Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts: BREAKING NEWS!,.. "Not one franchised retail chain store spotted in the town, not even a CVS,..sources will confirm."

Letter to Deval:

Dear Deval: As the Lord Governor of the Commonwealth, I think you need to express a gesture of gratitude to this small hamlet for its activism at a self sustaining independent business community and economy.

I think it would behoove the governor to express to the local selectman of Franklin County a word of commendation for exercising good judgement at preserving and maintaining their own affairs without succumbing to the pressures of contemporary development pressures.

"The enterprise neo-classical model at its' best - fair trade, in equilibrium and unthreatened by conglomerates or national chains"

(It's too bad that the selectmen of Cape Cod didn't consult with this group or is that the price of democracy?)

MCLA Boiler facility -Wednesday June 24th, 2009: its not all fun and games out here....

We get things done; at least the contractors are getting it done: I'm just the score keeper - watching the budget.

Take an old Cleaver Brooks boiler - 1980- and modify it so that you have control over it. Or think of it this way. It's all about costs these days - energy costs - so ask yourself; how can I regulate - or modulate the heating loads of the campus buildings?

Instead of firing up the boiler each day to capacity and having a fixed combustion fan, a fixed flame, and a fixed psi on natural gas: you want to be able to modulate these parameters based on load demand.

Taking a 1980 Cleaver Brooks (ton?) boiler and fitting it up so that you can control it's output and input is a task for the specialists. The new controllers and gas pipe trains, the senors, probes and relays were all connected this week.

The guys in the photo were witnessing the burn in: we turned on the boiler (steam) and to run it through it's control possibilities. The digital read outs were about 80% positive; and then there's that annoying 20% of trouble signals that sent the contractor into paroxysms of angst. $$$$$$$.

By friday, it came down to some incompatible relays and the fix was on. The energy savings data is buried in the documents somewhere and maybe I can find the annual dollar rate savings.

Friday June 26th: more Shelburne Falls attractions: beautiful glacial rock carved by run off from the great icebergs that came to shape the northeast

Way back in time, there was something of 100 feet of ice sitting atop this scene causing gushing run-off sedimentation at enough velocity to carve up this dense stone. In more recent times, the English explorers came upon this site - William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne decided to lend the area his name and claim it for his King. That name stuck; Shelburne it was.

What followed that event is settlements, farmers, traders, and eventually someone who knows the flowing water is power and sets up a mill. A bucolic industrial output engine begins to supply the broader empire throughout the 1800's and early 1900's.

Within the last fifty years, the post war years; production softened as demand for local goods moved overseas. Get the picture? The economics of the last two generations have changed the legacy economic models of America's beginnings.

"You can't go home again" said Thomas Wolfe (the first) - addressing the stormy volatility of his generations longings for stability and homestead. Is this something of a cycle, Americans must deal with?

Yes.

Salmon Falls right there in Shelburne: walk through the town and get a sense of the local history

Someone remembers and someone marks the event with a sign. The state has ideas of repopulating the Salmon: bringing back the original eco-systems.

It's interesting that the "treaty" was recognized by the colonial court which could infer that there was some type of positive dialogue regarding local resources; their outcome and distribution. Fair trade? Equilibrium?

Friday June 26th at 5:30 p.m.: Lamson and Goodnow make cutlery

Lamson and Goodnow established a cutlery factory in Shelburne Falls.

There was also a pin factory in the town as well as manufacturing supporting the union drive during the civil war. This is part of the cutlery factory complex; looking rusticated and very original.

This is an interesting property and begging for some development. It's untouched in exterior appearances; probably has some clean up costs that are daunting; like what's in the soils. Obviously industry has run its course here, but tourism dollars are possible attractions to revitalize the mill buildings. Got any ideas?

After a brief conversation with the wine merchant; he explained that the river actually separated the upper classes from the lower classes in town. Apparently, still in the by-laws is a town mandate that allows alcohol to be consumed in public; whereas - across the river it is prohibited from public view and can only be consumed behind closed doors.

The wealthy built their houses east of the river while the factory employees squatted on west side of the river.

Shelburne Falls bridge across the Deerfield River

Vermont Construction Company and Contractors engineered this bridge; one hundred years of service - well done guys.

The odd fellows building in Shelburne Falls

This building is on the National Historic Registry. The plaque states that the building is identified as the "Oddfellows" building.
Apparently, 1840's or so - a group of odd fellows came to occupy the building upper chambers in common agreement that they were perhaps "odd-fellows". Reactionaries? The first neo conservatives? We'll try to find out.

This had to be a humorous group; convening as it were in the Odd-fellows building - the very "odd fellows" them selves. I wonder if they kept minutes of their meetings?



The top floor has a dance floor; the ground floor is McKusker's wine market connected to a lovely food market next door. There's no super markets in Shelbourne Falls.

Shelburne Falls and the flower bridge: Friday, June 26th, 2009

Heading east from North Adams along route 2, there's plenty to pick up on as the natural elevations change. Not too far from Florida, and Charlemont is Shelburne Falls; only a mile south off route 2. Well worth a stop over; Shelburne Falls is a sweet town with plenty of natural drama and a rich history to support it.

A flower bridge that once was a trolley track running cross the river. A flower bridge; novel, expressive and green; as good as it gets.

In your face Weymouth.

Thursday June 25th: window mannequins on Eagle Street in North Adams

More local news. There's a mayoral race in North Adams that is starting to heat up. The agenda by the challenger proposes more changes for North Adams; he's appealing to the youth to help revitalize the city.

I spoke briefly with the director of the office of Tourism for North Adams on thursday night.

"It's about ideas" said Rob. "The incumbent has done a great job at managing the city; but people are anxious about North Adams future and so the discussion gets worked into the campaigns."

"I can't fault our incumbent mayor, he's done a great job and is very consistent,..he also hired me as tourism director."

Norman Rockwell would've noticed.

Nice colors as the sun sets west. The buildings are facing west situated on River Street. River Street is a slice of old North Adams; along with the Mill buildings.

I was fortunate to pick up a copy of a book written by Joe Manning on the history of North Adams. Joe brought together a wonderful compendium of North Adams' history, it's urban renewal and economic shifts - with personal testimonials from towns folk. There's some great pages on the workings and staff at the Sprague factory (currently MOCA) and a photographic journal of the severing North Adams main street.

I was mesmerized by Joe's book and then stepped out on the street to see the sun set on the noble architecturally detailed facades. It's brief, but for the moment's appreciation - one might desire to go back one hundred years and walk the same street. Where did I put my spats?

Art walk delivers a whimsical piece on the thursday night art walk in North Adams

These pieces were featured on thurday night's North Adams art walk. Many folks coming downtown; it seemed the right thing to do.


Norman Rockwell's son was among the attendees of thursday nights' art walk.

Art walk on Main Street on thursday - June 25, 2009

Future mayoral candidate for North Adams, Dan W. played host to many artists and art patrons as they strolled Eagle Street to take in the galleries. Dan was a magnet of good will and enthusiasm; charming many of the people spilling out to Eagle street in the warm evening.





Dan is currently residing in the former Beaver mill; pleased to be decompressing from NYC and city life.










The house that Dan built: he's got about 5700 square feet with oak beams (in need of paint) and plenty of expressive neighbors. Up to the right of the building is a wonderful scenic collection of rock (marble) outcroppings, old growth trees and rushing water from the river: check out the natural bridge and park if your heading to Clarksburg.

Beaver Mill; it's obvious why it got it's name,..so the question is,....are there any beaver left?

Art walk on Main Street North Adams: thursday - June 25, 2009

A wonderful marquee dressed in neon. A salute to old main street - a grateful gesture to past glories.

There are no movies here as of yet; but the owners are considering it. Meanwhile, light up the sign.

The urge to pile on is enticing; so we'll be careful with the editorials. Sorry about the photo.

This "suspended rock" sits opposite the entry way of the Mass MOCA complex.

It appears to be important enough to be featured right on route 8's humble beginnings here in North Adams. It stands alone in a plaza area that sits opposite the museum complex. It's contemporary; it's conceptual; its symbolic and before we pontificate on contemporary art, it's well constructed.

What does it mean? Buried in the rock are tons of compression; reflecting the gyrations of earths' geotechnic movements and combinations of minerals and baked strata to forge "rock".

The commentary at the facilities office has been generous every time I bring this piece up with the FG's (facilities guys). Most of the commentary has been very entertaining. Entertaining,...maybe that's the real value in this contemporary art piece.

Bring in the critics.

I think it speaks to our times; unoriginal, simplistic and provocative. The Medicci Family would file criminal complaints; the Romans and Greeks would be smirking. The "me" generation art cum narcissism.

Sweeney's Harley

Sweeney (FG,..facilities guy) let me know that Quincy Market was just a big rip off and he'll never go there again - even if there's free Red Sox tickets,....quote: "Driving into Boston is a pain in the posterior and I won't do it anymore."

He did volunteer that he enjoyed touring; got the Harley for a great price - and will drive it as far as Worcester but that's it.

On tuesday the 16th, he also told me the state evacuation day was dumb,..but if the state wanted him to take the day off with pay then he wouldn't argue with them.

Will we see Wind Power coming to Western Massachusetts?

Like Cape Cod sound; this proposal will be met with resistance; even environmentalists will take a stand against something like this. But like Cape Cod sound; their arguments will be honed down to simply an aesthetic criteria which won't hold much power given clean energy pressures.

I think Joe from Facilities is going; I hope he comes back with some fireworks.

I hope to come back to this post and thrash it out: the future of Western Mass and it's demand of clean energy starts with this proposal and town meeting.

Once upon a time, wood was almost a "free" utility. The material was free; the downside was labor - the costs "expended" to harvest it for fuel and shelter. Electricity; one of today's essential utilities is at the frontier and crossroads of dramatic cost reductions as we as a community become untethered to fossil fuels. Electrical power costs could go down as we reduce our carbon foot print.

This issue must be viewed in the context of transformational economic epics or as quantum changes in technological expansion. If man can devote his labors to food production; and not worry about the costs of utilities (energy) then truly; the age of leisure and recreation is upon him.

One way to think of today's trouble economic world is this: it is vital for the community to break from the expansion and re-think it's goals; the downtime and recession provides the necessary pressure to consider the essentials vs. non-essentials and pause to work out the long term vision for the communities of Western Mass. Can the bucolic school systems of Western Mass be the primary economic drivers of the contemporary commercial cultures? Are we gravitating to the Grecian "State" again; that fleeting period of enlightenment where knowledge, wisdom and aspiration of the heavens can guide us going forward?

What happens as we decentralize, simplify, look backward before leaping forward? The expansionary model of economic development: housing, followed by malls, and consumption needs a rest. Is it time to transcend the aggregation model and re-think the costs of living?

Wednesday - June 17th 2009 - at 7:00 pm. The lodge atop Mt. Greylock

Here's Bascom lodge sitting at the visitors center atop Mt. Greylock.

When I looked in; there were carpenters working some details in preparation of it's re-opening. It sleeps 34 guests on an overnight. The state has found a lessee and we hope it books up quickly.

We are of course in the tower looking down - a northwesterly direction - looking toward NY state and the Adirondacks. Click on the flyer for full details on Bascom Lodge.



The regional news headlines are responding to the New York state legislatures deadlock in Albany. It's a mess; a real embarrassment.

Bear Swamp Power Company: Friday June 19th, at 5:00 pm

FERC #2669. What? There's a lot behind this sign. Stay tuned as we try to unravel the story of the Bear Swamp Power Company.

The Bear Swamp Power station and reservoir was built in the 70's. Someone had an idea; and eventually it was realized.

A reservoir; or what formerly was a swamp sits on top of a mountain - about 1800 feet in elevation, adjacent to the Deerfield River. Due to rainfalls, it has 30 feet of "head" or overflow of the bowl -as it were. If I could drain the reservoir and have it run through a couple of turbines, then I could generate megawatts to help augment and offset peak load times on the electrical grid. Good idea.

In the early seventies; the idea was engineered and the swamp became a reservoir; the mountain was bored out to accommodate a shaft and power station and any residual run off would be dumped into the Deerfield river - plus - rather than waiting for the rain to fill up the bowl, the pumps would deliver water up to the reservoir to cycle the turbines.

"Who made the turbines and the pumps?" I asked Charlie, the visitor center currator with the grand sense of humor.

"Toshiba and Hitachi made most of the equipment in the power house. The turbine impeller blades were trucked up the mountain very carefully after hours shutting down the highways; they were 28 feet wide, I'm told." said Charlie.

"Japanese parts and engineering,..how's that?" I asked again.

"The Japanese had retooled after the War - after the devastation and with the help of the Marshall Plan, they reinvented their own power grid and electrical sources. They were newly engineered power generators, unlike the US infrastructure that had various power sources all supplying the national grid - many of them 40 years old. So the Japanese had state of the art equipment which made it attractive to the power company engineers. The turbines are kind of a direct drive to the generators and can reverse direction to actually pump water back up the mountain,...pretty ingenious."



If you click on the picture and look at the center near the horizon, you can see the reservoir. I asked Charlie if I could get a closer look at the power generation system. He didn't say yes,...but he didn't say no (it's inside the mountain).



According to Charlie, it's been bought and sold a dozen times - like a trading card for investment groups - even Enron held title once (that tells you something about this industry) - it's current owner resides in Maine. Charlie noted that there's a full time staff in the power generation station consisting of two people. The controls are maintained by a remote office in Marlboro, Mass; it can be monitored and activated off a laptop.

It's not 100% self sustaining; it borrows power to activate the pumps to fill up the reservoir. It functions as a reserve electrical supplier when demand loads intensify. There is talk about installing more efficient pumps; perhaps there's a new discussion of setting up windpower to power the pumps - that would make it 100% self sustaining.

Monday, June 15, 2009 a visit to the Red Sauce Ristorante in North Adams, Mass.

I drive by "Red Sauce" everyday on the way back to the hotel. Looks like a great building for an Italian Restaurant so I decided to check it out on monday the 15th in the late afternoon. It was closed but the owner was cleaning and setting up for the week.




Maybe it was just a bad day, but when I asked Eddie (proprietor) how things were going, he wasn't too enthused.
"Business is slow, I moved out here about five years ago and began to notice that people around here aren't prone to going out to eat." "Are you from Boston?" he asked me, "I moved out here from Boston".

Eddie was a sous chef at the Ritz C. before making the trek into small business ownership in the northern Berkshires. I hope it picks up for Eddie. There's probably some resistance to the style and medium priced entree's.

The facilities guy where I'm working noted that he had tried Red Sauce with his in-laws and noted that his Italian father-in-law thought the red sauce tasted like "ketch-up". Maybe it was just a bad week.

I think the fg (facilities guy) carries a gene that is common and predominant in the New England area. It's the C^ne type; and manifests as "cynical personality".

Hoosac Tunnel: friday, June 19th at 4:00 p.m. Sure, just go for a walk into the old train tunnel.

5 miles of train tunnel bored out of Bear Resivoir Mountain.
Still in use; I witnessed a 35 car train come through it with about 30 coal cars filled up. Imagine that; 2009 - transporting coal to a power plant somewhere.
Think about it; task yourself with the mission to build a five mile tunnel through a mountain in the rugged elevations of Bear mountain. Doing this now, could be done with the latest electronic surveying equipment, but try doing it one hundred years ago.



Yes, they started from opposite ends and legend goes - they went off track at one point and had to re-route. They also had to burrow down vertically to facilitate the horizontal drilling.

The drill bits weren't very efficient and the steam driven boring machines were slow and labor intensive. They used explosives.
200 men lost their lives prematurely.

There's a few other stories, like when they first tried to illuminate it; only to have the lamps and circuits short out frequently because of water leaching through the arch stone ceilings.

Charlie the tour guide at the Bear Reservoir power plant told me they used plumb bobs to line it up. So far I've refrained from bringing up another more recent tunnel on the opposite side of the state.

During the drive through Adams, Ma, we stopped to wonder what McKinley was doing in the town square. June 15th - Monday.

He was a Ohioian.


That's a bronze statue of William McKinley - the 25th President of the US. Where? In Adams Mass, opposite the library - the same library where he laid a cornerstone to commemorate the endowments coming from the robust industry that grew up in the Berkshires. McKinley was a republican - a moderate republican - and represented values that today's republicans can't seem to locate. He defended labor where it was warranted and supported tariffs (taxes) on foreign imports - to protect American jobs. He defeated Grover Cleveland in the second election of the 1890's - an election that was predicated on the recovery years after the 93 crash.

So as a journeyman - here we are in Adam's Mass, stopping to pause for a photo of William McKinley as he looks over the town's main street. McKinley was assassinated in Buffalo NY - by an anarchist - two bullets - one that lodged in his abdomen and began to infect. The assassin was electrocuted.









So now comes the odd connection. The Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing company ran it's course until the post WWII years - it was bought by a young stockbroker named - Warren Buffet; hence Berkshire Hathaway. Economics winds its way to the oddest places.

Specialty Minerals was right down the street and I almost pulled in to talk to management. Maybe next time.

Mon. June 15th 2009. Monument to Veterans of Foreign Wars on top of Mt. Greylock

Mt. Greylock; the highest point in Massachusetts - well worth a visit - a place to view the skyline and remember the veterans of Foreign wars.



Great place to visit; picnic; friends or a place to meditate. Salute to all veterans; this monument is testament to our gratitude.

Charming map of North Adams

An art map; courtesy of the Holiday Inn. Just the kind of graphic you'd need to hike out into the wild's of the northern Berkshires.

It's what "not" on the map we are seeking.

I was told that within an a two hour walk from the town's center you could be in deep forest shooting a bear.

Main Street - North Adams, Ma - looking East: June 10th, 2009 -Tuesday.

This has America written all over it. It could be Kansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, Eastern Pennsylvania. It's North Adams, Massachusetts.

We walked Main street briefly to see how much commerical real estate was available. There was plenty. Office space and retail was a little less than 50% occupied ( by arbitrary visual inspection). It shouldn't be this way. 100 years ago, there were hat shops, flower shops, fruit stands, barber shops, pharmacy's, newspaper stands, gift shops, dress shops, haberdashery's, shoe repairs shops, watch repairs shops, jewelry, bakeries. The main street 100 years back; didn't have pavement; probably dirt; lots of horses and carts and carriages; the air had to be filled with organics; the aroma of farms and agriculture. Lots of leather and cotton roasting in the summer sun.

Where did the neo classical model of Main Street disappear to? Why should all these small business' disappear - they aren't soaking the economy of high finance - it's a cash flow model - a subsistence economic model that produced two things - goods and services - and community.

The rusticated fenestrations - lots of cut stone - lots of drawn details for the commercial buildings that flank the Main Street - some of it grand - some of it beaux arts style - most of it masonry - strong; robust, and part of the American enterprise legacy that put towns and cities at the center of communities.

On the perimeter of the town is more brick; bricks and beams, granite accents; mills, factories, once thriving with manufacturing jobs; now converted to lofts and some not converted at all. Main Street 2009. Where did the neo classical model go? Did Walmart scoop all the G and S traffic up?

Will American's ever realize that the economic system that they pray to isn't really theirs? They don't own the economic system any more than this street can claim it.

So here is North Adams, MA 2009. It's been revitalized, incentivized, and spruced up to compete with the fabricated Main Streets of Disney world. But it won't draw during the hard times and there were so many empty store fronts; idle and indifferent with the inadvertent statement that suggests - "go away".

Can it be that hard to sustain that neo classical model? Micro lending? Local wares, tax free zones? Surely a group of economists could build a self sustaining model that comes from the bottom up and is owned by the community - or could they?

Click on the picture; the details are there - it's clean, there's landscaping - the trees have been planted and the lamps in the central island are relatively new. Can't say we are not trying; it's a fair attempt to revitalize what Thorton Wilder called "our town". Just short of a full victory; looking for Main Street in the economic crisis of 2009. A goal for both the left and the right; missing from the pages of America 09.

Loew's Theater on Main Street in North Adams, Mass

The neon is still intact and at night, it's an appealing cultural symbol - a kind of "night light" for the downtown.

So where's Betty Grable? Wait,..when did this cinema open? Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton,....Clara Bow? It opened in 1938. What you can't see here is diagonally opposite was the Paramount Theater; demolished in the 1960's along with the other side of Main Street.

Local author Joe Manning has chronicled North Adams history in a wonderful compendium. He interviews Sprague Electric's former employees and delves deep into the heart of North Adams urban history.

True reporting would warrant a trip to the local tavern where all the old timers sip their bourbon. Ok, I get the message; find the story - find the old barroom and have a nice long conversation with the local oracles.

June 14, 2009 - Mt. Greylock and the 97 Ford Explorer

Mt. Greylock is about 3500 feet above sea level; the highest point in Massachusetts. When the clouds disappear, you can see for 100 miles; and three states.

The state recently allocated funds to rebuild the road system; the drainage and the road infrastructure. That means new bituminous coating; drainage runs adjacent to the road; new guard rails and line stripping make it almost a pleasure to climb up to the summit. If only the Mass highways were as clean.

The Ford Explorer? These are the last days of the Ford Explorer - 190,000 miles - frail and shaky - it's joints are worn. It drives like a loose collection of parts. Congress passed "cash for clunkers" this week and the Explorer will be off to the smelting plant.

In five years, the steel from the Ford Explorer could end up supporting the 50th floor in a building in Dubai or somewhere else.
Econ 101.

By the way, it's first gear all the way down unless you want to fry your brake pads.