BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, OCT. 1, 2015) — Today THE PLANET begins our sixth year. This is column 1,300. What started out as a simple writing exercise (our equivalent of a daily workout) has blossomed in a way we did not plan, could not anticipate, and would not […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 2015) — Here’s a comment from Irishman relating to last night’s city council meeting: Police union exerting its self serving protectionism and paranoia in regard to a rather innocuous special police provision … Obviously the police union is self-sustaining only, showing […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, SEPT. 29, 2015) — It’s all connected. Let’s explore. Revised Dress Code THE PLANET likes the attention the Pittsfield School Committee has given to the district dress code. We have long been a champion of a stricter code and, more importantly, enforcement of it. You […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, SEPT. 28, 2015) — It’s not exactly “Man Bites Doberman,” but it is out of the norm for a two-term, incumbent mayor to issue a debate challenge to an opponent who has never held a public-service executive position. Last week, Mayor Dan Bianchi […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, SEPT. 25-27, 2015) — This week having put to rest the preliminary phase of the 2015 campaign season, THE PLANET provides this information for perusal. It’s the school department budget, in all its glorious multimillions, which doesn’t include the pay raises just agreed […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, SEPT. 24, 2015) — Welcome to autumn. Today, THE PLANET begins with one of the best questions that can be asked at this point, a couple days after the preliminary election and nearly six weeks before Election Day in November. Romaniel’s question goes to […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 23, 2015) — Yesterday, THE PLANET predicted “under 20%” turnout in the preliminary election. Unofficial actual vote: just under 19% of the electorate (27,962 voters). We called it for Tyer and Bianchi, and they finished 1-2. Several times we assigned The Water […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY NIGHT, SEPT. 22, 2015) — Linda Tyer took the preliminary in a landslide. Here are the results: Tyer Decisively Wins Preliminary Election Pittsfield, Mass. – Upon learning the results from the Preliminary Election held on September 22, 2015, Linda Tyer, current City Clerk […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, SEPT. 22, 2015) — Today is the electoral equivalent of The Time Machine. Today is all about Nov. 3, six weeks from now. The smart money predicts Dan Bianchi and Linda Tyer finishing in the top two today, with Craig Gaetani and Donna Walto playing the bass […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, SEPT. 21, 2015) — On the prelim’s final weekend, the candidates did not rest. DAN BIANCHI Mayor Lockdown waited until the last minute to formally kick-off his re-election bid Friday, grabbing a cheap headline of praise prior to Tuesday’s election from The Boring […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, SEPT. 18-20, 2015) — As we head into the final weekend before the prelims of Campaign ’15 come to a merciful end, THE PLANET shares several observations. Welcome to The Weekend Edition. DEBATEGATE? DEBUNKGATE — Did forum moderator Bill Sturgeon slip Linda Tyer the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, SEPT. 17, 2015) — One of the growth industries in Pittsfield is official failure, and the price is rising. So when THE PLANET learned the Ship of Fools known as the Pittsfield School Committee tore up the superintendent’s four-year contract and replaced it with […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 16, 2015) — THE PLANET knew our declaration of a “winner” in Tuesday’s “forum” would upset, rile, and puzzle people who automatically assumed we would go into the event with concreted presumptions. Obviously, that wasn’t the case. We declared Dan Bianchi the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITIDE, TUESDAY, SEPT. 15, 2015) — We saw him. With our own eyes. If you watched the mayoral debate last night, you did too. It’s been a long time, but “We saw him,” the man we loved for so many years. Bianchi Came With His […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s funny, and we’ll share the joke on us with you. We’ve been off a day all week due to Labor Day, to say nothing of crossing four times zones twice. In our purple haze, THE PLANET posted this column early Sunday morning thinking it […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, SEPT. 11-13, 2015) — If you watched PLANET VALENTI TELEVISION last night (Thursday), we performed the autopsy on Howard Herman‘s risible fluff-‘n-puff piece straining at the master’s bit to bury the truth about why Saturday’s THS-PHS football game was switched by The […]
