Letter: Eight Weeks to Change the World

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To the Editor:

In just eight weeks you can vote to save our democracy, our planet, and your own personal freedoms. You have that power, and your choice is as simple as it is stark.

Vice President Kamala Harris offers a brighter future for your family — and all Americans — including a guarantee of reproductive freedoms, voting rights, civil rights, and an economy based on economic opportunity for all. A former prosecutor and attorney general, Kamala has the experience, backbone, and character to be president, to stand up for working families and to stand up to bullies, liars, cheats, and fraudsters at home and abroad.

Her opponent represents the darkest side of human nature. Promising to be a dictator on "Day One," he represents an America of continued chaos, violence, darkness, hate, fear, racism, continued carnage at our schools, stores, and places of worship — and a further widening of the gap between rich and poor. He is the un-American candidate.



In 1630, future Gov. John Winthrop and passengers on the Arbella left England for Massachusetts, intending to be an example for the rest of the world in rightful living. During the voyage Winthrop stated their purpose clearly: "We shall be as a shining city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us."

For almost 400 years — through a Civil War and two World Wars — America has been a beacon of hope, freedom, and democracy to the world. Your vote for Kamala Harris — just eight weeks from now — will ensure Winthrop’s vision continues both here in Massachusetts and throughout the nation at large.

Lee Harrison
Williamstown, Mass.

 

 


Tags: election 2024,   

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Williamstown Planning Board Hears Results of Sidewalk Analysis

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Two-thirds of the town-owned sidewalks got good grades in a recent analysis ordered by the Planning Board.
 
But, overall, the results were more mixed, with many of the town's less affluent neighborhoods being home to some of its more deficient sidewalks or going without sidewalks at all.
 
On Dec. 10, the Planning Board heard a report from Williams College students Ava Simunovic and Oscar Newman, who conducted the study as part of an environmental planning course. The Planning Board, as it often does, served as the client for the research project.
 
The students drove every street in town, assessing the availability and condition of its sidewalks, and consulted with town officials, including the director of the Department of Public Works.
 
"In northern Williamstown … there are not a lot of sidewalks despite there being a relatively dense population, and when there are sidewalks, they tend to be in poor condition — less than 5 feet wide and made out of asphalt," Simunovic told the board. "As we were doing our research, we began to wonder if there was a correlation between lower income neighborhoods and a lack of adequate sidewalk infrastructure.
 
"So we did a bit of digging and found that streets with lower property values on average lack adequate sidewalk infrastructure — notably on North Hoosac, White Oaks and the northern Cole Avenue area. In comparison, streets like Moorland, Southworth and Linden have higher property values and better sidewalk infrastructure."
 
Newman explained that the study included a detailed map of the town's sidewalk network with scores for networks in a given area based on six criteria: surface condition, sidewalk width, accessibility, connectivity (to the rest of the network), safety (including factors like proximity to the road) and surface material.
 
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