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The vehicle is in fair condition and runs well.

Sayers Donates Cruiser To Pittsfield Police

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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Henry 'Hank' Sayers is donating the 2000 Ford to the Pittsfield Police Department.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — After towing two of their vehicles, the owner of Sayers Auto Wrecking thought it was time the Auxiliary Police got a new vehicle.
 
Henry "Hank" Sayers recently purchased a 2000 Crown Victoria at auction and is donating it to the Pittsfield Auxiliary Police. The City Council accepted the donation two weeks ago and the vehicle is awaiting pick up.
 
"I knew they were short [a vehicle] and everybody has tight budgets. They don't have a lot to work with," Sayers said on Tuesday.
 
Sayers knew a new car was needed after towing two of auxiliary vehicles. At auction, he found a series of former Connecticut police cars and purchased them all — selling some to a local taxi company and keeping one to donate to the police.
 
"It has the whole police package," Sayers said of the car. "It is in fair condition. It runs good. It is one of the better riding ones."
 
The vehicle has some life left in it. Sayers will ultimately see it come back to him in a few years, when he'll scrap it and make a few bucks. But for now, the city doesn't have to dip into its capital borrowing to purchase a new cruiser.
 
The Auxiliary Police will use it for patrol, special events and emergencies. The vehicle needs a paint job and some "TLC" but should be fairly easy to get on the road.
 
This is the second time Sayers has donated to the Auxiliary Police. About seven years ago, he passed on a vehicle that he had donated to the town of Lanesborough. Lanesborough's first K-9 unit car was donated by Sayers in a same fashion and when the town bought a new cruiser, it came back to Sayers, who offered it to Pittsfield.
 
"They have one of ours already," Sayers said. 
 
The City Council was grateful for the donation. Vice President Christopher Connell added that it could give the city the opportunity to use the old car as a "decoy," parked in places of high speeding.

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Pittsfield ConCom OKs Wahconah Park Demo, Ice Rink

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Conservation Commission has OKed the demolition of Wahconah Park and and the installation of a temporary ice rink on the property. 

The property at 105 Wahconah St. has drawn attention for several years after the grandstand was deemed unsafe in 2022. Planners have determined that starting from square one is the best option, and the park's front lawn is seen as a great place to site the new pop-up ice skating rink while baseball is paused. 

"From a higher level, the project's really two phases, and our goal is that phase one is this demolition phase, and we have a few goals that we want to meet as part of this step, and then the second step is to rehabilitate the park and to build new a new grandstand," James Scalise of SK Design explained on behalf of the city. 

"But we'd like these two phases to happen in series one immediately after the other." 

On Thursday, the ConCom issued orders of conditions for both city projects. 

Mayor Peter Marchetti received a final report from the Wahconah Park Restoration Committee last year recommending a $28.4 million rebuild of the grandstand and parking lot. In July, the Parks Commission voted to demolish the historic, crumbling grandstand and have the project team consider how to retain the electrical elements so that baseball can continue to be played. 

Last year, there was $18 million committed between grant funding and capital borrowing. 

This application approved only the demolition of the more than 100-year-old structure. Scalise explained that it establishes the reuse of the approved flood storage and storage created by the demolition, corrects the elevation benchmark, and corrects the wetland boundary. 

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