Press Clippings

February 9, 2005 - Berkshire Eagle Editorial: Pittsfield’s Problems in a Nutshell

Berkshire Dukes owner Dan Duquette sees Pittsfield and baseball as “estranged lovers” who simply can’t put their differences aside. That is a good analogy, but the Parks Commission’s tabling of a deal Monday that would have brought the collegiate baseball team to Wahconah Park reflects a far more complex problem in a city that can never quite put aside its paranoia, its pipe dreams and its paralysis to move boldly forward.

The Commission, by a 3-2 vote made perfection the enemy of the good in rejecting a solid licensing agreement acceptable to both Mayor Ruberto and Mr. Duquette. Commissioner Eleanor Persip decided she needed more time to review an agreement whose particulars have been common knowledge for nearly a month. Eugene Nadeau fretted that the city would have to pay for extra maintenance and trash removal costs, even though those problems could easily be addressed if and when they happened. The opposing commissioners went out of their way to invent reasons to vote against the agreement, and petulance about what they perceived as disrespectful treatment on the part of the mayor was obviously an underlying factor.

Commissioner Mike Filpi continues to delude himself that a nationwide search will uncover a person or persons dying to bring a team to a crumbling ballpark that will never again approach the minimum standards of affiliated professional baseball. It is safe to say that if anyone wanted to come to Wahconah Park Jim Bouton and Chip Elitzer would have found them during their two year efforts to bring an independent professional baseball team to the city. Wahconah Park has no selling points other than nostalgia, which counts for nothing at a time when new minor league ballparks are springing up everywhere, and there is no backup plan to the Dukes in sight.

Mr. Duquette is understandably fed up with Pittsfield, but he has his own headaches in Hinsdale, where a part-time resident is going to state land court to challenge the town Zoning Board of Appeals’ decision to allow the Dukes to play collegiate league games at Mr. Duquette’s Sports Academy without a special permit. Mr. Duquette may haul his team out of the quarrelsome Berkshires, battle it out in Hinsdale, or perhaps give Pittsfield another shot.

Regardless what happens next on the baseball front, however, Pittsfield residents
should reflect upon a Parks Commission vote that encompasses so many of
Pittsfield’s long-standing problems---pettiness, timidity and unrealistic expectations
among them---in a nutshell.