Letter: Walker Prioritizes Building Better Lives

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To the editor:

We don't get a Corey Walker every generation.

This Pittsfield native shows that she springs back up when she gets knocked down and hits the ground running! Opportunity was scarce for her before affordable Berkshire Community College: she continues to tirelessly make and share lemonade with it. She makes the Dean's list every single semester. She juggles college, two jobs, and activism so that those after her won't have to.

She has the proven record of fighting for our neighbors' rights. Having worked at the city's Water Department has already taught her how to work with people to get things done.

She brings something to the council that we need! A mental health professional in this crisis. A college student when our students lack representation. Someone involved in the conversations around affordable housing. Someone whose means are reflective of Ward 2's median income, when all of our other council and candidates have wealth or dual incomes.



Her leadership skills come from lived experience with us all: intimately understanding both the problems and culture here, and knowing how important our medical professionals and nonprofits are to Pittsfield's well-being. Her work saves lives and de-escalates North Street struggles.

We need someone who understands. Who listens to and lifts up their neighbors. Someone who prioritizes building better lives for those of us already here.

Please join me in this incredible opportunity to vote for Corey "Kiki" Francis Walker this Nov. 4.
 

Ephraim Schwartz
Pittsfield, Mass.

Ephraim Alexander Schwartz is chairman of the Campaign to Elect Corey Walker.

 

 


Tags: election 2025,   municipal election,   


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EPA, GE Conducting Vernal Pool Study on Housatonic River

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A pilot study will determine the best way to remediate PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, from vernal pools in the Housatonic River. 

Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric held an open house for the Vernal Pool Pilot Study on Reach 5A, a five-mile stretch between the river's confluence and Lenox border.  Despite the rain, several people attended the event at the Berkshire Athenaeum. 

EPA project manager Josh Fontaine explained that it is an evaluation of which remediation method to use for the remaining vernal pools in Reach 5A. 

"We're going to be testing two different methods. One is an excavation method, which we already know has been very successful with another vernal pool cleaned up much earlier in the project," he said. 

"And then the other is the application of two different carbon amendments. It would be the application of powdered activated carbon and the application of granulated activated carbon." 

Ten vernal pools will be cleaned using these methods: five with excavation and five with active carbon; seven additional vernal pools will be monitored as controls. Construction will be complete around October, but the pools will be left to their natural processes and monitored with surveys and sampling for three years. 

Fontaine said there is no frontrunner for methodology. 

"We know the excavation method is effective, but we would like to see if the less invasive method of using the amendment will be as effective for potential use," he said. 

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