One topic of conversation was a petition from Ward 2 city councilor Charles Kronick calling for Pittsfield to crack down on residents living in public parks.
“At the last council meeting on September 13th, I heard something that I feel is endemic within Pittsfield culture. A man came to speak about the, quote, blight from homeless camps. He spoke about, quote, needles, feces, etc., that were disgusting for the players, also for the family and friends that came to visit his son's Little League game. That churchgoers and businesses are scared of homeless and homeless camps. He asserted that people would be quote turned off by what they see." said Luke Marion, the co-owner of downtown eatery Otto’s Kitchen & Comfort. “We cannot treat and discuss homelessness in such terms. They are not blight. They are troubled, and many cannot afford to live in an increasingly gentrified Pittsfield. I feel that at most times within the city, issues of the unsheltered and unhoused populations are met with this type of rhetoric that they must be moved for the benefit of the higher social strata- Business owners, wealthy tourists, overwhelmingly white middle class, etc.”
Marion said he fully endorses the city’s efforts to build new downtown supportive housing on West Housatonic Street and added he expects more from the council in supporting the unhoused.
“I expect that it will not be adequate for this council to place the issue on the back burner or debate ad nauseam while even one single of our neighbors subsist on handouts or freezes in a public park," he said. "They're not a blight. They're not unwelcome. They're not bad or dangerous people because they upset our delicate suburban sensibilities. Let us help them, and let's do so with haste.”
The council ultimately rejected Kronick’s petition in an 8-2 vote.
Another speaker came to address the ongoing fallout from the police killing of Miguel Estrella in March. Investigations from both the Pittsfield Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office found that the officer who shot the 22-year-old during a mental health crisis had not broken any laws. Activists marked six months since the incident with protests and renewed calls for accountability.
“I spoke before this council four years ago as part of the group that petitioned for the citizen oversight board. And now another person is dead with no accountability, because it seems that nothing we brought up was addressed. So, I felt a need to come here again," said Pittsfielder Elizabeth Calkins. “We asked for a real oversight board with real powers to investigate police complaints and real powers to enforce consequences, including pressing charges if necessary. I’m not sure why that wasn't done four years ago when we asked for it. We also asked for mental health calls to be treated as medical emergencies. We asked for therapists to be primary responders, and for police escorts to be unarmed, because people with mental illness are not criminals. They're not monsters to shoot down, they’re patients. And again, I don't understand why this wasn't done four years ago.”
The city’s most recent incarnation of a Police Advisory and Review Board disintegrated earlier this year when frustrated members resigned after being told they couldn’t review an internal report on the Estrella killing.
Resident LeMarr Talley proposed that Pittsfield implement a point system for its officers.
“If police get so many negative points, they're just off the force," he said. "Also, to put on that point, there's positive points that can help negate that, from them getting off the force, included but not limited to, as I put it, as negative points, as far as assault and battery, inappropriate behavior, language, falsified reports, investigations, no community service as a record for over two years, on or off duty criminal convictions or negative Internal Affairs reports. Positive points will go to community service, hero assistance and community duty, active military service, injured while performing services, and family spouse community services if they’re part of a community action or anything of that nature.”
The Pittsfield city council meets next on October 11th.
