Letter: The Problem With Yes Vote for Greylock School

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To the Editor:

I'll say it again and again, I think all the yay-sayers are missing the point of priorities in North Adams, why we moved to another town.

The brown water, the water breaks, sewage backing up in the streets, the constant flow of power outages, the huge potholes everywhere, closed roads/bridges, cement barricades left halfway in road passage ways for years, vegetation overgrowth throughout the roadsides, the multiple promises of attractions that never materialized, dilapidated buildings both city owned and privately left to rot, and on and on.

The major problem with your yes vote is no promises to fix any of these issues, just to spend more taxpayers' money, including mine when I support your local businesses with their passing on the tax burdens coming down the pike. This "average" $270 a year tax increase is only the beginning of all your increases yet to come! Because another new school is a tax liability that like the others that won't be kept up. No one will invest until they get this mess cleaned up.

Shawn Collins
Adams, Mass. 

 

 

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Memorial Building Owner Seeks Name Change

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — The selectmen tabled a request from the owner of the Memorial Building, who wants to change his company's name to qualify for more grant funding.
 
During Wednesday's Select Board meeting, the proposal was initially approved but later tabled after a resident urged the board to have town counsel review the documents.
 
According to Town Administrator Nicholas Caccamo, the owner, Michael Mackin, is seeking to change the name from Memorial School Redevelopment LLC to 30 Columbia Redevelopment LLC, which he said would make him eligible for more grant funding. 
 
In a follow-up with iBerkshires.com, Mackin said the property must be twice removed from town ownership to be eligible for certain grant funding.
 
Mackin was not present at Wednesday's board meeting, but Caccamo explained that the change would make Mackin eligible for the Berkshire Brownfields Revolving Loan Program to help fund hazardous-material abatement and the removal of heating oil tanks.
 
Caccamo told the board the change is solely creating a delineation of ownership and does not change anything in the lease, building permits, lease agreement with the town, or any work planned or in progress.
 
The town has signed a lease to use the building once renovations are complete and the space is usable, which it currently is not, Caccamo said. 
 
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