Our Home, Our Future

Our Home, Our Future
Sharon Hamilton 
Photo by Mary Close Oppenheimer

Sharon Hamilton has lived a full life raising two daughters while working in a number of different careers, including publishing a magazine for women-owned businesses and working as a certified purchasing officer for the city of Danbury.

She had been a home owner but sold her home years ago when she started her business. She moved to Salisbury in 2001 to help out her daughter and grandson when they moved to Falls Village.

As for many local renters, her long term rental apartment was in a building that was sold when property values skyrocketed during the pandemic,  leaving her scrambling to find an affordable place to rent. She says her experience, like that for her grandson who is just starting out on his own, was “horrible, just awful trying to find a place to live”. Fortunately, after reaching out to everyone she knew, she found out that a friend had an accessory apartment that had just become available.

She says “it has been a godsend. I can afford it and it’s great that it provides an income for them. I have nice neighbors and my daughter and friends are here. I’m very grateful every day that I’ve got it.”

Even though she’s in her seventies, she likes to work and so you may know her from her work at LaBonne’s over the past few years.

She says “the prejudice against people needing affordable housing is crazy. People picture deadbeats. I’ve been a well-established, well respected, professional woman who raised 2 fine children and have worked hard all my life. If you keep young people here they pay taxes, own cars, pay property taxes and contribute to the economy. If they can’t afford to live here they go off to New York State and we lose the revenue and our future. The arguments against affordable housing are absurd in the extreme. We have to keep young people here.”

Recent zoning changes have made it easier to create accessory dwellings. They can provide desperately needed housing for full-time residents like Sharon and the many other people who contribute to our town but can’t afford to live here.

 

 

Mary Close Oppenheimer has been part of the Lakeville/Salisbury community for 40 years and is a volunteer on the Salisbury Affordable Housing Commission.

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

Classifieds - February 26, 2026

Classifieds - February 26, 2026

Help Wanted

PART-TIME CARE-GIVER NEEDED: possibly LIVE-IN. Bright private STUDIO on 10 acres. Queen Bed, En-Suite Bathroom, Kitchenette & Garage. SHARON 407-620-7777.

The Salisbury Association’s Land Trust seeks part-time Land Steward: Responsibilities include monitoring easements and preserves, filing monitoring reports, documenting and reporting violations or encroachments, and recruiting and supervising volunteer monitors. The Steward will also execute preserve and trail stewardship according to Management Plans and manage contractor activity. Up to 10 hours per week, compensation commensurate with experience. Further details and requirements are available on request. To apply: Send cover letter, resume, and references to info@salisburyassociation.org. The Salisbury Association is an equal opportunity employer.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

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

To save birds, plant for caterpillars

Fireweed attracts the fabulous hummingbird sphinx moth.

Photo provided by Wild Seed Project

You must figure that, as rough as the cold weather has been for us, it’s worse for wildlife. Here, by the banks of the Housatonic, flocks of dark-eyed juncos, song sparrows, tufted titmice and black-capped chickadees have taken up residence in the boxwood — presumably because of its proximity to the breakfast bar. I no longer have a bird feeder after bears destroyed two versions and simply throw chili-flavored birdseed onto the snow twice a day. The tiny creatures from the boxwood are joined by blue jays, cardinals and a solitary flicker.

These birds will soon enough be nesting, and their babies will require a nonstop diet of caterpillars. This source of soft-bodied protein makes up more than 90 percent of native bird chicks’ diets, with each clutch consuming between 6,000 and 9,000 caterpillars before they fledge. That means we need a lot of caterpillars if we want our bird population to survive.

Keep ReadingShow less
Stephanie Haboush Plunkett and the home for American illustration

Stephanie Haboush Plunkett

L. Tomaino
"The field of illustration is very close to my heart"
— Stephanie Plunkett

For more than three decades, Stephanie Haboush Plunkett has worked to elevate illustration as a serious art form. As chief curator and Rockwell Center director at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, she has helped bring national and international attention to an art form long dismissed as merely commercial.

Her commitment to illustration is deeply personal. Plunkett grew up watching her father, Joseph Haboush, an illustrator and graphic designer, work late into the night in his home studio creating art and hand-lettered logos for package designs, toys and licensed-character products for the Walt Disney Co. and other clients.

Keep ReadingShow less
Free film screening and talk on end-of-life care
‘Come See Me in the Good Light’ is nominated for best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards.
Provided

Craig Davis, co-founder and board chair of East Mountain House, an end-of-life care facility in Lakeville, will sponsor a March 5 screening of the documentary “Come See Me in the Good Light” at The Moviehouse in Millerton, followed by a discussion with attendees.

The film, which is nominated for best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, follows the poet Andrea Gibson and their partner Megan Falley as they are suddenly and unimaginably forced to navigate a terminal illness. The free screening invites audiences to gather not just for a film but for reflection on mortality, healing, connection and the ways communities support one another through difficult life transitions.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

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

google preferred source

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