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Along with an award, a picture of Mitchell was blown up and autographed by each member of the City Council.
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Longtime Pittsfield Umpire, Coach Honored With Hebert Award

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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The award was presented by the event chair and Ward 1 City Councilor Lisa Tully.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Mark Mitchell's Brown Street backyard expanded on Springside Park and it became an integral park of his family's lives. 
 
"We started out in our life as stewards of Springside Park mainly because we lived right next to it," Mitchell said.
 
He and his brothers would spend hours exploring the woods and holding pickup baseball games, during which he earned the nickname "Commissioner" because the rulebook was never far away.
 
Years later he would be back at Springside Park as a coach for girls softball — leading Quality Printing for 20 years including four championships and six round robin wins. He served 15 years on the Berkshire Softball board. He also was at the park as an umpire and member of the Berkshire County Softball Umpires Association for 22 years.
 
On Friday, Mitchell became the first recipient ever of the Vincent J. Hebert Award presented by the Springside Park Conservancy.
 
The award was created to honor those who have made positive impacts to the city's open spaces and recreation. Hebert was a long-time Parks and Recreation director and volunteer. Mitchell's efforts in taking care of the park on a volunteer basis, keeping an eye out, and his role and longtime dedication to recreation earned him the honor.
 
Mitchell called on those in attendance to embrace stewardship and take care of the city's park.
 
"Springside Park has been attacked by a lot of stuff and we need stewardship to stop the crap. In other words, you have to get out and you have to look at what the hell is going on around your property if you are right on the park," Mitchell said.
 
Members of the Hebert family and the Mitchell family gathered under one of several tents erected on the park Friday night for the first-ever gala to raise funds for the Springside Conservancy's efforts to revitalize the park, which began with the crafting of a new master plan.
 
"It is going to be a new level of public/private partnership," Conservancy President Joe Durwin said.
 
The new master plan calls for a variety of uses at the park as well as the restoration of the historic Springside House. The gala was intended to be a fundraiser to help implement the multitude of plans for the park. 
 
"Its been a long time since something like this," Durwin said, referring to the years between when the park and mansion were used to hold large parties and dancing outdoors.
 
Event Chairwoman Lisa Tully said some 230 tickets were sold ahead of time and others paid at the door. A downpour, however, came right as the event kicked off, which may have kept more from attending.
 
"We started with the hopes of getting 150 people. It surpassed that and if the weather wasn't bad, we'd have had more," Tully said.
 
After the short downpour, the weather help off and the hundreds dressed in nice clothes feasted on food catered by the local companies Ponchos, Crown Plaza, Patrick's Pub, Brenda's Catering and the Dessert Bar, and drank beers from Wandering Star or wines from Spirited. All while listening to a live jazz band.
 
"I think people are really happen," Tully said while looking over those in attendance.
 
The organizers haven't tallied up the expenses and the income in total yet but whatever is made will go to the conservancy. The group hopes the gala will become an annual event.

Tags: Springside Park,   

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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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