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CSA Farms in Pittsfield -- A Survey of Interest
August 21, 2007
The peak of harvest season seems like a good time to announce that one of my goals for Pittsfield in the next two years is to have a CSA Farm established here. For the uninitiated, a CSA Farm is simply an arrangement where consumers can purchase a share of a farm's harvest at the beginning of the growing season and then pick up freshly picked produce on a weekly basis.
The benefit to the consumer is a variety of fresh produce at a great value. The benefit to the farmer is having your crop sold before you plant it. The benefits to the community include boosting the local economy and preserving open landscapes.
Currently there are five CSA Farms in Berkshire County and the closest one to Pittsfield is the Garden at Holiday Farm in Dalton. I'm a member there and it's a great CSA but it's very small and it has a waiting list every year.
I think that Pittsfield could easily support a CSA Farm of its own, so I'm conducting a survey of interest to establish market demand and hopefully encourage local farmers to give it a try. (There's an article on small farm diversification in the August 20 edition of the Berkshire Eagle.)
So help me out. If you are a likely customer of a CSA in Pittsfield please click here and complete the survey. This does not commit you to anything and I will not share your information with anyone. I will only use it to contact you in the future or announce CSA opportunities in Pittsfield. And please spread the word -- the more names, the better!
For more information on local CSA Farms go to the Berkshire Grown website.
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Why Pittsfield Needs the Community Preservation Act
August 28, 2006
This November, Pittsfield voters will have an opportunity join the 111 other Massachusetts communities who have adopted the Community Preservation Act. If it's adopted, the act will allow us to invest in the very things that make our city an attractive place to live: open space, historic sites, and affordable housing.
The problem is that we have no money available in our municipal budget to spend on these important community assets because essential services like education, police and fire must take priority. Pittsfield residents, however, have made it clear that they value community preservation.
A few weeks ago, Saratoga Associates held four community input sessions as part of the process of updating Pittsfield's master plan. One of the biggest concerns voiced by residents was over-development. Many folks also expressed an interest in preserving open space and family farms. This came as no surprise to me because it's a concern I frequently hear from my constituents.
Some will say that we should wait for Saratoga Asociates to write up the final draft of the new master plan, complete with compelling charts, before considering the Community Preservation Act. I believe we need to take action now and start building a community fund. How will the new Pittsfield master plan be of any use to us if we have no funds available to implement its suggestions?
In the short time that I've been in office I've seen numerous unpopular development proposals. The public outcry that resulted from the "timeshare initiative" alone was a clear barometer of how Pittsfield residents feel about this issue. There is a growing movement recognizing that not all development is good. Market forces are naturally encouraging developers to cherry pick the most profitable plans -- typically upscale subdivisions on green parcels. Meanwhile the need for modest homes for first time buyers and downsizing seniors goes unmet. The Community Preservation Act can help us promote development that we can be proud of.
Pittsfield also enjoys a rich history and thankfully much of it has been preserved. We were very lucky that the Miller family had the vision to keep the Colonial Theatre in a time capsule for half a century, but Union Station was not so fortunate. Today we have the chance to make the same kind of forward-looking investments in Wahconah Park, the Samuel Harrison House, the Springside House, and the Allen House. Will we do it? Do we have a fraction of the courage George Miller showed 50 years ago?
If Pittsfield had the Community Preservation Act in place last year when the YMCA decided to sell the Ponterril parcel, perhaps they would have asked us to make an offer on the property. But why would they call us? They knew that we had no budget for buying land around our beautiful lakes to ensure public access. That would have been a perfect CPA project. In fact, we could have done one such project per year for the last six years if we had adopted this act in 2000 like some towns did.
Sounds pretty good, you say. So what's the catch? The catch is you get what you pay for. The Community Preservation Act is funded through a surcharge tacked onto our property tax bills. How much is it? The average homeowner would pay $8 per year and many folks (those whose homes are assessed at $100,000 or less) won't pay a cent. I call that a bargain. But it's your call that matters. If you think the Community Preservation Act resonates with your values then vote for it in November.
There is an alternative, of course. We can wait for some anonymous benefactor to emerge and pay for the community assets we value. But that's not the Pittsfield I know and love.
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Summer Parks Program Revival
July 11, 2006
This week the Parks and Recreation Department announced that the Summer Parks Program is back at several city parks and no one is more pleased than I am. Pittsfield residents have been enthusiastic about restoring this once popular program for some time and I identified it as a priority in my campaign last fall. I want to thank Jim McGrath for his willingness to take on another project and Mayor Ruberto for supporting the program in his budget.
I advocated for the return of the parks program because I was an avid participant in the program back in the 70's. And also because I've seen first hand how a free, fun, recreational event could transform the Common. Eight years ago I created Pittsfield Cyclocross, a free bicycle race series for kids sponsored by the Berkshire Cycling Association. It started with a handful of kids who were hanging around the skateboard park, and now the series draws families from as far as New York State. More importantly, for one night a week in mid-summer the Common is overrun with kids having a good time.
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