SHELBURNE FALLS — During his election campaign, which included a three-way Democratic primary race as well as a contest with a Republican opponent, Adam Hinds heard from plenty of voices around the 52-community Berkshire-Hampshire-Franklin-Hampden District.
But now, the newly elected senator with roots in Buckland is planning a community meeting in Buckland Town Hall on Dec. 19 at 6 p.m., as one of at least five sessions around the district to hear from residents about what they want to see included in his agenda.
The “community discussions,” says Hinds, are intended to “provide space for a full range of discussions, including the development of an agenda for me to pursue.”
Hinds says he is “being very deliberate about involving residents in the legislative process and ensuring I’m going into the new term with a clear input” in setting the legislative agenda.” As he takes office next month, Hinds said, “I want to be very inclusive right from the start.”
Hinds, who campaigned for the Senate seat being vacated after 10 years by Sen. Benjamin Downing of Pittsfield, emphasizing the need to set a positive tone in an era of negative politics. He pointed to a recent editorial page column to the alienation that many people nationally feel from our political system.
“It is time to change our public discourse and approach to political action, and I am asking for your participation,” wrote Hinds. “Now more than ever we need local communication and community engagement. It means resisting the urge to retreat to respective corners. Instead we must stand together to protect civil rights and address the indignity of economic stagnation, while confronting underlying division so it does not grow.”
Hinds added, “Job insecurity is real, and dignity is threatened by an inability to provide for one’s family,” with policies that too often favor “the nation’s elite. … In this environment it is easy to trigger scapegoating or calls for an unprecedented shift in leadership.”
Hinds, who worked for the United Nations in the Middle East for a decade before working in Pittsfield and then northern Berkshire County on community-building issues, added, “Protecting our collective values is what deserves our attention in this moment. … We also have shared responsibilities to one another. That means standing up for fundamental civil rights here in the commonwealth.”
The Senate district includes Ashfield, Conway, Shelburne, Buckland, Charlemont, Hawley, Heath, Rowe and Monroe in Franklin County.
The discussions planned around Berkshire County, including ones in the Hampshire County town of Chesterfield and in Buckland on Dec. 19, are all open to the public. Hinds wrote that he “aims to ensure working families have a voice while we collectively develop a form of politics we can believe in and a vision for the region that accelerates growth. Throughout this campaign I argued that if we are to address the biggest challenges of our time, in this district, then we cannot afford to be divided.”