Letter: Jennifer Macksey for Mayor of North Adams

To the Editor:

Jennifer Macksey was born in North Adams and is a lifelong resident. She doesn't need to learn the culture and nuance that is North Adams. North Adams is in her DNA. She is a product of the North Adams Public Schools and a graduate of Drury High School. Her B.A. in accounting certainly prepares her to make sure the balance sheets of North Adams add up.

The jobs she's held have all been leadership jobs, decision-making jobs which require seeing the big picture as well as understanding the nuts-and-bolts operation of complex institutions.

In North Adams, resources are hard to come by and every penny counts. Hard decisions need to be made apportioning what money we do have. Yet Mayor Macksey has not only seen to the city's daily business but also prioritized quality of life issues.

We've been lucky to have Jennifer Macksey occupying the corner office of North Adams City Hall these last four years. Let's not blow it, folks. We have a great mayor! Make sure you show up and vote fill in the bubble next to her name. She's worked 24 hours a day for us. Now it's time for us to show up for her.

Chris Wondoloski
North Adams, Mass. 

North Adams, Pittsfield Mark King Day With Calls for Activism

By Tammy Daniels & Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
04:01PM / Monday, January 19, 2026

Alÿcia Bacon, community engagement officer for the Berkshire Taconic Foundation, speaks at the MLK service held Price Memorial AME Church in Pittsfield. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Wendy Penner can be found pretty much everywhere: leading local initiatives to address climate change and sustainability, championing public health approaches for substance abuse, and motivating citizens to defend their rights and the rights of others. 

 

That's all when she's not working her day job in public health, or being co-president of Congregation Beth Israel, or chairing the Williamstown COOL Committee, or volunteering on a local board. 

 

"Wendy is deeply committed to the Northern Berkshire community and to the idea of think globally, act locally," said Gabrielle Glasier, master of ceremonies for Northern Berkshire Community Coalition's annual Day of Service. 

 

Her community recognized her efforts with the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Peacemaker Award, which is presented to individuals and organizations who have substantially contributed to the Northern Berkshires. The award has been presented by the MLK Committee for 30 years, several times a year at first and at the MLK Day of Service over the past 20 years. 

 

"This event is at heart a celebration of our national and local striving to live up to the ideals of Dr. King and his committed work for racial equality, economic justice, nonviolence and anti-militarism," said Penner. "There is so much I want to say about this community that I love, about how we show up for each other, how we demonstrate community care for those who are struggling, how we support and and celebrate the natural environment that we love and how we understand how important it is that every community member feels deserves to feel valued, seen and uplifted."

 

King's legacy is in peril "as I never could have imagined," she said, noting the accumulation of vast wealth at the top while the bottom 50 percent share only 2.5 percent the country's assets. Even in "safe" Massachusetts, there are people struggling with food and housing, others afraid to leave their homes. 

 

In response, the community has risen to organize and make themselves visible and vocal through groups such as Greylock Together, supporting mutual aid networks, calling representatives, writing cards and letters, and using their privilege to protect vulnerable community members.