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Parks and Open Space Manager Jim McGrath shows a map last spring of the city's riverside projects at the cleared site for the Westside Riverway Park.

Pittsfield's Riverway Project Awarded $75K NEA Grant

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NEA's Jane Chu in one of the Masthead project's mobile writing studios in Pittsfield last June.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Westside Riverway Park project is receiving a grant of $75,000 through the National Endowment of the Arts' Our Town program. 
 
The award was announced Wednesday by NEA Chairman Jane Chu. It is one of 60 awards totaling $4.1 million for projects across the nation. 
 
The City of Pittsfield's Office of Cultural Development is one of the recommended organizations for a grant of $75,000 to use for the design of the Westside Riverway Park in Pittsfield.
 
"The variety and quality of these Our Town projects speaks to the wealth of creativity and diversity in our country," Chu said in a statement. "Through the work of organizations such as the Cultural Development Office in Pittsfield, NEA funding invests in local communities, helping people celebrate the arts wherever they are."
 
The site of the future Westside Riverway Park is located five blocks west of North Street, at the intersection of Dewey Avenue and Bradford Street, along the west branch of the Housatonic River. This grant will fund community design and planning sessions with the Westside Neighborhood Initiative and Working Cities Pittsfield Initiative, ultimately leading to the design of the park and related outdoor pavilions, including a pedestrian bridge, river overlook, open-air gathering spaces and a walking loop from North Street.
 
"The City of Pittsfield is home to both a vibrant arts and culture community and amazing natural resources," said Mayor Linda Tyer in a statement. "The NEA's award will continue the development of the Westside Riverway Park, a space that will offer our residents and visitors a dedicated and accessible space to enjoy Pittsfield’s natural beauty."
 
The vision for the Westside Riverway Park was first outlined in 2007, when Pittsfield took part in UrbanRiver Visions 2, a program through the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to study the reuse of vacant and underutilized riverfront areas along the west branch of the Housatonic River. 
 
Since that plan, the city has advanced preparatory work at the site through federal Community Development Block Grants and funds from the Environmental Protection Agency. Contaminated soils have been remediated and the land is ready to be developed.
 
The NEA Our Town Grant for the design of the park was spearheaded by local architects Tessa Kelly and Chris Parkinson in collaboration with the city's Office of Cultural Development and Office of Community Development. This is the second NEA Our Town grant that the Office of Cultural Development has received in partnership with Kelly and Parkinson — in 2014, the program launched The Mastheads writers residency, which features five mobile writing studios and ongoing community programming surrounding local literary heritage. Chu visited with the architects and viewed one of the writing studios last summer.

Tags: federal grants,   Housatonic,   NEA,   public parks,   river walk,   

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Pittsfield CPA Committee Funds Half of FY24 Requests

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A few projects are not getting funded by the Community Preservation Committee because of a tight budget.

The projects not making the cut were in the historic preservation and open space and recreation categories and though they were seen as interesting and valuable projects, the urgency was not prevalent enough for this cycle.

"It's a tough year," Chair Danielle Steinmann said.

The panel made its recommendations on Monday after several meetings of presentations from applications. They will advance to the City Council for final approval.  

Two cemetery projects were scored low by the committee and not funded: A $9,500 request from the city for fencing at the West Part Cemetery as outlined in a preservation plan created in 2021 and a $39,500 request from the St. Joseph Cemetery Commission for tombstone restorations.

"I feel personally that they could be pushed back a year," Elizabeth Herland said. "And I think they're both good projects but they don't have the urgency."

It was also decided that George B. Crane Memorial Center's $73,465 application for the creation of a recreational space would not be funded. Herland said the main reason she scored the project low was because it didn't appear to benefit the larger community as much as other projects do.

There was conversation about not funding The Christian Center's $34,100 request for heating system repairs but the committee ended up voting to give it $21,341 when monies were left over.

The total funding request was more than $1.6 million for FY24 and with a budget of $808,547, only about half could be funded. The panel allocated all of the available monies, breaking down into $107,206 for open space and recreation, $276,341 for historic preservation, and $425,000 for community housing.

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