Mayor Peter Marchetti says his effort to outlaw unhoused people from living on city streets and in public parks is to address public health concerns, quality-of-life issues, and business owner complaints in Pittsfield’s downtown.
“The constant calls of the urination and defecation in doorways, the addiction issue, the folks that are actively doing drugs in the downtown,” he told WAMC.
The long-debated proposal remains in legislative limbo since Marchetti brought it forward in the spring, moving it from subcommittee to subcommittee for discussion and amendment. The measure is likely to be referred to the city’s board of health during tonight’s meeting.
“The sanitation issue is something loud and clear that we're hearing from the downtown merchants and the feces that we're finding in the downtown and the needles that we're finding in the downtown," explained Marchetti. "What is the cause and how can we ensure that, from a sanitation standpoint, that is cleaned up?”
Marchetti acknowledges that crime continues a years-long downward trend in the urban hub of Berkshire County, and that city hall doesn’t have hard numbers detailing the pervasiveness of the sanitation issues.
“I don't know specifically about how much feces or needles," the mayor told WAMC. "The one thing that we are working on, and as you know, I have quarterly downtown meetings with the with the merchants, and so I'm working on data to be able to present to them with the number of calls that have taken place over the summer.”
As originally written, the ordinance would have criminalized public camping. After months of critics loudly decrying the mayor’s plan as cruel and punitive to the city’s most vulnerable, amendments from the city council have stripped away the law’s harshest penalties.
“I've acknowledged publicly that in the very beginning, coming in with an ordinance with all of the bells and whistles that I brought forward probably wasn't the best place to start, but it actually has started a conversation, and we're working to make sure that we get this right," said Marchetti. "We have a lot of work to do in terms of trying to find housing for the homeless and also finding resources for the folks that are homeless, whether you're homeless because you were one tragedy away and it hit you, or because you have an addiction or a mental health issue where you need some additional help.”
Ward 5 City Councilor Patrick Kavey says while the ordinance has been improved over the course of debate and amendment, it’s still far from its most effective form, noting that homelessness cannot be legislated away.
“But we can make Pittsfield healthier, we can make Pittsfield safer, we can come together in a compassionate way and combine housing, public health, legal clarity, and economic development to hopefully solve this issue," he told WAMC. "I don't believe our city should move forward with quick fixes, but rather long, lasting solutions that will lift up the unhoused folk as well as the business community in our downtown corridor.”
Kavey says the ban is redundant given existent city law.
“Most of the problematic behavior we're seeing is already enforceable," the councilor said. "So, for example, public defecation, disorderly conduct, problematic behaviors, they're already illegal. So, we don't necessarily need a new law for those specific issues. We need to enforce what we already have on the books, and we also need to build more supportive programs that address the root causes.”
Alongside Ward 6 City Councilor Dina Lampiasi, Kavey has put forward a raft of petitions meant to bolster a holistic approach to downtown Pittsfield’s issues. One calls for a comprehensive city-wide housing plan.
“We're asking for data, because it's important to make decisions based on data of our current housing stock and then what our needs are," said Kavey. "So, building housing, rehabilitating existing units, creating more apartments, expanding pathways to home ownership. If we don't address housing, we're just treating the symptoms of the problem.”
Pittsfield, in part thanks to a historic investment of federal COVID-19 relief funding approved during the tenure of former Mayor Linda Tyer, is actively working to expand its shelter capacity and bring new transitional housing units online. Marchetti says his administration is working to create more than 250 new housing units by the end of 2027.
“We also keep hearing about sanitation and hygiene in downtown, so we proposed a sanitation initiative in downtown," Kavey continued. "So regular cleanups, mobile hygiene stations, access to public services- This addresses the cleanliness directly, without marginalizing people further.”
Kavey and Lampiasi’s requests to the city include obtaining a written opinion from the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office on the legality of the camping ban, as well as the development of a “designated emergency safe camping plan for unhoused individuals in the city.”
Pittsfield’s city council meets at 6 p.m.
