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Parks and Open Spaces Manager Jim McGrath briefed the Parks Commission on the ongoing efforts Tuesday night.

Pittsfield's Clapp Park Could Be Next To See Major Upgrades

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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Clapp Park could be the next park to see a major upgrade.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Clapp Park could see a major upgrade in the coming years.
 
The city has partnered with the Rotary Club and the Buddy Pellerin Field Committee on a state grant to complete a major park renovation.
 
The Pellerin Field Committee is a private collection of residents who first got the baseball field at the park renamed after longtime coach Buddy Pellerin and then teamed up to raise money for park improvements.
 
They have already made a number of upgrades to the baseball field and they still have more in mind.
 
At the same time, the Rotary Club has raised money to install a splash pad near the playground area.
 
"The Rotary Club has been a great partner with the city and we look forward to working with them," Parks and Open Spaces Manager James McGrath said.
 
In total, the project will cost some $610,000, with $400,000 hopefully coming from the state. McGrath said the plans include improvements to not only the baseball field and the addition of splash pads, but also look at improving parking, restrooms, and "a number of other issues that need to be addressed."
 
"We applied for the grant and we hope to hear in early October whether this has been funded," McGrath said. 
 
He added, "there is zero match from the city of Pittsfield." 
 
That type of improvement to parks has become a trend. In a short period of time, the Parks Commission approved changing the names of three city parks after being petitioned by residents and all three groups have followed through with efforts to spruce the respective parks up.
 
In October 2015, Pitt Park was renamed after Rosemary and Rev. Willard Durant Park. A year later, those same community members behind the name change performed a community build to put in a new playground, which was funded through the federal Community Development Block Grant program. McGrath said on Tuesday that in just a few weeks, new signage will be installed at the park.
 
In October 2016, the Parks Commission approved changing the name of Highland Park after Christopher R. Porter. On Tuesday, McGrath said new equipment has been ordered to replace the aging playground there and that the volunteers behind that effort will be holding a community build, too, on July 29.
 
"They've raised a lot of money to start making a lot of improvements at the park," he said. "That equipment is in the order of $14,000, $15,000 and that was entirely raised by the neighborhood group." 
 
New fencing has been installed and benches have been priced out. McGrath said he will next be looking to install new signage there.
 
As for park signage, the city is looking to replace all signs in the park system to make them standardized. The Parks Commission previously approved a design, which is similar to the signs used at the conservation areas but with a different background color, and now McGrath says he'll be looking to craft a long-term plan to change them out. 
 
"We'd like to see all of the parks have the consistent signage. ... Eventually, the idea is to brand all of the parks together," McGrath said. 
 
He later added, "Once we get the Durant Park ones in, we can take a step back, take a breather, and then develop that long-range change out plan."

Tags: parks commission,   playgrounds,   public parks,   

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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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