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Cohen makes pitch for second Pittsfield city council term, addresses public health concerns at her bar

An Asian American woman wearing a blue and white striped shirt smiles into the camera
City of Pittsfield
Yuki Cohen.

At-large Pittsfield, Massachusetts city councilor Yuki Cohen is running for a second term in Tuesday’s municipal election. The bar owner’s establishment, Methuselah, has been in the headlines throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In late 2020, Mayor Linda Tyer identified it as a location in an outbreak connected to city eateries. In April, Methuselah had its liquor and entertainment licenses suspended after a video was shared on social media showing Cohen dancing, maskless, on top of the bar. WAMC spoke to the city councilor about how the controversy has impacted her bid for another two-year term, and what she wants to accomplish if returned to the council.

COHEN: I feel that I've had- I've been just finishing up my freshman tenure. So I learned a lot over the last two years, and now I have the tools and the humility and the skill set, I believe, to enact, to, I guess, to move more of my, what I feel is important for Pittsfield, which is affordable housing. I really like the concept of economic gardening, which is looking at the businesses that are already invested and that are dedicated to Pittsfield already and going in there and trying to see what can we do to help your business grow. The one example that I have used in prior interviews is Smokey Divas. They make these amazing barbecue sauces. They're in a little spot inside, in the stores, and we what can we do? Can we franchise them? Can we put their bottles at Guido’s or Big Y? Can we get them a bigger store? How can we come up with more of a social media presence, something to that effect. I would love to invest in the people and the businesses already invested in Pittsfield.

WAMC: Now you're one of the quietest members of the council. If people tune in to watch the meetings or go in person again, they're unlikely to see you speak, statistically speaking, across the last couple of years. How would you describe your presence on the council? And can you speak a little bit as to why you tend to keep it short and sweet when you're in the meetings?

Right, well, I have to say that being in city council was definitely more intimidating. And I just kind of went in there, I wasn't- I guess just being a freshman, I just wasn't- Not that I wasn't sure, but it was a bit intimidating to speak in public. Speaking in public is hard to begin with for me. So what I wanted to do was also respect the more senior councilors and kind of learn as much as I could based on their expertise and their experience. So I feel like I've learned a lot. And I think being on Zoom for the first, I guess, as soon as I became a city councilor last year we were in Zoom meeting, so that platform was a little bit harder as well, I thought. But I feel more confident now in speaking my- and then I think the process, it's a learning process as well. You speak in order to make sure that your views are heard to the constituents so they understand where we're coming from. So it was like, it was a big learning process for me.

Over the course of the pandemic, your establishment, Methuselah, found itself in the headlines and in city hall over concerns around COVID protocol violations, a video of you dancing on the bar at one point, comments from the community about concerns about what was going on there, and city hall went as far as to specifically implicate Methuselah as being part of an outbreak. Can you speak to some of that and how it affects your campaign this fall?

So, absolutely. So, we are working hard at putting out some facts, so thank you for asking that. I don't- I just want to make sure that everybody knows that the state health department investigated us when the first initial breakout happened back in November that kind of, I think, led to the two week shutdown. And I can send you the emails, I went back and forth with the Department of Labor services that oversees the COVID pandemic, and they did a full investigation of our protocols and their conclusion was that we did everything correctly, the protocols are good in place. And that we were the recipient of the virus, not the spreader of the virus. So, and I think it's interesting that my establishment in particular was highlighted, because the people who came in who were implicated in having had COVID that was the cause of the spread, they were in two other establishments as well, one for dinner for several hours and at my place for dessert and drinks, and they went to another establishment after the fact. So I want to say, I just want to let you, let everybody know that the state exonerated us of that. There was another fine that came up that was $1,000 for another picture that appeared and we were fined $1,000. I appealed that and I won the appeal so that went away as well. And the dancing on the bar, I'm grateful to say that, you know, nobody got sick from that event. It was a mistake that I made, you and I talked about that when at the time that it happened. I feel like I paid penance for that. I voluntarily shut down and then I was asked to shut down for another four weeks. And I feel that that violation led to a punitive- I mean, shutting down for four weeks after COVID, it leads to about – and five weeks total – at least about a $50,000 loss in revenues. So, and I will say that, I mean, some things I didn't do well, and I do apologize and I am very sorry and I'm humbled by all that, but I do feel like I learned. I took accountability. And I've learned a lot and I feel like that shows. I mean, I wanted to show my daughters that I could have gone away, I could have hidden, I could have moved to another place. But I wanted them and the residents to see that hey, we make mistakes, we learn from it. And here I am standing up again to try again and hopefully to try and do better going forward.

Your bar also was a subject of some attention during your first run due to other violations and concerns raised prior to your first run. Did you think in the coming term, should you be re-elected, at this point you can sort of steer clear of all of that with the city?

Yeah, I mean, a lot of that was definitely growing pains. We, I mean, luckily and gleefully, we were extremely successful. So there was a reward prepared for that. But I have to say every step of the way, from the violations that occurred, we learned. I mean, the overcapacity, we learned that we need a doorman every night that's busy. So every step of the way, we have learned to do the process. So I am, so going forward, yeah, absolutely, we can expect to do things, everything well. And I'm hoping that the city will help me in expanding. There's precedences like in the way the building code is interpreted. So we have establishments that have expanded to 99 without a sprinkler system. So I'm hoping to, I was working on that before COVID happened. So I'm hoping to revisit that and hoping that we can expand to 99. I'm working through that with architects and with the city.

What do you see as the big issues of this campaign? And if you're elected, what do you think the city council should focus on over its next term?

So we do, I see- I feel like the homeless issue is a big one, and it, that could be tied to the market rate housing going in. I did have great meetings with [Pittsfield Comunity Development Director] Deanna Ruffer and with [Pittsfield Community Development & Housing Program Manager] Justine [Dodds] and [Pittsfield City Planner] CJ Hoss, and so we are, I'm working with them to- I mean, they have programs in place already called supportive housing and supportive housing for homeless persons to try to figure out exactly- providing housing and trying to figure out exactly what's leading to the to the homelessness. And let's say if it's mental health, or if it's a drug addiction, they'll have the programs available to help them get on their feet on a solid ground. So I love that. And the market rate housing- I love the concept of putting money toward- like, if a developer comes in, and they want to build market rate housing, maybe put some money towards a fund that will go towards building affordable or transitional or whatever housing that's necessary for Pittsfield. I think also equitability. I know the diversity office is a big one. And I know coming from an Asian woman it sounds like it's an obvious thing. But if I look at the census and the demographics, I mean, there's a huge disparity in wealth for people of color and people that are white. So I would love to see that bridge gapped a little bit. And also, taxes. Talking to a lot of the constituents, especially are the big segment that that are seniors, I mean, they're in a fixed income, and when taxes go up, it hurts them disproportionately. So I would love to find a way to kind of increase the tax base so the tax is spread out towards more people so the tax burden per person, especially our seniors, is lowered. And I think we can do that by attracting – not only attracting new businesses to make sure that every storefront on North Street is filled – but also to make sure, like I mentioned earlier with economic gardening, looking at every businesses that are already successful, already invested in and have been here, how can we help them and ensure that city hall is, like every person in city hall is a red carpet team member, so from the building inspector to the board of health to everybody, it's just like, what can we do to help you to thrive and grow, is what I would love to see. I mean, there's several more. And then obviously, the [American Rescue Plan Act] funds is a big thing. I know it's earmarked for very specific things that we can spend money on. But I would love to see that make a dent on some of the big problems that we have to make things better for the people that were impacted dramatically during COVID.

I want to ask you about the market rate housing issue specifically. You did vote in support of a tax increment agreement with a developer turning a property, the historic firehouse on Tyler Street, into market rate housing, and then on social media seem to be somewhat critical of the decision after having voted in support of it.

Right.

Could you sort of break down for me why you initially voted for it and then later, what you found troublesome about the concept?

Yes, absolutely. So when I look at decisions that come up in the city council, I always look at, what's the best outcome? There's not always a perfect answer, but instead of letting the property sit idle, do we I encourage developers to come in to develop the space? So, I mean, once I looked at one versus the other, and I always try to look at things from an investment standpoint. If something sits idle it’s just costing money just by sitting idle, but then we have a developer come in and give an incentive to build something that is- We actually have a need for market rate housing, so I voted in favor of that. But then afterwards, I’m looking at the data in conversations with some of my colleagues and friends, and then I realized, like, I think there might be a correlation between the homelessness- And granted, this isn't this is just a correlation, not a cause and effect. And the fact that the homeless situation is growing, is it possible that that could be happening because the people cannot afford housing anymore, because the rents are going higher? And the development that's going in, at the firehouse is for units that are $2,000 per month. So if you kind of do the math of what the math is for how much of your income should go towards rent, I mean, so we're talking about people that are making over $100,000, so- And our average I think, is median, or average income, is around $40,000. So I kind of felt like we- I mean, I voted, but I'm thinking that going forward, we can make it better. So I talked to CJ Hoss and he mentioned that developers coming in, they're pushing towards having, including affordable housing, like the Tyler Street project- I'm sorry, not the Tyler Street project. But the downtown project has that in place. But maybe putting some petitions together or making an ordinance going forward that any new developer that has enough like, for example, David Carver's group, has enough market rate housing, so we can just come up with a formula or something that makes sense that we can make sure that either they include affordable housing or put money towards something like that, so that we can build affordable, transitional or whatever housing is that we have for the more vulnerable segment of the population.

Josh Landes has been WAMC's Berkshire Bureau Chief since February 2018, following stints at WBGO Newark and WFMU East Orange. A passionate advocate for Western Massachusetts, Landes was raised in Pittsfield and attended Hampshire College in Amherst, receiving his bachelor's in Ethnomusicology and Radio Production. His free time is spent with his cat Harry, experimental electronic music, and exploring the woods.
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