QUICK HITS & HOT LICKS: ONE SUPER IS ENOUGH … BART, or, GOOD GUYS WIN, FOR ONCE … PITTS SHOULD BID FOR 2024 OLYMPICS … STYROFOAM LATHER … KINNAS ‘PAYBACK’ CONTINUES, AS HE GETS KATHeter-ized … DEMS CAUCUS, METOER MISSES EARTH
By DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY FEB. 27, 2013) — Time to empty out the notebook and address some issues point blank in this edition of THE PLANET‘s Quick Hits and Hot Licks. And yes: the current issue of Berkshire Magazine has an interview with THE PLANET. You’ll want to gander for the picture alone, on magazine racks now.
* One Super is Enough, Thank You — There’s talk about retaining interim superintendent Dr. Gordon Noseworthy after the school committee hires the school department’s next Head Cheese. It’s a bad idea. There are many reasons why that would be a dumb-and-dumber move. 1.) Why would cash-strapped Pittsfield want to pay two hefty salaries for one position? 2.) Noseworthy is interim. To have a transitional guy break in the new guy makes little sense. 3.) For the kind of money the new super will be knocking down (top salary in the city), taxpayers should expect someone who can come in and learn the ropes by himself (or herself, as they case may be). We should expect a big boy or girl. Of course, don’t you have the sneaking feelings that since it will give a bloated bureaucracy yet another way to waste taxpayer money, this thing is going to happen? THE PLANET urges you to contact the school committee and let them know your feelings.
Here are the addresses: Bianchi, mayorsoffice@pittsfieldch.com; Barbalunga, abarbalunga@pittsfield.net; Amuso, kamuso@pittsfield.net; conant, jconant@berkshire.rr.com; Elias, eliasmcintosh@nycap.rr.com; Kinnas, tkinnas@pittsfield.net; Yon, kyon@pittsfield.net. Tell ’em THE PLANET sent you.
A Win for the Good Guys — You may remember our reporting on the Berkshire Arts & Technology Charter School‘s petition to the state to admit more Pittsfield students. Well, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BOSE) gave BART the go-ahead. The good guys won, and the GOB lost. It shows it can be done. We hope this portends good things for Pittsfield in this election year. BART can now add Pittsfield to its service community and include it in its official charter. BOSE also gave BART the OK to expand its enrollment from 308 to 363. This is good news because it will allow more Pittsfield parents dissatisfied with the city’s public schools to enroll them in a campus with a proven track record of achievement and success. BART, like PPS, is tuition-free. As a charter school, it has much more leeway in determining and affecting the constitution of a good public education. BART combines the free tuition aspect of the “traditional” public school with the academic license and standards of an exclusive private school. Naturally, the Pittsfield School Committee fought BART’s request. Think about that for a moment ! God forbid that we should introduce competition to the corrupt monopoly “enjoyed” by the PPS at taxpayer expense. Fortunately, BART’s case proved too conclusive for the state to ignore. GOB politics, at least this time, took a dive in the City of Pittsfield.
Pittsfield Should Bid to Host 2024 Olympics — The U.S. Olympic Committee has requested bids to host the 2024 games from 35 cities, including Rochester, NY; Columbus, Ohio; and Austin, Texas. Pittsfield should send a delegation to the USOC and make a pitch. By 2024, the population will consist almost solely of “subterraneans,” junkies, gang members, single-moms, welfare cheats, criminal lawyers, the school committee, and the PEDA board. This will allow Pittsfield to come up with a competitive edge through the introduction of new Olympic sports, such as “Hurling” (After Last Night’s Bender), Heroin Hockey, Skiing from high atop Hill 78, the Pill Toss, the grueling 1-yard dash, Speed Skating (without skates but with speed), and the like. We propose Corydon Thurston and Gary Grunin to head the delegation, with Pummelin’ Pam Malumphy to handle pubic relations. They will, by that future date, still be sucking on the public tit.
Styrofoam Lather — We have lost many a good night’s sleep thinking about the nightmarish problem of … Styrofoam. Don’t you hate it when that happens. Actually, we like Styrofoam, a registered trademark of Dow Chemical Company. With all the toxins in Pittsfield water, air, and soil, a little Styrofoam has the comparative aspects of a bushel of sunflowers and cup of blackberries. Styrofoam is fun. It crunches. It doesn’t decay, adding a sense of “permanence” to our few short years on God’s good earth. It’s white, the color of a baseball. It’s composed of 98% air. You aren’t against air, are you? My Gog, air! Styrofoam — with all the issues plaguing the city of Pittsfield, we should rank that well down on the priorities list.
Kinnas ‘Payback’ Continues — School committeeman Terry
Kinnas continues to pay for being the only member of the seven-member panel to take the job seriously. That’s how the poison politics of the city work. Kinnas, the best watchdog of taxpayer interests to hit town since Peter Arlos, found himself the lone vote on the committee’s three-member curriculum subcommittee. During a recent meeting, Kinnas, the only school committee member to proactively solicit input from the trades and small business, voted to retain the THS vocational auto body and metal fabrication programs. The other two members, Kathleen Amuso and Kathryn Yon, did not second the motion, and the move went nowhere. You might say they stuck the Kath-eter in him and administered the cyanide. Only problem is that Kinnas has 90 lives, and it will take a whole lot more than that to keep him from being re-elected. You’ll recall that Amuso and Yon were key members of the witch hunt that in effect put Kinnas in the docket for a Soviet-style kangaroo trial based on his vigilance about open meetings. Amuso and Yon thus continue a long string of unimaginative, characterless service on the school committee, mediocre on the best of days and damaging on the others. Theirs is exactly the kind of bland, colorless, status quo “leadership” that has put Pittsfield in its present precarious position.
Democrats Caucus; Meteorite Misses Earth — Pittsfield Democrats caucused in a series of extremely large phone booths earlier this month. On the agenda: Elect comrades to send to the state Party Platform Convention, to be held in Lowell on July 13. The meeting places were mostly saloons — Ward 1, Back Nine Bar and Grille at the GEAA; Ward 3, DelGallo’s Restaurant, Newell Street; Ward 5, American Legion Hall, Wendell Avenue; Ward 6, Polish Community Club. In Ward 5, we hear delegates TPd the Gerry Lee Worn Out & Overused Bar Stool in a sign of honor for the ex-police chief and ex-city council president. Lee, we are told, didn’t notice a thing. Our spies tell us that the intelligence quotients of the caucuses were a tad below the typical, Mensa-like discourse that comes out of these dives and watering holes. Not long after the meeting, a meteorite missed hitting planet earth. THE PLANET doesn’t not know what, if anything, is the connection.
It is 2013, and THE PLANET predicts: We are living in interesting times.
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“Let not young souls be smothered out before / They do quaint deeds and fully flaunt their pride. It is the world’s crime [that] its babes grow dull.” — Vachel Lindsay
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE
LOVE TO ALL.
OK so just put up signs not to eat the fish from Silver lake or Onota or Pontoosuc. GE has moved out. Politicians have been paid off. People that got sick and died have been buried.
Forget about the fact that PCB’s are still there sickening people and killing people. Prove it right?
The real culprit is Styrofoam. Lets ban this evil substance so we can show we really care about people’s health. What a joke.
Dan, have you read about the new bill Rep. Farley-Bouvier-Kennedy-Onassis is sponsoring?
http://www.iberkshires.com/story/43347/Rep.-Farley-Bouvier-Sponsors-Pay-As-You-Drive-Bill.html
The woman’s briliant. I like Lizzie’s idea better though. Do both, tax by distance driven as well as by the gallon.
How about in addition to the transponder tax shackle she also add a meter to your mouth so she can also tax every breath you take? As an added bonus, everyone would get to sound like Darth Vader.
“If you drive a car I’ll tax the street.”
if everyone buys a horse, they will double the tax on a bale of hay.
Nice one, DAWN.
Hey Joe, maybe we can have her expand the legislation to include other areas. For example, I don’t have kids in public school and I haven’t called the police or fire department. With the pay as you go system, I could save some big tax bucks! She has to go. Can we get you to run against her next time?
NBI
This is brilliant! Let’s see how the State Rep feels about it.
that’s a gass JOJO….gotta love Trisha, don’t be surprised she be our Governor one day.
Thanks joe – God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Just read IBerkshires…doesn’t she realize that Berkshires will be hurt if something like this passes…
Tricia, can you please help me make sense of your Bill regarding the driving? Due to the inaction of both the City Council and any other number of boards, Commissions and agencies I fund with my tax dollars a great number of your constituents will be traveling between Pittsfield and Dana Farber cancer institute. (PCB’s). Will we be subject to this charge? My next great concern is let’s say you are traveling between Pittsfield and Beacon hill will you pay that tax? Will it be from personal expenses? Will you be reimbursed for the charge as part of your official duties? Does travel from Pittsfield to say an inditement of the next speaker or big wig in the house fall under the exemptions or is it fully taxable as that trip is for entertainment not business?
The Children await your reply
Thanks
She will just add it to her per-diem stipend…..
http://www.lowellsun.com/kendallwallace/ci_22662948/some-local-reps-accept-per-diem-stipend
Yes she will get it reimbursed by us the taxpayers – double whammy. But I would like to hear Trish address the children they are gravely concerned about the future. The children said they feelike pawns used and abused by the politicians.
Trish the children want to know when you travel to Boston will you or they?
JOE
Keep in mind that, on her website, one of Trish’s “missions” is to “marshal the resources of the state to enhance the quality of education available in Pittsfield.” This from someone who pulled her own kids out of the sinking PPS and got them to Lenox. But it’s for The Children.
Gets worse JB. Much worse.
Some state lawmakers living more than 50 miles from the State House are using an unusual loophole that allows them to deduct as much as $311 per day from their federal income tax.
Read more: http://www.patriotledger.com/topstories/x1615432813/Some-state-reps-pay-little-or-no-income-tax#ixzz2MCgCOyP3 – See more at: http://www.patriotledger.com/topstories/x1615432813/Some-state-reps-pay-little-or-no-income-tax#sthash.4Ue8BydG.dpuf
JOE
We, with The Children, await TFB’s reply.
Let’s all start thumbing.
I vote for the oe finger salute instead
Yes, DAVE, or the one-finder peace sign.
She’ll want to tax your thumbs.
Remember children, our state reps and state senator pay no federial income tax on the 60 to 80 thousand dollar salaries. Joe, if didn’t have to pay a federial income tax on your pay would you have to pay the TFB car tax? Think about fair and equal.
You are correct, indeed, PP. Two sets of rules: One for “Them” and one for “Us.” TFB is a “Them.”
2 Mayor’s , 2 Superintendent’s, where’s the ark.
You sure it’s not parked in Silver Lake?
The 10 minutes with Dan Valenti in Berkshire Magazine captures the D.V. vibe quite nicely. Kind of hip and groovy, I’d say!
JERRY
Yeah, the tone does capture the “vibe.” Thanks, my good friend.
You’re off topic Jere.
Just kidding, it was a great piece Jerry”….! on another note, the Pittsfield School Committee outside of Terry K is all for McCandless for the new soup job.
Well that is a red flag in of itself. Did he not get the memo?
Excellent smorgasbord of items today DV. The Berkshire Magazine piece is great. Love the picture. Looks like you are about to take over city hall. I for one would vote for that. As for Trish, what a load. Tax tax tax. She’s following orders of the higher ups, that’s why they want a dim bulb like her occupying the seat.
Thank you, GEE.
Dim bulb. That is exactly how I see this woman. This is why Ruberto chose her. This is why the democratic party paved her way to a huge political payday. She is totally programmable and does not have the cost or maintenance of a a real robot.
Human beings need a break Planet, we’re a mixed bag’….’ such is the life of the Planet and the citizens of our little Hamlet, called Palookaville.
How true, T.
Interesting review on the Democratic caucuses…Ward 5 has always been scheduled for this coming Saturday, March 2, and the others were rescheduled to that date because of the phantom storm of a week or two ago. I guess it should have been a preview instead of a review. I can’t think of any place better than an establishment with a liquor license to conduct political business!
TOM
Yes, they are the perfect place. In vino, not a lot of veritas when it comes to Dem caucuses.