MassDOT Announces High School Video Contest

08:30AM / Sunday, September 08, 2024Print Story | Email Story

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT)announced entries are now being accepted for the eleventh annual statewide Safe Streets Smart Trips high school video contest.

This contest encourages students to showcase their understanding of roadway safety across all travel modes to try to decrease pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and fatalities. Per the contest guidelines, this year students are being asked to write and produce a 30-60 second video emphasizing "Empathy at the Intersection" and on the roadway.

"As part of our mission to deliver an equitable, inclusive transportation network, we intend to use every possible tool to stress the need for awareness of personal responsibility to safety on our roads," said Transportation Secretary and CEO Monica Tibbits-Nutt. "This annual contest gives us and the students who enter an opportunity to create further awareness about the shared responsibility of road safety."

The "Empathy at the Intersection" concept was created by MassDOT to draw attention to the various lived realities of road users, and it was on full display at the Empathy at the Intersection experiential exhibit at MassDOT’s 2024 Transportation Innovation Conference in Worcester, where attendees stepped back from their own commute and participated in different hands-on activities, to experience how vulnerable road users navigate streets.

As an initiative of the Massachusetts Strategic Highway Safety Plan to promote safe walking, bicycling and driving behaviors, the contest is open to all Massachusetts public high school students

and features a Freshman/Sophomore category and Junior/Senior category.

Grand prize, runner-up, and honorable mention videos in each category (Freshman/Sophomore and Junior/Senior) will be chosen by a MassDOT panel. Winning videos will be shown Wednesday, October 23, 2024, at MassDOT’s annual active transportation conference, Moving Together, where the creators will receive their prizes including $600 Amazon gift cards for the grand prize videos and $300 Amazon gift cards for the runner-up videos. Top videos may also be

used in future safety campaigns.

To learn more about the Safe Streets Smart Trips high school video contest visit Mass.gov/roadway-safety-video or call 857-383-3807.

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Dalton Board Signs Off on Land Sale Over Residents' Objections

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:50AM / Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Residents demanded the right to speak but the agenda did not include public comment. Amy Musante holds a sign saying the town now as '$20,000 less for a police station.'

DALTON, Mass. — The Select Board signed the sale on the last of what had been known as the Bardin property Monday even as a handful of residents demanded the right to speak against the action.

The quitclaim deed transfers the nine acres to Thomas and Esther Balardini, who purchased the two other parcels in Dalton. They were the third-highest bidders at $31,500. Despite this, the board awarded them the land in an effort to keep the property intact.

"It's going to be an ongoing battle but one I think that has to be fought [because of] the disregard for the taxpayers," said Dicken Crane, the high bidder at $51,510.

"If it was personal I would let it go, but this affects everyone and backing down is not in my nature."

Crane had appealed to the board to accept his bid during two previous meetings. He and others opposed to accepting the lower bid say it cost the town $20,000. After the meeting, Crane said he will be filing a lawsuit and has a citizen's petition for the next town meeting with over 100 signatures.

Three members of the board — Chair Robert Bishop Jr., John Boyle, and Marc Strout — attended the 10-minute meeting. Members Anthony Pagliarulo and Daniel Esko previously expressed their disapproval of the sale to the Balardinis.

Pagliarulo voted against the sale but did sign the purchase-and-sale agreement earlier this month. His reasoning was the explanation by the town attorney during an executive session that, unlike procurement, where the board is required to accept the lowest bid for services, it does have some discretion when it comes to accepting bids in this instance.

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