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Maeve Vallely Bartlett will work with city officials to finish the project.
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She was shown the plans.

State Secretary Tours Pittsfield's First Street Common

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, Community Development Director Douglas Clark, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Maeve Vallely Bartlett, Mayor Daniel Bianchi and Parks and Open Spaces Director James McGrath during a tour of the Common on Friday.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The state's new secretary of energy and environmental affairs can envision what the First Street Common will look like as she ushers in the final few months of the construction.
 
Maeve Vallely Bartlett took over from Richard Sullivan in June as head of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the office overseeing the $4.6 million reconstruction. 
 
The state is paying the majority of the cost to reinvigorate the park by adding a new playground, walking loops, sprayground, basketball court, gazebo, bathrooms and performance space. The hope is to fill the downtown park with new life and activity.
 
"A park like this, both the open nature of it with the trees and the grass and with the activation of the playground, sprayground and basketball courts. It is just a great mix of safe land in the middle of land in an urban area," Bartlett said following a Friday afternoon tour. "It is just in a lovely area. It has a lovely layout."
 
The park has been under construction for a number of years with the first phase breaking ground back in 2011. In 2012, the city cut the ribbon on the first $1.7 million phase. The construction continued through Phase 2 and last November Gov. Deval Patrick announced the funding to finish both of the final two phases.
 
"We are eager to get this project done. It has been a number of years that this project has been in various stages of construction. To be able to finish the final two phases at the same time allows us to finish the project and let people in here to enjoy this great, new destination," said Parks and Open Spaces Director James McGrath said.
 
McGrath said the final phases are on track both budget-wise and time-wise. Substantial completion is expected in November with workers returning in the spring for the final touch-up work.
 
"We're expecting that we will be substantially completed on or about Nov. 1. All of the elements will be substantially completed," McGrath said.
 
The park is part of Patrick's push to develop urban parks across the state. The Common is one of more than 200 parks that have either been reconstructed or renovated under his administration. The focus of most of those parks has been for greenspace in urban areas, including the more recent round of funding to build 54 new parks specifically in urban areas.
 
The goal is to ensure that every resident can walk to a park.
 
Bartlett has taken over that initiative and has been touring the various projects. Even though funding is in place and construction is in the home stretch, Bartlett says she still has an important role in final few months of the Common's reconstruction.
 
"We are really managing both the funding aspect and working with the city in case they hit a snag or in case something needs to be redesigned. It is really just a working relationship to make sure it gets finished," she said.
 
Bartlett said she has been briefed multiple times by staff but was impressed to see the park. She was shown around the park and told the various details and history by Mayor Daniel Bianchi, state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, McGrath, Director of Maintenance Peter Sondrini and Director of Community Development Douglas Clark.
 
"It looks great. I know it isn't done, but it looks great," Bartlett said.

Tags: parks & rec,   Pittsfield Common,   public parks,   state officials,   

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Pittsfield CPA Committee Funds Half of FY24 Requests

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A few projects are not getting funded by the Community Preservation Committee because of a tight budget.

The projects not making the cut were in the historic preservation and open space and recreation categories and though they were seen as interesting and valuable projects, the urgency was not prevalent enough for this cycle.

"It's a tough year," Chair Danielle Steinmann said.

The panel made its recommendations on Monday after several meetings of presentations from applications. They will advance to the City Council for final approval.  

Two cemetery projects were scored low by the committee and not funded: A $9,500 request from the city for fencing at the West Part Cemetery as outlined in a preservation plan created in 2021 and a $39,500 request from the St. Joseph Cemetery Commission for tombstone restorations.

"I feel personally that they could be pushed back a year," Elizabeth Herland said. "And I think they're both good projects but they don't have the urgency."

It was also decided that George B. Crane Memorial Center's $73,465 application for the creation of a recreational space would not be funded. Herland said the main reason she scored the project low was because it didn't appear to benefit the larger community as much as other projects do.

There was conversation about not funding The Christian Center's $34,100 request for heating system repairs but the committee ended up voting to give it $21,341 when monies were left over.

The total funding request was more than $1.6 million for FY24 and with a budget of $808,547, only about half could be funded. The panel allocated all of the available monies, breaking down into $107,206 for open space and recreation, $276,341 for historic preservation, and $425,000 for community housing.

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