" Pittsfield is a great place to live "
Do you feel that the city is situated to help with all that ? I think that we need to begin that process . That ’ s the logic behind the new mental health and substance use disorder task force . What state and federal resources can we bring , along with city resources ? What help can we get from the agencies that have been doing the job for years ? Also , when we look at the salary of social workers , which is on the low end , and we look at the stress level of being a social worker , how long can one continue before they burn out and decide that there ' s got to be a better life path for them ? How do we address all those issues ?
What ' s Pittsfield ' s biggest asset ? We are a community that pulls together in time of need . What would be really great is finding a way to tap that so we ' re always coming together . There are a lot of great ideas from members of the community .
Yes , we know that people come together in times of crises . I also think we come together on good things . I ’ ve run the Pittsfield Fourth of July parade for a number of years . In 2019 , we were running out of funding . The community rallied behind the city that year , did a short fundraiser , and put the parade back on the block . There are a number of occasions like that .
How would that approach be especially helpful ? It is very helpful when we start to redefine neighborhoods or allow the neighborhoods to redefine themselves . I spent a decade or so working with neighborhood initiatives , primarily in Morningside , and another initiative was underway in West Side . It was an initiative to gather the neighbors together to improve their community . How can we come up with another iteration of the neighborhood initiative so that the government does not tell a neighborhood what they want , but the neighborhood tells government what they want ? There ' s been a lot of conversations about the West Side , there ' s been a lot of conversations about Morningside , and there were a lot of conversations about downtown . What does downtown look like ? Is it a police officer
62 // BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE Holiday Spring 2024 2023 on every street corner ? Is it a police officer mirrored with a social worker so they can really tackle problems ? How can the community be a part of that process ?
Is there any example of coming together from the past ? For years , Pittsfield had an ethnic fair , and that has gone away . How do we bring it back ? Talk about the diversity in Pittsfield today — we have a dozen-plus ethnic restaurants in the city right now . How do you pull all that together ? How do you create a welcoming space ?
What is the mechanism to make that happen ? The city has done surveys in the past . How do you ensure that you get out into the community and hit the neighborhoods you really want to provide input that may not necessarily do that on their own ? There are a number of organizations like Habitat for Humanity that can get the information out and get it back . You can do a town hall forum . Asking the community to come together and provide input will be helpful in the big picture . After a couple of them , folks will say , “ Hey they really are listening , and look , this is my friend ' s idea . I was at that meeting when that idea came forward .” When we start to implement some of the ideas , I think people will be like , “ Hey , this really can work , and how do I become involved in it ?”
What is your vision for downtown Pittsfield ? We first start with changing the design of the bike lane . We talked heavily in the campaign of bike lanes between the sidewalk and the curb . Downtown merchants also are advocating for diagonal parking . There may be some issues from a public safety standpoint that need to be ironed out , but we ' ll explore the options . As we try to bring more people downtown , we want it to be pedestrian-safe and walkable . We also need to do a better job of advertising the programs that we have for downtown . With grants that are happening between BBEC [ Berkshire Black Economic Council ] and Downtown Inc ., there are seven new businesses or pop-up businesses that are making their way to downtown . Let ’ s acknowledge where we are in terms of empty storefronts , but let ' s also acknowledge the fact that we ' ve started to fill some of those . We will increase police presence but , more so , with a social worker . What we hear most about are the panhandlers , and some folks are just congregating downtown . I don ' t believe that ' s the job of the police to deal with people with mental health or substance use issues . We need to attach a social worker to address those issues and combine that with a police presence . We ’ re establishing meetings with all the downtown stakeholders . Let ’ s get everyone in the room . Let ' s have a conversation . This is part of the team-building .
What ’ s your vision ? I would love to , one by one , fill the storefronts . We are well on our way , but from the second floor up , we need more living spaces as we transform the downtown into a livable , workable , and enjoyable place . I would like to see more activities happen in our downtown over the course of the summer . One of them would be to bring back the ethnic fair .
What is the benefit of pop-ups ? They fill a vacancy , and they fill a need . It ' s the possibility of transitioning a new entrepreneur into a permanent workspace if they get the right assistance . There are some building owners who are doing pop-ups at a reduced cost to give them that opportunity . That also helps with the perception of downtown not being vacant . There ' s a lot downtown that we need to highlight : The Marketplace , Steven Valenti , good ethnic restaurants , Hotel on North , Dorey & Ginger , Dottie ’ s , and now Dorothy ’ s .
What is your long-term vision ? To create some form of downtown pedestrian mall . We know communities like Northampton ; Burlington , Vermont ; Faneuil Hall in Boston . How can you create that kind of atmosphere in our downtown ? If you start on South Street with the Colonial Theatre and take it all the way to Wahconah Park , you ' ve got a lot of places to visit in that area .