Pittsfield Community Television Names Coordinator of Advancement and Community Production

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Bob Heck has been named coordinator of advancement and community production at Pittsfield Community Television.

Heck will be responsible for cultivating funding opportunities for PCTV and WTBR-FM as well as driving community engagement in Pittsfield Community Television and radio.

Heck comes to PCTV with a strong background in broadcasting, including over a decade as a radio personality with Live 95.9 and WBRK-FM.  After leaving radio, Heck returned to school and graduated with an associate degree in business administration from Berkshire Community College in 2017 and recently graduated from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with a bachelor's degree in economics.


"I'm very excited to have an opportunity to stay in broadcasting while being able to work with a terrific community organization like Pittsfield Community Television," Heck said. "In the brief time I've had to work with the staff, board members, and volunteers, they are very passionate about PCTV and WTBR and I'm looking forward to helping Pittsfield Community Television continue to grow."

"Having someone of Bob's caliber in this position will be a tremendous asset to our organization," said Shawn Serre, executive director of PCTV. "Bob brings a great amount of broadcasting experience and local community connections, both of which will help PCTV and WTBR grow and flourish. I see many opportunities to both serve the community and support these channels, and I believe Bob is going to contribute significantly to that effort."

Heck will be working with local businesses and individuals to help create underwriting and fundraising partnerships to help PCTV and WTBR-FM to continue their missions of serving the community.  He will also help in increasing the organization's membership base and work with community members to bring more local content to both TV and radio.

 


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EPA Lays Out Draft Plan for PCB Remediation in Pittsfield

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Ward 4 Councilor James Conant requested the meeting be held at Herberg Middle School as his ward will be most affected. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric have a preliminary plan to remediate polychlorinated biphenyls from the city's Rest of River stretch by 2032.

"We're going to implement the remedy, move on, and in five years we can be done with the majority of the issues in Pittsfield," Project Manager Dean Tagliaferro said during a hearing on Wednesday.

"The goal is to restore the (Housatonic) river, make the river an asset. Right now, it's a liability."

The PCB-polluted "Rest of River" stretches nearly 125 miles from the confluence of the East and West Branches of the river in Pittsfield to the end of Reach 16 just before Long Island Sound in Connecticut.  The city's five-mile reach, 5A, goes from the confluence to the wastewater treatment plant and includes river channels, banks, backwaters, and 325 acres of floodplains.

The event was held at Herberg Middle School, as Ward 4 Councilor James Conant wanted to ensure that the residents who will be most affected by the cleanup didn't have to travel far.

Conant emphasized that "nothing is set in actual stone" and it will not be solidified for many months.

In February 2020, the Rest of River settlement agreement that outlines the continued cleanup was signed by the U.S. EPA, GE, the state, the city of Pittsfield, the towns of Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, and Sheffield, and other interested parties.

Remediation has been in progress since the 1970s, including 27 cleanups. The remedy settled in 2020 includes the removal of one million cubic yards of contaminated sediment and floodplain soils, an 89 percent reduction of downstream transport of PCBs, an upland disposal facility located near Woods Pond (which has been contested by Southern Berkshire residents) as well as offsite disposal, and the removal of two dams.

The estimated cost is about $576 million and will take about 13 years to complete once construction begins.

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