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Quentin Palfrey is the Democrat's nominee for lieutenant governor.
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Sherwood Guernsey
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Adam Hinds
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Andrea Harrington
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Quentin Palfrey
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The office is on North Street.

Democrats Open Pittsfield HQ For November's Election Push

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier introduced Andrea Harrington, calling her successful campaign for the Democratic nomination an inspiration.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With the primaries in the rearview mirror, Democrats are gearing up for the -final election push.
 
Locally the party opened a North Street headquarters for the coordinated campaign.
 
The office will serve as the local headquarters for campaign staffer working on behalf of Democratic candidates up and down the ticket -- from Congress to district attorney.
 
"We have an incredible slate of Democratic candidates from the top to our incredible local winner Andrea Harrington for district attorney," said Sherwood Guernsey,  a former state senator and a founder of the Berkshire Brigades.
 
In Congress, Democrats will be pushing for the re-elections of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. Richard Neal. 
 
"When Democrats win, we have criminal just reform here in Massachusetts. When the Democrats win, we can stand up to what the heck is happening in Washington, D.C., and what is happening in the White House. That's why we need to elect Senator Warren and Representative Neal to go right back to Washington because that is where the real fight is as well," said state Sen. Adam Hinds said. 
 
At the state level, Jay Gonzalez and Quentin Palfrey are representing the Democrats in the race for governor and lieutenant governor. Maura Healey is seeking re-election for attorney general, Suzanne Bump for auditor, Deborah Goldberg for treasurer, and Bill Galvin for secretary of state. 
 
"All of those candidates are qualified, experienced, and they will do the job for all of us, for the average working men and women our party has always stood up for," Guernsey said. 
 
Palfrey spoke at Thursday's office opening, saying Republican Gov. Charlie Baker can be beaten if the party can energize its base. He cited high turnouts in primaries and a surge of first-time voters heading to the polls to show the numbers are there for Democrats to take back the state's corner office.
 
"There has been a  lot of pessimism about the ability of the Democratic ticket to beat Baker and Polito. Two weeks ago we saw what needs to happen to take back the corner office and what that is is a surge of Democratic enthusiasm," Palfrey said.
 
Gonzalez has taken on the slogan "Aim High" and Palfrey believes that by taking the corner office, the state can do just that. He said with support from the governor's office in Gonzalez and himself, Massachusetts can tackle transportation, education, college affordability, move toward single-payer health care, and tackle the opioid epidemic.
 
"Jay has a bold vision for leading Massachusetts forward, for investing in transportation and education, economic development, and really tackling the very serious challenges we have in Massachusetts," Palfrey said.
 
Locally, there isn't much for contested races. Hinds, State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, and state Rep. Paul Mark were all in attendance despite being on the ballots unopposed. Nonetheless, they voiced their support for the Democrat's push for November. 
 
"There is this really strange idea out there that our governor can't be beaten. That's B.S. We know what the numbers are, we know what the demographics are, we know that if we energize our base, we work as a team with the energy and expertise of the Warren campaign, brought together with the Palfrey and Gonzalez enthusiasm for what we can do in this state," Farley-Bouvier said. 
 
Farley-Bouvier called for Democrats to "bring our state to the next level." The other local state Legislature Democrats are William "Smitty" Pignatelli and John Barrett III, both are also uncontested and neither attended the opening.
 

The local state legislative officials have uncontested races.
The Pittsfield representative recognized Harrington's work in the district attorney's race by upsetting the incumbent in the primary. Farley-Bouvier called that campaign an inspiration for what Democrats can do in November.
 
"This was not me, I did not do this, I did this with an amazing team of people from all over this county," Harrington said of that campaign effort.
 
But, Harrington continued to say that 62 percent of the voters "wanted change," referring to both her and fellow progressive candidate Judith Knight's vote totals. 
 
"It is time for this community to have a district attorney that reflects the values and the principals of our party, who believe in justice for all," Harrington said.
 
Harrington's race isn't quite over, though many believed it should have been by now because no other party has a candidate on the ballot. In the three-way race for the Democratic nomination, Harrington just squeaked by the incumbent Paul Caccaviello by about 700 votes. Caccaviello isn't giving up and believes that can be overcome by opening himself up to voters of other parties. He is mounting a write-in campaign on the November ballot.
 
The local Democrats, however, seemed to coalesce around their nominee, with former Knight supporters at the opening wearing Harrington campaign stickers. 
 
"We've got to aim higher than we have in the last few years with our present governor. The status quo doesn't work. The status quo didn't work in the DA's office, that's what the voters said. Status quo is not going to work statewide for Gov. Baker," Guernsey, who backed Knight in the primary, said.
 
Optimism is strong about the Democrat's chances in November. The coordinated campaign has gotten a particularly large boost by Warren, who put a significant amount of campaign funds behind it.
 
"When Democrats fight, Democrats win," Hinds said. 

Tags: Democratic Party,   election 2018,   


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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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