Things Are Heating Up!

We had a great turnout in Lee last Thursday for our All-Town Meet & Greet at the Starving Artist Café and Creperie. Thanks to owner Emmy Davis (center above) and everyone who came from all corners of South County for your interest, participation, encouragement, and energy!

This event was my third visit to the town last week. I had canvassed the weekend before, and then I spent this past weekend — Saturday and Sunday — canvassing more. I love Lee, and have great memories and relationships there from the two years I worked as Director of Development for the $80 million Eagle Mill Redevelopment, an adaptive reuse of the historic mill building downtown. Our Eagle Mill offices were in the former LePrevost/KFC building next to Lucky's Ice Cream. Oh, how I miss those lunchtime summer soft-serve cones!

Knocking on doors with our growing team of volunteers is inspiring and informative! Thank you to all of the residents who took time to share the issues most important to them. (In the team photo above, from left to right: Julia Thomas, Nick Pacella, Karen Clark, Tom Hendrickson, and Mary Palmer.)

Top of mind in Lee is the proposed landfill and the plan to truck PCB-contaminated waste through town. I share their concerns, and will continue to advocate for rail and hydraulic transport versus trucks and advanced technologies and methods such as bioremediation to treat toxic material in the landfill or even before it's disposed. Of course, the best case for protecting our health and the environment is still no dump in Lee, and I encourage all the Rest of the River towns to rally around the town and this cause to minimize the long term public health and environmental risks of this multi-year project.

For the record, here's an excerpt of my remarks at the November 28, 2023 special meeting as reported in The Berkshire Edge:
 

"Great Barrington Selectboard member Leigh Davis spoke at the meeting, delivering a blistering recapitulation of the presentation. 'I’m very, very disappointed, and I actually feel that this presentation was an insult to those who are gathered here,' she said, adding that no attempt was made by GE to discuss the feasibility of using rail as the transportation mode. 'That is our number one priority: to take this toxic material off our streets and onto someplace that does not affect us and impact our children and impact our lives. And I did not see that. I did not see [a] cost analysis.'"

If you share my values, priorities, and faith in our democratic process, please consider joining us in Lee or elsewhere to knock on doors for my campaign. Click here and we’ll contact you.

Yours in service,

P.S. — Please consider making a donation to my campaign. When we work together, we win together.

On Saturday, June 15, I was honored to be the keynote speaker at the graduation ceremonies for the 2nd annual Blackshires Leadership Accelerator Program at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield. I have been involved with Blackshires from the start as a member of the activation team born from an R3SET Idea Jam in 2020, and I continue to be a proud supporter of this incredible initiative. I deeply believe in its pursuit of a more sustainable and resilient ecosystem for the Black community in the Berkshires. The 14 graduates of this year’s Leadership Accelerator exemplify this vision.
 

Each member of this class of emerging BIPOC community leaders brings a unique perspective shaped by their experiences, heritage, and personal journeys. The future is bright, and it is theirs to shape.

Congratulations again to the graduates, and thank you to Blackshires visionaries John Lewis, Devin Shea, and Ari Zorn for creating a model organization for empowering the Black community to build long-term social and economic equity in the Berkshires.

Photo Credit (red curtain): Berkshire Eagle

It was standing room only for the Becket Democratic Committee Candidate Forum this past Tuesday night at Becket Town Hall. As a candidate for state representative, I always feel deeply humbled and gratified to see such active interest and engagement in this campaign.

Questions from committee members and the public covered a wide range of topics. (That's Becket Democratic Town Committee Chair and moderator Nancy Chassman and Howard Lerner, Chairman of the Sherwood Forest Lake District, above.) These included land use, transportation, immigration, affordable housing, and economic development. One question that received applause came from Brad Fitzgerald, a Stockbridge resident who asked how high a priority each candidate places on protecting our natural environment.
 

I loved this question because I believe the environment is our most critical infrastructure, vital to every aspect of our way of life. Our challenge is to uphold that priority while addressing our growing need for better roads, housing, energy, and industry.
 

I see the Berkshires as the "lungs" of Massachusetts, playing a crucial role in carbon sequestration. I firmly believe there is a strong case for increased funding from Boston to help us grow sustainably without compromising the environment of western Massachusetts in the name of "progress." As your state representative, I will champion these values and prioritize the environment every day.

Berkshire Edge

June 19, 2024, "Candidates for 3rd Berkshire District state representative discuss issues at forum in Becket"

“Housing is tied to economic development,” Davis said. “It’s about job growth, incentivizing families to move here, and allowing seniors to age in place so that we can take care of them, and we can make sure that they’re not forced to move away or go to a nursing home if they don’t want to. This is a big problem that’s not just about brick and mortar. It’s about community and connection."

You can also watch the entire Becket Candidates Forum here on CTSB.

A Win for Our Vets!

I have written and spoken in the past about my support for the HERO Act to support our Veterans. I'm happy to report the State Senate passed the legislation last Thursday. You can read about it here.

As reported in Politico's Massachusetts Playbook last week, the 1866 Action Fund has endorsed our campaign! The fund works to elect down ballot Black candidates throughout the Commonwealth. Why 1866? As explained on the group’s website, that year following the end of the Civil War, voters elected the first Black members of the state General Court. The name is an inspiring reminder of how far we’ve come as the group seeks to build the next generation of Black political leadership, a demographic that has been historically underfunded and underrepresented in our state. I’m humbled and thankful for 1866’s endorsement, and to be included in its slate of Black candidates vying for open House seats this fall.

https://www.1866actionfund.com/

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