Letter: MCLA Homeless Shelter Should Have Had Public Input

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To the Editor:

I question MCLA's President Birge's commitment to education and to our North Berkshire community.

"… the historic public purpose of American higher education is to respond to the needs and demands of society." President Jamie Birge, WAMC 5/10/2023

The problem of the poor and unhoused is a symptom of a decline in democratic values and income inequality. A simple change in the earned income tax credit was able to cut child poverty by about 46 percent in just a few months.

Massachusetts needs more than 200,000 new homes in order to start addressing the housing crisis. What is stopping Massachusetts from building these homes? Powerful interests who do not have a modicum of decency prevent democratic actions to address our problems. Democracy means participation and engagement. It requires leaders to inspire open and respectful dialogue to address the needs of the people.

In 2014, North Adams Regional Hospital was closed with three days notice with no public hearing. Shortly after the hospital closing, the state closed our North Adams welfare office and our North Adams employment office with no public hearing.



In order to respond to our community's needs and demands, President Birge should have held public meetings and panel discussions on the proposed emergency shelter and its effects on the future of the college and our community. The college could have educated the community about the crisis and provided a forum for an informed and respectful discussion.

Instead President Birge chose to keep his own counsel and avoided an encounter with the public. He acted as if it was his decision alone and failed to include the community input.

Our society is suffering from people who act like autocrats and reject the democratic process of inclusion. There is still time for the college to provide the leadership in an open and inclusive educational forum that addresses the needs of the poor and unsheltered.

Richard Dassatti
North Adams, Mass. 


Tags: homeless,   

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Myotherapy Practice Opens in North Adams

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

Holistic Myotherapy in Greylock Works offers a calming area for clients to discuss their treatment and problems.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A new mind and body therapist has opened for business in Greylock Works.

Owner of Holistic Myotherapy, Georgette Yannetti, started her muscle therapy practice in her native Brooklyn, N.Y., to help those with spinal problems like herself.

"I started my practice in Brooklyn in 2015 specifically to help teenagers with spinal deformities, scoliosis, because I myself struggle with that since I was an adolescent, I had four spinal surgeries and was disabled," she said. 

Yannetti worked as a massage therapist at the Greenwich Hotel and started doing myotherapy as a side project until it took off and she could focus on it full time. 

Myotherapy is a deep-tissue massage and stretching treatment that focuses on muscle and joint pain.

"The practice just took off, and it wasn't just for scoliosis," she said. "It branched out to other spinal deformities and just other kind of people suffering with other kind of disabilities, and not even just physical disabilities, but psychological, you know, anxiety, depression, anything that people really needed space to be held for."

She explained her process as building a connection with clients and being able to talk with her about their problems before they get on the table.

"It needs to be more than just like, well, you're gonna get undressed and now I'm gonna touch you for like 60 minutes. To go from I don't know you to now get on the table — you can't, there needs to be more," Yannetti said. "So I provided this seating area and tea and like a little bit of connection. So even though I'm not a psychotherapist, I mean, I am very clear with people, like I'm not your therapist ... but I provide the space for people to also share more about themselves, what's happening."

She said she couldn't find the type of service she is now giving and wanted for herself.

"I basically started my practice, and I was like, when I receive body work, this is what this is the kind of work that I would want because this is what I need when I'm receiving body work because of my trauma, and I can't find that," she said. 

Yannetti moved to Berkshire County earlier this year because she had always enjoyed visiting the area, saying this was her preferred vacation spot and even came here for her honeymoon.

"I've been visiting consistently for the past 10 years, specifically to Berkshire County, just because I love it here. It's been a safe space for me. I never wanted to leave," she said. "Every time I came, I was always like, I don't want to leave, and that said something to me. Whenever I had the opportunity to travel, if it wasn't internationally, I was like, I want to go to the Berkshires." 

She was looking online one day and found a house, and her husband agreed it was their perfect place. On a whim they decided to buy it and move out here. While she was not initially planning to restart her practice, she decided to do a free class with Greylock Yoga and fell in love with the renovated mill building. She immediately asked about a space for rent and signed the lease in early June.

She held her soft opening on July 1.

She hopes her clients know this is a safe space where she will support them.

"That I'm here to support them in whatever their process is. That this is a safe space. A lot of people release emotionally in here, because the body stores emotion. A lot of people are still learning that."

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