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Diane Pero and Dana Doyle both opposed restoring Johnny's Beach Club's hours.

Pittsfield Bars Raising Security After Shooting Incidents

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Metal detectors are coming to city bars.
 
Johnny's Beach Club on Wahconah Street has become the first bar to have a full metal detector and the staff at Lach's Lounge will soon have metal detecting wands.
 
The moves come in the wake of separate shootings involving the two establishments. The two owners outlined their new security plans to the Licensing Board on Monday.
 
"It's getting out of control. Bars are going to have to get wands or metal detectors to stay in business," said Licensing Board member Richard Stockwell. 
 
Johnny's Beach Club owner John Giardina says entering his nightclub will now be similar to entering a courthouse. He said he spent upward of $5,000 to install the full-body security system and anyone who sets it off will be searched by staff. 
 
"It is the exact same set up as the courthouse," Giardina said. "You don't want to do it but at this point, we have no choice."
 
Giardina was brought before the Licensing Board after a 20-year-old man was shot on Sept. 25. The Licensing Board last month ordered the bar to close at midnight as the members waited for more information to make a ruling. On Monday, the board reversed that order, allowing the bar to stay open until 2 a.m. again — though only by a 3-2 vote margin. 
 
"I am troubled that this is a major incident that happened at your bar," said board member Diane Pero, who along with Dana Doyle voted against restoring the hours. "You have a clientele that seems to bring trouble to your bar."
 
The board had a question over whether the shooting happened inside the bar or not.
 
Attorney Mark Brennan, representing Giardina, said staff did not hear the shot nor did they know what happened until the end of the night, when a patron said something about it. The bartender then called Giardina and the police to report the incident. The next day Giardina provided police with video surveillance of the incident.
 
"We've done everything we could do as a license holder," Brennan said.
 
However, Police Lt. Michael Grady says he is "confident" that everyone was aware of what happened and that police should have been notified earlier. After watching the tape, board member Thomas Campoli said it was very clear that there was a loud noise — likely the shooting.
 
"We should have gotten a phone call right then and there," Grady said.
 
After the noise, a man is seen limping out of the bar, presumably after being shot in the foot. At the last hearing, Brennan argued that the man may have had the gun in his waistband and it may have mistakenly gone off.
 
David Moody, 23, was seen on film stuffing a weapon into his pants and was later arrested and charged with unlicensed possession of a firearm.
 
Grady said Police are getting little to no cooperation from witnesses at the scene but have received "100 percent" cooperation from Giardina. 
 
"I don't think you should be punished. You cooperated with police," Stockwell said.
 
Meanwhile, on Fenn Street, staff at Lach's Lounge will soon be equipped with wands to keep weapons out.
 
Grady said police responded there for a disturbance on Oct. 31 at 1:13 in the morning. Upon arrival, officers found the bar being cleared out by employees and were told the two parties involved in the disturbance had left.
 
Shortly after, police were called to Lincoln Street where one man had been shot. Anthony Robertson, 33, was arrested nearly two weeks later and charged with  assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building and carrying a firearm without a license.
 
Grady told the Licensing Board that when officers first arrived, a staff member at Lach's Lounge said he saw a gun but the man with it had left. When another officer returned after the shooting to investigate, that same staff member's story changed, Grady said, and that the man with the weapon was in the bar when police first arrived.
 
"It needs to be the first things that gets told," Grady said.
 
Campoli said if staff told police about the gun in the first place, the shooting may never have occurred.
 
Owner Arthur Beattie Jr. said he was out of town when the incident happened but since then, he placed an order for wands. He doesn't dispute that there was a gun in the bar but it is unclear whether or not the man with the weapon was inside when police arrived.
 
"I'm going to get wands to make sure [weapons] don't get in," Beattie said. "I don't want it to happen again."
 
Unlike Johnny's Beach Club, which has a sordid history that the board has had to deal with, Lach's Lounge has never had a complaint lodged against it. The board opted not to dish out any type of punishment to the Beattie.
 
"We're putting you on notice," Doyle told Beattie, warning him that should another similar complaint come before the board she'd be looking to reduce hours.
 
The lack of punishment for both establishments did yield one objection. Ellen Mary D'Agostino, who frequently voices opinions on city matter to various boards and commissions, called on the board to take public safety more serious.
 
"It's out of control. These clubs are the dark places in the community where irresponsible behavior flourishes," D'Agostino said. 
 
She also opposed a change in Sunday hours for Cim's Tavern. The board approved the change allowing the bar to open as early as 10 a.m. on Sunday, an hour earlier. 

Tags: license board,   shooting,   

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MassDOT Project Will Affect Traffic Near BMC

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Prepare for traffic impacts around Berkshire Medical Center through May for a state Department of Transportation project to improve situations and intersections on North Street and First Street.

Because of this, traffic will be reduced to one lane of travel on First Street (U.S. Route 7) and North Street between Burbank Street and Abbott Street from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday through at least May 6.

BMC and Medical Arts Complex parking areas remain open and detours may be in place at certain times. The city will provide additional updates on changes to traffic patterns in the area as construction progresses.

The project has been a few years in the making, with a public hearing dating back to 2021. It aims to increase safety for all modes of transportation and improve intersection operation.

It consists of intersection widening and signalization improvements at First and Tyler streets, the conversion of North Street between Tyler and Stoddard Avenue to serve one-way southbound traffic only, intersection improvements at Charles Street and North Street, intersection improvements at Springside Avenue and North Street, and the construction of a roundabout at the intersection of First Street, North Street, Stoddard Avenue, and the Berkshire Medical Center entrance.

Work also includes the construction of 5-foot bike lanes and 5-foot sidewalks with ADA-compliant curb ramps.  

Last year, the City Council approved multiple orders for the state project: five orders of takings for intersection and signal improvements at First Street and North Street. 

The total amount identified for permanent and temporary takings is $397,200, with $200,000 allocated by the council and the additional monies coming from carryover Chapter 90 funding. The state Transportation Improvement Plan is paying for the project and the city is responsible for 20 percent of the design cost and rights-of-way takings.

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