Pittsfield Election Heats Up With New Faces, Certified Candidates

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city is seeing increased interest in this year's election and with just a few weeks until signatures are due, many candidates have been certified.

As of late last week, new faces have taken out papers for the mayoral and at-large, Ward 2 and Ward 6 council races.

There are now five parties interested in replacing Mayor Linda Tyer, who announced that she will not be seeking re-election earlier this year.

David Webber has taken out papers for mayor, joining John Krol, Craig Gaetani, Karen Kalinowsky, and Peter Marchetti on the list. Not much can be found on the new candidate from public records.

Lucas Marion has taken out papers for councilor at large against a slate of certified candidates: Alisa Costa, Craig Benoit and incumbents Earl Persip III, Pete White and Karen Kalinowsky.

Brittany Bandani has taken out papers for Ward 2, for which Soncere Williams is the only certified candidate so far. Alexander Blumin and incumbent Charles Kronick have also taken out papers but Kronick has indicated that he is not seeking re-election.

Edward Carmel has taken out papers for Ward 6 to run against incumbent Dina Lampiasi and Gaetani.  Carmel is a homelessness advocate and unsuccessfully ran against Lampiasi in the 2021 election, securing 44 percent of the vote.

Three of the interested mayoral candidates have previously run for the office: Marchetti, Gaetani and Kalinowsky. Marchetti is the only mayoral candidate so far to have his signatures certified.

He is currently in his eighth year as the City Council president and has a 35-year career at the Pittsfield Cooperative Bank. His tenure as an at-large councilor began in 2001 but he was not re-elected two years later. He came back to the council in 2005 and then took a four-year break after losing the 2011 mayoral election by 116 votes.

Krol is a former City Council vice president and worked for former Mayor James Ruberto. He also has experience in broadcast and print media, anchoring "Good Morning, Pittsfield" on WTBR for years and is now known for his podcast "The John Krol Show," which features long-form conversations with people ranging from business owners to artists and politicians and has been president and owner of marketing firm OneEighty Media for more than a decade. 

Gaetani ran for mayor in 2015 and garnered 0.51 percent of the vote. He also took out papers for Ward 6. He is a former marketing director of Krofta Engineering and is a regular at City Council's open microphone.

Kalinowksy worked with the Pittsfield Police Department for more than 30 years and was a student resource officer at Reid Middle School for 13 of them. After retiring, she ran in Pittsfield's 2019 mayoral race but lost in the four-way preliminary election. She was elected to her at-large seat in 2021.

The last day to submit nomination papers to the Registrar of Voters for certification is July 21 and the last day to submit papers to the city clerk is Aug. 4. A preliminary election, if needed, is scheduled for Sept. 19 and the general election is on Nov. 7.??

Candidate list as of Thursday

MAYOR

Peter Marchetti*
John Krol Jr.
Craig Gaetani
Karen Kalinowsky
David Webber

CITY CLERK

Michele Benjamin*

AT LARGE

Earl Persip III*
Peter White*
Alisa Costa*
Craig Benoit*
Karen Kalinowsky*
Lucas Marion

WARD 1

Kenneth Warren Jr

WARD 2

WARD 7

Anthony Maffuccio*
Jonathon Morey*

SCHOOL COMMITTEE

William Garrity Jr.*
Sara Hathaway*
William Cameron
Daniel Elias*
Stephanie Sabin
Dominick Sacco*

* Signatures certified

BRTA Celebrates 50 Years, Electric Buses

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:29AM / Tuesday, April 30, 2024

State Sen. Paul Mark tries out the seating in a new hybrid bus. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority is celebrating its 50th anniversary with new hybrid buses that tell a story about its history.

The BRTA was awarded five eco-friendly buses in the past two years as part of President Joe Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law under the Federal Transit Administration's Low or No Grant Program.  Each is valued at about $800,000 and is decorated to represent different BRTA eras.

"It's not for us, it's for our customers," Administrator Robert Malnati said. "It's the reason we're here. We're here to make sure that our customers can go where they need to go when they need to get there in a safe and efficient manner."

Three of the buses have been on the road for about a month and the rest are expected this year.  Paying homage to the BRTA's decades of service to the county, they are wrapped in retro graphic designs that call back to its buses in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Local and state officials marked the occasion with a ribbon cutting on Monday, highlighting the importance of public transportation and embracing greener technologies to move people around.

The BRTA is looking at hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for the future, which are powered by pure hydrogen gas and emit water vapor.

"As you move forward in upgrading your bus fleet, you are truly transforming our transformation system while protecting our air, our water, and our shared future," Federal Transit Administration Region 1 Administrator Peter Butler said, explaining that it is the FTA's job to support that innovation.

State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier said Berkshire County is no different than the rest of state RTAs when it comes to the challenge of securing funding but it does have greater geographical challenges.