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North Adams: 2018 Year in Review
By Tammy Daniels, iBerkshires Staff
03:59AM / Monday, December 31, 2018
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Thomas Bernard is sworn in as the city's 26th mayor and just the third in 34 years on Jan. 1.

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito joins officials for the opening of the North Berkshire Academy.

Northern Berkshire EMS is launched.

The NAMAzing Eagle Street Initiative includes a popular mobile parklet.

The UNO Community Park opens in August.

A TEDx event was held in North Adams.

The SteepleCats pose with the 2004 World Series Trophy.

Painted Pianos, like this one at the public library, were placed around the county for Berkshire Music School.

Thousands of wreaths were placed on the graves of North Adams veterans.

Mayor Thomas Bernard, left, Library Director Mindy Hackner and North Adams Historical Society President Charles 'Chuck' Cahoon for the announcement of bequests from the estate of Rep. Gailanne Cariddi.



The new City Council for 2018-19 term.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The year 2018 saw a new government for North Adams and significant projects completed or waiting on the horizon. It also was a year of farewells and, in some cases, the passing of the baton to the next generation.
 
For only the third time in 34 years, the city swore in a new mayor in Thomas Bernard on Jan. 1. The city native and Drury High graduate promised a tenure into the "exciting and uncertain wilderness of possibility" as North Adams ventured into new era. The new mayor almost immediately began pushing through efforts such as a marijuana ordinance that had been lingering for some time and followed up over the year in supporting an initiative looking at domestic violence, the consolidation of the School Department into City Hall, a further expansion of the veterans' office, and the first steps in reviewing the city's ordinances, including the potential restructuring of public safety.
 
It hasn't all been smooth sailing as the new City Council has been flexing its own legislative muscle. Only one councilor has served with all three past mayors — Council President Keith Bona — while the average tenure for the other eight is barely three years. Four new councilors were sworn in on Jan. 1 — Rebbecca Cohen, Marie T. Harpin, Paul Hopkins and Jason LaForest — to join returning incumbents Eric Buddington, Benjamin Lamb, Joshua Moran and Wayne Wilkinson. 
 
The council has brought forward its own ideas, including the domestic violence initiative, and pressed the mayor to defend the requests he's brought before them. It also has rejected a few requests and endorsed keeping public access to the city's shooting range over the mayor's recommendation and pushed for the city's first hybrid vehicle. The result has been lively and often lengthy debates at City Council and an end-of-year suggestion by Wilkinson that their meetings begin at least an hour earlier. 
 
The North Adams Ambulance Service has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past few years, extending its coverage into parts of Southern Vermont. It added on again to its coverage area by merging with Village Ambulance in Williamstown to create Northern Berkshire EMS in time for the service's 40th anniversary. 
 
A second collaborative, the North Berkshire Academy, grew out of talks with the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District to provide a better option for special education students than out-of-district placements. The academy opened in March in the Armory with an appearance by Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. 
 
The city's seen some new energy in recent years that in 2018 resulted in the NAMAzing Eagle Street Initiative, largely led by Lamb and Director of Tourism and Community Events Suzy Helme. The collaboration between the city and the merchants and residents of the historic byway raised more than $35,000 through Patronicity for business development, revamping an existing park and adding artwork, signage, trash containers and a portable parklet. 
 
The seasonal parklet, built by B&B Micro Manufacturing, was perhaps the biggest hit because it created a gathering space that soon became popular for Friday morning coffee get-togethers. Businesses on the street also got a $15,000 economic development grant to provide them with some technical assistance. 
 
The city began under the Richard Alcombright administration to divest itself of properties that no longer had, or ever had, municipal purpose. While the future of the Windsor Mill is still up in the air, Cumberland Farms has been approved for a new convenience store at the site of the former City Yard. The company is expected to close on the property in the early part of 2019. 
 
The City Council also authorized a sale of the former Notre Dame Church property on East Main Street to a group planning an $18.5 million renovation of the complex into a hotel and the salt shed property on Ashland Street to B&B Micro Manufacturing. 
 
The former St. Francis of Assisi property owned by the Diocese of Springfield was purchased by a Springfield developer for $1.3 million. On Eagle Street, the owners of the Tower & Porter Block building were approved for a boutique hotel and the Porches Inn for a gathering space for its patrons off Veazie Street. And the Tourist hotel on Route 2 finally opened and was approved for plans for a restaurant on Massachusetts Avenue. 
 
The growth in hospitality projects, including two other hotels in Williamstown, led the developers of Greylock Works to switch gears from a planned hotel to all condominiums in the next phase of work at the $16 million project. The mill developers also were able to get an ordinance change to allow a distillery to function there, the first of what it hopes will be a number of artisan food producers at the site.
 
Perhaps the biggest success so far in transforming an old mill has been the Norad Mill on Roberts Drive. Purchased by Moresi & Associates in early 2017 from Excelsior Printing, the 100,000 square foot mill rapidly filled up with a broad assortment of small retail and manufacturing concerns. Just this year alone, a yarn production company, yarn retailer, wine tasting room, record company, computer repair business, fitness center, dance studio and opened in or relocated to the mill. 
 
The West End also saw the opening of the Trail House Kitchen & Bar by local restaurateurs and Freight Yard Pub owners Sean Taylor and Colleen Taylor and the successful relocation of Brewhaha into the former West End Market. 
 
A second brewery has also been approved for the city, this one in the former Eagles Hall on Curran Highway. Several marijuana establishments expressed interest in the city and one, Evergreen Strategies, was approved for the former Friendly's building on State Road. 
 
Less than successful was a brief encounter with entrepreneur David York, who came to the city with plans for a Museum of Dog and two eateries. The Fall Foliage Festival picked up the theme, declaring 2018 the Year of the Dog for the annual parade, but after gaining national coverage the museum folded in less than a year and the one cafe that opened shuttered in a matter of months. York put the closure down to a lack of space and parking for events and sold the former Quinn's building at a loss. The museum's gone "mobile," according to the website. 
 
Two established companies in Hardman Industrial Park also saw changes with Crane Stationery being purchased by longtime family concern Mohawk Fine Papers, ensuring the continuation of the brand. Tog Manufacturing became part of the Stanley Black & Decker Inc. family of companies and received a five-year tax incentive from the city toward its plans to double the size of its building and add nearly 30 jobs. 
 
And, nearly 100 years after it was established, the Wigwam on the Western Summit of the Mohawk Trail is seeing a rebirth. The tourist stop is getting a makeover as a coffee and snack bar and gift shop, some of the old cabins have been restored and modernized and yurts are in the planning stages.
 
More outdoor recreation is in the offing for residents with the opening this year of the UNO Community Park at the bottom of Houghton Street and a second park being constructed on the western corner. The collaboration between UNO, the city, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and John "Jack" Wadsworth and his wife, Susy, owners of the Porches, has revitalized the somewhat rundown corner of the city into a welcoming center for visitors and residents alike.
 
The city also moved ahead with construction of a splash pad and revamped basketball courts at the Noel Field Athletic Complex, part of a larger plant to update the park that includes the skate park installed a couple years ago, and a Born Learning Trial, sponsored by the Northern Berkshire United Way, was placed near the Child Care of the Berkshires leading to the park. 
 
The mile-long section of the Mohawk Bike Path from about Galvin Road through Harriman & West Airport is moving forward despite protests from residents along the route. 
 
The North Adams Airport Commission was embroiled in controversy early in the year when it leased hangar space to a notorious convicted rapist to run a skydiving school. The commission had put off the decision for months, with Alex Kelly, the so-called "preppy rapist," accusing it of trying to deny him access. The commission said it was reviewing lease agreements. Its approval lead Turboprop owner Harry S. Patten Jr. to pull the $200,000 he'd pledged toward the construction of an administrative building. 
 
The turmoil ended in November when Kelly ceased operations at Harriman & West Airport, a month after the Vermont Agency of Transportation terminated his lease at the Bennington airport because of a number of safety violations. 
 
The commission did move ahead with the development of an administrative building. The former medical building on airport land was donated to the city Berkshire Health Systems and will be relocated and renovated next year.
 
A second controversy embroiled the Public Arts Commission when the mayor attempted to rewrite its authorizing ordinance to bring it into line with the city's charter, which directs the executive officer to sign off on certain contracts. Members of the commission and arts community objected that it would put too much power over artistic expression in the hands of the mayor — power that the commission had been designed to blunt. 
 
The council's General Government Committee, in consultation with the Public Arts Commission, came up with what they believed was a fair compromise but the chairwoman of the PAC quit in protest and the matter was continued into the new year. 
 
Other happenings included a succesful TEDx series; a hearing to air complaints against Spectrum, which also removed a Springfield channel from its local lineup; one of the Red Sox World Series trophies made an appearance at the summerlong baseball exhibit; the Louison House family shelter continued to work through challenges to renovate its Adams shelter and operate the Flood House in North Adams; Painted Pianos by local artists went on display across the county; and the city was awarded a federal grant to plant 800 trees.
 
Hundreds of residents turned out on Dec. 15 to set out more than 3,000 wreaths on the graves of the city's veterans and the city celebrated the holiday season with two trees from the family of the late Peter Wright and the lighting of its first menorah on Hannukah. 
 
The year began with a tragedy. Christa Leigh Steele-Knudslien, 42, was murdered on Jan. 5 and her husband of less than a year charged with the crime. It was the city's first murder since 2013 and it prompted officials to look more closely at domestic violence and violence against transgender individuals. A new men's group, Men Initiating Change, has grown out of the efforts. 
 
But what seemed a surge in violent crime over the past couple years turned out to be an error in coding. The Police Department began a review of its computerized reporting to the FBI after being described as the most dangerous community in the commonwealth for two years. It found misdemeanor assaults were being reported as felonies, which increased the number of violent assaults being reported. 
 
The department will also see other changes, including removing itself from Civil Service to increase the number of officer applicants and shifting back to police chief structure. The City Council at its last meeting approved restoring the titles of police and fire chief, a shift from the city's nearly 40-year-old public safety commissioner structure. It rejected, however, the placement of the police chief on the compensation plan to rather negotiate the salary. 
 
The reasoning for the change was the recognition that the de facto functions of the police and fire director and the announcement of Police Director Michael Cozzaglio's imminent retirement. Cozzaglio has been with the department 32 years, the last 15 as director. 
 
Other departures included John DeRosa, the city's longtime solicitor, who stepped down after 35 years; former Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent Ellen Sutherland, who worked for the city nearly 25 years, and the city's first K9 officer, Molly. Alcombright left office as mayor but has continued to be involved with the community and returned to MountainOne. He was honored on several occasions and was the recipient of 2018's Peacemaker Award and one of the Northern Berkshire United Way's first annual Spirit of Caring Award.
 
A second recipient of the Spirit of Caring Award, Al Nelson, died in July but the community is determined to continue his legacy of service.  McCann School Committee honored its departing members Thomas Mahar and Rebecca O'Hearn.
 
Judith Grinnell spent a decade convincing elected officials and community members that a restored Hoosic River was safe and doable. This month, she handed off her "baby" to a new generation of leaders who she believes can take it to the next phase. 
 
And the late Gailanne Cariddi continued to shower the city with blessings. The state representative left a bequest of $420,000 to organizations in North Adams, including another $175,000 to the public library and $210,000 toward maintenance of the Mohawk Bike Path, more informally known as the Cariddi Mile. 
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