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The Parks Commission endorsed a plan to remove several trees and plant a number of new ones, including a Christmas tree, in Park Square.
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Pittsfield Commission Supports Park Square Tree Plan

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Tree talk resumed last Tuesday as the Parks Commission looked into the future of Park Square's canopy. 

The panel endorsed a plan to remove four trees and plant seven, including an evergreen that will serve as the city's permanent Christmas tree. 
 
"Park Square of course is the iconic center of our town," Park, Open Space, and Natural Resource Program Manager James McGrath said. 
 
"There is a tree canopy on Park Square which over time is compromised by its age and other factors — soil compaction, some disease, maybe perhaps air quality around the very congested Park Square." 
 
These factors have led to a decline in tree health and the city has hired Berkshire Design Group to develop a plan to address it. 
 
Of the 13 trees in the park's boundaries, a pear tree and three sugar maple trees are dead or in poor condition will be removed and the remaining seven will be pruned, thinned, or air-spaded. 
 
These trees are sugar maples and red oaks. 
 
Two weeping flowering cherry trees will be transported to the east garden area of the park. 
 
For plantings, the city is seeking to add four hackberry trees, a sweet gum tree, and a permanent Christmas tree. At a later date, there are plans to replace a historic elm tree in phase two of the project. 
 
The evergreen will possibly be a Colorado blue spruce. 
 
McGrath pointed out that there have been various conversations about planting the holiday tree in Park Square, as finding a tree has gotten increasingly harder over the years. 
 
"I think the time is now to do it," he said. 
 
"The annual effort to find a tree, get that tree pulled out for the crane, transport it, put the lights on it, it's annually a big deal just to get that through Park Square and because of some of the tree issues we've had over the years, the way we have to cable that tree looks a lot different now." 
 
He believes that there is support from both the commission and the community. 
 
"I think that certainly, the commission is receptive to that idea," McGrath added. 
 
"I think the community would be as well." 
 
If all goes well, the tree will be planted and ready for lights by the holiday season. It will be a bit smaller at 15 to 20 feet in height but just as good-looking and less labor-intensive, he said.
 
 
Phase 2 of the project, which is not being addressed at this time, involve replacing the iconic elm tree at that was planted in the 1990s to emulate an elm that was admired by Pittsfield residents in the city's early days. 
 
McGrath said it was a very handsome tree but split down the middle last year and had to be removed. 
 
"The idea is that we use the same location and replant the elm tree there," he said. 
 
"It's a little bit more tricky because it's a pretty big stump, there are pavers right up to the edge of the stump, so everything would have to be peeled back and that stump would have to be carefully excavated because there is sidewalk all around it and then we would have to carefully plant a new tree and then put the pavers back." 
 
It is a much more involved endeavor that may be a CPA project part two, McGrath added, but it is something that the city would love to do. 
 
He did find out that an organization called Pittsfield Tree Watch would like to gift the city with nearly $1,000 to purchase the elm tree when the time comes. 
 
In other news, the commission received an update on various park projects that are in progress. 
 
  • The city is $70,000 short for its project to make the restrooms at Deming Park handicap accessible. A funding application to the state's office of disabilities was not accepted and the city is working with the Office of Community Development to access Community Development Block Grant funds with the hope to have the restrooms constructed this season. 
     
  • The Springside Pond restoration is still in federal permitting and has contracted to have a third-party estimator access the cost. The project has been earmarked $650,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act committee.  
     
  • Final draft plans for the city's pickleball court in Springside Park will be ready by this week. They will be reviewed by the city and the pickleball committee and will be brought back before the commission in its February meeting. The courts are expected to be ready by the end of the summer. 
     
  • Last week the Wahconah Park Restoration Committee met its owner's project manager, whose first order of business is to help hire an architect through a designer selection RFP process mandated by the state. 
     
  • Progress has been slowed with the Springside Park pump track proposal as the city attempts to settle on an agreement with the New England Mountain Biking Association. There is some concern over the organization's lack of responsiveness over the last several months but the project has not been kicked to the curb. It was noted that the city is making sure to protect itself in the agreement that puts all of the park maintenance on NEMBA.

Tags: park square,   parks commission,   trees,   

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Pittsfield City Council Weighs in on 'Crisis' in Public Schools

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff

A half-dozen people addressed the City Council from the floor of Monday's meeting, including Valerie Anderson, right.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — After expressing anger and outrage and making numerous calls for accountability and transparency, the 11 members of the City Council on Monday voted to support the School Committee in seeking an independent investigation into allegations of misconduct by staff members at Pittsfield High School that have come to light in recent weeks.
 
At the close of a month that has seen three PHS administrators put on administrative leave, including one who was arrested on drug trafficking charges, the revelation that the district is facing a civil lawsuit over inappropriate conduct by a former teacher and that a staff member who left earlier in the year is also under investigation at his current workplace, the majority of the council felt compelled to speak up about the situation.
 
"While the City Council does not have jurisdiction over the schools … we have a duty to raise our voices and amplify your concerns and ensure this crisis is met with the urgency it demands," Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey said.
 
About two dozen community members attended the special meeting of the council, which had a single agenda item.
 
Four of the councilors precipitated the meeting with a motion that the council join the School Committee in its search for an investigation and that the council, "be included in the delivery of any disclosures, interim reports or findings submitted to the city."
 
Last week, the School Committee decided to launch that investigation. On Monday, City Council President Peter White said the School Committee has a meeting scheduled for Dec. 30 to authorize its chair to enter negotiations with the Springfield law firm of Bulkley, Richardson and Gelinas to conduct that probe.
 
Ward 7 Councilor Rhonda Serre, the principal author of the motion of support, was one of several members who noted that the investigation process will take time, and she, like Kavey, acknowledged that the council has no power over the public schools beyond its approval of the annual district budget.
 
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