Progress Made on Police Station Study, PHS Jaywalking

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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The Police Advisory Committee held its monthly meeting on Monday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Kaestle Boos Associates Inc. is expected to provide a preliminary draft of a police station feasibility study by the end of the week.

Police Chief Michael Wynn said the company has been in town in the last month and will provide him with a first look at the study results later this week. Then the company will begin the final product.

Kaestle Boos was chosen for the $30,000 study to develop options, departmental needs and costs estimates for the city. The study is the first step toward replacement of the current 74-year-old Allen Street building. The final report is expected to be completed by June.

In other business, Police Advisory Committee members Katie Roucher and Phyllis Smith reported on efforts to prevent students from jaywalking in front of Pittsfield High School. Jaywalking over East Street during lunch and after school had become a hot topic leading to the mayor, school officials and the Police Advisory Committee to discuss ways to improve it.

Some months later, Pittsfield High students told the committee that their classmates are taking heed of the issue and working to reduce the number of jaywalking incidents. School officials also deployed a vice principal to supervise the student's activity after school.



"They're working on it. They're making progress," Smith said.

Wynn also reported on Monday that the new crime analyst is "working out well." She had was recently hired by the city and is already showing progress in solving crimes. Wynn said the most recent accomplishment was finding links between recovered weapons and unsolved shooting incidents.

The creation of the new position came on a recommendation from the Police Advisory Committee.


Tags: advisory committee,   jaywalking,   Pittsfield Police,   police station,   

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North Adams Regional Reopens With Ribbon-Cutting Celebration

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

BHS President and CEO Darlene Rodowicz welcomes the gathering to the celebration of the hospital's reopening 10 years to the day it closed. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The joyful celebration on Thursday at North Adams Regional Hospital was a far cry from the scene 10 years ago when protests and tears marked the facility's closing
 
Hospital officials, local leaders, medical staff, residents and elected officials gathered under a tent on the campus to mark the efforts over the past decade to restore NARH and cut the ribbon officially reopening the 136-year-old medical center. 
 
"This hospital under previous ownership closed its doors. It was a day that was full of tears, anger and fear in the Northern Berkshire community about where and how residents would be able to receive what should be a fundamental right for everyone — access to health care," said Darlene Rodowicz, president and CEO of Berkshire Health Systems. 
 
"Today the historic opportunity to enhance the health and wellness of Northern Berkshire community is here. And we've been waiting for this moment for 10 years. It is the key to keeping in line with our strategic plan which is to increase access and support coordinated county wide system of care." 
 
Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, under the BHS umbrella, purchased the campus and affiliated systems when Northern Berkshire Healthcare declared bankruptcy and closed on March 28, 2014. NBH had been beset by falling admissions, reductions in Medicare and Medicaid payments, and investments that had gone sour leaving it more than $30 million in debt. 
 
BMC was able to reopen the ER as an emergency satellite facility and slowly restored and enhanced medical services including outpatient surgery, imaging, dialysis, pharmacy and physician services. 
 
But it would take a slight tweak in the U.S. Health and Human Services' regulations — thank to U.S. Rep. Richie Neal — to bring back inpatient beds and resurrect North Adams Regional Hospital 
 
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