UPDATE: Victims in Labor Day Weekend Motorcycle Crashes Identified

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
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Updated on 09052024 at 6:30 pm: According to the District Attorney's office the motorcyclist killed Sunday in Lanesborough was identified as Alfred Paul Salvatore, 75 of Pittsfield.

According to the Daily Voice that one person involved in the motorcycle crash in Charlemont, also on Sunday, has died. The Daily Voice reported that Sheila Rombeiro, of Pittsfield, was riding on the back of her husband's motorcycle when it was involved in a crash with a SUV on Route 2. Her husband, Robert Rombeiro, also of Pittsfield, was seriously injured in the crash.

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LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — There was a fatal motorcycle accident and other emergencies in Berkshire County over Labor Day weekend.

On Sunday evening, a fatal collision occurred between a motorcycle traveling in the Eastbound lane of Route 7 and Route 8 Connector Road in Lanesborough.  

The Berkshire District Attorney's Office's State Police Detective Unit responded to a call for assistance from Lanesborough Police around 12:45 a.m.

"The motorcycle appears to have crossed into the oncoming lane where the motorcycle collided with an SUV. The driver of the motorcycle was pronounced dead at the scene," wrote Julia Sabourin, the DA's chief of operations.

"The investigation remains ongoing."

Earlier that evening around 10:50 p.m., Dalton firefighters were dispatched to 38 Deming St. for a blaze and had it controlled in about ten minutes with mutual aid from Hinsdale, Lanesborough, Cheshire, and Pittsfield.

There were no reported civilian or fire injuries but a police officer was reportedly transferred to Berkshire Medical Center with minor injuries after going into the residence with the owner and rescuing their dogs.

The road was shut down until around 1:30 a.m. when a general overhaul was completed and all apparatuses were cleared, according to the fire department.

Also over the weekend, a poodle mix named Charlotte got away from her owners during a car accident near the firehouse on West Housatonic Street.  According to social media posts, she has since been located with the help of the internet.

MassLive reported that two people were critically injured in a motorcycle crash on Route 2 Sunday evening.

State police reported that the crash happened at the intersection of Avery Brook Rd. around 6:25 p.m. and the Shelburne Falls Fire Department responded, calling for two medical helicopters.

Both were still in critical condition on Sunday night according to the state police, the news outlet reported, and the crash caused Route 2 to be closed for over four hours.

 

Tags: accident,   structure fire,   

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State Housing Secretary Tours Downtown Pittsfield Developments

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The state's new secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities on Monday saw how local developers are transforming historic buildings into downtown housing units. 

Secretary Juana Matias, appointed to the role in February, toured the former St. Joseph's High School on Maplewood Avenue and the near-complete Wright Building Block on North Street.   

Matias observed local leaders working collaboratively to dismantle bottlenecks in housing production, something she said the administration wants to see across all 351 municipalities.  

"This is a perfect model of the partnerships we want to see, and we love coming to the ground and seeing how people are leveraging public taxpayer dollars to help address the issue of our time, which is housing production," she said after the tours. 

Developer David Carver, of Scarafoni Associates & CT Management Group, is seeking support from the state Housing Development Incentive Program to transform St. Joe's into apartments, and Allegrone Companies has secured millions from the program towards the Wright Building renovation

They first visited the shuttered school that functioned as a shelter during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, greeted by broken windows and leaving with Carver's vision. 

The plan is to transform the school with good bones into 19 apartments, 20 percent designated affordable, and 30 percent of the building for commercial use.  Units are expected to cost between $1,700 and $1,900 per month; 14 one-bedroom units and five two-bedroom units are planned. 

The project team is in talks with the nearby Berkshire Family YMCA to expand their childcare activities to the building's lower level.  Residents and the daycare would use different entrances. 

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