The year began with the dean of the Berkshire legislative delegation announcing his intent to step down in 2025. After 11 two-year terms, Democrat Smitty Pignatelli of Lenox said he wouldn’t seek re-election as state representative for the Southern Berkshires. He told WAMC that his successor would have their work cut out for them.
“Housing insecurity is a very serious problem in the Southern Berkshires, maybe more so than Pittsfield or North Adams," said Pignatelli. "I think working closely with the administration to make sure we get our fair share. I'm a big advocate of regional equity. We're a small delegation. Unfortunately, as you know, we lost a state rep in the last redistricting in the census. So, we're small, but we have to be vocal, we have to work as a team.”
That successor, Great Barrington selectboard Vice Chair Leigh Davis, won the three-way Democratic primary battle in September and then November’s general election against independent candidate Marybeth Mitts of Lenox.
Workers at MASS MoCA held a three-week strike in March to successfully extract concessions from management at the sprawling North Adams art museum. Union spokesperson Chelsea Farrell told WAMC that following the labor action, the minimum wage for workers will increase to $18 from $16.25.
“Overtime and time and a half will kick in after 10-hour days, not just 40 hours a week. And at MASS MoCA, this is a place where folks – especially in performing arts, for festivals, for these sorts of events – people do work really long days," she said. "And we've always seen this as a health and safety issue, in that, obviously, if there's a deterrent for folks to work this long because they're going to have to be paid more, that it will incentivize there to be shorter shifts for people and therefore, a more safe work environment.”
In a statement, museum leadership said it wasn’t against the workers’ demands so much as the two parties differed on how to accomplish them.
That same month, Berkshire Health Systems returned North Adams Regional Hospital to full service a decade after its abrupt closure. After Northern Berkshire Healthcare declared bankruptcy and shuttered the facility, it was purchased by BHS — the county’s largest healthcare provider and employer. While rudimentary services returned to the site, it long lacked the credentials to provide full-service inpatient care.
After expressing their anger at General Electric’s trucking heavy transportation plan for removing toxic chemicals it dumped into the Housatonic River at a meeting in 2023, Southern Berkshire residents successfully pushed the corporate giant into a new approach in 2024.
GE Project Manager Matt Calacone presented it at a meeting in Pittsfield on December 4th.
“Our approach maximizes the use of rail transport for both onsite and offsite disposal. 17% of the project materials will be transported by rail combined with truck," he said. "We're minimizing the use of trucking alone, with only 4% of the project materials transported solely by truck. This approach results in the fewest local round trip truck miles for all the alternatives that we evaluated.”
Public comment on GE’s revised cleanup plan is open until January 15th and is subject to Environmental Protection Agency approval.
After intense debate, the community of North Adams voted to borrow $20 million toward a new, $65 million school building in October. City leaders like Mayor Jennifer Macksey advocated for the plan, which ultimately only passed by a slim margin.
“This allows us to start moving forward with building out construction documents and putting the project out to bid," she told WAMC. "So, this is a reality check that North Adams certainly supports education. I know some of the critics say that it was only 136 votes, but a win is a win, and we're very excited about this project.”
Also in October, a long awaited multi-million-dollar nature center opened in Adams. The Greylock Glen project, first conceived of in the 70s, closed funding gaps through millions in state and federal aid. Its centerpiece is a 10,000-square foot year-round multipurpose facility.
In November, Bard College announced it will close its Simon’s Rock campus and relocate its services from Great Barrington, Massachusetts to Annandale, New York. The program where high school students begin college early will move to property adjacent to Bard’s existing New York campus. Current students will remain in the southern Berkshire County town through the end of Spring 2025.
The year ended with a ceremonial groundbreaking on an ambitious new three-part housing initiative in Pittsfield in early December. Using COVID-19 pandemic relief money the city received from the federal government and a host of other funding sources, state and local leaders gathered at Zion Lutheran Church to kick off construction on a project that first came together in 2022.
“Today, Pittsfield is taking a big step toward our responsibility to make our community stronger for all of us. The development of 37 apartments – 28 at a site just across the way on West Housatonic Street, and nine here at Zion Lutheran Church – will provide apartments for individuals who are experiencing homelessness," said Eileen Peltier, CEO of Hearthway Inc., formerly known as the Berkshire Housing Development Corporation. “In addition to a lovely studio apartment, residents will have access to a bounty of services provided by a collaboration of community partners, including Hearthway, the Brien Center, ServiceNet and more. We know that providing four walls and a roof is often not enough to ensure individuals are safely and continuously housed. Permanent supportive housing like these homes is the best way to ensure individuals thrive.”
This month, the federal government announced that homelessness rates had spiked in 2024. Over 771,800 Americans went unhoused this year, a more than 18% climb over 2023.
