By DAN VALENTI

FIRST ADD, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2011

BUDGET BUZZARDS RUBBER STAMP JIMMY’S WISH LIST, 7-3

The city council’s 7-3 approval of the nearly $130 million budget submitted by Mayor Jimmy Ruberto marks another round of business as usual. Three councilors voted for THE PEOPLE of Pittsfield. Melissa Mazzeo, Mike Ward, and Christine Yon voted “no” to the bloated, fat-filled document.

Yon particularly distinguished herself during the budget proceedings, speaking out against the particularly egregious school department budget. She questioned why, when her constituents have to make do with wage freezes if they’re lucky to have a job, do school department employees automatically get unfair consideration. Yon has found her voice, she will win re-election, and with a new mayor grow to be even more of a force in city politics. Mazzeo continues to grow in political savvy and influence. She has an ear out for We The People and isn’t afraid to out-spit the boys.

Krol You Expect to Shill for the Mayor, but Nichols??

John Krol, up for re-election in Ward 6, supported the mayor’s spending plan. In a telling comment, Krol said as a councilor had the obligation to support what was good “for the city of Pittsfield.” Krol’s remarks bare what he considers his first obligation: to the city and not its people — to city departments and city employees, who represent votes — and not to his tax-addled constituents.

That Krol should support the bloated status quo isn’t a surprise, for he may be a GOB in formation. That Joe Nichols should do it, though, is more problematic. Nichols votes these days in a manner befitting what he thinks will be required for his added credibility as a mayoral candidate. He’s voting with the GOB, but Nichols is mistaken if he thinks that will win him extra votes. If he keep this up, Nichols will undermine the only chance he has to pull off a stunning upset.

PHONEY BASTARDS GET BLATANT ABOUT IT!

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, June 29, 2011) — As if you didn’t already know, but the fix is in for Chris “No Show” Speranzo to get his cushy $110K+benefits lifetime appointment for the no-show job of clerk magistrate of Central Berkshire District Court.

How phony is the game? How blatantly do the GOBs spit in The Little Guy’s face? How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky?

Bending the Rules to Assure the Outcome

When it came time for the governor’s council to meet and decide on No Show sorry fate, they were one dull blade short of a set. One of their number, a No Show supporter (who had taken a dive) wasn’t present nor was he accounted for. Where oh where could he be?

Was this stalwart of the public trust working with Mother Teresa’s nuns in Calcutta, ministering to the poorest of the poor? Was he on the verge of discovering a cure for the common cold? No, alas and alack! This bum was on V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N. For that, the GOBs on high made the phone call: “No meeting until our boy gets back to see that the fat SOB gets the job, ya’ follw”?

THE PLANET takes the quote from the transcript, since we have the statehouse offices bugged. Don’t tell anyone, though.

No Show Would Have Been Shot Down, 4-3, Had the Meeting Taken Place AS SCHEDULED

Had the meeting taken place, which they ALWAYS do as long as there is a quorum, No Show would have been shot down by a vote. Oh, Bartleby. Oh, humanity.

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Oh, The Little Angels Go Skateboarding

This from THE PLANET’s spies on the mean streets of Pittsfield, where crime is a way of life and drugs are there for the taking as low-hanging fruit.

Skateboarders.

Nuff said, right?

“Oh, but you are profiling these young people,” a frizzy-haired moonbat chirps. “They’re good kids.” Right. THE PLANET tells her she would better spend her time shaving her legs and under her armpits. Ms. Moonbat doesn’t take kindly to our pastoral counseling. She walks away in a huff, but our street spies who witness the ebb and flow of daily life in and around downtown Pittsfield still speak to us. They tell us plenty about how life REALLY goes down in Benigno Numine.

It’s not all hunky dory, as the rah-rah boosters want people to believe. The Pittsfield you see on display for two hours on the Fourth of July is a fiction, spun by folks who will blow $85,000 on mostly imported talent for the purpose of providing a useless distraction of bread and circuses. We had humbly suggested that the organizers raise the same $85,000, put on an authentic Pittsfield parade for $5,000, and present $80,000 to charity. For that suggestion, we are a monster, a cruel and vicious entity that seeks only destruction. Oh, how we are misunderstood. THE PLANET is a gentle place, where we live in love.

Skateboarding Parks Ground Zero for Drugs and Crime

Our spies report that some drug traffickers use the former skateboarding park tucked in the northeast section of the Common as one of their floating command posts. They do satellite business near the A-Mart on North Street and also at the small cement park on the corner of Columbus and North that leads to the bus station.

Our spies say that the work on the Common has the drug kingpins and customers looking for a new location. They have one picked out, but no one is saying where. We put the question to our readers. Anyone hear anything?

Our spies also told us to check out the “new” skateboarding area on East Street and Appleton Avenue, opposite PHS and formerly a well-kept tennis court. We asked why. They reply: “You’ll see it once you get there.” THE PLANET drove by last night and investigated.

Ramps. Rails, Rubbish, and Wrecks

We found a ramshackle area with make-shift skateboarding obstacles: ramps, rails, and the like, where the little angels practice their tricks. We also saw enough garbage, most of it pushed along the fence perimeters, to fill a dump.

Sifting through the debris, we found the usual assorted of fast-food wrappers, soda bottles, and sundry other pieces of garbage. We also found empty beer cans, a whiskey nip, and used drug paraphernalia. A used condom for added to the atmosphere.

Ladies and gentleman, think about this. From that location, you can spit into the classrooms at PHS. There is drug use and underage drinking taking place there. They have trashed the park. The kids who hang out at the make-shift park are among a bad element that daily makes more inroads in and about downtown Pittsfield. Moreover, they attract a bad element. It’s the blind leading the blind, and they are sightless because they chose to be.

For the Innocent, Law-Abiding Bystander, a Big Question

The question for the innocent bystander and upright citizen becomes: What, the police don’t know about what goes on there and at the other street-known hot spots? What, if they know, they don’t care to to anything about it? What, are these young hoodlums all “of age”? What, don’t their parents or guardians give a spit? What, there are no consequences for lawlessness?

The former tennis courts have become a place of crime and an eyesore. Even at the surface level of graffiti and garbage, the users at the park have committed a “quality of life” crime.

We hear a lot of hot air by phony politicians about the “gateways” to the city. Coming in from the south, a porn shop greets visitors. Coming in from the North, one drives by the riff raff that populates outer first and North streets. Approach from the East and you drive by the delightful former Grossman’s property on East Street. In from the West, you put-put past the lovely former tennis courts mentioned above and then the beautiful sight of the partially demolished Pittsfield Rye Bakery.

Does anyone wonder, any longer, that the rich tourists who stay in south county do not as a rule want to venture anywhere near a city like this? Do you wonder why those that do, to catch a concert or play, for example, rarely want to hang around the downtown at any hour?

Every Problem Mentioned Here is Easily Solvable

The sad part of this tale is that every problem here is solvable, and to a reasonably practical degree. It takes but one ingredient: political will. Alas, alack: that is the one ingredient in perpetually short supply in our once fair city.

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AHEAD IN THE PLANET’S FUTURE, MORE REVIEWS, MORE BASEBALL, and MORE TRUTH TELLING.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.