NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Parents and neighbors of Sullivan Elementary School expressed their displeasure for nearly three hours on Thursday night at the idea of closing the school in favor of resurrecting Conte School.

"This is a safe neighborhood and a great place to have a school," said one man. "Why are we going to invest in a school that's falling apart? ... I would rather have a new school rather than have a middle school in the middle of town."

More than 60 parents and community members, the largest crowd so far, sat at lunch tables in the stuffy Sullivan cafeteria to hear the latest presentation on options to deal with the closure of the middle school, which happened two years ago.

The architects flipped through the school buildings noting the pros — strong neighborhoods, good bones — and the cons — the lack of energy efficiency and program space, and outdated design. In the mix are Greylock and Sullivan elementary schools and Conte for five options for renovation and rebuilding to address the educational needs of 620 students.

Renovating the century-old Conte in the downtown has emerged as the preferred option over Sullivan's problematic configuration of levels and tight space on the side of a hill.

While there has been little debate over renovating or building new at the Greylock site, the possibility of closing the 45-year-old Sullivan on quiet Kemp Avenue and sending the kindergarten through Grade 7 pupils to Conte has alarmed some.

Parents raised concerns over traffic, safety and small children walking to the downtown location. "I don't want my daughter walking down Eagle Street," said one. Another mother spoke of seeing suspicious characters watching the middle school children exit Conte when it was open. 

Superintendent James Montepare said school officials were discussing the issue of children walking downtown, which has been raised as earlier sessions, but disputed the idea of people "lurking" about the school.

"There was always a police officer in the school and a police officer on the corner in a cruiser waiting for the kids to [get out]," said Public Safety Commissioner E. John Morocco, who conceded there had been problems with the middle school children.

"They were old enough to be trucking around by themselves," he said. "I do not see that problem when you're talking about grammar school children."

But the commissioner got into a bit of a shouting match with City Councilor Lisa Blackmer, who pointed out that two sexual assaults on children had occurred near Conte and at the library across the street.

"The one thing I keep hearing about is public safety," said Blackmer. "And the fact that nobody considered the traffic astounds me."

Morocco retorted that the downtown "is as safe as it ever was ... You show me the figures that show me it's not safe."

Blackmer said Sullivan should have more represention on the school building committee.

"I don't think anybody is really listening to their concerns," she said. "I have real apprehension about kids this age being in the downtown."

The school building committee and some city officials were pleased to see Conte as one of the options, but Sullivan supporters accused school officials of pushing the renovation of the former high school over Sullivan.

"It feels like the powers that be prefer Conte," said Angelica Parades, who said she'd rather see her son go to the Berkshire Arts and Technology Public Charter School — on busy Commercial Street in Adams — than go to Conte.

Former Mayor John Barrett III weighed in, suggesting holding off on the project and ensuring the preservation of the neighborhood schools.

"I don't think we should kick the can down the road for the next generation," he said, urging the School Committee to have an "open and transparent vote" on their preferred option. "I think that the Conte School can be used for a better purpose."

Mayor Richard Alcombright said the question was not can we afford it, but "can we afford not to do it?" The MSBA's 80 percent reimbursement may not be there in the future and constrution costs are likely to rise, he said.

John Bedard, a frequent and outspoken critic of the plan, warned that voters won't forget if Sullivan closed.

"If you do push this agenda through you know it will be against the will of the people and it will show in the next election," said Bedard. "I probably have 400 signatures on a petition to save this school ... I'll drive this down to Boston to the MSBA to prove that we don't want this."

Montepare countered that other than Bedard and Thursday's audience, he had received no calls or emails against the Conte option.

"I'm not the one who's pushing Conte; all the questions that have been coming my way have been about Conte," said Montepare. "I'm happy to have two neighborhood schools anyplace."

A vacancy is opening up on the North Adams School Committee. Committee member William G. Schrade Jr. sent us this statement on his decision not to run over the weekend at our request and it got buried in our email, as so many things do, before we had a chance to post it. Our apologies to Mr. Schrade.

Schrade told us he wanted to spend more time with his family and focus on his job as a program manager with the North Adams Housing Authority. He wanted to get the word out early that he would not stand for re-election to give time for other interested citizens to decide if they would like to run.

The School Committee is made up of six four-year elected positions and the mayor, who is automatically the chairman. There has been little changeover in the committee in the past decade. Schrade's stepping aside offers an opportunity for a new viewpoint on the board, something that the three-term board member encourages.

Schrade writes that:

While I have enjoyed my 12 years with the North Adams School Committee, I have decided not to run for re-election. This is a decision that I do not take lightly after so many great years in this position. There comes a time when a new and fresh perspective would be welcome to the School Committee. I encourage people to think about the contributions and ideas for the N.A. school system that they might bring to the table and consider running for this office.  My decision is both personal and professional. My intention is to more fully invest myself in my work with the North Adams Housing Authority and to have more time with my family. I would like to thank everyone I have worked with including two mayors, two superintendents, many School Committee members and most importantly the staff of the North Adams Public School System.

April 28, 2011, 3:36 p.m.: Updated to correct length of terms

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — College students are looking for more retail variety and information about events in the downtown. They also feel pretty safe in the city and would like more recreational opportunities.

The data comes from a survey done by Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts seniors Corey Brown and Meghan McMahon, who presented the information to the City Council on Tuesday night.

The project, part of a class with professor Nancy Ovitsky, was designed to find out what would draw students from the Church Street college to the city's main retail center. Councilor David Bond had met with the students in January as part of conversations about how better to tap into the college's 1,000-odd population.

Brown said 160 students responded to the survey, citing they would like more restaurants (including a bakery and health food) and more retail outlets, especially sports or discounters like TJ Maxx.

"A lot of the students, what they're looking for is for businesses to stay open longer," said Brown.

Councilor Lisa Blackmer agreed that later hours would be nice but said the city had little control over businesses opening. She wondered if retailers were doing their best to reach out to students.

McMahon said social media was the best way to reach students now, a situation that had changed dramatically since she'd entered college. "It used to be coupons in our mailboxes but now students just throw them away."

Students want to do things in North Adams and the area, she said, but many venues were not easily accessible, such as Greylock Bowl. Students would like to see more recreational activities, such as bowling or a skateboard park, closer to the college and have more information about events.

"I think the students would like to see a lot more marketing to those events downtown," McMahon said. 

In response to a question by Councilor Alan Marden, McMahon and Brown said they had not included Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in the survey because it was a major attraction and the college was already heavily involved with the museum.

Both students and councilors agreed that the city could not be described as a "college town." Mayor Richard Alcombright said he was working with the college on coordinating sidewalk clearance during the winter and would look into more lighting around the Pitcher's Mound, which some students felt was unsafe.

He also held out some hope that the city would be able to move forward with a basic skateboard park at MoCA.

"We do see a great change from being a freshman," said McMahon. "I think we can make it better. There are other college towns much bigger than this that we could get ideas from."

Councilor Keith Bona noted that students will spend if they find something they like. He said the college clientele at his Main Street store had increased tenfold.

"I didn't think college students liked antiques but they do ... ."

In other business, the council:

• Put off a recommendation to adopt the state's anti-idling statute until it could be submitted in order form.

• Appointed Aurora Cooper, a student at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, to the Youth Commission.

• Referred to the Community Development Committee a request to change all or a section of Grimes Street to Cascade Way at the request of Cascade School Supplies.

• Read through a lengthy list of committee reports.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — City Council President Ronald Boucher confirmed on Monday that he's "looking into" a run for the Corner Office.

"I've been approached by a lot of people ... a lot of people," said the six-term councilor.

Rumors of Boucher's possible mayoral candidacy have been circling for several weeks but he said on Monday he had not made a decision yet. He did say he had spoken with Mayor Richard Alcombright and told the mayor he would let him know when he made a decision.

Alcombright is finishing his first term as mayor and announced his re-election bid a couple weeks ago. He and Boucher served as councilors for several terms together before Alcombright successfully ran against the state's "dean of mayors," John Barrett III, in 2009.

Along with the change in the Corner Office came several new (or returning) councilors and the election of Boucher for the first time as the council's president.

Boucher has not, at least publicly, differed significantly with Alcombright during the past 16 months.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Public Safety Committee is looking into complaints made about the local taxi service.

Written and oral complaints had been received by city councilors, said Chairman Alan Marden, but not by the Police Department.

City Council President Ronald Boucher, attending the meeting, said the complaints related to customer service, such as inconsistent fares and smoking by the driver. The city had banned smoking in cabs by both drivers and passengers a decade ago.

Marden said he'd also been given two very specific complaints about cabs not servicing handicapped customers.

The board agreed it was a matter of compliance and voted to have Marden do a site visit with the company to "get their side of the story."

The city only has one taxi service now, American Cab & Livery Co. Boucher said there had been talks with Rainbow Taxi of Pittsfield to open an office in the city to offer competition, but nothing came of it.

Board members noted that the taxi company provides an important service to residents.

"It's not the best of economic times to be operating any business and they do provide a public service so we should try to work with them," said Marden. "But we definitely do not let this go by."

The board voted unanimously to "adopt" the state's anti-idling statute passed in 2009. The measure prohibits the idling of a motor vehicle for more than five minutes unless related to repairs, deliveries and pickups in which the motor is the only power source available. Fines range from $100 to $500.

The measure, and a similar one banning idling motor vehicles at or near schools, was enacted to limit pollutants. The Board of Health had asked the City Council to take up the matter and enforce it for health reasons.

"It may not be required but as a courtesy to the Board of Health, we're going to adopt it," said Marden.