Letter: Support for Williamstown Planning Board Recommendations

To the Editor:

I support the Williamstown Planning Board's bylaw recommendations. They represent a good first step towards reducing the artificial barriers in our decades-old zoning map.

While some have criticized the board for moving too fast, I found the process deliberate and thorough. The board engaged the community in an open discussion. There was a spirited debate, with many opportunities for community input. The original proposal was changed in response to suggestions received along the way, which reflected the board's willingness to listen and respond to the community.

The final product (1) removes barriers for apartments above businesses and small scale multi-unit homes, (2) permits more density in the center of town where there is existing infrastructure, (3) reduces lot sizes to promote more diverse housing options (4) allows for the conversation of former hotels for assisted living facilities, and (5) removes directive language that requires the zoning board look unfavorably on any extension of the town's utilities, even it helped increase housing opportunities. These are common sense approaches to the housing challenges we face in town.

Fred Puddester
Williamstown, Mass.

Williams Grads Reminded of Community that Got Them to Graduation

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:14PM / Sunday, June 02, 2024

The graduates heard from two speakers — Phi Betta Kappa speaker Milo Chang and class speaker Jahnavi Nayar Kirtane. The keynote speaker, Lonnie Bunch, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was unable to attend and recorded his speech for playback. See more photos here.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williams College said goodbye Sunday to its graduating seniors.

 

And a representative of the class of 2024 took the time to say goodbye to everyone in the community who made students' journey possible.

 

Milo Chang, the Phi Beta Kappa speaker for the class and one of two students to speak at Sunday's 235th commencement exercises, explained that the term "Williams community" applies to more than those who get to list the school on their resumes.

 

"It includes everyone who has shaped our experiences here, from loved ones back home to the dedicated staff members who make campus their second home," Chang told his classmates. "During my time at Williams, we've seen this community step up in remarkable ways to support us."

 

Chang talked about the faculty and staff who gave their time to operate the COVID-19 testing centers and who greeted students before they could take their first classroom tests in the fall of 2020, and the dining services personnel who kept the students fed and somehow understood their orders through the masks everyone was wearing when this class arrived on campus.

 

And he shared a personal story that brought the message home.

 

"We often underestimate the power of community until we experience a taste of its absence," Chang said. "I remember staying on campus after our first Thanksgiving at Williams, after most students went home to finish the semester remotely. I remember the long hours sitting in empty common rooms. I remember the days you could walk through campus without seeing another student.