PITTSFIELD — Two North Street restaurateurs have drawn attention for attacking city leadership on social media in recent weeks, accusing public and private officials of playing favorites when doling out grants to support businesses.

In a series of scathing posts on the Brooklyn’s Best restaurant Facebook page, owner Svetlana Chartier and business partner Frank Savino continue to take aim at a range of local figures and institutions — from Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti to the economic advocacy organization Downtown Pittsfield Inc. — for forcing their business to survive “without receiving any economic development incentives,” as one March 15 post stated.

A screenshot of a March 15 Facebook post on Brooklyn's Best Facebook page.

The increasingly volatile posts, which often feature insulting language, unconventional phrasing and AI-generated imagery, are alarming to city leaders, who say they paint a misleading picture of how financial support is distributed to businesses in Pittsfield — including how Brooklyn’s Best has benefited from that same funding.

“They did receive assistance from the city,” the city’s director of community development, Justine Dodds, told The Eagle. “I’m not sure what they think they've been shut out from, specifically from the city, so I’m very confused.”

Documents show — and City Hall officials say — that Brooklyn’s Best has received $35,000 in public funds designed to help the business.

Financial records show that since 2020, Brooklyn’s Best has received $25,000 in community development block grant funds. Using money supplied by a federal program, the city distributed these funds to local businesses weathering the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brooklyn’s Best opened in Pittsfield in 2016 at 48A North St., specializing in pizza and other Italian dishes. In 2021, the restaurant moved to its current location at 123 North St.

The restaurant received additional funds through a Glow Up! Grant in 2023, facilitated by Downtown Pittsfield Inc. and the Pittsfield Economic Revitalization Corp. Funds made available through the American Rescue Plan Act were distributed to several Pittsfield businesses to support improvements to their storefronts, including new paint, signage and lighting in the wake of the pandemic.

According to Catherine VanBramer, the city’s director of administrative services and public information officer, Brooklyn’s Best received $10,000 through this latter initiative.

“It is important to note that all this funding was provided under the previous administration, and [the Marchetti administration] has not received any specific request from the owners of Brooklyn’s Best for funding since he took office in 2024,” VanBramer said.

Despite Chartier applying for and receiving those grants in the past, Savino maintains that Brooklyn’s Best has been intentionally kept out of the loop when it comes to accessing city funding for local businesses.

“At no point were we proactively engaged, informed, or given a clear pathway to participate in economic development programs,” Savino wrote in an email to The Eagle.

“This is not about a single instance,” he said in another message. “This reflects over a decade of repeated efforts on our part to understand the City’s economic development programs — how they work, how businesses qualify, and how funds are allocated.”

Brooklyn’s Best opened in Pittsfield in 2016 at 48A North St., specializing in pizza and other Italian dishes. In 2021, the restaurant moved to its current location at 123 North St. The storefront operates as a takeout and delivery restaurant, with dine-in available only by reservation. According to its website, it does not have set hours.

In a series of combative posts that began in early March, Chartier and Savino have lodged wide-ranging criticisms against city officials and various economic development programs.

Chartier and Savino said they support “economic incentives for everyone, not just the select few,” and expressed frustration at watching “unqualified candidates take opportunities away from real progress because of cherry-picking.”

Specifically, they have blamed diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for diverting economic development support, describing the business in one Facebook comment as “a LEGAL Immigrant Women owned Small Business” in reference to Chartier.

Svetlana Chartier, owner of Brooklyn's Best, pictured in the North Street restaurant in 2016. Chartier and her business partner Frank Savino have taken aim at the city and Mayor Peter Marchetti over how public funds are dispersed to local businesses.

“‘Equal opportunity’ for [city leadership] is actually an Exculisionary [sic] tactic to balance the outcomes to their perfered [sic] renters, lendees, business with specifically special preferential treatment based on gender, color and orientation,” the business wrote in another post.

The Pittsfield Economic Revitalization Corp. does offer a small business technical assistance grant that specifically encourages underrepresented applicants to apply. The application said it welcomes submissions from “women, minority, immigrant, low-income, previously unemployed and military veteran business owners,” which would ostensibly include Chartier.

For applicants to city grant programs, “there’s no policy that says that we would support one applicant over another based on what their race or ethnicity is,” Dodds said. “That’s not what we do.”

According to VanBramer, Marchetti reached out personally to Brooklyn’s Best in the wake of recent posts to meet with its ownership and discuss the company’s concerns, with plans for Michael Coakley, the city’s business development manager, and Dodds to also attend.

“Frank Savino indicated that he did not want a meeting with the individuals above and preferred a phone call with the Mayor,” VanBramer said. “After several attempts of trying to reach out to Mr. Savino to set up this phone call, our messages have not been responded to.”

In response to the situation described by the mayor’s office, Savino wrote, “When we attempted to contact the Mayor’s office directly, the interaction we experienced was not constructive and did not address our concerns.”

Frank Savino, of Brooklyn's Best, in 2016. “When we attempted to contact the Mayor’s office directly, the interaction we experienced was not constructive and did not address our concerns," he told The Eagle.

Marchetti, who has made local business development a top priority for his administration, told The Eagle by phone that “[Brooklyn’s Best is] putting all this information out which we believe is not fully factual, and we want the facts to be heard.”

Misinformation, Marchetti said, “does end up having an impact on the downtown and the city.” He mentioned that he had received at least one call from a potential North Street tenant concerned about claims being circulated on social media.

“Some of the other issues that he's raising, the mayor doesn't really have any control over,” Marchetti said. He cited a state grant program Brooklyn’s Best has expressed frustration with — MassDevelopment’s Transformative Development Initiative — as an example.

But that hasn’t stopped Brooklyn’s Best from using Marchetti as a rhetorical punching bag. The phrase “Thanks, Mayor Pete” is a constant refrain throughout its Facebook posts, invoking how “Thanks, Obama” was often deployed sarcastically to criticize the former president’s policies.

More recent posts from Brooklyn’s Best have veered into outright harassment, including multiple now-deleted posts insulting another Facebook user by name in response to a post criticizing the company.

Downtown Pittsfield Inc. has been another target, referred to in one March 12 post as “a Wolf in SHEEPS clothing.”

A screenshot of a March 12 Facebook post on Brooklyn's Best Facebook page.

Rebecca Brien, managing director of Downtown Pittsfield Inc., said that Brooklyn’s Best is not a current member of the organization, which serves to promote the interests of businesses in Pittsfield’s primary commercial center.

While a post from the restaurant claims that “DPI ignored us despite our interest in joining,” Brien said that “[Savino] has been offered information about our membership, and I can tell you that he's declined that offer.”

However, she added, “If a non-member was interested in applying for a grant that we were partnering with, they could contact us and we could help facilitate.”

In fact, as the recipient of a 2023 grant co-facilitated by Downtown Pittsfield Inc., Brooklyn’s Best is an example of this process in action.

The future of the restaurant’s North Street storefront in Pittsfield is unclear. A March 5 post stated the restaurant would consider relocating, citing the challenges small businesses face under the current city administration. However, Savino told The Eagle the restaurant planned to reopen for late night hours on either March 20 or 21 after closing for a brief hiatus.

“At this time, we prefer not to comment on where we may relocate,” Savino told The Eagle.

Marchetti said he remained open to meeting with Brooklyn’s Best to discuss economic development resources.

“I think it's important to say that we’re willing and able to help [Savino] if need be,” Marchetti said. “But I need to know what the request is and what the issue is.”