Work continues on Persip Park next to the Intermodal Center on North Street.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — While most major attractions in the city are reporting solid seasons, ubiquitous downtown construction and other issues have presented some obstacles to pedestrian flow and visibility, particularly for its struggling Visitors Center.

 

Traffic has been sparse over the summer to the small, volunteer-staffed center, currently located in the Joseph Scelsi Intermodal Transportation the past two years, following a decade that saw it bounced around multiple downtown sites.

 

"I feel like the Visitors Center has been lost in that shuffle," said Jennifer Glockner at a meeting of the city's Tourism Commission last week. Glockner, who transitioned from tourism coordinator to director of the Office of Cultural Development a few months ago, attributed some of the lack of vibrancy in the center to the staffing transitions in that department.

 

"Everyone thinks that the construction is making people not turn that corner and come in,"  added Deborah Sadowy, director of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, which staffs the center Monday through Friday from Memorial Day to Columbus Day.

 

Persip Park, which abuts the transportation station at the corner of North and Columbus Streets, has been fenced off while undergoing complete renovation starting in early July, and local tourism officials hope that upon its completion the redesigned plaza will enhance appeal of the adjacent center.

 

Connecting the two entities thematically will be a new "state of the art" electronic kiosk in Persip that will offer a virtual version of information about local venues and upcoming events, and it is thought that this device will complement the more traditional maps, pamphlets and similar marketing materials and the "human contact" factor provided by the Visitors Center.

Completion of Persip, also known as Liberty Plaza, is anticipated later this year, with an official ribbon cutting expected next spring. Somewhat farther down North Street, simultaneous construction for the next phase of Streetscape development has also rendered a significant section of the northern end of the street's sidewalk dismantled and untraversable.

 

Meanwhile, Sottile Park, diagonally across North Street from Persip, was also to begin renovation at the same time, according to a press release from City Hall earlier this summer, but no work has yet begun on this smaller pedestrian plaza.

 

Concerns continue, too, about the continuance of certain kinds of inappropriate usage of these plazas that might reflect less than attractively on downtown, among them perpetual litter issues and cigarette smoking, which was just prohibited in these spaces along with all other city park sites.

 

"Will the individuals who hung out there before, will there be something to prevent that?" asked Sadowy.

 

"I don't know the answer to that," said Glockner.

 

Kristine Hurley, newly hired executive director for the Downtown Pittsfield Inc. merchants association, said that a change from traditional benches to a long concrete wall seating style in the new design may change the profile of its usage.

 

"I think that may cut down on some of the long-term sitting," said Hurley.  

 

"It's been a challenge there for a very long time," said City Councilor John Krol. "We want to strike a balance between the compassionate, sensitive community that we are, and also recognizing that we have to have a certain image in our downtown as well."

 

The Tourism Commission plans to schedule a meeting of its Visitors Center subcommittee following the close of its season in October to look more closely at this year's performance.