Activating Dunham Mall Community Fundraiser

10:27AM / Thursday, May 23, 2024Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Downtown Pittsfield Cultural Association, with partners the City of Pittsfield, MassDevelopment's Transformative Development Initiative (TDI), Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. (DPI), and the Pittsfield Community Design Center, are seeking public input and contributions on a relaunch to activate Dunham Mall with lighting, plantings, programming, and seating.

Reimagine Dunham Mall aims to support area business, recreation, pedestrian networks, and parking accessibility for residents and visitors of downtown Pittsfield. Pittsfield residents and stakeholders have identified beautification as a top priority for downtown.

The project has gone through an initial phase of public input: a community session held on Jan. 31, 2024; feedback collected online after an initial set of design concepts; and additional feedback collected in person on May 3, 2024, at First Fridays at Five.

Feedback to date has changed the project significantly; organizers have moved away from stylized design concepts. The new iteration of the project will include a phased approach. Installation of elements and style will depend on what the community deems essential to the project's success.

The public is invited to provide additional feedback and contribute to a community fundraiser on Patronicity (Patronicity.com/ImagineDunhamMall) to help determine the concepts that move forward to implementation. Every community dollar (up to $15,000) will be matched twice.

If the Reimagine Dunham Mall design team is able to raise $7,500 in public contributions, the team will be able to implement some basic improvements like café lighting, new trash receptacles, signage, and new tree planters. With $20,000 in public contributions, additional improvements can be implemented including ways to define the space, new edge plantings, more shrub and tree tubs with seating, and mobile planters or dividers for activities. With $35,000 in public contributions, the team will be able to purchase green benches and permanent picnic tables, public art, and more trees and shade.

In Nov. 2023, the Downtown Pittsfield Cultural Association was awarded a $50,000 Commonwealth Places Grant: $35,000 to activate Dunham Mall and Burbank Place and $15,000 to enhance the Berkshire Lightscapes program. This award must be matched to access the funding. Pittsfield Beautiful has pledged to match each dollar crowdfunded on the Patronicity site up to $15,000. Berkshire Lightscapes will match $15,000 for Lightscapes internally. Administered by MassDevelopment, Commonwealth Places provides funding to support place-based, locally driven placemaking projects in downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts throughout Massachusetts.

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Mass Voters Retain Recreational Cannabis, Tighten Gun Laws in Midterms

Staff ReportsiBerkshires
11:30AM / Wednesday, November 04, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass.— Massachusetts resoundingly voted to keep recreational cannabis and tighten gun laws during the midterm election on Tuesday.

The Democratic Berkshire delegation was re-elected without contest, and unofficial results show Democratic incumbent Maura Healey taking more than 62 percent of the vote for Massachusetts governor over Republican challenger Michael Minogue.

This coincides with the blue tsunami seen nationally during the midterms, with Democrats flipping seats across the United States and taking control of the House and Senate.

Pittsfield has roughly 10 cannabis dispensaries, alongside several other retail operations and cultivation facilities in Berkshire County. At least three-quarters of the state voted against repealing the legalization that was passed 10 years ago.

According to unofficial results, 46.89 percent of registered Pittsfield voters went to the polls. Pittsfield's 33,934 registered voters cast 15,913 votes, according to these results.

As of Wednesday morning, with more than 85 percent of ballots counted, almost 76 percent of voters opposed Question 8, that would repeal the laws that legalize, regulate, and tax the retail sale of adult recreational use marijuana in Massachusetts. It was proposed by an initiative petition.

Similarly, as of 10 a.m., 67 percent of Massachusetts voters have said "yes" on Question 9, which sustains several changes to Massachusetts laws governing firearms: adding school administrators and licensed healthcare providers as parties permitted to ask a court to issue an Extreme Risk Protection Order if an individual is a present danger to self or others, imposing penalties for possessing, creating, and transferring untraceable "ghost gun" firearms, and more.

"At a time when the federal government is focused on the priorities of the gun lobby and rolling back national protections, the people of Massachusetts have reaffirmed our commitment to keeping our residents safe through proven, common-sense regulations," American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts President Jessica Tang said in a statement released late on Tuesday evening.

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