Desperados in North Adams to Close

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — After opening under new management in September, Desperados will soon be closed. 

A post on the restaurant's Facebook page cited financial difficulties for the closure.

Chris Bonnivier of Adams and his partners Sandra Lopez Nieves and Joseph Bevilacqua took over the Eagle Street restaurant from Pete Oleskewicz, who owned it for the previous five years. The restaurant was originally opened by David Atwell who sold it to Oleskewicz.

"Unfortunately due to the lack of business even through the 'busiest months' of the year we are having to quickly close," the post said. "After also receiving several notices that all of the furniture fixtures and equipment are on potential repossession from both the state and private vendors it just seems that there are far too many financial obstacles that have been bestowed on us to overcome at this present moment."

In November, License Commission told the restaurant it would have to reapply for a new license after Oleskewicz surrendered it to the commission. Commissioner Rosemari Dickinson said the property no longer had a valid license, and the liquor in the restaurant had to be sold or removed. 

The Facebook post thanked those who supported the restaurant under new ownership and said Oleskewicz would honor gift certificates from when he was owner of Desperados at his other restaurant, Miss Adams Diner. A follow-up post said to send a direct message for a refund. 

"We truly thank those of you that loved and supported us. Please we respectfully ask to keep the negative comments away," the post said.

Update on Dec. 28: This story has been updated to clarify that Miss Adams Diner is only accepting gift certificates from when Oleskewicz was owner of Desperados.

Healey, Driscoll Talk Transportation Funding, Municipal Empowerment

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:56PM / Friday, January 24, 2025

The governor talks about a transportation bond bill filed Friday and its benefits for cities and towns.

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll were greeted with applause by municipal leaders on Friday as they touted $8 billion in transportation funding over the next decade and an additional $100 million in Chapter 90 road funds. 

 

Those were just a few of the initiatives to aid cities and towns, they said, and were based what they were hearing from local government

 

"We also proposed what, $2 1/2 billion the other day in higher education through investment in campuses across 29 communities statewide," the governor said. 

 

"Really excited about that and with those projects, by the way, as you're talking to people, you can remind them that that's 140,000 construction jobs in your communities."

 

The governor and Driscoll were speaking to the annual Massachusetts Municipal Association's conference. Branded as Connect 351, the gathering of appointed and elected municipal leaders heard from speakers, spoke with vendors in the trade show, attended workshops and held their annual business meeting this year at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

 

Healey and Driscoll followed a keynote address by Suneel Gupta, author, entrepreneur and host of television series "Business Class," on reducing stress and boosting energy, and welcomes from MMA Executive Director Adam Chapdelaine, outgoing MMA President and Waltham councilor John McLaughlin, and from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu via her chief of staff Tiffany Chu.

 

"We know that local communities are really the foundation of civic life, of democracy. We invented that here in Massachusetts, many, many years ago, and that continues to this day," said Healey. "It's something that we're proud of. We respect, and as state leaders, we respect the prerogative, the leadership, the economy, the responsibility of our local governments and those who lead them, so you'll always have champions in us."