Pittsfield City Council Supports Capitol Marquee Restoration
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council is supportive of efforts to restore the historic Capitol marquee outside of the Senior Center.
The 1928 marquee is structurally failing and Barry Architects has estimated it will take $142,030 to fully restore it. The city is considering allocating $50,000 from federal Community Development Block Grant funds and funding the rest through the capital budget.
"It is dangerous," said Ward 4 Councilor Christopher Connell. "It isn't just throwing up some light bulbs and some tar on top of the roof. The whole thing is deteriorating structurally."
A City Council subcommittee strongly urged the mayor to place the item in the capital budget. The City Council followed suit, however, some councilors asked Mayor Linda Tyer to also consider finding other funding sources.
Councilor at Large Peter White was the most vocal about the work, saying he didn't feel it was needed right away. But after realizing that he was significantly outvoted, he urged Tyer to seek other sources of funding so as to not tap CDBG money or add to the city budget.
"We all love having this as a historical landmark and in better times I would love to say this would be a worthwhile project," White said.
But, the city is just about at its levy ceiling, leading to many cuts to city operations. The departments are all expected to produce level-funded budgets, which because of contractual agreements means cutting back in other areas. In the School Department, that is looking like it will mean 73 jobs.
White said at this point in time there are better uses of the city's limited funding. The next city budget is looking to be a difficult one and last year the council spent hours pouring over every line looking for cuts.
"This is very important but there are going to be a lot of other things that are very important," White said, adding that in the worst case the city could demolish it for $6,000.
Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Simonelli said the Office of Community Development is already looking into alternative sources to fund it, such as the Massachusetts Historical Commission.
"We are asking that the mayor submit money in the capital budget to make up the remainder of whatever it may be," he said.
Simonelli said the city is also still awaiting a quote from a company which specializes in restoring such marquees.
For Councilor Donna Todd Rivers, spending on the marquee is just part of getting the city's "house in order." She said that before inviting people and developers, the city has to make sure it is attractive. A massive streetscape project to revamp North Street has just been completed and the marquee is an eyesore in the middle of that.
"If you are going to work on economic development, the very first thing you should do is get your house in order," Rivers said.
Connell added to that by saying if the city continues to neglect the work, eventually the marquee will be condemned and the area will be roped off.
"If you don't vote to fix this, do you really want to have that thing condemned in the middle of downtown? Because that is what is going to happen," he said.
Connell said the money will be borrowed through the capital program so the impact won't be all at once. He said while there is certainly other areas of need, taking care of the seniors at the Ralph Froio Senior Center is one too.
"That center is very very important not only to our seniors but also to the look of our downtown and to the general population of this city," Connell said.
Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Morandi considers the marquee a "landmark" but also echoed Connell's sentiments about taking care of the senior population. He said the Senior Center has one of the lowest budgets and that Pittsfield's older citizens deserve a center they can be proud of. It also will attract visitors by making the city look better, he added.
"Visitors, people who come in here, they see that marquee. They see the condition it is in," Morandi said.
Councilor at Large Kathleen Amuso pushed for many reductions to the city budget last year, but infrastructure work is something she supports. The marquee has been neglected for 30 years, she said, and "we can't let everything go."
Ward 6 Councilor John Krol agreed that it currently is an eyesore and it is an "asset to downtown Pittsfield" but he objected to the use of CDBG funds as well. He joined White in hoping to find other options for funding the restoration.
The building was built in 1898 as the New Mills Block, later becoming the Capitol Theatre. According to the Massachusetts Historical Commission, the marquee is 1920s art deco. The theater closed in the 1980s and the building was turned into the Ralph Froio Senior Center.
There is a historic easement on the building's facade so any work must be approved by the Massachusetts Historical Commission.
Tags: capital projects, historic structure, marquee, North Street, senior center,
