Mayor James M. Ruberto announced today the creation of a steering committee to guide the community in the formation of a three-to-five-year cultural plan.
The Steering Committee members represent a broad spectrum of the community. The committee is co-chaired by Elie Hammerling, Chair of the City’s Cultural Development Board and former vice president for planning at the Berkshire Medical Center and Cory Hines, a management consultant specializing in strategy implementation, who has worked with major organizations in the U.S., Canada, and South Africa.
“As arts and culture continue to help drive economic revitalization in the City of Pittsfield, it is critical that we plan to establish a firm foundation for continued success and growth,†said Mayor Ruberto. “The development of the cultural sector not only improves the quality of life for our residents, it also makes our city more attractive to new businesses and residents, and generates jobs and new income to our economy.â€
“This plan will help us celebrate and expand Pittsfield’s rich cultural heritage, due in no small part to immigrants past and present, our schools and community groups, and the many excellent artists and cultural institutions we have here.â€
Committee members include Mary Beth Eldridge, an art teacher at Taconic High School; Pam Rich, marketing director for Paul Rich & Sons, a longtime anchor store in downtown Pittsfield; and Hope Sullivan, the executive director of IS183, Art School of the Berkshires.
Other members of the Cultural Plan steering committee are Peter Lafayette, Director of the Berkshire Bank Foundation; Shirley Edgerton, Director of the Youth Alive Drum & Dance Group and co founder of the Women of Color Giving Circle; Mary Rentz, a longtime community volunteer and board member of cultural organizations, who chaired 2004’s Sheeptacular public art project; and Jenny Hersch, professional musician and interim Artistic Director at the Mahaiwe Theatre. The City’s Director of Cultural Development, Megan Whilden, serves as staff support to the committee. All members live and/or work in the city of Pittsfield.
“We are looking forward to a broad-based thoughtful approach to putting together a cultural plan that will best serve this wonderful city,†commented Hammerling, a Pittsfield resident for over thirty years who also serves on the Board of Directors of Sinai Academy of the Berkshires.
“There are a number of other key initiatives moving forward in Pittsfield and the Berkshires," noted Megan Whilden. “They include the City’s updating of the Master Plan and the Creative Economy Strategy Project for Berkshire County. We are closely coordinating our work with these initiatives so that they enrich each other and so there is no redundancy."
It is believed this will be the first time that a citywide cultural planning process has been done in the city of Pittsfield. The committee has been reviewing plan from other cities, as well as the Downtown Pittsfield Arts & Entertainment District Plan developed in 1999 by Downtown, Inc., a local downtown improvement association.
Hammerling added, “We were impressed when we reviewed Downtown Inc.’s plan how many of the action items are in progress or have been accomplished. The plan was right on target in many respects and we look forward to continuing and expanding the work they have done.â€
The cultural plan’s process is designed to create a ‘roadmap’ to establish Pittsfield as a center of culture, arts and entertainment in Berkshire County and beyond. The plan will identify strategies to increase access to arts and culture for all Pittsfield residents; foster the continuing vitality and expansion of the City's cultural sector; and attract new individuals and businesses interested in participating and investing in the City's creative economy.
The Cultural Plan steering committee is planning to undertake a number of one-on-one interviews, as well as focus groups and a community meeting to gather public input in early 2007.
For more information on the committee or the planning process, please contact Megan Whilden, Director of Cultural Development for the City of Pittsfield, at 413-499-9348 or mwhilden@pittsfieldch.com.
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Born and reared in Pittsfield PHS, Class of 50). Joined the service and left Pittsfield and except for leave and later for summer vacation jobs during college, never came back except for short visitsa with reatives and for class reunions.
After that , only drove through Pittsfield on way to Vermont, Boston, and vacations in Neew Hampshire.
I only got minimal exposure to the deteriorating city I once loved.
The tree graced Park Square is uninviting. North, Upper South and much of West street are aged, uninspired vestiges of a once thriving community that cared. Drug and other related crime from neewspaper reorts and conversations with friends and relatives is significant.
It would seem that more effort and funding should be allocated to the reductdion of crime and the cleansing/beatification of the downtown area BEFORE EXPENDITURE OF RESOURCES on the desireable goal of becoming an ARTS CENTER.
In the sicties and early seventies, we (me, my wife and my two daughters) loved to visit Pittsfield and all it has to offer but since that time it has become increasingly a place we choose to AVOID! We (and many others) will not visit an Arts Center in the existi'ng environment. There is great art to be seen in many other venues! Fix YOUR NEGATIVES, them worry about an Arts Center.
Congratulations to Mayor Ruberto and to the city of Pittsfield on the appointment of a steering committee to help the city develop a cultural plan! This is yet another example of the forward thinking and progressive vision of Mayor Ruberto.
What a wonderful choice in Elie Hammerling to help lead this committee. Elie is extremely talented in moving forward with great ideas!!
If the committee is interested in consultation from the town of Stockbridge, feel free to contact me.
Lanesborough Town Election Sees Expanded Select Board
By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Select Board will now have five people serving with the addition of two more board members elected on Tuesday.
Juli Baker, Jeffery Walters and incumbent Michael Murphy took the three seats up for election in a five-way race, winning a three-year, two-year and one-year seat respectively based on the number of votes received. Out of the running were Scott Graves and Christian Halley.
Out of the more than 2,600 registered voters, 328 cast ballots Tuesday in the annual town election, or about a 12 percent turnout.
The current board consists of Chair Deborah Maynard, Jason Breault, and Murphy. The new board was voted to have five members back in 2024 at the annual town meeting after resident Kristen Tool filed a citizens petition to expand it. The home-rule petition was sent to the Legislature and was approved late last year.
Murphy was running for a third term. He said he is not done with his work on the board and wants to see more projects done like the mall. He was voted back on with 168 votes for a one-year term.
"I feel like I've put in a good six years, but I do feel like there's a couple things that I'd like to see through that are still, you know, somewhere either on the front burner or the back burner," he said. "I'll talk about the mall, I'd love to play a role in seeing how that plays out. What's moved to the back burner after being on the front burner for a couple years is the need for a new police station. I still believe there's a need for that."
He is proud to be a part of the board that will expand its members and to have helped the town have a better atmosphere and attitude toward its residents.
"My proudest accomplishment is getting a better home for our Police Department, one that they need very well," Murphy said. "Some of the things that surprised me a little bit, but that I think I had an impact on, is improving the atmosphere within the Town Hall building. I think that's the best way to put it. There was a time, and I heard from many, many people in the community when I ran that I was surprised to hear how they didn't feel welcomed, they didn't feel comfortable, and I think that that attitude and that atmosphere has changed, and I've had something to do that."
Baker won the three-year term with 258 votes. Baker has been in Lanesborough since 2021 and has been participating on the Finance Committee, which she will now leave to be on the Select Board.
She ran because she felt she could help with her experience on many other boards and her ability to be a leader and see both sides of every story.
"I've had a lot of input into other groups like the planning board and the zoning board, and a lot of the issues that have been happening in town, and I feel like I have a very level head about very contentious issues, I look at all sides of every issue and cut through the emotions and get to the bottom of what the issue is and what's best for Lanesborough," she said.
Key issues she plans to address include managing tax increases that she has done with the finance board, addressing the short-term rental bylaw, and resolving the stalemate over the mall property to find the best way to get real value from the property.
Walters took the two-year term with 215 votes. Walters has been a resident for 26 years and owns Snap-On Tools dealership. He said he looks forward to working with the board and says one of the key issues he has heard is the taxes and wants to help maintain the residents taxes. He said he has been talking about running for about eight years and the bigger board helped push him to put his name on the ballot.
"I said I would like to run for a selectman. We're going to a five person select board, so I thought it'd be a good time. Being a small business owner, I feel I have something to contribute to add to the people that we have already in the Select Board," he said.
Graves said he wanted to be on the board to help others in the community feel welcome as he did not when he first came.
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