This info is not fresh but 4 years old, and apologies if it repeats
anything I missed in prior messages, but I can report on some of the
objections to MassMoCA as of 1992.

The fundamental problem was lack of sympathy among the long-time residents
of North Adams, combined with the scale and cost of the plan.  Much of
Berkshire County was given over already to serving the hipoisie of the
northeast corridor megalopolis as a cultural-recreation colony (with
background music by the whipoorwills).  North Adams is indeed an
industrial town -- brick factories, 3-decker houses marching up the hills
-- much afflicted by disinvestment.  The project had little *substantive*
appeal locally and the quest for tourist dollars bumped up against the
impression that MassMoCA would transform the place over-much.  The
residents had a point:  the factory complex was huge and centrally
located, and the scale of the plan (which makes it so appealing as a
museum and a project) would overwhelm the gritty character of North Adams.

On a practical angle, the economic benefit of increasing real estate
values, and with them the local tax base, directly threatened the many
retired or discarded factory workers who own/occupy those 3-deckers.  They
don't need a big property-tax increase, for the most part carry modest
interest in the art, and view a future of scrapping and part-time jobs as
more congenial than wearing a smock and serving latte's to the art
viewers.  Overheard in a local tavern:  "Let em go to Williamstown."

The price tag, upward of $30 million as I recall, depended on state
subsidy, and local objection will get the attention of politicians.  The
project team was based at Williams College but moved on to bigger and
better things, which may also have deferred MassMoCA.

Matt Roth
Santa Monica, CA