A new buzzword appeared repeatedly throughout the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition monthly forum last Friday.

IBerksires.com reports that gathering; the first of the season was the annual "needs assessment" forum, at which people can come bring ideas for what future coalition meetings should focus on. In an effort to organize those thoughts, this year, the Coalition asked people to categorize their ideas into "topics," "needs" or "assets."

The one topic that was repeated several times throughout the meeting, which was attended by nearly 100 people, was "gentrification."

"Gentrification," according to Merriam Webster, is defined as "the process of repairing and rebuilding homes and businesses in a deteriorating area (such as an urban neighborhood) accompanied by an influx of middle-class or affluent people and that often results in the displacement of earlier, usually poorer residents." It is usually meant negatively.

The word is being thrown around North Adams circles as more property is being bought and developed by "outsiders." Two recent projects included the development of the former Cariddi Mill into Greylock Works and the former Redwood Motel property into the Tourists resort.

While the Friday forum was meant to toss out ideas, not delve deeply into a subject, concerns were raised about the rapidly rising costs of rental housing and the need to bring those out-of-town developers into community conversations such as this one.

Other conversations about gentrification have been taking place, including one that happened in August that is being followed up by a second one at 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 26, at 7 p.m. at 50 Ashland St., which is the home of the Ashland Street Project Space, a community flex-space for events and lounging. More details on that can be found on Facebook.

Another topic new to recent coalition discussions was that of the trash and recycling services available to the community.

One resident came to say she was passionate about trash and hated seeing everything that was going to waste and filling up landfills, especially food waste. Others added that the availability of community gardens and recycling services could help mitigate that if everyone was aware of what was available in the area.

A topic frequently raised during Friday's forum included further discussion on the opioid epidemic and its effects on the Northern Berkshire Community.

One of the threads repeatedly pulled at was the effect on the children who are separated from their parents dealing with addiction, including how to work to reunite families and get those children the mental health services they need in an area short on child psychologists.

Other topics raised Friday included racial justice, with many saying there needed to be increased awareness of the need to make communities safe and welcoming and diverse.

Coalition Executive Director Amber Besaw said the ideas discussed Friday would be culled down by coalition staff and then sent out to attendees by email to vote on which were the priorities for this year's forums.

 

 

 

 

More From WNAW AM