Tagged: berkshires

A new report from the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group highlighting the decline in the average number of miles driven by the average American is supporting the call for investments in public education in the commonwealth.

The report released by the MASSPIRG Education Fund titled “A New Direction: Our Changing Relationship with Driving and the Implications for America’s Future” says that on average, the amount of miles driven by Americans has been on the decline for the past eight years.

Planners in Berkshire County are reaching out to organizations in the public and private sectors to request information on their upcoming economic development projects.

The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission is talking to private businesses, municipalities, non-profits, agencies, and others to collect data in order to update its Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Priority Project List.

Members of MCLA’s The Allegrettos sang to welcome the announcement that the Lift Ev’ry Voice Festival is returning for its second season beginning in June.

The festival, which will again feature special events and performances celebrating the African-American culture and heritage in the Berkshires, was first held in 2011, and was attended by more than 30,000 people.

Festival co-chair Don Quinn Kelly said that the festival will focus on making the special programs and events accessible to attendees of all racial and economic backgrounds.

Futurity, an indie-rock song cycle about the Civil War, written and performed by the Brooklyn-based ensemble the Lisps, will be staged at MASS MoCA in North Adams on Saturday night at 8pm. A theatrically staged song cycle, Futurity fuses found text, experimental music, and the group’s own brand of quirky pop to tell the story of young Julian Munro, who spends his days breaking up Confederate railroad tracks as a soldier in the Union army. Julian copes with the destruction around him by imagining a far-fetched science fiction future. Guided by his brilliant mentor, the famous metaphysicist Ada Lovelace, Julian weaves an epic fantasy that folds a utopian, high-tech future into the dark reality of war. Together, Julian and Ada attempt to devise an all-powerful steam-powered machine destined to end war and all of humanity's miseries.

The open forum, held at a monthly meeting of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition in North Adams, was attended by about 85 Berkshire County housing advocates and area residents.

Though the discussion was largely focused on the need for increased affordable housing in the Northern Berkshires, the lack of available housing stock for low income families is an ongoing issue throughout the region.