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Jazu Stine and Luke Marion pose by a sign promising 'III,' the third version of Red Apple Butchers in Crawford Square.

Red Apple Butchers Taking Second Slice at North Street

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Red Apple Butchers is hoping absence has made the heart grow fonder for its prime cuts and specialty sandwiches.
 
Nearly 18 months after it shuttering his location in the rear of Crawford Square, Jazu Stine expects to open on Tuesday in the very same spot to serve breakfast sandwiches and lunch, and fresh meats. 
 
But this time he won't be alone — the butcher shop is being supported by a team that includes Otto's Luke Marion. Call it "collaborative capitalism."
 
"We're working in tandem to create kind of a few different ideas. And then we also got Berkshire Organics involved," Stine said on Friday, as Marion chopped potatoes. "To be fair, he did warn me this was going to happen a long time ago, but I didn't really believe him."
 
Stine's model was farm-to-table: good quality, locally sourced meats along with a deli, packed lunches and baked goods made on site, and produce and dairy. It began as a nose-to-tail butcher shop in 2013 out on Dalton Division Road and Stine later started to build a base of restaurants ordering meat for dishes as well. With the new location, he added the prepared foods and other take-home items.
 
He was ready to take a big step in fall 2017 with help from the U.S. Small Business Administration and support from city officials to open on North Street. But four months later, his customer base had disintegrated. 
 
"I don't think people were ready to really go out of their way to go to the butcher shop, you know, I think we've kind of lost touch with that people do," Stine said. "So what I heard people saying was, 'we like your stuff, we'd love you to be back. But this doesn't work for us.'"
 
But, one thing he heard over and over was that people were still interested in delivery, which had been a large part of his business. 
 
So a third part of the team will be Berkshire Organics, which Red Apple Butchers had opened next to in the beginning. Stine said the produce supplier's new focus on delivery systems rather than brick and mortar can work for both operations, including aiding Berkshire Organics in developing ready-to-prepare meals. 
 
It was Marion who was sure that Red Apple Butcher would return. 
 
"My first and foremost, like, my main goal in this, I want to get Red Apple back up and running," he said. "Because it's a great spot, and Jazu has a great family, great people. And that's what you do."
 
The location had been occupied by Bigg Daddy's Philly Steak House for the past year, but owner Xavier Jones closed in late August, stating a lack of customers. 
 
Landlord Steve Oakes, who bought the building in 2015, approached Marion to see if he was interested in doing something in there. He'd been waiting for the spot to open and noted that all the RAB equipment was stored in the basement of the building — it just had to be moved upstairs. 
 
"I approached [Stine], I said, I have this concept for lunch, the menu," he said. "It would be kind of a backbone for the operation, but it turns out it's not a backbone, it's more of a real thing."
 
Stine, who had been gone back to work in local restaurants, was willing to try. 
 
"I think we're in an amazing place to have a landlord who's got our back and says, 'You know what, go ahead, try again.' I believe in this. That's, that's pretty amazing thing," he said. 
 
So what is the connection between Otto's and Red Apple Butchers? The two men laughed that they didn't see a bitter fight over breakfast sandwiches across Park Square. Rather, the two friends — three dads total, they said, with Berkshire Organics — see complementary businesses that can support each other. 
 
"We have a half-pound burger at Otto's. ... We have ridiculous burgers," Marion said. "Here, it's a quarter pound burger. It's grass fed beef. So it's immediately going to taste different than an Otto's burger."
 
Stine and Marion said their eateries will be offering "completely different experiences" in sandwich ingredients and how they're prepared. Plus, said Stine, he'll be open Monday through Friday so Otto's is "still going to crush breakfast all weekend long."
 
"It's not really just even two businesses, now there are three that are kind of all working together to support a common goal," Marion said. 
 
Stine agreed it's a bit complicated to explain to people how the three businesses aren't just looking at the bottom line but at how they can be stronger together.
 
"I think when people start to hear about this and realize, like, wait a minute, this isn't just the same thing," he said. "And there's now a story behind it. And I think people are going to struggle to just understand that it's pretty simple."
 
Red Apple Butchers is located at 137 North St.; hours are 7 to 5, Monday through Friday. See the menu here. 

Tags: deli,   North Street,   reopening,   restaurants,   

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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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