Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

Our Home, Our Future

Voices from the Salisbury Community about the housing needed  for a healthy, economically vibrant future

Brigitte Ruthman

In 1991, EMTs Jacquie Rice and Brigitte Ruthman trained and studied hard, passed Firefighter 1 as interior firefighters and gained membership in The Lakeville Hose Co. as the first two females in an organization with a rich tradition that began in 1905. 

In 2004 Brigitte was evicted from her Salisbury apartment without warning or cause while searching for a home buying opportunity and was forced to find alternative housing. “I had made offers on a couple of small homes, including one that had been gifted to the ambulance service, but my bids couldn’t compete with the second homeowners’ market,” she said. “I wanted to stay in town because of the extended families in the fire department and ambulance service. But affordability forced me to look farther afield.”

The eviction caused a brief experience with homelessness — a few days on the couch at the ambulance headquarters — before a neighbor offered their rental home. After purchasing land in Sandisfield, Mass., about 30 minutes from Salisbury, friends helped Brigitte raise a kit home. She moved in as the snow began to fly through the unfinished roof. 

“I had to resign from the ambulance service, because I couldn’t answer emergency medical calls. One of the firemen ripped up my resignation letter before I could submit it, so I’ve stayed on answering the few calls I can on mutual aid and serve as appeals chairman. I keep up dual Connecticut and Massachusetts certifications. As much as I was able to build the small farm I had  hoped for, it wasn’t in the town where I wanted to live and continue volunteering. It’s not the same here. The brother and sisterhood in Salisbury is unique.”

Before leaving town she spoke at a hearing sponsored by the Salisbury Association about the need for affordable housing.

“At the heart of a community are those who give back to it,” she said. “You can’t do that if you’re coming up on a Friday afternoon and leaving Sunday night. And It’s simply not possible for someone earning $50,000 to compete with a commodities broker or hedge fund manager who wants a weekend retreat when property goes up for sale. Rentals are a segue to home ownership. Investing in volunteers means investing in working class, local families who can afford to live here.”

With an average home sale price between Oct.1, 2018, and Oct. 1, 2020, of $778,750, who will be able to live in Salisbury? What does it mean for the future of our town? 

 

Mary Close Oppenheimer is a local artist who has been part of the Lakeville/Salisbury community for 30 years.

The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Lakeville Journal and The Journal does not support or oppose candidates for public office.

Latest News

Bed Race returns to North Canaan Saturday night, still time to register

Bed Race returns to North Canaan Saturday night, still time to register

The Royal Flush won the bed race in 2025.

John Coston

NORTH CANAAN — The Annual Bed Race will return to Summer Nights of Canaan on Saturday July 18, following the Fireman’s Parade at 6 p.m.

Now a Summer Nights tradition, and before that, a staple of Railroad days since the early 1990s — the Bed Race is back after being revived in recent years by Will and Samantha Perotti. After the event lay dormant for several years, the couple volunteered to take it over and have been working to grow participation.

Keep ReadingShow less

Grand jury indicts Cole Bushnell on murder, evidence tampering charges

Grand jury indicts Cole Bushnell on murder, evidence tampering charges

Cole Bushnell appears in Berkshire Superior Court on Thursday after a grand jury indicted him on charges of murder and evidence tampering.

Madi Long

An Ashley Falls man whose arrest drew attention on both sides of the Massachusetts-Connecticut border has been indicted on charges of murder and evidence tampering in connection with the June 1 killing of Michael A. Moore, a former Falls Village resident.

A Berkshire County grand jury has indicted Cole Bushnell, 41, on charges of murder and evidence tampering in the death of Moore, 40, of Winsted. The evidence tampering count is a new felony charge, with prosecutors alleging that Bushnell attempted to destroy his cellphone following the killing to conceal evidence.

Keep ReadingShow less
crime

Angry bees close Mudge Pond Beach

Angry bees close Mudge Pond Beach

Officials closed the Sharon town beach at Mudge Pond on Wednesday, July 15, after a fallen tree limb exposed a large beehive. The beach is expected to reopen Thursday.

Alec Linden

SHARON – The town beach on Mudge Pond closed on Wednesday, July 15, but the cause wasn’t the smoky haze drifting in from Canadian wildfires – it was angry bees.

According to Sharon’s Parks and Recreation Director Bryan Failla, a large limb fell from an old tree near the lifeguard stand overnight, exposing a hole that houses a large beehive. He said the town made the decision to close the beach Wednesday morning “out of an abundance of caution.”

Keep ReadingShow less
mudge pond
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

Millerton dressmaker forged path as early businesswoman

Millerton dressmaker forged path as early businesswoman
Mary Kisselbrack, left, and her husband, George.
Provided

If you’ve driven down Main Street in Millerton, you’ve passed the former home and shop of one of the village’s earliest female entrepreneurs. At a time when most businesses were owned by men, Mary Kisselbrack made a name for herself in the late 1800s as a well-respected milliner and dressmaker.

On April 11, 1891, train conductor George Kisselbrack purchased a 124-by-232-foot vacant lot at 54 Main St. and hired locally renowned builders Beers and Trafford to design what would become their home and Mary’s business.

Keep ReadingShow less
millerton celebrates 175 years

Wastewater project coming to fruition after decades of debate

Wastewater project coming to fruition after decades of debate

Millerton’s business community will soon see the completion of a public wastewater system, addressing what local officials and business owners have called a major constraint on commercial development in the community for decades.

The $13.8 million project, which is expected to serve the core of the Village of Millerton and a commercial stretch of the Town of North East along U.S. Route 44, represents one of the largest infrastructure investments in the community in decades, and brings an end to calls for a sewer system that stretch back to World War II. Officials say the system will safeguard local waterways while creating a foundation for long-term economic stability.

Keep ReadingShow less
millerton celebrates 175 years

Millerton Moviehouse marks 120 years with structural upgrades

Millerton Moviehouse marks 120 years with structural upgrades

Wooden beams made from tree trunks comprise the load-bearing structure under Millerton’s Moviehouse.

Graham Corrigan

There are a handful of buildings that have stood the test of time over Millerton’s 175-year history. But if there’s one that stands out as a singular representation of the town, it’s the Millerton Moviehouse and its iconic clock tower.

Built in 1903 as a grange hall, it was soon converted into a movie theater with a second-floor ballroom. It was one of a handful of buildings that came to define the town in the following decades, standing tall across the street from the Episcopal Church and Millerton Inn, next to Terni’s, and up the hill from Millerton’s train station.

Keep ReadingShow less
millerton celebrates 175 years
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.