor and a leader on the vote no side, said she'd spoken to one man who was voting for the first time in four years.
"He was showing up for this vote, so people are concerned," she said. "I think it's probably going to be close. I think there's division in the community, just naturally, so I think it'll be close ...
There is only one question on the ballot, whether to approve a debt exclusion that will allow borrowing for the project outside the limitations of Proposition 2 1/2 for the life of the loan. It is not an override. click for more
Wahconah High senior Tim Kaley Sunday earned his second Berkshire Classic Championship by shooting a 77 at the Country Club of Pittsfield. click for more