Election 2009: Caccamo Goal Is Sustainable Community

11:22AM / Tuesday, September 08, 2009Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Mayoral candidate Nicholas J. Caccamo says developing a more sustainable community can mean keeping the current trash removal system intact for residents:

Being a more sustainable community means meeting the needs of Pittsfield today, without affecting the needs of tomorrow. Easy ways the city can become more sustainable is to increase its recycling efforts each week and take on personal composting in our back yards. These simple efforts would help lower the cities waste disposal costs at the end of year and keep the current trash removal system intact.

■ The first step to increasing city recycling efforts is to make sure all residents know what is and what is not recyclable. Next, residents need to understand what composting is and why is it useful. The benefits of composting for the resident include:

■ As the city prepares to again debate shifting towards a more regulated trash removal program, composting will help families to more easily meet the requirements of this program.

■ The less trash collected by the city each week would reduce the end of year cost of total trash removal.

■ Composting provides residents with a method to utilize leaves during the fall, reducing personal yard waste removal costs.

A long-term goal I have for becoming more sustainable community would be to create a three-bin waste system at all schools in Pittsfield. The system would have one bin each for trash, recyclables, and compostable materials. With additional education, students would understand that not all waste is the same and understand how to properly dispose of their particular items. The system would pay dividends in the future as students take this information back home and continue to practice proper waste disposal as they get older.

More information about my plans to help improve the city can be found at my Web site caccamoformayor.webs.com.

Submitted by the campaign to elected Nicholas J. Caccamo

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Pittsfield Wants People to Know Where Free Public Wifi Is

By Brittany PolitoiBerkhshires Staff
04:46AM / Friday, September 18, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city wants it to be clear where people can connect to free public wifi— which expands beyond downtown.

On Tuesday, the Parks Commission approved "Free Wifi" signage at The Common, Riverway Park, and Durant Park. Community members can access the internet without charge in these locations, as well as in downtown areas.

Two years ago, Pittsfield received a $99,972 Digital Equity Implementation Grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. This allowed the city to take a comprehensive look at digital equity and determine where to focus attention.

"That was a lengthy process that we worked on, and there was a lot of public input. We did some surveying. We met with a lot of focus groups; [Berkshire Regional Planning Commission] was the group that spearheaded that for us, and one of the things that came up was the lack of accessible wifi," Director of Community Development Justine Dodds reported. "Particularly in the westside."

Throughout this process, residents also wanted to see connectivity at the nearby Westside Riverway Park.

In 2023, Pittsfield was selected to participate in the Municipal Digital Equity Planning Program launched by the state and MBI, focused on ensuring residents can use the internet to conduct day-to-day activities. A digital equity plan also qualifies Pittsfield for additional grant funding.

Around 16,000 city households qualified for the Federal Communications Commission's affordable internet program that ended in 2024.

Dodds said adding Wi-FI and signage to Durant and Riverway Parks is a small piece of the larger digital equity project. Signage is already downtown, and the city plans to hire the same designer for the expanded wayfinding so it is cohesive.

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