William D. Bean
Candidate For City Council Ward 1 - PittsfieldA former Lee selectman, William Bean hopes to bring his experience in municipal government to the city, where he's lived for nearly five years. Enraged by what he viewed as a gross misuse of public funds, Bean, 62, threw his hat into the political arena because he "can't sit back and let things happen."
Bean moved to the Berkshires in 1970 from Pennsylvania to work for Kaufman Brothers, which eventually became KB Toys. A Navy veteran, Bean served in Vietnam and is now retired.
"I have the time and energy to do city politics," he said.
For Bean, economic development is the biggest issue for the city and the cultural economy is not the answer.
"A city of this size has a lot of issues and we're facing some big challenges with job loss. It's mind-boggling that we're wasting money, squandering millions on the Colonial Theatre and Barrington Stage Company. Something about that is not right. We need jobs - real jobs - not service jobs, not restaurants," Bean said.
Bean called for an investigation into the uses of the General Electric Economic Development Fund, which provided $1 million a year for 10 years to the city to boost its economy. According to Bean, he'd like to see that money used to attract more businesses to the area, not tourists.
"I would like to see the area marketed better, not just as a tourist attraction. Any municipality in Berkshire County, in the state, would love to have that kind of money and we're wasting it," he said.
Bean said the issues he cares about most are lowering taxes, controlling spending, tackling the bullying problem in schools and curbing high school dropout rates, providing more officers on the streets to aid in controlling drugs and crime and boosting special education programs.
"We have some serious problems here. If the voters want the same as always, they'll vote for [incumbent Lewis] Markham. If they want change, they'll vote for me," Bean said. |
