Pittsfield Notes

By Jack Guillet12:00AM / Friday, June 06, 2003Print Story | Email Story

EARTH WEEK EVENTS Earth Day is Tuesday, April 22; Arbor Day is Friday, April 25 In an effort to mobilize citizens and students in the spirit of Earth Week, a cleanup of five of Pittsfield's most popular parks is scheduled for Saturday, April 26, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sponsored by Berkshire Community College Water Watch and the city's Parks Department, the first annual "Berkshire County Cares" will involve 100 volunteers sprucing up Clapp, Springside, Burbank, Brattleboro and Kirvin parks. The rain date for the cleanup is the following day - Sunday, April 27 - during the same times. "The day will foster local community spirit and collaboration between neighbors to revitalize local recreation areas," a press release states. For more information, call Meagan Kane at 262-7821. The Friends of Springside Park in Pittsfield will hold their annual cleanup and beautification of the park on Saturday, April 26, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This year's event is in conjunction with Earth Day and a citywide park cleanup project sponsored by the Parks Department and involving Berkshire Community College students. The rain date is Sunday, April 27 at the same times. The meeting place will be at the old children's zoo area near the current playground off of upper North Street. For more information, contact Royal Hartigan at (508) 999-8572. An Arbor Day celebration at the Hebert Arboretum is scheduled for Friday, April 25 at 12:30 p.m. Located at Springside Park, the arboretum is a living tree library, which includes native ecosystems, ornamental trees and perennial gardens. The arboretum and the park are located at 874 North St. (Route 7). OTHER EVENTS A Berkshire Young Professionals Networking Social will be held on Thursday, April 24, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at Patrick's Pub, which is located at 26 Bank Row. Complimentary hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar will be available during the social, which was scheduled by the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce. According to a press release, Berkshire Young Professionals events are open to all young professionals living and/or working in Berkshire County. Networking socials are hosted at popular venues throughout the county, in an effort to address the challenge of forming connections, which young professionals value, and to serve as the foundation on which young professionals build their careers, friendships and communities. This is the first event of 2003 for the BYP group, which is under the new direction of co-chairs Betsy Strickler, of Winstanley Associates, and Anton Kaufer, of The Berkshire Eagle. The group has a full schedule planned for the year, including the reinstatement of the very popular Leadership Roundtable breakfasts. In addition the group is planning to take on a community service project this year. To register by phone, call 499-4000, ext. 10; to register online, go to www.berkshirechamber.com. Mayor Sara Hathaway is scheduled to hold her last public input session of the month, on Monday, April 28, from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Community Room of the Berkshire Town Apartments, which are located at 176 Columbus Ave. The free session is part of a series, called "Coffee with Mayor Hathaway," at which she discusses current events and projects in Pittsfield and seeks input from the public. This month she continued her seasonal series of sessions, which began last October and continued this winter in January. Light refreshments are served at the sessions. For more information about these or other public input sessions, call the mayor's office at 499-9321. Hathaway conducted three other public input sessions in April: one on April 3 at Berkshire Community College; one on April 9 at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts; and one on April 14 at Digital Blend, an Internet cafe on North St. A genealogical program, part of a free monthly series, will be held on Thursday, April 24 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Berkshire Athenaeum, which is located at 1 Wendell Ave. Meldon J. Wolfgang III - the proprietor of Martlet Books, of Pittsfield, and Jonathan Sheppard Books, of Albany - will be presenting the program, entitled "The Treasure Between the Boat and the Melting Pot: Using Uncommon Records to Uncover Immigrant Family Clues." The series is sponsored by the Berkshire Family History Association. Four sessions of an intermediate power yoga class will be offered in downtown Pittsfield, starting Tuesday, April 29. The sessions - which will be taught by certified yoga instructor, Susan Slattery - will be held on Tuesday evenings from 4:30 to 6 p.m. The total cost is $40. Call 448-2755 to sign up; no drop-ins please. Sixty-five voices will be singing Johannes Brahms' A German Requiem on in Pittsfield. The 65 voices, which make up the First Church Oratorio Choir, will be singing the piece in English, along with soprano Laura Frank Palmer and baritone Steven Small. Tim Smith will be playing the organ, and Lou Steigler will be conducting. The public is invited, and a freewill offering will be accepted. The church is located at 27 East St. The fourth annual Pittsfield FolkFest is scheduled for Saturday, April 26 at 7 p.m. in the Boland Theatre on the campus of Berkshire Community College; doors are set to open at 6:15 p.m. This year the FolkFest will feature Bill Morrissey; sisters Nerissa and Katryna Nields; and Adam Michael Rothberg, who was raised in the Berkshires. Advance tickets, which cost $25 and $20, are available at Wood Bros. Music, located in the Allendale Shopping Center in Pittsfield (447-7478); WUPE radio studios, located at 501 East St. in Pittsfield (499-1100); the BCC Office of Student Life (499-4660, ext. 291); and Juice N' Java in Lee, located at 60 Main St. (243-3131). Pittsfield schools join with Berkshire Community Action Council to meet this year's Feinstein challenge: Berkshire Community Action Council, Inc. has received word that Rhode Island philanthropist, Alan Shawn Feinstein, will match any donation of $15 or more made to food pantries and soup kitchens before April 30. Mr.Feinstein will match up to a total of $1 million raised throughout the country. Participating agencies will get their share of the $1 million in proportion to the amount of donations raised locally. Past Feinstein challenges have helped raise over $120 million dollars nationally. BCAC is participating in the program in an effort to raise funds for the three pantries operated by the agency. BCAC operates pantries at 8 Castle St., Great Barrington, 1531 East St., Pittsfield, and 85 Main Street, North Adams. Pantries in Pittsfield and throughout Berkshire County have seen a significant rise in requests for food over the years, but in this past year, some food providers see the increases as markedly dramatic. More than 4,200 people requested food from the BCAC pantries at least one time this past year. This number represents a 26 percent increase in pantry usage over the previous year, and in Pittsfield almost twice as many families received food from the pantry this March as opposed last year's average. Feinstein has added another feature to the challenge this year. Schools that collect food items for a local anti-hunger agency are eligible for fifty $1000 cash awards and national recognition. Small schools have an equal chance of winning an award since the program considers school enrollment, and awards will be made proportionally. Also, Feinstein will give a 50 cent value to each donated food item, and they will add that amount to BCAC's total toward its share of the $1 million match. BCAC has partnered with eight Pittsfield Schools to meet this new challenge. BCAC will present trophies, donated by Randall Trophies, to the schools collecting the most food items in their group. Donald P. Atwater, the executive director of BCAC said, "We are very excited about the prospect of working with the children on this drive. Our pantry resources are down by as much as 18 percent from last year at this time, and our demand for food is way up. We really think the involvement of the schools will make a big difference for the pantries." The elementary schools participating in the challenge are Allendale, Capeless, Crosby, Egremont, and Morningside. Herberg, Reid and Hibbard are taking the challenge in the middle and high school categories. Each of these schools and their students is taking on the challenge to help a local food pantry serve their neighbors with greatly needed food donations. As well as showing their "community spiritedness," they could win $1000 for their school, receive national and local recognition, increase BCAC's share of the $1 million challenge, and vie for the trophy. Individual and business donors may send their checks to support the food pantries to Berkshire Community Action Council, 1531 East Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201. Donors may designate which of the three BCAC pantries they would like their contribution and matching money to go to. To comply with the challenge guidelines, donations eligible for matching need to be of $25 or more and BCAC must receive them at the Pittsfield office no later than April 30. For further information please contact Shirley MacDonald at 445-4503. Free smoking cessation program offered by Berkshire Medical Center: For those looking to kick the smoking habit once and for all, Berkshire Medical Center is offering a smoking cessation program to run from early May through the first week of June. The program, which meets on consecutive Thursdays for a five-week period is free of charge, but preregistration is required. The classes are for any smoker who has been trying to cut down or quit altogether and can't do it alone. The smoking cessation program will be offered on Thursdays beginning with May 8 and continuing on May 15, 22 and 29, concluding on June 5. The program runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Accent on Health Conference Room at the Berkshire Medical Center Hillcrest Campus on Tor Court. The program itself is free and nicotine patches or gum will be made available to participants at little or no cost. The program is limited to 12 participants and pre-registration is necessary.To register, interested participants may call the Berkshire Medical Center Community Health Information Center in Pittsfield at 395-7877. The week of April 21, The Puppet People will be performing The Last Dragon daily at the Berkshire Museum, which is located at 39 South St. Performances will be held at 11 a.m., Monday, April 21, through Friday, April 25. Two performances will be held on Saturday, April 26, one at 11 a.m. and one at 2 p.m. To get more information about The Puppet People, the group can be called at (518) 393-2268; their website is www.puppetpeople.org. The Berkshire Museum is planning a wine event to kick off Summer, 2003 in the Berkshires. Wine, Women and 100 Years, which benefits the Museum's educational programs, will be held on Saturday, May 17. The spectacular event celebrates the Museum's Centennial, and features honored guest May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, proprietor of Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. The evening begins at the Museum at 4:30 p.m., with a fabulous silent auction, wine tastings and food pairings. Then, while sipping great champagne during the live auction, guests get a chance to bid on rare wines from Chateau Petrus Pomerol, Screaming Eagle Cabernet, Domaine Comte Georges de VogÅ¸Å½, and priceless trips to fantasy Chateaux and exotic locales, auctioned by Jamie Ritchie of Sotheby's. Wine auction guests will be the first to view an impressive contemporary glass exhibition featuring works from Dale Chihuly, William Morris, Thomas Patti, Lino Tagliapietra and other masters of contemporary glass art. This exhibition will run until Sept. 1, complementing the Museum's major summer exhibition, "William Morris: Myth, Object and the Animal." Extraordinary table settings inspired by famous and infamous women of the last 100 years is also a featured exhibition during the wine auction. The evening culminates in spectacular after auction gala wine dinners at Blantyre, Taggart House, Ventfort Hall, Wheatleigh. For Wine, Women and 100 Years ticket and price information, contact the Berkshire Museum, at 443-7171, ext. 10. Centennial celebrations are sponsored by Berkshire Bank. First computer classroom in Malpaisillo, Nicaragua: Susan Gordon and James Moran, who recently returned from a visit to Pittsfield's Sister City of Malpaisillo, Nicaragua have announced that seventy students are currently taking classes in Malpaisillo's first computer classroom. The classroom, located in the Women's Center in Malpaisillo, is stocked with ten used computers donated by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown. This classroom is the first in Malpaisillo to be accessible to the general public. The computers were sent to Malpaisillo as part of the continuing sponsorship of Berkshire Amistad, a non-profit organization which promotes sustainable development. As Moran and Gordon tell it, there has been an amazing transformation at the Women's Center during the past four years. According to Susan Gordon, it was only four years ago that a delegation from Pittsfield visited the Women's Center. At that time the center had no materials to work with, and the directors were so intimidated by computers that they were afraid to open the box of the first computer sent from Pittsfield. Setting up classes, first with sewing machines and more recently with computers, the Women's Center has offered classes to women and men, enabling them to acquire employable skills. In the process of providing this valuable resource to the community, the women on the Directorate at the Women's Center have gained confidence in themselves and take justifiable pride in what they have accomplished. Initiated in 1985, the relationship between Malpaisillo and Pittsfield was officially recognized by proclamation of the mayors of the two towns during a visit of six Nicaraguans, including the Mayor of Malpaisillo, to Pittsfield in 1992. Malpaisillo, Nicaragua is a town of about 7,000 people and the municipal center for a population of 35,000. In the middle of an agricultural region, Malpaisillo has had severe unemployment of more than 50 percent since the collapse of the cotton industry a decade ago. Competing with Honduras and Haiti for this dubious distinction, Nicaragua is considered to be the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. In the past eighteen years Berkshire Amistad has sent more than 25 shipments of material to Malpaisillo. These shipments of materials donated by individuals and institutions in Berkshire County have included hospital beds and medical supplies, dental equipment and wheelchairs, sewing machines, school supplies and sports equipment. On Saturday April 5 the latest shipment of material was loaded into a shipping container in New Haven, Conn. This shipment, which will arrive in Malpaisillo in about a month, contains school supplies, wheel chairs, walkers, and eight more computers. These additional computers, also donated by the Clark Art Institute, will allow the Women's Center to receive national computer certification. There are other facets to the Sister City relationship of Malpaisillo and Pittsfield. During the past six years Berkshire Amistad, working with the Sister City Committee in Malpaisillo, has established several revolving loan funds. One of these funds provides micro enterprise loans to women who prepare and sell food for a living. Donations from the Pittsfield Rotary Club have enabled families to purchase livestock and provided credit to public sector workers to buy bicycles for transportation in their work. More than two hundred families have participated in these loan programs. In the area of education Berkshire Amistad has facilitated an exchange of photographs and information about daily life between the Conte Elementary School students and Valle la Zapata elementary school students in Malpaisillo. In response to inadequate housing in Malpaisillo, Berkshire Amistad initiated contact between Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity and Habitat for Humanity in Nicaragua. Planning has begun for a 10-day Habitat for Humanity work delegation from Pittsfield to Malpaisillo in November 2003. With funding generated by Central Berkshire Habitat there are now four work sites under construction in Malpaisillo and six more that are about to start. Anyone interested in joining the work delegation can leave a message at the Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity office at 442-3181. Poet Laureate named for Pittsfield: Concluding a process begun nearly a year ago, The Pittsfield Cultural Council has chosen the first Poet Laureate for the City of Pittsfield. At their meeting on Wednesday, April 9, the voting judges, drawn from the active membership of the Council, unanimously selected Timothy M. Sheldon, a Pittsfield resident, as the winner of the competition. He will be officially presented to the public by the Cultural Council and Mayor Sara Hathaway in a ceremony on the steps of Pittsfield's City Hall on Wednesday, April 30 at 3 p.m. Sheldon was one of five finalists chosen from the many poets who submitted work in January and February of this year. His publications include "Christmas Bows for Dog and Cat" and "Christmastime at Children's Hall," in Animal Life Magazine and the verse drama Roe Hill, produced and broadcast in 24 episodes by WGBH-FM in 1974-75. He is also the author of The Poetry Play which he plans to see in production this year. All of the submitted poems were read by a group of judges that included guest authors Irene Willis and Richard Nunley, along with council members Paul Barbeau, Lesley Ann Beck, Natalie Gingras, Lucille Landa, Ellen Metropole, Wendy Rabinowitz and Kathleen Shiner, and selected without knowledge of authorship. A secondary group of judges including Beck, Gingras, Landa, Metropole and Cultural Council President, J. Peter Bergman, heard the five finalists in public readings at Barnes and Noble and Bellissimo Dolce. The readings were attended by a total of 72 different people 67 of them at the Barnes and Noble reading, many of them at both. The other four finalists were Cynthia Read Gardner, Carol Stroll, Angela M. Brett and Colin Hollister. In discussion prior to the final vote it was agreed that all five finalists would have been excellent choices to represent the City through this artform. Sheldon will be profiled in the press, some of his work published, and will receive both a plaque and a check from the Cultural Council. His term of service to the City will be for two years beginning on April 30 and he may be called upon during that time to provide poetry for City events. This will be at the discretion of the Mayor and City Council. The Competition was sponsored and funded by the Pittsfield Cultural Council, with the approval and funds from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency that supports public programs in the arts, humanities and sciences. Pittsfield Enterprise Center is hosting a Breakfast Business Forum: Getting to Heart of Outstanding Customer Service - a discussion of what good customer service means to the customer, the employee, and the business. Steven Valenti, owner of Steven Valenti Inc, and Steve Fogel from Berkshire Enterprises, will moderate the discussion. Topics that may be covered include identifying what the customer really wants, empowering employees to meet customer needs, and developing systems that encourage and reward outstanding service. Participants will receive a bibliography of recommended readings on customer service and are encouraged to bring examples of outstanding customer service to share. The Breakfast Business Forum will be held Friday, May 2 from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Pittsfield Enterprises Center at One Fenn St. The Forum is free and a continental breakfast will be served. Space is limited and reservations are required. For a reservation or more information call Steve Fogel at 448-2755 or e-mail sfogel@berkshire.net. The Forums are presented by the Pittsfield Enterprise Center and funded by the City of Pittsfield's GE Economic Development Fund as part of the revitalization for downtown Pittsfield. The Pittsfield Enterprise Center is a home for new and growing businesses, offering on site services, including consulting, copier, high-speed Internet access, furnishings and very low rent. Applications are being accepted for space. The Enterprise Center is run by Berkshire Enterprises and information is available at 448-2755. Sacred Heart Elementary School, 1 Meadow Lane, may be forced to stop admitting students into kindergarten within one week because of high enrollment according to Barbara Boucher principal. "We have only three openings for kindergarten and I expect those to be filled by next week," Boucher said. "We plan for about 40 children in two classrooms at the kindergarten level and we've reached that very quickly this year." Parents, teachers and staff later this year will be conducting an appreciation reception for volunteers assisting with that project. The Sacred Heart school announcement closely follows a similar notice at St. Mark Middle School in which three out of four grades have been waitlisted. Both schools are administered by the Catholic Schools of Pittsfield and operated by the Springfield Catholic Diocese. Boucher can be reached at the school by calling 443-6379. St. Mark Middle School anticipates waiting lists and enrollment caps for most grades in September, according to Beth Gannon, principal. "We are experiencing a large increase in interest this year, far more than in the past," Gannon said. Waiting lists are expected to be instituted in a few weeks for Grades 6, 7 and 8. Grades 6 and 8 will each have three sections and Grade 7 is expected to have four sections. "It now appears that only Grade 5 will have openings in the next school year," Gannon said. There will be three sections of Grade 5. "One suggestion I have been giving parents is that if they want their child to be here in sixth grade in a year or two, they should strive to get them here for fifth grade now. Fifth grade has openings and that will guarantee them a seat in sixth grade," Gannon said. Contributing to the growth, she said, may be that St. Mark focuses on having a strong Catholic identity, rich academic climate and a safe environment. St. Mark has seen unusual growth during the past year. It opened in September, 2002 with 241 students. Enrollment is now 250 and Gannon says she expects it to be around 260 next September. "This is creating the kind of problems we are happy to have," Gannon said. "Capping classes is a difficult decision, but we have to first insure a quality education for the students who are already here." Mayor hires manager for city's animal shelter: Mayor Sara Hathaway announced that Jessica Neary of Pittsfield has been hired as the manager for the Eleanor Sonsini Animal Shelter in Downing Industrial Park. Neary holds a bachelor's degree from Aldephi University, and has experience writing grant proposals. "Ms. Neary's education and background, her work as a volunteer at the shelter, and her compassion for Pittsfield's animal population made her the right choice to bring leadership and organization to the shelter," said Mayor Hathaway. The newly created position's responsibilities include supervision of all volunteers, overseeing financial aspects of the shelter and giving direct care to the animals at the shelter. The shelter manager will also write proposals and secure grants to augment the necessary services at the shelter. Neary will work closely with the City's Animal Control Officer, and will be under the direction of the Chief of Police. Funding for the manager position is derived from annual dog and cat license fees paid by pet owners in the City. Neary is a native of Pittsfield. She has volunteered at the Eleanor Sonsini Municipal Animal Shelter since December of 2001, and has worked for several Berkshire non-profit organizations in positions ranging from program director, to public relations manager and fundraiser. her two dogs, Tiger and Henry, were adopted form the Sonsini Shelter, in 2001 and 2002 respectively.

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Study Recommends 'Removal' for North Adams' Veterans Bridge

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
06:38AM / Saturday, December 13, 2025

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Nearly a year of study and community input about the deteriorating Veterans Memorial Bridge has resulted in one recommendation: Take it down.

The results of the feasibility study by Stoss Landscape Urbanism weren't really a surprise. The options of "repair, replace and remove" kept pointing to the same conclusion as early as last April.

"I was the biggest skeptic on the team going into this project," said Commissioner of Public Services Timothy Lescarbeau. "And in our very last meeting, I got up and said, 'I think we should tear this damn bridge down.'"

Lescarbeau's statement was greeted with loud applause on Friday afternoon as dozens of residents and officials gathered at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art to hear the final recommendations of the study, funded through a $750,000 federal Reconnecting Communities grant.

The Central Artery Project had slashed through the heart of the city back in the 1960s, with the promise of an "urban renewal" that never came. It left North Adams with an aging four-lane highway that bisected the city and created a physical and psychological barrier.

How to connect Mass MoCA with the downtown has been an ongoing debate since its opening in 1999. Once thousands of Sprague Electric workers had spilled out of the mills toward Main Street; now it was a question of how to get day-trippers to walk through the parking lots and daunting traffic lanes.

The grant application was the joint effort of Mass MoCA and the city; Mayor Jennifer Macksey pointed to Carrie Burnett, the city's grants officer, and Jennifer Wright, now executive director of the North Adams Partnership, for shepherding the grant through.

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