Letter: Logging Unnecessary in North Adams

To the Editor:

I can't imagine why anyone would agree to log the Bellows Pipe Trailhead at Mount Greylock State Reservation. But alas, Massachusetts Audubon and others have convinced the powers that be in North Adams that this is a good idea. And maybe even a necessity to protect the water supply. This is completely unnecessary, and in my mind pretty destructive of the environment. Plus who is paying for it? Looks like some of it may be a bunch of public money for Mass Audubon and New England Forestry Foundation for their staff to get paid to do this. (Glad I don't donate to either of them.)

We had a situation in Wendell where I live. The state was planning a big logging job in Wendell State Forest. When we caught wind of it, we did everything we could think of to stop it. We had standouts on Route 2 in Erving. We had a petition signed by over a thousand people that we brought to the Governor's Office in Boston. We filed a lawsuit in court.

And while all else was failing, we protested at the site, some people even standing in front of logging trucks, getting arrested, going to jail and going to court on trespass charges.

Gloria Kegeles
Wendell, 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.