Pittsfield Mayoral Candidates Battle It Out Before Preliminary
 The election on Sept. 22 will narrow the field of four down to two. |
Daniel Bianchi, the incumbent, Linda Tyer, city clerk, and residents Donna Walto and Craig Gaetani are all seeking the corner office for what will be the city's first four-year mayoral term.
Most of the questions posed by moderator William Sturgeon centered on economic development.
Gaetani led off the series of questions regarding business when he said the best way to help the local companies would be to reduce the tax rates.
"We have to get the personal property rates down and the commercial business rates down," Gaetani said. "We're going to have to reduce the budget very significantly. To do that it requires sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice by everybody."
Gaetani said he has a four-year plan to reduce the budget every year by 7 percent. That will pave the way for a solid foundation in year four for local businesses, and new businesses, to grow. He said the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority's efforts to redevelop the William Stanley Business Park and the Berkshire Innovation Center is a "total disaster." He vowed to replace the PEDA board with other business leaders.
Tyer said the city suffers from "workforce training issues," lack of broadband Internet, and poor transportation infrastructure to attract new businesses. She said there are currently companies with hundreds of vacant positions that can't find candidates with the right skills to do the jobs.
Tyer said she'd focus on bringing more Internet access and launch recruitment programs to attract young, skilled workers to the area to fill spots companies are struggling to fill.
Walto says she'd tap in her alumni connections at Williams College — a network she vowed to tap into to solve a number of city issues — to bring new business to the city. She took shots at Tyer and Bianchi for voting, when they were on the City Council, for funding for Workshop Live, which closed in 2008, and their inability to prevent KB Toys from also closing that year.
She said she'd do everything she can to bring the city back to being the county's economic engine.
"I have the skills and ability with my knowledge to entice businessmen here," Walto said. "I have the ability to tap into the No. 1 alumni association in the world."
Bianchi cited his success in launching a small business fund that has supported a number of businesses. Now he is focused on getting the small and medium-sized companies access to the "cutting edge technology" they would need to grow through the Berkshire Innovation Center. The innovation center, being built with a $9.75 million state grant, will be a place for research and development to allow the local companies to expand.
He said coupling with that, the new Taconic High School will provide the pipeline of local, educated workers to fill those jobs and start spin-off businesses. He said only 10 Fortune 500 companies would open new plants or move so the best strategies is to grow the city's plastics and advances manufacturing from within rather than try to attract large companies from outside.
Tyer agreed that "it is going to be difficult to attract new business" and that companies currently operating need to come first.
She added that the innovation center and that the funding came from state officials before Bianchi was elected, and was not the work of his administration. Under his administration, she said the city wasn't negotiating from a strong position when it agreed to use the William Stanley Business Park as the site of the center.
"There is no new tax revenue coming from the Berkshire Innovation Center and no new jobs," Tyer said.
She said when Bianchi was a member of the City Council, he voted against submitting a statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for construction of a new Taconic High School.
She called for the mayoral seat on PEDA to be removed so that politics doesn't get in the way of development. When Bianchi first took office there was a proposal for a retail development on the site but that was shortly squashed after he took the seat and the focus on advanced manufacturing grew. Tyer says the site needs mixed used, not just industrial.
"We need to go out for a competitive process where we can attract a business park developer with a proven track record of building out business parks," she said.
Tyer also advocated to improve the "quality of life that inspires people to want to live here."
 City Clerk Linda Tyer took a number of shots at the current administration while laying out her plans to create a more vibrant and innovative city. |
Bianchi disagreed with Tyer's opinion that the mayor should not sit on PEDA. Bianchi said the city's top administrator has a vision for the city — like the one he laid out during his first campaign — and should work with PEDA to make it happen.
"We are on the verge, I think, of great things in the city of Pittsfield," Bianchi said in response to a question about why he should be elected.
Bianchi outlined his vision of a new technical high school creating a workforce to fill the jobs created by the small and medium sized businesses growing because of the innovation center. He said meanwhile he's invested in public safety by adding a crime analyst and winning the Charles E. Shannon Grant multiple years in a row, which led to a massive mentoring program.
"We now have a vibrant mentoring program where 40 folks from all walks of live are working with our children," Bianchi said.
Education combats crime and poverty, he said, and eventually the 1,700 jobs unfilled in the county because of a lack of educated workers will be closed. He said unemployment is down by 1.9 percent since he took office but there is still more work to do.
Tyer took a more aggressive approach to crime by saying "time is up." She promised to hire more officers, citing that only seven officers are on patrol per shift. She called for the creation of an anti-gang unit and a dedicated traffic bureau.
"I will hire more police officers to patrol our streets," Tyer said, saying she won't "minimize" the importance of public safety.
Gaetani says combating crime means getting the officers out of patrol cars and walking beats — particularly in the westside and Morningside. He says "boots on the ground" will deter criminals and allow the neighbors to have a partnership with and trust police.
He also called for doctors to reduce prescribing narcotics and those with addiction problems should be helped.
"When we have our young people on drugs, they are us. They are our blood and our community members. We have to do things to help them," Gaetani said.
Walto said jobs is what will end the cycle of poverty and crime. Again she cited the William College alumni network as ways to bring more jobs to the city. She added that she'd stop impoverished people from other areas from moving in.
"Poverty will not be here, we will eradicate it," Walto said.
Walto said she isn't sure if she'd appoint the current police and fire chiefs to the positions, both are "acting chiefs" and have been for years. She said there are benefits from appointing them to the positions but the Civil Service system may need to be reexamined.
Bianchi doesn't support the Civil Service system and has been looking to move the chiefs out of that system and hire through a different process. He said he won't be appointing anyone to the seats until a new hiring system is put in place. He refuted the idea that the "acting" title makes it more difficult to perform the duties saying there is no such thing as a permanent role.
"People serve in the position they hold until they are no longer capable to do that job," Bianchi said.
Tyer, however, says the acting title puts the chiefs in a role susceptible to the political whims of a mayor, who can remove them more easily. She said the acting title may serve mayors well but it does a disservice to those serving underneath the chiefs.
"We have serious crime issues in our city and we have gangs and drugs. We cannot function and make good decisions when the lead law enforcement official doesn't have the full authority," Tyer said.
Gaetani, meanwhile, says he'd be firing both the police and fire chief. So, no, he wouldn't be appointing chiefs. Those two would follow the firing of Commissioner of Public Utilities Bruce Collingwood, Gaetani said, who was responsible for poor plowing of the roads last winter.
"We have a massive amount of incompetence in Mr. Collingwood," Gaetani said.
He said he'd replace Collingwood with Lawrence Wang, whom he claims co-invented the Krofka Sandfloat System for wastewater treatment centers alongside Gaetani and who would work for a significantly lower salary.
 Incumbent Daniel Bianchi defended his administration's actions and was confident the city was prepared for winter. |
"We are totally prepared. We have sand and salt contracts in place and we are ready to go," Bianchi said.
The mayor had come under fire last winter when a series of storms hit and the roads were not as easily traveled as in other towns. The mayor then said there was a supply shortage and the winter was abnormally harsh.
Tyer says it was more than just a harsh winter and is calling for a complete reassessment of how the city's operations work. She said the roads were bad because of a "lack of oversight."
Walto, meanwhile, says the subcontractors who plow side streets need to be taught how to do the job better. She said the younger workers don't know how to do the job right.
None of the candidates said they would close a fire station. Tyer and Walto both shot down the idea immediately while Bianchi cited support for public safety but didn't say whether or not he'd consider closing a station. Gaetani said the new chief — since he's firing the current chief — will have to do an assessment of response time before that decision could be made.
Overall, Gaetani says he goal in the race is to give the city back to the taxpayers. He said both Tyer and Bianchi are "good old boy" candidates.
Walto says she is running because nothing has changed in the last 15 years and she'd like to leave the city in a better place than it was when she grew up here in the 1950s.
Tyer said her priories would be to lead the city to become innovative and thriving but also manage the city well by creating a shared vision, support, and accountability with the city employees.
Bianchi cited a number of achievements and business growth happening in the city and promised to continue fulfilling his plan for Pittsfield.
Tags: #PittsfieldElection, debate, election 2015, preliminary election,
