Former Pittsfield Mayor Honored With Housing Public Service Award

08:00AM / Thursday, June 20, 2024Print Story | Email Story

Linda Tyer Clairmont

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Linda Clairmont, former mayor of Pittsfield, has received the Canon Brian S. Kelley Public Service Award from the Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Alliance.

Clairmont accepted the award at MHSA's annual Home for Good fundraiser and award ceremony on May 16 in Boston.

She joined fellow award winners Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch and Brockton Mayor Robert Sullivan. The three were recognized for being "steadfast in their commitment to ending homelessness."

During her eight-year tenure as mayor, Clairmont sought to find effective ways to support those experiencing chronic homelessness, often partnering with social services agencies in the Berkshires. She targeted some $8.6 million dollars in American Rescue Plan Act to address housing insecurity and homelessness, including $750,000 toward rehabilitation of a historic building on North Street into affordable units. In a November 2022 editorial board meeting with The Berkshire Eagle, Clairmont said combating homelessness means being flexible and working at it constantly.

Clairmont is currently executive director of workforce development and community education at Berkshire Community College, which she joined in February.

She served as a public official for nearly 20 years. Before being elected mayor of Pittsfield in 2016 (as Linda Tyer), she was city clerk from 2009-2016 and city councilor for Ward 3 from 2004-2009. She is a graduate of Bay Path Junior College in Longmeadow.

Tags: housing, recognition event,

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John Rubinstein on 'Eisenhower,' Trump, Fosse, Sondheim & Williamstown Theatre Festival

By Alan PetrucelliSpecial to iBerkshires
12:10PM / Thursday, September 17, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It's a rainy Saturday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio, and John Rubinstein is driving to the Berkshires. He left his Los Angeles home a few days ago, and his next stop is Cleveland. Once he gets to Pittsfield, he readies for his return appearance as Dwight D. Eisenhower in "Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground," a one-man show Rubinstein first did at the Barrington Stage Company last summer.

The show has been brought back by rave reviews and popular demand; it opens Sept. 16 and runs through Sept. 26.

Rubinstein, who turns 80 in December, has been crisscrossing the country, doing the show for the past four years: "I can't wait to do it again and again and again," he said. "It's one of the great crowning pieces of luck of my career."

And what a career: "Crazy Like a Fox," "Family," numerous Broadway plays and musicals and TV movies and feature films and two Tony awards for "Pippin" (1972) and "Children of a Lesser God" (1980). A surprise many fans don't know: Rubinstein has scored the music to several films and TV shows, including "Jeremiah Johnson," "The Candidate," "The Dollmaker" and "China Beach."

During an exclusive interview over a 75-minute phone call, Rubinstein talks about liking Ike and loving "Eisenhower," as well as Donald Trump, Stephen Sondheim, Bob Fosse and the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

How did you hook up with 'Eisenhower?'

Director Peter Ellenstein sent me an email that said, "I have a play about Eisenhower, and I'd like to send it to you to consider." I read it. It was 40 pages long and single-spaced, one guy talking. I thought. "Jesus Christ, I don't know if anybody's gonna want to hear that, a two-hour monologue." But I liked it. I respected it. I found it fascinating but (a) I wasn't sure it would work as a play, (b) if I could memorize it and (c) if I could memorize it and it was a good play would anyone want to go see it? So I didn't commit myself at first. But Peter said, "Why don't you come and meet with me and the playwright, Richard Hellesson, and read the play out loud?"

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