Letter: Show North Adams Children They Are Valued on Oct. 8

To the Editor:

A lot has been said for and against building a new Greylock School in the city of North Adams. The rhetoric is getting heated over the cost, over the impact on property taxes, over the need for a new school building faced with a declining student population. These are all good points for discussion and the cost to the city and further to the taxpayer should not be ignored.

As former mayor, city councilor, School Committee member and School Building Committee member, I have certainly had my share of whether or not things are needed and affordable. Managing a city and a school district are full of choices based not only on need but on funding. Today as a city and a school district, a very important choice needs to be made.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) has put the city through a long and thorough process to see if in fact we need this school. Having been through that process with the building of Colegrove Park Elementary, I can assure you that the MSBA does not simply give based on want, but totally on need. Their process assures that the community is in need of a school building and that funding will only come if all criteria are met …. including student-projected populations.

I believe we sometimes think that because we aren't as prosperous as other cities, we are not deserving of the best. Well we are, and our kid's are. Do our kids deserve a building built to meet the standards of today's educational and safety requirements? Do they deserve a physical environment that leads to increased social and emotional growth and health? Do they deserve the same physical learning environment of other kids in the state? Do our teachers deserve to instruct in an environment that is built to keep kids happy and focused on learning? I would answer "yes" to all.

I have said many times that our kids are our most precious asset and our responsibility to them as a city is that we provide them the best education possible. We have an opportunity to secure the infrastructure of elementary education in the city for many years to come. And most importantly, we have an obligation to tell the children of North Adams that they are valued.

Please vote "Yes" with me on Oct. 8.

Richard Alcombright
North Adams, Mass.

North Adams Takes Possession of Historic Church Street Houses

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:30PM / Tuesday, April 22, 2025

The porch collapsed on 116 Church several years ago. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The state Land Court in February finalized the city's tax taking of four properties including the brick Church Street mansions.

 

The prestigious pair of Queen Anne mansions had been owned by Franklin E. Perras Jr., who died in 2017 at age 79. 

 

The properties had been in court for four years as attempts were made repeatedly to find Perras' heirs, including a son, Christopher. According to court filings, Christopher reportedly died in 2013 but his place of death is unknown, as is the location (or existence) of two grandchildren listed in Perras' obituary. 

 

Mayor Jennifer Macksey said the next steps will be to develop requests for proposals for the properties to sell them off. 

 

She credited Governor's Councillor Tara Jacobs for bringing the lingering tax takings to the Land Court's attention. Jacobs said she'd asked about the status of the properties and a few days later they were signed off. 

 

It wasn't just the four North Adams properties — the cases for three Perras holdings in Lanesborough that also had been in the court for years were closed, including Keeler Island. Another property on Holmes Road in Hinsdale is still in the court.  

 

The buildings at 116, 124 and 130 Church St., and a vacant lot on Arnold Place had been in tax title since 2017 when the city placed $12,000 in liens.