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By Glenn Drohan, Berkshire Eagle Staff

NORTH ADAMS -- Mayor John Barrett III once railed at downtown landlords and business owners at least once a month, warning them to fix up their properties and get some activity going.

Nowadays, he and his Office of Tourism and Cultural Development are working hand-in-hand with them, due largely to the efforts of the Infinite Capacity Partnership, a once-obscure organization of businesses and cultural organizations that has recently come into the limelight.

The partnership, in disarray and unable to get organized for several months in 2000, began to form cohesive ideas last year after it received a $30,000 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council that was matched by Hoosac Bank; the Hardman Fund; Coakley, Pierpan, Dolan & Collins insurance company; Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation; the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art; the Mohawk Trail Association, and the city.

Already this year, the partnership, in conjunction with the mayor's tourism office, launched successful "First Friday" events downtown, held a food festival on Main Street, created a map of downtown destinations that has been displayed in programs for Mass MoCA and the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and has plans to buy two used trolleys to provide tours of North Adams from the Marshall Street museum complex.

"There's a good group of business people now who see the bigger picture," Barrett said yesterday. "They are being patient and coming up with good ideas -- not the least of which has been fixing their buildings up. There's so much happening in the city right now, I'm just flabbergasted. Some things may fail, but I think when it's all said and done, we're going to have a different type of economy out there with diverse businesses and activities."

Christina Osorio, who was hired as Infinite Capacity's coordinator in April, said she believes downtown business and property owners have come to trust the mayor and to honestly believe that city government is not their enemy.

"I think the community is opening its eyes and realizing the city is here to help them. And it's not just the cultural organizations -- the business owners have really stood up and come to the plate," Osorio said in an interview at her office at 6 West Main St. last week.

In fact, she said she has been so impressed with the city and the spirit of cooperation here that she and her husband, Jersey, who have lived in Lenox Dale for 14 years, decided to open their gourmet cheese and gift shop, Where in the World? here, instead of in South County, where it potentially would be more lucrative.

"I really see potential and prosperity looming on the horizon for North Adams," Osorio said.

Local artist Eric Rudd, owner of the Flatiron Building on Eagle Street and one of the founders of Infinite Capacity, agreed.

"I like to think it's a lot of little things that have come together," Rudd said. "There was no one magic answer out there, but a lot of little things that needed to be done with a lot of hard work. We're doing all these things behind the scenes. It might not seem like much, but collectively, it makes a difference."

The idea for trolleys, Rudd said, came from his suggestion two years ago to have bicycle-powered rickshaws give people tours from Mass MoCA, because people in the organization had been complaining that tourists came to see the museum and then left without visiting the downtown. The idea blossomed into using trolleys, which the group originally thought would be too expensive. However, David Weissbrodt, owner of the Edward Jones Investments office on Main Street, found a Web site that sells used trolleys, and the idea became more feasible.

Rudd and Osorio said Infinite Capacity has raised $18,800 toward the purchase in private donations from Hoosac Bank, David G. Carver of Scarafoni Associates, the Holiday Inn and other businesses. About $12,000 more is needed, but Osorio said she believes the trolleys can be bought by the end of the summer. "All it will take would be a couple of business owners to come through with about $5,000 each," she said.

Barrett has done his part, she added, in agreeing to find space at the Highway Department garage to house the trolleys and to have local crews repair and maintain them. Infinite Capacity leaders envision having short and long tours of the city, with a charge of 25 cents for the former and $1 for the latter, Osorio said. Advertising space on the trolleys could be used to provide the revenue necessary to operate them, and the trolleys also could be rented out for special events.

Infinite Capacity also is considering other promotional ideas, such as walking tours of the city and expanding the First Friday events with more entertainment and sidewalk sales. The next event, on Aug. 2, will be the biggest of the year.

From a handful of partners in 2000, the organization has grown to more than 20 participants, with most of the businesses and organizations in the downtown taking part in some way. They include Rudd's Dark Ride Project, Skiddoo, the Railway Cafe, Main Street Stage, Joga Cafe, Papyri Books, Gramercy Bistro, Satya's Celestial Emporium, Inkberry, Galadriel's, Air2Ink, Mass MoCA, the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, the Contemporary Artists Center, Everything Art, Brewhaha, the Holiday Inn, the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce and the Eagle Street Merchants Association.

The group got its name from Douglas Bartow, the Mass MoCA designer who also is working on a billboard-size version of the downtown map that will be prominently displayed on Building 12 in the museum complex. The name, Osorio said, was coined to coincide with the opening of Mass MoCA at the former Sprague Electric Co. plant, playing a little bit on the manufacture of capacitors there but also expressing the room for growth in North Adams.

"There is a huge amount of room to grow here, and I think it's just starting to happen," she said.

Barrett agreed. He said that even though the partnership is in jeopardy because its grant money is running out, he plans to keep Osorio on as coordinator, using unspent funds from his tourism office's budget. The partnership is applying for a new grant from the cultural council in January.

"It's important to keep the momentum going, and we want to keep them alive for the next few months," Barrett said. "When we have talked about providing links between MoCA and the downtown, I've always said you can't link something to something else unless you've got something to link it with. We're starting to see those links now, and we've got to keep it going."

Anyone interested in learning more about Infinite Capacity may contact ICP representative Rachel Barenblat at rachel@inkberry.org.