Ruberto seeks results to projects

PITTSFIELD

"Leadership, for reaction and results, has a shelf-life and once you move beyond the shelf-life, you're no longer at your maximum effectiveness," declares Pittsfield Mayor James Ruberto, who's running for re-election to his third term this November but has no intention of seeking to become the city's "mayor for life."

Nevertheless, during an extensive interview recently at his City Hall office, Ruberto, 60, makes it clear that he wants to see the end result of the major projects and priorities he has established since taking office in January 2004. (He lost to Sara Hathaway in his first bid for the corner office in November 2001.)

Ruberto — a Pittsfield native

who returned to the city with his wife, Ellen, also born here, after 30 years in plastics and related industries — voices some impatience with the length of time needed to get major initiatives off the ground. As an example, he cites $1.8 million in Federal funds secured by U.S. Rep. John Olver, D-Amherst, for the city's Streetscape program that's still pending.

"There are so many rigidities you confront in government," he complains. "There are so many things that you hope would be started or in progress that are still on the drawing board."

The long-planned reconfiguration of Park Square to make it more driver-friendly also has been subject to delays, although Ruberto now expects state funding next year. The cost has

ballooned from $300,000 or $400,000 three years ago to about $1 million now. The goal is to allow northbound traffic to proceed in a straight line rather than traversing the rotary; traffic from West Street could loop directly into northbound lanes.

The Beacon cinema complex, which Ruberto has long touted as key to the ultimate revitalization of the North Street business district, also has been hampered by complications. Construction had been expected to begin in February, but the National Parks Service, which has jurisdiction over the historical qualifications needed for tax credits, filed a series of objections to the planned restoration of the historic Kinnell and Kresge buildings that will house the theater at 49-55 North St.

As a result, the Internal Revenue Service has not green-lighted the cinema complex as a qualified historic tax-credit project. Ruberto says negotiations are proceeding with the National Parks Service and some of the structural elements of the plan are being revised to gain historic tax-credit status. The extent of further delay is expected to be announced shortly; Ruberto now hopes for a 2009 opening of the anticipated six-screen, 1,200-seat facility — at least two cinemas with stadium seating. The mayor projects that, once completed, the cinema center would draw 200,000 people a year to North Street — a big chunk of the mayor's goal of half a million visitors.

"I'm disappointed by the delay, but I refuse to be discouraged," Ruberto declares. "We're going to build that movie theater! We've had so many obstacles, and we've confronted so many issues in trying to get this project off the ground. There have been so many times that I saw the potential for this project to be dead, so I absolutely believe we will build it on the sheer will of all the parties involved — the local business community, the state government, the developer Richard Stanley, who's knee-deep in seeing this through, and the city."

'Absolutely thrilled' with Fleming

Another linchpin of downtown revival, the Colonial Theatre, wins high marks from Ruberto, who says he's "absolutely thrilled" with the leadership of Executive Director David Fleming.

"He's solidly committed to making certain that the community is involved, and the programming to this point has served a wide audience and was well-received. I'm particularly pleased that he was able to open that theater to community activities and events, and that all people are coming to see the theater as a community asset," the mayor says.

"Obviously, it's going to continue to face financial challenges," Ruberto acknowledges, "and my hope and expectation is that the broader element of the community has seen value in the theater and needs to be engaged to support the financial needs. It needs a base of contributions to continue to see it operating at break-even."

Ruberto stresses the goal of attracting "a broader base of people who feel some affiliation and commitment to this community" — he cites an influx of second-home residents to Pittsfield and he hopes to see more second-homers from elsewhere in the county coming to the arts and entertainment venues in the city.

Drug-related crime a reality

The mayor acknowledges the perception and reality of drug-related crime in the city — "this is a county-wide problem and Pittsfield only serves as a place where those dealers find cover, but the tentacles reach everywhere."

Ruberto, the brother of the late District Attorney Anthony Ruberto, emphasizes that he has been committed to full staffing and funding of the police department's drug detective unit — "a top-notch, fully committed drug task force that is addressing the problem, and we're always going to have a problem for as long as people live. We have a district attorney (David Capeless) for whom I have tremendous respect."

Ruberto cites Capeless's commitment "not only to the prosecution side, but also to the prevention and rehabilitation side" and is encouraged by recent drug busts because "it tells the dealers that it might not be today, but it will be for sure sometime tomorrow that your day is up."

He points to the increased presence of state police units in the city's neighborhoods as a result of state funding initiated by former state Sen. Andrea F. Nuciforo Jr. and now supported by state Rep. Christopher Speranzo, D-Pittsfield, and state Sen. Benjamin Downing.

Major developments

The upsurge of new and renovated residential developments downtown, especially in the upper North Street area, is being cheered on by Ruberto, who sees a 24-hour neighborhood as "critically important" to the vibrancy of downtown.

"When you see residentials on Maplewood off North Street, on North Street at the intersection of Linden and Bradford, you say, 'Wow!' The upper part of North Street is now an incredibly vibrant spot," Ruberto declares. He also cites David Carver's Clock Tower condominium development and Beth Pearson's New Amsterdam Project on Center Street at Bradford — a 31-unit development that includes market-rate as well as affordable housing, "the perfect gateway to the West Side."

"You have to go from the inside out," Ruberto explains, "because the inside, North Street, is traditionally and historically the soul of the city and until people can be proud of where they live, they're going to have a problem being ambassadors, and until North Street becomes something again, people are not going to like what they see in their downtown and they're not going to have that sense of pride. Cities have problems, we have the mixture of diversity and the dynamic of change ... and we have to be willing to expect that this community will have more social problems than any other, and not hide from them, but try to address them."

On other subjects, Ruberto made these points:

Saudi Basic Industries doesn't "want to do anything to distract from a seamless acquisition" of GE Plastics or "interfere with the way this company is being operated. Over time, it will be the local management of this new company that will ultimately be the decider of whether to grow the headquarters in Pittsfield or whether to find other spots. What we're doing today in Pittsfield is going to be more than ample evidence that Pittsfield should remain, for the long term, the home of whatever this new plastics company calls itself. We won the lottery, though; of the suitors, Sabic was the one I was rooting for because they've got deep pockets, absolute access to the raw material, and they were the least likely of all the suitors to carve pieces up to support the acquisition. They have no real presence in the United States, so many of the corporate services supplied by GE from outside the area to the employees and the business here will now have to be replicated within the company, and I see that as a source of growth."

Development of the William Stanley Business Park by the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority has been "a long, frustrating journey to get here. ... We're behind the curve, but now I understand how steep the curve really is. Today, we own the property and now we're going to invest money in the infrastructure, for creating the roadways and the landscaping, to put up a building of our own and in making certain we can effectively market the properties. It's hard to sell a dream when the dream is nothing but a brownfield, with some buildings coming down and some weeds over here. It's now time for us to dress up the facility and allow people to see the potential to be a highly sophisticated, downtown business park." He's looking for more financial support from Boston; "it's longer and later in the game than I thought we'd before we see some building on it, but all the preparatory work is going to make a better finished product." Ruberto expects a major announcement of the first new tenant of the business park this month. "This is a Pittsfield-based, well-recognized, highly positioned company that has experienced tremendous growth. . . a company that will be bringing new 35 to 50 jobs to Pittsfield and broadening the scope of the work that they do."

The proposed city budget meets nearly all of the school department's needs, according to Ruberto, including an English-learning project in the elementary schools; a middle-school initiative to support of English and arts; and a high-school program to focus on ninth-grade, at-risk students. "I'm very happy with where we are, taking the next step toward addressing the problems. I'm very disappointed that (Superintendent) Kathleen Darlington will not be extending her contract because she has taken some bold steps in ensuring that on-site leadership at different schools be strengthened, and ensuring that math, English and science curriculum be given support, and that she was willing to talk about and address the real problems — graduation rates, MCAS scores and other trouble areas."

On the possible consolidation and merger of Pittsfield and Taconic High, "My bias is to say that one high school would better serve the students. I don't believe it will necessarily save any amount of money; I believe it will improve the competition and quality of instruction, and one location properly expanded can be built to bring in all the modern technology that will make this one of those model new schools that are being driven within the academic community." Ruberto acknowledges it will take a lot of work, planning and money to expand, upgrade and overhaul Taconic High as the city's single high school, "and a lot of creative foresight to keep the school feeling small inside of more square feet." A consulting firm will start reviewing "all elements of school improvement" this fall, including one traditional high school and one technical-vocation school, or one comprehensive high school. "We can't support two comprehensive high schools, trying to duplicate all the courses we have in both schools is going to be incredibly challenging, so before we face that fact and start wringing our hands over cost and effectiveness, let's study the issue and address it now. The politics of the issue have to be secondary because the reality of the issue is to how best we educate our children and in what type of environment and cost conditions. It's a very critical issue. My belly tells me, one high-tech, new comprehensive school is going to have everybody in Berkshire County saying, 'I wish I could get my kid in there.' I want 'Wow,' I want people to come to Pittsfield to see our school system and our facility. I want the steak that has tremendous sizzle." Ruberto says that of all he has accomplished in office, he's most proud that "we've completely reversed the notion of any teacher layoffs by level-funding the school budget, and that we were able to resolve the (Pittsfield Municipal) airport issue by saving us court time that could have delayed the project further." He believes it was necessary to "compromise" the original version of the expansion plan in order to achieve the runway extension and the safety enhancements at the facility. "We are not now threatened by any lawsuits by anybody as we move this project forward," he declares. The mayor expects the construction to get under way later this year for what's now a $35 million project — 10 percent from the city, and 90 percent from the state and federal governments — "but there's a process you continually have to address, to get funding that always is challenging for the commitments that you've given. You get forced to jump through hoops, but the funding schedule is all covered." He hopes for completion of the airport expansion by the end of 2010.