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SBNC SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING ARRANGED SO THAT ‘WE THE PEOPLE’ WILL BE (ONCE AGAIN) LEFT OUT

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By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, DEC. 19-21, 2014) — You blinked and therefore missed the announcement of a meeting regarding the building of a new Taconic High School.

The city of Pittsfield and the School Building Needs Commission (SBNC) wants you, The Little Guy, to participate fully in the decisions regarding this vitally necessary project, of course. That is why they chose today (Friday, Dec. 19) at 2 p.m. for the meeting, at which time, according to the agenda, a SBNC subcommittee will discuss selection of a contractor for the project. Conducting the meeting at 2 p.m. will assure that few to no members of the general public will attend.

That’s how they want it.

Meeting Particulars Again Another Indication of the ‘DDD’

By conducting the meeting at that time, several items become clear:

* If you are a working stiff, forget it. You have a job to tend.

* If you’re a home maker, forget it. You have chores to do.

* If you’re … well, you get THE PLANET‘s drift. The timing is meant to keep YOU the hell away. It also has the beauty of technically fulfilling the requirements of a “public” meeting. Watch, after the school is built and the regrets come in the form of overwhelming debt, The Suits will say in their finest lecturing form, “Well, these meetings were public. Not our fault you didn’t show up.”

——– 000 ——–

When South County wanted a $56 million renovation of Monument Mountain High School, We The People put it to a vote and defeated it. The proponents tried again, and again we forced it on the ballot. Again, voters defeated it. So when the Pittsfield Powers That Be decided that certain Special Interests needed big dough in the form of building contracts, they proposed a $130 million building of a third high school (PHS, THS, and the New THS). In doing so, they made sure the proposal would never see the light of day. The principal way was to make sure the item was not put to a binding referendum. Pittsfield never got to vote on the Dreaded Done Deal (DDD).

Leading the League in Shut Outs

The secondary manner in which They shut Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski out of the process would be to —

(a) Select a SBNC membership that would guarantee an overwhelming majority in support of the project.

(b) Schedule public meetings at inconvenient times.

(c) Fulfill only the bare minimum requirements of notice.

(d) Rely on a tame and complicit mainstream media to provide propagandistic coverage.

——– 000 ——–

The selection of 2 p.m. on a Friday speaks volumes about the city’s plan to shut the public out of the decisions regarding this project, the need of which has not been established in light of a triple diminishment — or aren’t you aware that the city’s population, its K-12 student population, and its tax base are declining? Every action thus far taken on this suspect project bears the DDD stamp.

There are a few other points worth nothing about the timing of this meeting.

* It comes on a Friday, the day least available on most people’s calendars.

* It comes on the weekend before Christmas. No conflicts there.

* The agenda lists no public comment period. THE PLANET isn’t sure, but this may be a violation of state law. Even if it is not, you would think that The Suits might allow three minutes for We The People to waste their breath.

* The agenda labels this as a meeting of “The School Building Needs Contractor Selection Subcommittee.” There is a sparse order of business:

1. Call to Order.

2. Information Session on the Construction Project.

3. Adjournment.

That’s it.

* Nowhere do we find the members of the subcommittee identified. Nowhere do we see defined the purpose of the “information session.” It would accordingly be impossible to properly prepare for this meeting if you, as the Owner of Government, made the heroic effort to attend. For all we know, this meeting could be to select a contractor for a project that has not been put out to bid.

* The meeting will be held not in council chambers but at the less convenient Mercer Building at 269 First st., Room 108.

Who’s Who to the What’s What

The city may not want you to know who is on this subcommittee, and so THE PLANET will give you the “universe” from which the panel will be selected. The SBNC consists of the following members:

APPOINTED BY THE MAYOR (WHO SERVES AS A MEMBER)

John Krol, Melissa Mazzeo, Floriana Fitzgerald, Ellen Kennedy, Chuck Vincelette, Warren Dews Jr., Carmen Massimaino, Patrick Mele Jr., Colleen Hunter-Mullet (city’s purchasing agent), Kathy Amuso, John Barber, Peter Sondrini (city director of maintenance).

APPOINTED BY THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE

Kathy Yon

APPOINTED BY THE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT (WHO SERVES AS A MEMBER)

John Vosbugh (THS principal), Rich Brady, Frank LaRagione (parent), Lori Kays (parent), Louis Higuera, Shea Hassett (student), Bill Travis (former city school superintendent).

——– 000 ——–

The one ray of sunshine, of hope, lies in the fact that in less than two weeks, we enter 2015, the year for municipal elections.

At the rate Pittsfield has continued its filthy public spending, accumulated overbearing debt, and increased taxes on homeowners and businesses, the 2015 elections will mark one last-gasp chance to stem to bleeding. Unless voters turn out in high numbers and elect an outsider who won’t be afraid to take the necessary fiscal actions, it’s over.

You can bring in Do Ho for his rendition of “Aloha.”

Have a great weekend, everybody.

———————————————————————————————–

“The stuff of the universe, woven into a single piece according to one and the same system, but never repeating itself from one point to another, represents a single figure. Structurally, it forms a Whole.”Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, from his epic work, The Phenomenon of Man, (written in the 1930s and published posthumously in 1955, the year of Chardin’s death).

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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Ron Kitterman
Ron Kitterman
9 years ago

All in favor signify in the usual manner aye…

Scott
Scott
9 years ago

biild a new school all you want none of my kids will ever attend PPS.

dusty
dusty
Reply to  Scott
9 years ago

looks like you did though Scott

zing!!!

Scott
Scott
Reply to  dusty
9 years ago

Why because my phone auto corrects? It happens.

Spider
Spider
9 years ago

What are the reasons that the question of a new THS can’t or won’t be put on the ballet the way South County did?

Chuck Vincelette
Chuck Vincelette
9 years ago

Dan please be advised that I have resigned from the SBNC.

dusty
dusty
Reply to  Chuck Vincelette
9 years ago

Chuck, there is no room for objectivity in Pittsfield politics. It is a one way street.

Terry Kinnas
Terry Kinnas
Reply to  Chuck Vincelette
9 years ago

Chuck, than you for your efforts.

Linda
Linda
Reply to  Chuck Vincelette
9 years ago

Thank you for outstanding service Chuck. I know you were the lone vote (16-1) to vote against this project. I wish you were the mayor. You are what public service is all about.

joetaxpayer
joetaxpayer
Reply to  Chuck Vincelette
9 years ago

Chuck,miss you in ward 4, thanks for trying to be the voice of reason. The whole dog and pony show was skewed from the start. The people who have everything to gain are leading us down the path that they ultimately want. The number’s for renovating were misleading, because the sq. ft. was much higher than the new building. Why would we need a renovated building so large?

Shakes His Head
Shakes His Head
9 years ago

There is NO magic time for a public meeting on anything. hold the meeting at night and you disenfranchise everyone that works a second job, second shift, or the majority of low skill, service industry positions in the area. Public meetings are the least effective form of outreach imaginable. This comes from the thousands I have attended, participated in, or lead over the years.

Evian
Evian
Reply to  Shakes His Head
9 years ago

True but mention a better form that will get the electorate to participate. Do you have an alternative or a solution?

Charles Kronick Berkshire
Charles Kronick Berkshire
Reply to  Evian
9 years ago

That’s the spirit Evian. Always build up, not tear down. Folks here could use a dose of John Adams.

Jonathan Melle
Jonathan Melle
9 years ago

Politics is always a done deal! Decisions are pre-deterermined by the vested interests. Public meetings are for actors reading their scripts. If you speak out against the dominant order, you get blacklisted, intimidated, retaliated against, and slandered with false rumors. If you kiss the behinds of the vested interests with a big brown nose, you may be rewarded with a political plum. Pittsfield politics knows it doesn’t have the money to build a new high school, but it will do so regardless of its financial constraints. Taxes in Pittsfield are increased by around 5 percent each and every year, while the working class in Pittsfield is pushed towards the edge of the proverbial fiscal cliff. Pittsfield also borrows millions of dollars each and every year for its capital budget. Meanwhile, thousands of people have moved out of Pittsfield. Thousands of jobs have been lost in Pittsfield. Children receive welfare assistance programs. Senior Citizens on fixed incomes are choosing between paying their taxes or eating food. But the vested interests are taken care of in Pittsfield politics because they vote in the largest numbers. Screw everyone else, so long as #1 gets their way. The problem is that, as a whole, the people of Pittsfield keep losing out, and they are voting with their feet by moving far away.

Chuck Garivaltis
Chuck Garivaltis
9 years ago

Dan
Does anyone know who Don (Do) Ho is? I have a fabulous (I think) picture of Don Ho and me toasting a aloha double drink in lala land. I confess I was still a halfback weight at the time. Tiny Bubbles anyone?

joetaxpayer
joetaxpayer
Reply to  danvalenti
9 years ago

I believe Mr. Ho attended Springfield College. May he rest in peace.

Cosbiesladies
Cosbiesladies
9 years ago

I don’t know you’re Ho Sir Charles, but we had a helluva time convincing the Judge about all these Hoes lying about me.

Chuck Garivaltis
Chuck Garivaltis
Reply to  Cosbiesladies
9 years ago

Cosbiesladies

I assure you, I am not Don Ho, or any hoes lying about. How’s I get into this?

Tito
Tito
9 years ago

Biild it and they will come.

GettGott
GettGott
9 years ago

Billed and they will come

Nota
Nota
9 years ago

Pay the note on the previous Bus fleet before we start building a megabucks new school.

Sheriff Dawg
Sheriff Dawg
Reply to  Nota
9 years ago

Yes and pay the $23 million..yes 23 MILIION DOLLARS!!…srill owed for previous school renovation.
The new school will bury the city in debt

eddiep
eddiep
9 years ago

Hell no. That bus bill will get absorbed into the ths financing so we’ll be paying for those buses forever. The voters will never know.

Nota
Nota
9 years ago

h yes indeed, the ol multi year bus Contract.

dusty
dusty
9 years ago

with what we pay in taxes for the schools each kid could be picked up in a limo cheaper

Nota
Nota
9 years ago

Two N Y C Police Officers shot and killed in Brooklyn.

PopKornSutton
PopKornSutton
9 years ago

Why is it when they ( media) show the aftermath do something horrible, there are a gong regain of people, usually three to four smirking and laughing?

EddieP
EddieP
Reply to  PopKornSutton
9 years ago

don’t understand “gong regain”. Please clarify.

runningscared
runningscared
9 years ago

who on the committee are City of Pittsfield Tax Payers?