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| News and events in Pittsfield, Mass.
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Pittsfield Council OKs Incentives for Housing ProjectBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
12:23PM / Wednesday, January 24, 2024 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council supported two items to facilitate a housing development in the downtown area.
On Tuesday, orders to amend the Housing Development Zone and an order for a 10-year tax increment exemption for 100 Wendell Ave. were unanimously approved. AM Management plans to convert a commercial building into "The Pointe" with 28 units, six of them designated affordable.
Councilor at Large Alisa Costa loves that there is an affordable housing aspect to the project.
"Something I'm learning is how much we have to stack financing to make something like this happen," she said. "So it's going to be two years out but this is so
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Governor Makes Appointments to Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development| 11:35AM / Wednesday, January 24, 2024 | |
 BOSTON — The Healey-Driscoll Administration announced the appointment of Ken Brown as Assistant Secretary for Employer Engagement and Employment Outcomes and Sarah Joseph as Director of Community Engagement for the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD). "Across industries, we have employers who urgently need talent to fill open positions, and we have people arriving in Massachusetts who want to work. Our administration has worked hard to get people work authorizations as quickly as possible, and now we are connecting them with jobs that need to be filled," said?Governor Maura Healey. "We are bringing in Ken Brown and Sarah Joseph 0 Comments
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Pittsfield Subcommittee Supports Battery Energy Storage OrdinanceBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
05:42AM / Wednesday, January 24, 2024 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — During its first meeting of the new term, the Ordinances and Rules subcommittee supported city efforts to bring battery energy storage guidelines to Pittsfield.
The Ordinances and Rules subcommittee on Monday approved an amended proposal to add a battery energy storage system overlay [BESS] district. This would allow Pittsfield to embrace greener energy sources while protecting the interests of residents.
"As solar and other forms of renewable energy become more commonplace, developers and communities need to safely store the electricity that they are generating," City Planner Jacinta Williams explained.
"The proposed amendment is an attempt to
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Dalton Select Board Approves Traffic Study for Senior CenterBy Sabrina Damms, iBerkshires Staff
05:15PM / Tuesday, January 23, 2024 | |
DALTON, Mass. — The Select Board voted to accept the Traffic Commission recommendation to conduct a traffic study at the Senior Center during its meeting on Monday. The commission had urged the board for a traffic study now that the polling station is at the Senior Center. It is unclear what the cost will be but Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson said he believes there is enough in the engineering account to cover it. The board directed him to look into the details further. Although the board voted in favor of the idea members noted they can not guarantee a study can be completed in time for the March elections. The Select Board voted to 0 Comments
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2nd Street Awarded $300K CERP Grant| 02:43PM / Tuesday, January 23, 2024 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Commonwealth's Executive Office of Economic Development (EOED) has awarded Second Street Second Chances, Inc., a Community Empowerment and Reinvestment Program (CERP) grant in the amount of $300,000 for 2024. 2nd Street Board President Mark Gold explained that the grant money will support the cost of current staff salaries and cover the cost of hiring of two more Community Resource Navigators for the first six months of 2024. Community Resource Navigators connect with formerly incarcerated individuals to assess their needs and to provide access to a wide range of services and referrals, including medical and mental health services, 0 Comments
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Central Berkshire's FY25 Draft Budget Up $1MBy Sabrina Damms, iBerkshires Staff
06:14AM / Tuesday, January 23, 2024 | |
DALTON, Mass. — The Central Berkshire Regional School District is anticipating a 3.35 percent increase to its operating budget for fiscal 2025, which translates to nearly a little more than $1 million over this year. This year's budget is $30,301,466, and next year is forecast at $31,315,659, a difference of $1,014,193. Prior to presenting the draft at the Jan. 11 meeting, Superintendent Leslie Blake-Davis emphasized that these initial projections may change because there are still a lot of unknowns surrounding it, including health insurance and the governor's budget. "This budget for us is really an ever-evolving process. Budget for us begins at the 0 Comments
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Mayor Marchetti Debuts 'One Pittsfield' TV ShowBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
05:17AM / Tuesday, January 23, 2024 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Mayor Peter Marchetti launched his bi-weekly television program on Monday with an overview of the administration's first few weeks.
"One Pittsfield," aired on Pittsfield Community Television, is one of the ways Marchetti has planned to communicate with the public and demystify the inner workings of the city.
"When you walk into the mayor's office, I can't guarantee that I'm sitting at my desk doing absolutely nothing that you can walk into my office, but my staff has done a great job in the first three weeks of ensuring that everybody who wants an appointment can get an appointment whether it be right at that very given moment or
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North Berkshire Waste District Interested In Hydrogen Facility Project By Sabrina Damms, iBerkshires Staff
02:50PM / Monday, January 22, 2024 | |
ADAMS, Mass.— Members of the Northern Berkshire Solid Waste Management District (NBSWMD) were intrigued by a plan by Local Power to work towards community-wide decarbonization through a waste hydrogen facility in Western Massachusetts. In a presentation on Jan. 11, Local Power President Paul Fenn told the district members that Local Power helps local governments set up community-wide decarbonization with a focus on localization "as a core strategy in an industry defined by centralized energy and capital sources." He said the community choice aggregation firm helped usher in community choice power supply programs to many towns and cities in Berkshire
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Pittsfield Council to Tackle Incentives, Grants, and Infrastructure MattersBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
12:48PM / Monday, January 22, 2024 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Tuesday's City Council meeting will be a mixed bag of routine matters, infrastructure requests, and a proposal for incentives to support a housing development.
After receiving support from the Subcommittee on Community and Economic Development, an order to amend the Housing Development Zone and for a 10-year tax increment exemption for 100 Wendell Ave. will come back to the full body.
Both items are for the state Housing Development Incentive Program which aims to provide gateway cities with financial incentives to diversify the housing stock and facilitate economic growth in neighborhoods. Pittsfield was an early adopter and, to date, has approved
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Unoccupied BRTA Vehicle Caught Fire | 10:53AM / Monday, January 22, 2024 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority experienced an electrical fire on an unoccupied 2018 vintage full-sized transit vehicle while parked inside the Downing Parkway Maintenance Facility on the morning of Dec. 20, 2023. According to a statement released by the BRTA, maintenance staff were alerted by smoke detectors within the parking garage, and everyone was safely evacuated from the building. The Pittsfield Fire Department arrived on scene and completely extinguished the fire. Federal and state authorities were notified of the incident along with the vehicle manufacturer and the insurance carrier. Currently, this investigation remains 0 Comments
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Veteran Spotlight: Army Lt. John ShoemakerBy Wayne Soares, Special to iBerkshires
04:53PM / Sunday, January 21, 2024 | |
Lt. John Shoemaker in Vietnam. NATICK, Mass. — An absolute honor to interview John Shoemaker for this week's Veteran Spotlight. Born in Fitchburg, he attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and graduated with a bachelor in business studies in management before enlisting in the Army in 1968. He would go onto serve his country for four years as a combat platoon leader and company commander in the 196th Light Infantry Brigade of the "Americal" Division in Chu Lai. He completed his basic training at Fort Dix, N.J., Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Polk, La., and Airborne and Officer Candidate School Training at Fort Benning, Ga., 0 Comments
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Miss Hall's School Completes 'Historic' Fundraising Campaign| 12:01PM / Sunday, January 21, 2024 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Miss Hall's School (MHS) has completed a $75 million campaign to support girls' and women's leadership, teaching excellence, and new programs and buildings on the School's historic campus. The Be Bold campaign, the largest in the School's 125-year history, raised $75.9 million from more than 2,250 donors, enabling Miss Hall's to invest significantly in reimagining its academic and student life programs, while also preserving and re-shaping its Olmsted-designed, 80-acre campus. "The Be Bold campaign has empowered us, marking an extraordinary moment in Miss Hall's School's collective history," said Head of 0 Comments
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