Letter: Support for Lynette Bond for mayor

To the Editor:

I'm writing this letter in support for Lynette Bond as mayor of North Adams. I've known Lynette for nearly 10 years through my previous work at the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition. She organized one of the first teams when we launched the Mayor's Fitness Challenge, she and her family participated in our Downtown Bikearounds, and she attended our yoga in the parks events.

Lynette was also the lead organizer to help move forward Smoke Free parks and playgrounds throughout the City of North Adams. She believes and understands how important recreation and fitness is to a community and supports the work to get us there.

Lynette was instrumental during the planning for the  city's Vision 2030 Plan as a resident and planning board member. Throughout the Vision 2030 plan was a theme of "nonmotorized and active transportation." This means that we safely connect people to places for work, school, services, outdoor recreation, and improved health. (North Adams Downtown Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, City of North Adams).

A shared-use path to connect with the Mohawk bike and pedestrian path in Williamstown and the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail in Adams was listed in this Plan as High Importance. I couldn't agree more and I know Lynette shares this thinking. The pedestrian/bike path is the single most important project that provides nonmotorized transportation to the residents of North Adams, with transportation being one of the leading challenges for some of our residents, having a safe way to travel by bike can help to overcome the barrier of transportation.

Lynette understands the intricacies of this project because she worked for the Town of Adams and helped to facilitate the rights of way and other items that needed to happen for the extension of the bike path from Hoosac to Lime Street. A bike path through North Adams is an important way to connect neighborhoods and allows our residents to safely bike and walk within the city and to our neighboring towns.

Along with transportation, residents of all ages can enjoy physical recreation and the health benefits that walking and biking provide. These activities reduce stress and improve the mental well-being of a community. I know Lynette will work well with the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, the Towns of Adams and Williamstown, MassDOT, and engineers because she has already demonstrated and succeeded in working collaboratively with these partners. She has the experience of working on the Rail Trail extension in Adams and has the passion to ensure we move forward with this critical project for the City of North Adams.

I ask you to vote for Lynette Bond and ensure that the work to advance bikeability and walkability within our city continues.

Amanda Chilson
North Adams, Mass. 

'Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune' Is a Sparkling Gem

By Alan PetrucelliSpecial to iBerkshires
02:39PM / Tuesday, August 18, 2026

The adult-oriented 'Frankie and Johnny' runs through Aug. 23 at Shakespeare & Company.

LENOX, Mass. — Talk about strangers in the night. There's lots of social intercourse between Frankie and Johnny. There's also lots of sexual intercourse. 

 

There's grunting and growling and grinding and puffing and huffing and moaning and groaning as Frankie and Johnny make love to the orchestrated orgasmic overture. You could almost smell the sweat. When climaxes are reached, lights go up and Frankie wishes she had a cigarette. (One of her funniest lines.)

 

Welcome to "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune," now playing at Shakespeare & Company's Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre.

 

Terrence McNally's 1987 romantic comedy is sophisticated, sweet, sentimental and, yes, sexy. Post-coitus, Frankie wonders what she's gotten into. She and Johnny work at the same Manhattan greasy spoon. She's a waitress and failed actress with shattered dreams; he's a short-order cook and Shakespeare devotee with scarred hands.

 

On this Saturday night, they've crossed the line. Dinner, a movie and the move to become lovers in her one-room Hell's Kitchen walk-up. By three in the morning, Frankie is ready for Johnny to go back to his Brooklyn Heights apartment. No way. He declares he has found his soul mate. He suggests marriage and children. She expected a one-night-stand that probably wouldn't last a night. What she now wants is for Johnny to leave so she can watch TV and eat ice cream in peace.

 

What's love got to do with it? Everything

 

Stripped bare, literally and figuratively, Frankie and Johnny expose each other to their fears and frustrations. Nothing is simple or taken for granted. Frankie and Johnny hurl everything at each other; Frankie offers why they do not belong together, Johnny insists why they do. There are other times when she offers him food. She lets him stay. She gets into conversations with him. There are moments where she's genuinely interested in what he has to say. The play is a negotiation into intimacy.