North Adams to Consolidate Parks Sports Programming

Kids dance at Brayton Field during National Night Out. The idea is to make the park a green space and remove the athletic installations.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city will start consolidating and decommissioning neighborhood parks and move all activity to Alcombright and Noel Field athletic complexes.

NOTE: The focus is on sports, specifically baseball/softball.

The Parks Commission on Monday night gave its blessing to the plan to start dismantling four parks and consolidating to the two main complexes to lighten the load for the shrinking Department of Public Works.

"When you think of the staffing levels that we have, the only way we are going to have quality fields is to focus on two complexes that we can maintain and begin divesting ourselves of the other areas," Administrative Officer Michael Canales said.

Commissioner Mark Vadnais said the first parks to be dismantled would likely be Freeman and Brayton.

Freeman, on Eagle Street and Hospital Avenue, was the site of the former junior high school; it has a neighborhood playground and hosts girl's minor league softball and basketball.

Brayton is on Barbour Street below Brayton School and the YMCA; it also has a neighborhood playground and hosts softball, baseball, youth soccer, basketball.

"We can move or destroy the dugouts, take up any pegs, mounds or plates and then let it go to seed and then we just cut it," he said. "Just make it a green space."

He said next would be Kemp Park and Fallon Field, which will be more involved.

Little League currently uses Fallon Field, next to Greylock School, and before the city can abandon the field, it would have to establish a Little League field at one of the two complexes. He said they would most likely establish a field at Noel Field on State Street.

Kemp Park has a recently installed playground, a field for Little League baseball and a basketball court. It used to have a skating rink.

Cost, Access to NBCTC High Among Concerns North Berkshire Residents

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
06:15PM / Thursday, April 25, 2024

Adams Select Chair Christine Hoyt, NBCTC Executive Director David Fabiano and William Solomon, the attorney representing the four communities, talk after the session. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Public access channels should be supported and made more available to the public — and not be subject to a charge.

 

More than three dozen community members in-person and online attended the public hearing  Wednesday on public access and service from Spectrum/Charter Communications. The session at City Hall was held for residents in Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg and North Adams to express their concerns to Spectrum ahead of another 10-year contract that starts in October.

 

Listening via Zoom but not speaking was Jennifer Young, director state government affairs at Charter.

 

One speaker after another conveyed how critical local access television is to the community and emphasized the need for affordable and reliable services, particularly for vulnerable populations like the elderly. 

 

"I don't know if everybody else feels the same way but they have a monopoly," said Clarksburg resident David Emery. "They control everything we do because there's nobody else to go to. You're stuck with with them."

 

Public access television, like the 30-year-old Northern Berkshire Community Television, is funded by cable television companies through franchise fees, member fees, grants and contributions.

 

Spectrum is the only cable provider in the region and while residents can shift to satellite providers or streaming, Northern Berkshire Community Television is not available on those alternatives and they may not be easy for some to navigate. For instance, the Spectrum app is available on smart televisions but it doesn't include PEG, the public, educational and governmental channels provided by NBCTC.