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Shiobbean Lemme, Third Thursday coordinator.
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Mayor Daniel Bianchi.

Pittsfield Eyes Return Of 'Rejuvenated' Third Thursday

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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Director of Cultural Development Jen Glockner announced the series at a press conference on Thursday. See more photos here.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city is asking residents to relax, play, and create once a month.
 
The monthly Third Thursday street fair is returning in May in a "rejuvenated" way, according to Director of Cultural Development Jennifer Glockner, by organizing the vendors in those three ways. 
 
"Anything that has been going for nine years needs a little bit of a kickstart, a little bit of a rejuvenation," Glockner said on Thursday when the summer series was announced.
 
The south end of North Street will be the "relax" area and will be aimed for adults. Outdoor seating for restaurants will be brought right into the middle of the road and performers geared toward an adult audience will be scheduled to play there. 
 
"We really want to, with these areas, tell people where to go and make it easier," Glockner said.
 
A Persip Park — at the intersection of Columbus and North — the play zone will start. That will be eyed for families and will, for the first time, be smoke free.
 
"For the first time we are having a smoke-free children and family area," Glockner said. "We are not shy and our volunteers will not be shy, and I think everybody here who clapped when we announced it won't be shy in saying 'just a reminder, this is a smoke-free area.' "
 
There will be children's activities like a bounce house or train rides and there will also be diaper changing stations. In this section, food vendors will set up on the street as has been done in the past including food trucks stationed throughout the section. Meanwhile, instead of bringing in the city's stage, the newly renovated Persip Park has a built-in pavilion, which will serve as the main entertainment stage.
 
"We get to take advantage of the beautiful Persip Park, which was just renovated. There is a new stage, there are new pathways, there are new planters and it is just amazing. We're embracing it and making it our main stage," Glockner said.
 
The final area will focus on arts including a community art project. There will also be a chalk art gallery and artisan vendors. 
 
"We are big fans of keeping things simple and our themes are simple," said Shiobbean Lemme, Third Thursday coordinator, of the new organization of the vendors. 
 
The monthly summer street fair is entering its ninth year. Each third Thursday of the month brings out close to 200 vendors to North Street, which is shut down to traffic. Each month has a different theme. This year's themes are creative youth; healthy Pittsfield; arts matter; all the world's a stage; walk a mile in her shoes; and harvest fest. 
 
"I am just hopeful with the new season of Third Thursday will re-introduce people to Pittsfield," Mayor Daniel Bianchi said. "Third Thursday is sort of the kick off of the summer season and rejuvenation."
 
A section of North Street will be under construction as the last and final phase of the streetscape project comes to a conclusion but organizers say that will have limited impact on the fair.
 
"They do construction during the day but on Third Thursdays, they have a note on file and they tidy it up. They tidy it all up and make it as neat as they can. We can function around them. We've done it before. It is not ideal but they are so cooperative," Glockner said.

Tags: street fair,   Third Thursdays,   

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Crosby/Conte Statement of Interest Gets OK From Council

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Architect Carl Franceschi and Superintendent Joseph Curtis address the City Council on Tuesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With the approval of all necessary bodies, the school district will submit a statement of interest for a combined build on the site of Crosby Elementary School.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously gave Superintendent Joseph Curtis the green light for the SOI to the Massachusetts School Building Authority by April 12.

"The statement I would make is we should have learned by our mistakes in the past," Mayor Peter Marchetti said.

"Twenty years ago, we could have built a wastewater treatment plant a lot cheaper than we could a couple of years ago and we can wait 10 years and get in line to build a new school or we can start now and, hopefully, when we get into that process and be able to do it cheaper then we can do a decade from now."

The proposal rebuilds Conte Community School and Crosby on the West Street site with shared facilities, as both have outdated campuses, insufficient layouts, and need significant repair. A rough timeline shows a feasibility study in 2026 with design and construction ranging from 2027 to 2028.

Following the SOI, the next step would be a feasibility study to determine the specific needs and parameters of the project, costing about $1.5 million and partially covered by the state. There is a potential for 80 percent reimbursement through the MSBA, who will decide on the project by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, city officials took a tour of both schools — some were shocked at the conditions students are learning in.

Silvio O. Conte Community School, built in 1974, is a 69,500 square foot open-concept facility that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s but the quad classroom layout poses educational and security risks.  John C. Crosby Elementary School, built in 1962, is about 69,800 square feet and was built as a junior high school so several aspects had to be adapted for elementary use.

Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi said the walkthrough was "striking" at points, particularly at Conte, and had her thinking there was no way she would want her child educated there. She recognized that not everyone has the ability to choose where their child goes to school and "we need to do better."

"The two facilities that we are looking at I think are a great place to start," she said.

"As the Ward 6 councilor, this is where my residents and my students are going to school so selfishly yes, I want to see this project happen but looking at how we are educating Pittsfield students, this is going to give us a big bang for our buck and it's going to help improve the educational experience of a vast group of students in our city."

During the tour, Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey, saw where it could be difficult to pay attention in an open classroom with so much going on and imagined the struggle for students.

Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said, "we cannot afford not to do this" because the city needs schools that people want their children to attend.

"I know that every financial decision we make is tough but we have to figure this out. If the roof on your house were crumbling in, you'd have to figure it out and that's where we're at and we can't afford to wait any longer," she said.

"We can't afford for the sake of the children going to our schools, for the sake of our city that we want to see grow so we have to build a city where people want to go."

Councilor at Large Kathy Amuso, who served on the School Building Needs Commission for about 18 years, pointed out that the panel identified a need to address Conte in 2008.

Curtis addressed questions about the fate of Conte if the build were to happen, explaining that it could be kept as an active space for community use, house the Eagle Academy or the Adult Learning Center, or house the central offices.

School attendance zones are a point of discussion for the entire school district and for this project.

"At one time I think we had 36 school buildings and now we have essentially 12 and then it would go down again but in a thoughtful way," Curtis said.

Currently, eight attendance zones designate where a student will go to elementary school. Part of the vision is to collapse those zones into three with hopes of building a plan that incorporates partner schools in each attendance zone.

"I think that going from eight schools to three would be easier to maintain and I think it would make more sense but in order to get there we will have to build these buildings and we will have to spend money," Kavey said, hoping that the city would receive the 80 percent reimbursement it is vying for.

This plan for West Street, which is subject to change, has the potential to house grades pre-kindergarten to first grade in one school and Grades 2 to 4 in another with both having their own identities and administrations. 

The districtwide vision for middle school students is to divide all students into a grade five and six school and a grade seven and eight school to ensure equity.

"The vagueness of what that looks like is worrisome to some folks that I have talked to," Lampiasi said.

Curtis emphasized that these changes would have to be voted on by the School Committee and include public input.

"We've talked about it conceptually just to illustrate a possible grade span allocation," he said. "No decisions have been made at all by the School Committee, even the grade-span proposals."

School Committee Chair William Cameron said it is civic duty of the committee and council to move forward with the SOI.
 
He explained that when seven of the city's schools were renovated in the late 1990s, the community schools were only 25 years old and Crosby was 35 years old.  The commonwealth did not deem them to be sorely in need of renovation or replacement.
 
"Now 25 years later, Crosby is physically decrepit and an eyesore. It houses students ages three to 11 in a facility meant for use by teenagers,"
 
"Conte and Morningside opened in the mid-1970s. They were built as then state-of-the-art schools featuring large elongated rectangles of open instructional space. Over almost half a century, these physical arrangements have proven to be inadequate for teaching core academic skills effectively to students, many of whom need extra services and a distraction-free environment if they are to realize their full academic potential."
 
He said  the proposal addresses a serious problem in the "economically poorest, most ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse area" of the city.
 
Cameron added that these facilities have been deemed unsatisfactory and need to be replaced as part of the project to reimagine how the city can best meet the educational needs of its students.  He said it is the local government's job to move this project forward to ensure that children learn in an environment that is conducive to their thriving academically.
 
"The process of meeting this responsibility needs to begin here tonight," he said.
 
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