Pittsfield's West Street Topic of Forum

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A community forum will take another look into the proposed changes for slowing traffic on West Street.
 
The public meeting will be held in the Crosby Elementary School auditorium, 517 West St., on Monday, July 24, at 6 p.m. It is being hosted by he city's Department of Public Services, the Pittsfield Community Design Center and City Councilor Dina Lampiasi.
 
An overview of the proposed changes for traffic-calming measures for West Street between Valentine Road and Government Drive will be provided. Attendees will also have an opportunity to share their thoughts and provide input on the project.
 
Proposed improvements that were presented earlier this month include narrowing the road, reconfiguring travel lanes into 10- to 11-foot travel lanes, upgraded Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant ramps, rapid flashing beacons at mid-block street crossings, re-aligning crosswalks, shortening pedestrian crossing distances, eliminating dedicated turn lanes and reducing turning radii.
 
The safety of the West Street corridor was fast tracked earlier this year when a mother was killed and her young daughter injured when they were struck while crossing the street. The Pittsfield Community Design Center is a non-city affiliated group advocating for safer streets and has 
 
For additional information on these meetings, please contact Tyler Shedd, city engineer, at 413-499-9417.

Tags: road safety,   

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ICE Grabs Person in Downtown Pittsfield

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement appear to have taken a person into custody in downtown Pittsfield on Tuesday. 

A bystander video was posted to Facebook in the afternoon, and Mayor Peter Marchetti later confirmed that ICE was in Pittsfield, and reported that the city did not assist. 

Agents called the Pittsfield Police Department around 1 p.m. and spoke with the desk sergeant, informing him they were in the area and looking for a specific person. 

"That was all we were provided, and we were not present during any arrest," Marchetti said. 

On Tuesday, a community member posted a minute-long video of what appeared to be an ICE arrest in the Burger King parking lot near Wendell Avenue Extension. The video is blurry, but three masked agents are seen restraining a person on the ground next to a white SUV with the driver's door open. In text, it says "Ice at Burger King in Pittsfield." 

Agents can be heard telling the person, seemingly a woman, to turn over and get down while she was audibly upset. She tells a man off-screen that she loves him, and he yells back that he loves her, too. 

In the background of the video, a bystander says, "They always think that they can do what they want and they hurt other people."

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