"Tweets" with questions about Spruces solution; eight points to consider

The following is an email sent today by Bill Densmore to Peter
Fohlin, town manager in Williamstown, Mass.

Hi Peter:

Please forward these comments to appropriate town boards/officials as you consider warranted.

At last week's forum on the Spruces housing situation at MGRHS, I shortened my remarks and said I would submit questions after the fact. I tweeted them later in the meeting, and have posted them here:

http://newshare.typepad.com/greylocknews/2013/04/tweeting-about-the-challenge-of-replacing-lost-spruces-housing.html

It's of course easy to drop in as a sidewalk superintendent, sweep one's hands and say here's the solution. Given that, here' what I've been thinking about:

1) As I did say at the hearing, we all want to avoid this turning into an either/or decision between affordable housing and agricultural open space. These are both vital values.

2) First, what would it take to make ready a portion of the Spruces property for quality agricultural use -- for growing food, or grazing cows?

3) Build the cost of No. 2 into any proposal.

4) Commit by amendment to any pending Town Meeting motion to replicating any land taken on the Lowry property for housing with an equivalent amount of land for growing and grazing on the former Spruces site. We're reclaiming that. Think of this as "replicating wetlands" as developers were once allowed to do when of practical necessity they needed some wetlands.

5) Second, if this hasn't already been done, identify a neutral rsearcher to conduct a survey of former Spruces residents who still wish to relocate back to or remain in Williamstown. Identify their preferences in terms of **types** of desirable housing -- mobile home, detached single family, congregate, appartment, co-operative, walking-distance to services, rental, ownership,
whatever.

6) Respecting No. 5, it's important that we not have an emotional debate around creating types of housing that some former Spruces residents don't even want. Similarly, it's important not to have emotional debate about housing-types creation that is out-of-bounds expensive or otherwise not supportable by regulation or funding.

7) Based on the results from No. 5, and the realities documented for No. 6, let's work to create as much diversity as possible in housing options, with an eye toward **minimizing to the greatest degree possible** any use of Lowry land, while still **meeting the desires of Spruces residents still in transition.**

8) Once we have accommodated the needs of Spruces residents still in transition, then let's try to create the most innovative, energy-efficient, earth-friendly, resource-re-using housing possible within economic realities. My impression is that this would likely not be single-family dwellings on the Lowry property, but I'm no expert.

I rent office space next to the old Town Garage site. Nevertheless, I would strongly favor reuse of that site for housing of any kind, in a mixed use including a little office space and a little retail.

Also, are their various single-family lots open around the town which could be taken for infill affordable housing? Would land costs make this completely prohibitive? I wonder.


-- Bill Densmore
1182 Main St.
Williamstown MA 01267
413-458-8001

TEXT: WE NEED YOU TONIGHT for Lowry Land Discussion

This text was supplied by the author.

From: "Sarah S. Gardner" <Sarah.S.Gardner@williams.edu>
Date: April 10, 2013 1:39:23 PM EDT
To: carol.stein-payne@williams.edu, cary.white@williams.edu, slogan2@williams.edu, james.david.nolan@williams.edu,
elizabeth.p.mcgowan@williams.edu, lre@wrlf.org, betsy@bcn.net, sam@caretakerfarm.org
Subject: WE NEED YOU TONIGHT for Lowry Land Discussion

Dear Friends,
SORRY FOR THIS EMAIL BLAST, BUT WE NEED YOU TONIGHT AT 7 AND AT TOWN MEETING ON APRIL 24TH. We all want affordable housing
and we also want to save our precious ag land, which is in short supply.  Please read below for reasons to support
affordable housing in the town center (instead of on farmland).

There is an informational session about the Lowry land and affordable housing with panelists at MG tonight at 7. We need
supporters of agricultural land at this meeting!  The Aff. Housing Committee and the Selectmen have been out in force and
this panel is heavily weighed in their favor.  Ann McCallum (Planning Board) and Beth Phelps (Ag Comm) are quite
outnumbered by the supporters of the Lowry subdivision.  Hank Art from Cons Com willl also be there.

PLEASE COME and show support for saving Lowry and to support the development of affordable housing on the several sites in
town that are better suited to housing and that can easily accommodate over 100 units of attractive, connected-cottage
style housing units. Ann McCallum has drawn up site plans for the Photech site, the Town Garage Site, and Cable Mill
South. There are also plans for the Southworth Site (commissioned by Higher Ground) and Proprietors Field, existing
elderly housing on Church Street, that seeks to expand by 15-25 units. These other 5 sites (and others in the town center)
are far superior for housing for several reasons:

(1) They are in the town center and accessible to town services, sidewalks, and transit. This meets state guidelines and
best practices for affordable housing. Single family homes in farmland does not conform to any planning or funding
guidelines.

(2) Despite what some may say, these sites are clean and basically ready to go right now. This is well known but
under-publicized.

(3) Affordable housing should not be segregated up on a hill as Lowry would be; affordable housing should be built in
existing neighborhoods, not hidden away. That aspect of the Fohlin plan is offensive to many and is counter to state
guidelines for affordable housing.  Further, the plan for single family houses is outdated: there has been no such
affordable housing built in Massachusetts in the past 30 years. It is highly unlikely public funds could be secured to
built the project they want. The cost for hte 40 proposed units is about $8 million--the FEMA grant will cover only a
small fraction of the development costs.  

(4) The town center sites are much less expensive to develop (the site development costs for in-town housing is $10-15K
per unit, as opposed to $45-50K per unit on Lowry);

(5) Using the FEMA  funds to redevelop our blighted sites in town (and to leverage additional public funds, which will be
needed to build any housing) is an opportunity to redevelop these sites, remove blight, and revitalize our downtown. If we
built the housing at Lowry, we destroy productive farmland and leave our 3 blighted sites to remain as eyesores in the
town center.  This is very bad planning and a lost opportunity.

(6) Spruces was a 50 plus community,with many residents elderly. Affordable housing guidelines for elderly housing are
quite specific: they are NEVER single family houses, which the Fohlin plan calls for.  

(7) If we want an agricultural future in our town, we should preserve all the prime farmland possible. We have already
lost about half of our farmland to development. There is NO NEED to develop on prime farmland soils when there are vacant
sites in town in need of development. WE ARE BEING PRESENTED WITH A FALSE CHOICE BETWEEN HOUSING AND FARMLAND. THERE IS NO
NEED TO CHOOSE. We are lucky that we have so many vacant sites in town that we can build on.

Many on the Affordable Housing Committee, the Housing Trust and the Board of Selectmen have said or suggested that Lowry
land supporters do not care about poor people: "if you don't want to develop Lowry you do not care about poor people or
affordable housing." This assertion is hostile and erroneous; that statement is inflammatory and the tactic is divisive.
Every Lowry Land supporter that I have spoken with is also a big proponent of affordable housing--but we believe in smart
land use, and that means saving ag land and building housing in town. This is basic common sense planning. Please see the
Williamstown Master Plan (2002), Land Use section, which state's the town's goals clearly.

Also, PLEASE SEE ANN MCCALLUM'S DESIGNS FOR LOVELY NEW-URBANIST STYLE HOUSING ON THESE SITES. She will have them available
at the meeting this evening.

Please also mark your calendar for the Special Town Meeting to decide on this: April 24th at 7:25 sharp. All must arrive
early in order to be present for the most important vote at 7:25: whether or not the vote to take Lowry out of
Conservation Commission management will be a 2/3 or simple majority vote.  


STATEMENT ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND THE LOWRY PROPERTY, by Ann McCallum, (who has designed many Habitat for Humanity
houses in North Berkshire)

We think it is wonderful news that the Town got the FEMA grant. We understand that half of the $6m will go to buying the
park, payments to the residents, and cleanup of the site. The question we have all been discussing is what to do with the
remaining $3m.

In spite of the fact that our legal commitment to the residents of the Spruces is satisfied with their individual $22,500
payments, and our help in finding them new housing, we feel a moral commitment to do more. And while we have many
constituencies who need more housing, the Spruces residents should have high priority in the Town's consideration of what
sort of housing to build. At the same time, we all know this grant is the big kick in the pants we've been needing to
finally get serious about increasing Williamstown's stock of affordable housing, and we want to get the most units of the
highest quality we possibly can from this once in a lifetime windfall.

If we think small single family houses on small individual lots is the only acceptable option, then building on the Lowry
property makes sense, as this is where we can find a town owned property large enough to fit a good number of houses.

If we can imagine other types of housing that would also give residents their own front door and a plot of land to call
their own, two characteristics that the Spruces residents hold dear, and that is more compact than the 1/3 of an acre lots
of the current Lowry plan, then we can begin to look at other smaller sites closer to town that may have additional
benefits not shared by the Lowry property.

We often look to our excellent Master Plan for guidance on issues such as this, and the Plan says that we should be
increasing the density and life in the center of Williamstown, that we should encourage infill housing, that we should
discourage housing in the outlying parts of town, and that we should preserve our farmland. Building on one of the several
large empty lots around town that have been unproductive and eyesores for many years would fit the bill on all counts. Two
of these sites are already owned by the Town: the old Town Garage site on Water Street, and the Photech site at the bottom
of Cole Avenue. A third large empty lot is privately owned: the old Cable Mills parking lot also on Water Street  to the
south of the brick mill buildings that we all hope will one day be renovated into housing.

On any of these sites, particularly the two larger ones, a compact development with a mix of single family cottages,
townhouses and flats could be built that would house the same 40 households as proposed for the Lowry site. On these
in-town sites, more houses could be built for the same amount of money, as the site development costs would be
substantially less. We would also qualify for additional grant money (single family houses of the low density proposed for
the Lowry site would not qualify), which would allow us to leverage our FEMA money to build even more housing units. We
would be helping to populate our downtown which is so in need of more shoppers.

I therefore feel the town should be able to leave the Lowry property as the productive farmland it is now, and provide
high quality community-building new housing, while at the same time breathing new life into our downtown.

THANKS FOR READING! PLEASE INVITE YOUR FRIENDS AND HELP WITH THIS EFFORT BY COMING TONIGHT AND BY BEING AT TOWN MEETING
EARLY ON APRIL 24TH!

TEXT: Berkshire Eagle editorial about Bain Capital and KB toys

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ORIGINAL HEADLINE: Greed, debt, Bain and the death of KB

Posted:   09/09/2012 12:07:09 AM EDTUpdated:   09/09/2012 12:07:10 AM EDT
Sunday September 9, 2012In trying to change the subject from Bain Capital, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has talked a lot about reducing the nation’s debt. The irony of this strategy, according to Matt Taibbi in the Sep tember 13 issue of Rolling Stone, is that Mr. Romney "is one of the greatest and most irresponsible debt creators of all time." The impact of that debt creation strategy was seismic right here in Pittsfield with the demise of KB Toys, which Bain Capital purchased in 2000. Mr. Romney was supposedly gone from Bain a year earlier but the New York Times has revealed that he was an investor and beneficiary for 12 more years.

Much has been said and written this campaign about Bain Capital, a company that doesn’t build anything tangible but buys companies that do, usually struggling ones, redesigns them, and sends them off to sink or swim. Not enough has been said and written about Bain’s strategy of saddling these companies with huge debt that forces them to take all the risk while Bain profits through the magic of "dividend recapitulations" regardless of the fate of those companies.

In Mr. Taibbi’s article, entitled "Greed and Debt. How Mitt Romney and Bain Capital staged an epic wealth grab, destroyed jobs -- and stuck others with the bill," Heather Slavkin Corzo, the senior legal policy adviser for the AFL-CIO, succinctly described this complex strategy with an analogy. "The dividend recap is like borrowing someone else’s credit card to take out a cash advance, and then leaving them to pay it off," said Ms. Corzo.

Which brings us to KB, whose headquarters were in Pittsfield. It’s a sad and familiar story here in the Berkshires recapped and elaborated upon by Mr. Taibbi, who in his research visited an "Irish pub" here (we’ll bet it was Patrick’s) to meet with former high echelon employee Lenny Patnode, who was laid off in 2008 after 38 years with KB without a day’s severance.

Bain purchased KB for $320 million, with large banks financing all but $18 million of the purchase. About a year and a half later, Bain claimed its dividend recapitulation, forcing KB to redeem $121 million in stock and borrow $66 million. Of this total, $83 million went to Mr. Romney and other Bain owner and investors. KB slid into bankruptcy, never to re-emerge, while as Mr. Taibbi writes, Bain earned a return of at least 370 percent on its deal.

KB’s top management could have made a fuss but had millions of reasons for silence. CEO Michael Glazer received an $18.4 million bonus from Bain to smooth the deal and CFO Robert Feldman claimed a $4.8 million bonus. KB employees hit the bricks, most or all without severance packages or health insurance.

There is no denying that KB had a problems independent of Bain. It lost its prestige niche when it overexpanded into second-tier malls and was underpriced by big discount chains like Walmart. It didn’t react quickly to the advent of video and cell phone games. Bain, however, never offered KB Toys a strategy for survival, nor could it. There are no toy experts at Bain. Bain’s expertise is in making money for Bain, and burdened by debt thanks to Bain, KB Toys was doomed even it had developed a coherent business plan. An important and unique Berkshire company was gone, leaving an empty building downtown and loyal employees like Lenny Patnode out of work.

"In microcosm, the KB fiasco speaks to why corporate America is held in such low regard today," The Eagle stated in an editorial of January 27, 2009. The editorial was reacting to the awarding of cash bonuses to KB executives charged essentially with the task of shoveling dirt on KB’s grave but it also came in the context of the ongoing U.S. economic meltdown caused by the greedy Wall Street firms operating on the Bain philosophy of corporate profits first and ethics and fairness be damned. Mr. Romney can’t run from his record at Bain where debt was a business strategy that cost workers in Pittsfield and elsewhere their jobs. He’ll have to answer for it.

EDITORIAL: "Greed, debt, Bain and the death of KB (Toys)"

By Bill Densmore

The death of KB Toys, and the involvement of Bain Capital, is a rich story about how our system of capital formation works and why we may need corporate rules changes.  A Sept. 9 editorial in The Berkshire Eagle, brings it to the fore. First, a little background. (If the link is stale, try HERE.)

Rolling Stone magazine recounted the history of KB Toys in an Aug. 29, 2012 piece on Mitt Romney and Bain Capital entititled: "Greed and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital." by Matt Taibbi.  

In a nutshell, KB thrived in the late-20th-century U.S. retail boom, outgrowing the Lee, Mass., headquarters where its family owners began and constructing an anchor-commercial office building in downtown Pittsfield, 20 miles north. But eventually the competition with the likes of Toys 'r Us, Wal-Mart and others proved too much, and KB was sold. Later, it was sold again to a group headed by Bain Capital and ultimately went bankrupt.

The Eagle (circ. 25,800, daily), in Pittsfield, Mass., once won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. That was when it was family owned and its newsroom was about three times the size it is today. Since the mid-1990s the paper has been owned by MediaNews Group Inc., the Denver-based chain built and once controlled by Dean Singleton.

MediaNews Group went through bankruptcy a couple of years ago because it had amassed over $900 million in debt pursuing a strategy of buying up U.S. newspapers when Wall Street judged them worth relatively fabulous sums. But now the bottom has fallen out of newspaper print advertising and those debts became unsustainable.

The Eagle was sold to MediaNews by the Miller family in part because the family amassed debt it couldn't cover by renovating and moving into a gigantic factory complex in downtown Pittsfield. Their aim was noble -- they wanted to to restore an abandoned stationery-manufacturing plant to productive use. But they couldn't find enough commercial tenants for the cavernous building sections not neede dby their newspaper operations.

Pittsfield is a once bustling factory town dominated by defense and electric-transformer divisions of General Electric Co. GE and most other industrial jobs are gone from the city now, which is clawing its way back by emphasizing tourism, arts, and service businesses by serving as the retail core of the Berkshires.

The Berkshires are the small-mountain part of Massachusetts, dotted with second-homes and culture attractions such as Tanglewood, Jacobs Pillow, the Clark Art Institute, Shakespeare & Co., the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, Hancock Shaker Village,  the Norman Rockwell Museum and at least three nationally-acclaimed summer theater companies.

Understanding this scenario -- a newspaper twice bruised by over-leveraged ownership, a city abandoned by industrial jobs, and a toy company built and hung on the excesses of a consumer economy, run through a Bain Capital restart machine which failed -- provides both context and iron for The Eagle editorial's conclusion:

"In microcosm, the KB fiasco speaks to why corporate America is held in such low regard today," The Eagle stated in an editorial of January 27, 2009. The editorial was reacting to the awarding of cash bonuses to KB executives charged essentially with the task of shoveling dirt on KB’s grave but it also came in the context of the ongoing U.S. economic meltdown caused by the greedy Wall Street firms operating on the Bain philosophy of corporate profits first and ethics and fairness be damned. Mr. Romney can’t run from his record at Bain where debt was a business strategy that cost workers in Pittsfield and elsewhere their jobs. He’ll have to answer for it.

Rep. Cariddi and Saldo in post-screening discussion of "Miss Representation" at Images on Monday

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The documentary, MISS REPRESENTATION will screen a second time at Images Cinema on Monday, 12/5 at 7 p.m. followed by a panel discussion with state representative Gail Cariddi, and public television host and journalist Carrie Saldo.

Janet Curran, Images managing director, said other panelists will be announced at www.imagescinema.org. Admission is $5. Images Cinema is located at 50 Spring Street.

MISS REPRESENTATION explores how the medias misrepresentation of women has led to the underrepresentation of women in positions ofpower and influence. In a society where media is the most persuasiveforce shaping cultural norms, the collective message that our youngwomen and men overwhelmingly receive is that a woman's value and powerlie in her youth, beauty, and sexuality, and not in her capacity as aleader. While women have made great strides in leadership over thepast few decades, the United States is still 90th in the world for women in national legislatures, women hold only 3% of clout positions in mainstream media, and 65% of women and girls have disordered eating behaviors.

Stories from teenage girls and provocative interviews with politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists and academics, like Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Margaret Cho, Rosario Dawson and Gloria Steinem build momentum as Miss Representation accumulates startling facts and statistics that will leave the audience shaken and armed with a new perspective.

GAIL CARIDDI is the First Berkshire District State Representative, and the first woman to hold that position. She was a City Councilor for North Adams for twenty years.

CARRIE SALDO is the host of Connecting Point on WGBY. Prior to that, she was Berkshire Bureau Chief at WAMC Northeast Public Radio where she earned awards from the Associated Press and the Edward R. Murrow foundation. She cut her teeth as a general assignment reporter at the Berkshire Eagle and the North Adams Transcript.

This screening of Miss Representation is co-sponsored by the Women of Color Resource Center and the Womens Center at Williams College, and Images Cinema.

The only one of its kind in Berkshire County, Images Cinema is a year-round non-profit, member-supported community film house that presents a wide range of films that impact filmmaking and our culture. Images continuously seeks to entertain, educate and engage the community with quality programming, while maintaining its dedication to independent film and media.

Images Cinema serves organic popcorn, real butter, locally-made baked goods, and naturally sweetened sodas, as well as traditional concessions fare. Images Cinema is supported inpart by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. Check for up-to-date happenings at www.imagescinema.org

-----

SOURCE: Images Cinema

Williamstown Chamber slates fund-raiser on Tuesday for displaced Spruces tenants

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The Williamstown Chamber of Commerce will combine its annual meeting with a fund-raising event on Tuesday for The Community Fund for the Spruces & Higher Ground.

The event is set for Tuesday, Nov. 29, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at The Orchards, 227 Adams Road, Williamstown. The cost at the door is $30 per person, 100% donated to The Fund.

"Due to the devastation that happened during Irene, and the holiday season upon us, we don't want to forget about our neighbors at the Spruces," says a chamber statement. "Many of whom will never be able to go back to their homes. Representatives from the Community Fund and Higher Ground will be on board to give us all an update on what we as a community have been doing along with what we see happening in the coming future."

Higher Ground was established as a nonprofit group on Oct. 21 and is dedicated to providing immediate relief for those affected by Tropical Storm Irene, preparing for future disasters, and creating more affordable housing in the area.

Higher Ground is providing services and raising money to meet long-term physical, emotional and spiritual needs associated with the disaster, which is perhaps the greatest in Williamstown.s history.

The Orchards has graciously given us their ballroom and Chef Chris Bonnivier with his many contacts, is getting donations from various Berkshire County Restaurants for a wide array of food for the evening.

Call the Chamber at 413-458-9077 or email info@williamstownchamber.com to sign up or get more information.

LINK: New congressional district links Berkshires with Springfield and Rep. Neal

http://www.malegislature.gov/Images/ProposedRedistrictingMaps/18.jpg

Fwd: Media Advisory

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lisa Loomis <lloomis@northadams-ma.gov>
Date: October 20, 2011 11:13:32 AM EDT
To: WNAW <wnaw@wnaw.com>, WUPE <news@wupe.com>, NBRH <phopkins@nbhealth.org>, Advocate <news@advocateweekly.com>, iberkshires <tdaniels@iberkshires.com>, Bill Densmore <densmore@newshare.com>, Berkshire Eagle News <news@berkshireeagle.com>, Jen Huberdeau <jhuberdeau@thetranscript.com>, Transcript <news@thetranscript.com>, Mike Foster <mfoster@thetranscript.com>, "info@iberkshires.com" <info@iberkshires.com>
Cc: "Richard J. Alcombright" <ralcombright@northadams-ma.gov>, Kathleen Wall <kwall@northadams-ma.gov>
Subject: Media Advisory

Media Advisory – October 20, 2011

 

Meeting with the Director of the MA Broadband Institute with city and MCLA officials

 

Judith Dupont, Director of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, along with Jason Whittet, Deputy Director will be meeting with Mayor Alcombright and representatives from MCLA to get an update on the progress of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute project.  The meeting will be on Wednesday afternoon, October 26^th at 3:00pm in the second floor conference room at City Hall and we sincerely hope this fits into your schedules, as we would very much like to have you join us for this meeting.

 

 

Richard J. Alcombright

Mayor - City of North Adams

10 Main Street

North Adams, MA  01247

413-662-3000 - office

413-662-3010 - fax

 

 

 

Lisa A. Loomis

Administrative Assistant to Mayor Alcombright

City of North Adams

10 Main Street

North Adams, MA 01247

Phone:  413-662-3000

Fax:      413-662-3010

mailto:lisa_loomis@northadams-ma.gov