we are in Berkshire County and Hancock Shaker Village and with me now bill ever
heard he's editorial page editor
the Berkshire Eagle bill good to see you again thanks for coming by my pleasure
to capture
let's talk about the Berkshires Berkshire County
it can you as as a veteran journalist here
who who who lives and works here even put into words
what it is that I think we all feel special about this county
the bridge you region that the really does set it apart yeah it really has
become a brand name
kinda nationally and internationally spectacularly beautiful area
i think thats what interest to people in the first place it
we have new yorkers should come out here don't live in visit in Boston
and according to top the beautifulest culture it starts with tanglewood
but than this Hancock Shaker Village there's
objects below and it's just Billick great reputation for
for culture and beauty over the years over the decades really
are the Berkshires me we say you know it down or up to the berkshires
and people usually that's great and relate a great experience they've had
or just a day may be sitting looking at one the meadows now peace was
is as much a mindset word attitude as the real physical location on the map
yeah and it really is I think people just have this concept of a great place
that you can
you can just get awake from all your concerns with that
into and I think people at five the mindset Israel
go to Tanglewood in the summertime just sit on the lawn
adjusted takes all your cares away it look out on the stack which ball
just breathtaking and yet and not to be a downer but
this place that so many around the country really round-the-world think
I've
solely or mainly as a place to visit and unwind and relax
this county is home to a hundred thirty thousand plus people
who live and have to make a living work here
those two realities above the international resort
in a place where people live and work have to collide with each other from
time to time
they're really do and we've read a lot about how the middle class is
disappearing
nationally and I think you see that more probably in the Berkshires in anywhere
else we have a
huge contrast between very wealthy
p second home owners and a lot of poverty P will be
stunned by the poverty level here the problems with for teen pregnancy
extremely high
here problems with heroin which is a statewide problem in 02 problem
Springfield area this huge here
so you see conflict Williamstown up in North County which is very
well off to college community its next door to North Adams
a city that's it it's lost its manufacturing
seven huge economic problems and that's kinda unseen
berkshires but its its more the reality here
then the postcard image berkshires what in fact when you have a
tourism based or largely tourism based economy a lot of people working in those
tourism service industries don't make a lot of money that the owner the resort
or the attraction
maybe does well but the people working farm and you have folks working 12
3 I remembered as somebody four part time jobs
at one spot hotel restaurant another
and that contributes to the problems you talking about yes there are people who
work
but Jenny pic ski area and they were kept
restaurants the work at hotels they work
at I'll tanglewood and they put all these jobs together to make
and SME and they don't make a lot of money they often get nope no benefits
so it's great to these places are here to imply so many people there
there extremely valuable in that regard but
a lot of people have to work a lot on to make ends meet its it is tough
and and really extend that with the largely tourism based economy
the cost of living in general is also I receive people at the lower end to the
peace pact term
and the folks who come in from New York or wherever
have that second home wanna go out to a very expensive fancy restaurant it ups
the price
up so many things the folks who live here I mean I i've heard you heard more
than I have been here all the time
folks who say my kids can stay here because they can't afford
to buy or even rent in many cases place near home
exactly and a if you live in Stockbridge a Lennox for instance
up you could work there but you can't can't live there usually because the
cost so you're commuting in
from Pittsfield committing in from Dalton so it that is it is their problem
and finding in jobs for young people is extremely
challenging a big hairy was known for manufacturing and culture
now tell for culture and while other communities like Pittsfield they were
very reluctant to get into the cultural tourism trade are now
doing so it's not enough we do need more
manufacture but everybody and say that Springfield say that every can say that
everyone's competing for the pope's
few manufacturing jobs that are out there unfortunately it's not enough to
go around on this day and age
clearly you have concerns for this
your home county Berkshire County now and for the future
it in this fast-paced world of social media in instagrams and
everything is there still gonna be a place or even enhance place for the kind
of quiet contemplative cultural
diversions the creative economy the people really are trying to
cell in this area yeah absolutely and I think it'll be a selling point
because I love online internet
so many things you can do up
through electronic media now i think is going to attract
more more people here for instance if
and we've seen as a lots of Berkshire County especially if your job
involves only working on line in some fashion we have a lot of small
filmmakers sulzberger Connie they say I can work anywhere
I wanna live in New York City's too chaotic it's too expensive
go to the berkshires back and work out there through the internet makeup off by
myself a small house
I don't have to pay a ton of money to live in a big city I come up here
gonna have the best of both worlds and I think one thing is really going to
enhance
Berkshire County's job opportunities in the future
is advancements in in the Internet
and social was we get hooked up to broadband more and more here
I think it's gonna be a great positive for Berkshire County
a bill ever heard editorial page editor the bridge a real thanks for your time
sir
my pleasure thank you