Housing - Trails - Internet - Healthcare - Singing Praise

Patrick White for State Representative

Our house in the 1960s. It's pretty much the same but the car in the driveway gets way better mileage.

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Lots to report this week. Have a quick read!

Purchasing a Berkshire Home: An Origin Story

In 1960, in their early 20s, my parents bought the house I now live in for $10,000. They got a gift from Father Tom, the St. Anne's parish priest in Lenox, for a $2,000 down payment. That was the original down payment support! My middle name is Thomas as a gesture of thanks for Father Tom's generosity.

At the time my parents made about $3,000 a year. Back then, houses cost around 3 times what folks made on average. Today, in South County, the ratio is 8 to 15 times average annual salaries, depending on the community.

The dream of home ownership is fading for today's young families. It doesn't have to be that way.

Governor Healey's Housing legislation includes the option to create regional housing trusts. Let's create a South Berkshire Regional Housing Trust and provide new funding sources such as ticket fees to help make home ownership and rentals realistic for today's family budgets.

Some event tickets now include a $9 per ticket "check out fee" to every ticket sold. How about we add a few bucks to address the housing crisis? Let the tourists pay the taxes, not the property taxpayers! That will take legislation. That's why I am running.

Look, these challenges are multi-faceted. How do we create housing? How do we pay for it? How do we do so without burdening South County's existing property tax taxpayers? I will propose solutions to these multi-faceted challenges, which, in my mind, are all inter-related. Please, send me to Boston so I can propose them.

That's me with Sen. Paul Mark and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll recently at Lenox Town Hall. Can someone please teach me how to take a selfie?

Yet Another Social Net Bites the Dust

Below is a list of low- and moderate-income households who have benefitted from the Affordable Connectivity Pogram, which helps out with the high cost of internet and phone service. This federal program is being "sunset". Sunset is a nice term for a program that is being eliminated.

Families Losing Affordable Connectivity Program Support

Look, we have terrible cell service around here. Providing quality internet access is a foundational responsibility of government. It powers our phones while we are home. We cannot and should not let phone and cable companies just milk the big Boston-area markets for subscribers, while leaving our infrastructure to wither on the vine. What are folks supposed to do, folks where every dollar of their weekly budget is already allocated to life's necessities? Cutting support for poor- and modest-income households while simultaneously cutting taxes for the rich is just wrong, at least to me. This is yet another issue where you need strong representation in Boston.

Beaver on the shores of Stockbridge Bowl.

Yet Another Example: Health Care

Massachusetts Health Care by the Numbers

Impact on State Budget of Recent Tax Cuts for the Wealthy

Let me summarize: An individual makes more than $20k, they don't qualify for MassHealth. A family makes more than $46k, they don't qualify for MassHealth. We've cut about 20% of the beneficiaries from these programs, even though health insurance can cost $10k to $20k per year per individual/family. Add to that the spiraling cost of housing, food, transportation, and so many other areas. It's outrageous.

Meanwhile, we've cut our revenue by $262,000,000 with tax cuts for the wealthy. Yet another example of how our society rewards the wealthy, with their influence and their lobbyists and their access, at the expense of poor and working families. Enough already.

Government has to work for everyone, including those with the least among us. Heads up: it's not.

Attending the concert to benefit the Elizabeth Freeman Center at the Stockbridge Congregational Church yesterday. The Church was built in 1824 and is celebrating its 200th year anniversary!

Making the Tanglewood Neighborhood Safer

This past week, both the Lenox and Stockbridge Select Boards voted to request a feasibility study to explore better connecting downtown Lenox to the roads and trails of Stockbridge. Central to this effort is the recognition that Tanglewood is at the center of this effort.

This is a busy neighborhood where I happen to live. Tanglewood draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, and this locale also includes the wonderful Frelinghuysen Museum, Kripalu, Tanglewood Institute, Berkshire Country Day School, Morris Elementary School, Wheatleigh, Camp Mah-Kee-Nac, Gould Meadows, Bullard Woods, and the hundreds of residences in this neighborhood. Like my dad before me, I walk this neighborhood daily with my dog Sadie. It's a wonderful place to live.

Last fall, I began working with Marybeth Mitts of the Lenox Select Board on how we might approach a competitive grant, like the one that the Town of Lee successfully applied for, related to improving the area's walkability and bikeability (Is that a word? My computer doesn't think so!). I've long been concerned about neighbors walking home after concerts, but it isn't primarily driven by safety concerns per se. Rather, it's an idea to tie together roads and trails into a coherent pedestrian experience, helping both locals and visitors make the most of these treasures. Marybeth was immediately on board.

I approached both Berkshire Regional Planning and MassDOT Division 1 to get feedback on the idea. Both were incredibly supportive, and by that I mean open to providing support and resources for local leaders trying to improve their communities. They indicated the next step was a joint statement of support from our Select Boards. Done.

I have a similar story regarding Leigh Davis. Leigh and I both recognize that to build housing, we need to fund housing, and there are a number of benefits to funding housing with local revenue streams. It allows towns to preference locals in housing lotteries. I invited Leigh in to discuss housing issues with the Stockbridge Select Board. Marybeth's leadership record and actual housing production is equally impressive.

Here's my point: If I win this race, I am going to work really hard on your behalf. Although we are competing, I am not running against anyone. I am running to serve you.

Sapling in their second year at Gould Meadows, which were planted after clearing invasives. The tubes protect the young trees from having their bark munched by deer.

Want to Learn More?

Please consider supporting my candidacy to represent you in the State House. To learn more, visit https://www.patrickwhiteberkshires.com

You can donate by clicking here:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/patrick-3rd

Or you can mail a check to:

Patrick Thomas White Committee
81 Hawthorne Street
Lenox, MA 01240

I've reached about 25% of my fundraising goal. Thanks for any help you can provide. I am in it to win it and am running to effect real change. I'd love to have your support.

Warmly,

Patrick White

PS: You can find detailed positions on my campaign website:

https://www.patrickwhiteberkshires.com

Enjoying a Berkshire snowstorm long ago.

Previous Notes

Week ending 4/12/2024
Dog Day Afternoons. read more

Week ending 4/5/2024
Remembering Searles Middle School. read more

Week ending 3/29/2024
It's all about the jobs. read more

Week ending 3/22/2024
Snow - Taxes - Childcare - Grants - School Play read more

Week ending 3/15/2024
Economic development, family farms, why just water? read more

Week ending 3/8/2024
Affordable housing, Climate Advisory Board, Multicultural Bridge, economic development, ROR filing. read more

Week ending 3/1/2024
West Stockbridge rent control brief, PCB radio interview, cancer and the river, reducing property taxes. read more