QUIK HITZ & HOT LIX: WHAT TURNOUT? … JUST SAY NO … JET SKI SKELTER … HESS FOREST THROUGH THE TREES & … TRASH TALK
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JULY 22-24, 2016) — Time to clean the carburetor as THE PLANET presents another fearless edition of Quik Hitz & Hot Lix.
What Turnout? — In this era of prohibitively high taxes, what would it take for an electorate to approve adding — adding, mind you — to the highest legal levy government already lays on it? How about if 93% of the electorate doesn’t vote?
That’s what happened in the beaten-down ghetto of Cheshire. A special election last week to override Prop. 2.5 drew 176 voters in an electorate of 2,318. That’s a turnout of 7%. Approximately 174 of the 176 voters were from the Special Interest class, public employee types who gladly put self-interest over the wider good. Two of the other three voters were Jenny and John Driver, Cheshire’s answer to Pittsfield’s Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski — ordinary citizens, not hogs at the public trough. They had the feeling Gen. Custer must have had when he saw Chief Wild Eagle and his fellow Fahckowees. Once again, THE PLANET calls for electoral reform. Any election that does not draw 50% + 1 of the electorate should be declared invalid.
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Just Say No (To More Useless Confabs) — Heroin epidemic. You may have heard of it. Seems that a lot of people are shooting, sniffing, ingesting, or otherwise partaking of “horse.” They evidently prefer the blissful few moments of a drug’s false ecstasy to confronting the problems and challenges of life. They do this from a position of free will. They make a choice. Nonetheless, Big Government types call it an “illness,” same as the flu and ebola. This creates instant “victims.” When vast numbers of people make this bad choice, Big G politicians such as Congressman Richie Neal, mayors Linda Tyer and Richard Alcombright, and public safety officials such as sheriff Tom Bowler, D.A. David Capeless, and police chief Mike Wynn panic. They see the devastation these personal choices have for community, but they are helpless. Their solution is to promote the “illness” myth and create more programs to make it look like they’re “doing something.” That’s what you got at BCC Tuesday night as Neal hosted a showing of Heroin: Cape Cod USA. Following the film, these officials and Brien Center staffers filled Koussevitzky Hall with the halitosis of empty words. They meant well, but we all know about good intentions. THE PLANET wonders if it’s an “illness” to look at a room full of do gooders and feel nauseated?
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Jet Ski Skelter —The shabby-shiek bedroom community north of Pittsfield knows how to have fun: Just turn a handful of drunken yahoos loose on jet skis to ravage the peace and tranquility of the north end of Pontoosuc Lake. These motorheads, who get their jollies acting like morons and upsetting their neighbors, have been allowed by the town of Lanesboro to conduct their mayhem unhindered. The neighborhood volunteer group Friends of Pontoosuc Lake begged their jellyfish reps on the Lamesboro Select Board to do something. True to their spineless nature, the Lamesboro board … did nothing. They punted to the state and the environmental police instead of getting their hands wet and drowning the jet skiers. In other words, the yahoos will wreak havoc all summer unimpeded.
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Can’t See Planet Valenti Gardens at Hess Forest Through the Trees — Let’s be clear. Before Michael Bloomberg and friends got their hands dirty in their noble clean up of Hess Forest, only one source put the heat of the spotlight on this area of Tyler Street blight. It wasn’t a fairy, gnome, troll, or wizard. It wasn’t Tudor the Turtle. It was THE PLANET. Yes, we filmed a devastating segment on Hess last year, part of our movie Where Have You Gone, Col. Sanders? Literally the day after we screened the movie on PLANET VALENTI TELEVISION, the city took a crew there and performed meatball surgery. The forest was left unattended from then until this week, when Bloomberg acted where others only gabbed. He did it and deserves full credit, but the site became an unignored embarrassment only because of this web site.
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Trash Talk — Make Covanta the latest enterprise to jump the sinking ship. Pittsfield’s waste disposal company on Hubbard Avenue says “we’re outta here” by March ’17. That’s 25 more jobs lost. Officials will likely announce a last-minute “rescue” before March ’17, but be sure that it will leave Pittsfield taxpayers short-changed. It’s the latest in what will prove to be a long series of failures as the city continues its implosion, an inevitable result of endless public spending, tax hikes, and population loss.
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The Comment Line is now declared open. Have a great weekend, everybody.
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“When the going gets tough, the going gets tough.” — Lirpa Sloof
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
The views expressed in the comment section or opinions published within the text other than those of PLANET VALENTI are not those of PLANET VALENTI or endorsed in any way by PLANET VALENTI; this website reserves the right to remove any comment which violates its Rules of Conduct, and it is not liable for the consequences of any posted comment as provided in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and PLANET VALENTI’s terms of service.
This would be a good time for the mayor to put a freeze on all school dept wages for the next ten years.
Really?
The Mayor has control of the total dollars the school department gets, unless the council adds or subtracts from the total.
The school committee has control of how the money is spent. Those yahoo’s need to be voted out. The Wiz should run for school committee.
I would certainly vote for him if he did. Is there even one advocate for the citizens on that board now? Did any of them even read their job descriptions? I am pretty sure it does not say they should spend the bulk of their time finding ways to get more money for the schools. And I am sure it does not say sit back and wait for their handlers to tell them how to vote.
Mayor is a liar and has no respect for the people.
We should reduce Mayor’s term to 2 years as it was before!
Would it be to much to have all the good old girls have a meeting to discuss a 5 year financial plan…These elected officials need to show some versatility in handling money.
White Caccamo and Kroll Connell should have a meeting annd lets find out who has the processing ability to avoid next uears nauseating conversation about courage….there may be alot of cash in running the Crosby staff store.I hear this is a real money making for profit operation….they dont even know what goes on in their own schools.
White, Cacc, Morandi, Marchetii, Kroll, & Connell are now the eunuchs of the council. Only Simonelli escaped the chopping block. 4 women, 6 eunuchs, and 1 man.
Everyone needs to see the movie “Hillary’s American, the Secret History of the Democratic Party” in movie theaters starting today. It gives many facts that cannot be disputed and one of its claims is that Hillary has no vision for America. Many people who have seen the pre-release of this movie, including many Democrats, say the movie is riveting. You can also read the book in case our local movie theaters will not play it. Our local theaters have been known to refuse to show movies that do not say anything positive about local and national Dem politics.
I’m glad that Mike Bloomberg brought attention to that piece of property on Tyler street. But there are other business properties that have been neglected and look terrible. The mayor made a big deal by standing in front of Kentucky fried chicken when she was running for mayor but I see her doing nothing about that property and others. One of the biggest eyesores is the former big in shopping plaza and West HousatonicStreet and O’Connells all gas station on West Housatonic Street. The owners of these properties have more than enough money to keep them up
Good points. And of course there is that other huge eyesore out towards shaker village that is running a firewood business as a cover for all the unpaid taxes. But if ya gots yer connections ya gots yer pertection. Forever untouchable as they say at city hall.
How can a eyesore like that keep stiffing the city on taxes? Maybe owned by a Somebody?? If it’s one of us or Mary Jane / Joe Kapanski they city moves in the guts them.
Mayor Tyer answer this please.
That’s right I forgot that one
That West Housatonic slum lord property makes my stomach turn every time I go by.
Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously rejects Dunkin Donuts on Tyler Street. Such a business would have a detrimental effect on the Tyler Street Area. Where the hell do these people come from on these Pittsfield Boards? While Walmart fits their high standards for the Tyler Street neighborhood. I guarantee you the Taxpayers in Pittsfield would welcome Dunkin Donuts Tax Revenue…..Pittsfield needs all the Taxpayers it can get.
Of course it doesn’t fit in. It would make that spot look too good compared Hess forest and the PEDA wastelands. The plywood covered windows of the old school fit right in now and in a year or 2 the roofs should catch up.
City officials are giving them payback for filing a lawsuit against them.
They do believe that a couple of pot dispensaries down the road is fine and dandy.
Those people on the boards were appointed by yours truly Linda tT
Why should Cheshire voters turn out. They had a similar vote last year to go over the levy limit for the schools. The voters voted down the proposal 174 to 237. Great! But that didn’t stand. The powers that be implied the voters were not well informed enough and just scraped the vote so they could “educate the voters”. The second vote passed 499 to 325 after using the usual scare tactics.
” School officials and School Committee members, who have advocated desperately for stronger funding in the face of increasing costs, threw their weight behind the “yes” campaign and warned that 28 district positions would be in peril without additional resources.”
They got out the special interests and some of the voters that voted in the first election didn’t bother to show because they became apathetic. As Dan would say “the fix was in”
Fortunately Dan is an English Teacher
176/2,318 = 7.6% on my calculator, still not much of a turnout.
Can’t disagree with the notion of requiring a 50% turnout for this type of vote.
Couldn’t agree more, CW! 7% is correct, not 0.7. Oh those pesky decimal point places. I have corrected the error. Many thanks for pointing it out.
Pittsfield politics under the vibrant leadership of the lovely Linda Tyer will be asking local voters for a Prop. 2.5 override next fiscal year, too. They will use scare tactics and voter suppression to get what they want, which is another around 5% tax increase for fiscal year 2018 (July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018).
Another business is leaving Pittsfield next Spring (2017) named Covanta, which means about 25 jobs will be lost. I wonder what Pittsfield politics’ response will be to more population and job losses? My best guess is that they will raise municipal taxes, fees, spending, and debts to new record levels.
– Jonathan Melle
Over rides? She just gave a tax break to a movie theater. How can she then come to the elderly on fixed incomes and ask them for more of their cat food money? Is she that mean?
The Mayor’s agenda has dwindled down to proclamations for foster moms and engineers, baseball sing a longs, red sox games, Springside park gala’s and school commencements, this will be the most over taxed mayor in our history.
I honestly think Linda Tyer is a good person but as mayor she’s in way over her head. So who’s calling the shots?
did the Mayor take the summer off ? where she been hiding ?
Time for a change ! bahahahah
I don’t know why the voter turnout in Cheshire was so low. Many articles in recent years have passed or failed by just a few votes.
Maybe if the BB posted when the vote was taking place the turnout would have been better. Cheshire has been at its levy limit for some time now. The items on the ballot were not unreasonable requests, Cheshire tries to replace it’s equipment on a cycle, rather than wait until a lot of things need replacing at once.
They probably don’t let their roads go completely to hell either I imagine. Pittsfield has a cycle as well. Its called give everything to the school department and screw everything else.
How is that working out? Can you say OVERRIDE every year for the rest of your life?
Turnout was so low because of the how The Suits overturned the first attempt to limit the school budget. That set in an apathy not felt in the town in a long while. Add to that a deliberate lack of publicity surrounding the special election. As in Pittsfield, it’s a rigged game.
Pittsfield makes me laugh! Pot dispensaries get approved with flying colors. However just up the road a Dunkin Donuts would destroy the BIG plan the city has for Tyler St. Hell, a coffee shop wouldn’t fit in with bars, liquor stores, a car wash and all the other high end businesses there. Hey! Lets add a Wal-Mart to class up the area. I can’t wait to leave here.
THE PLANET covered the hypocrisy of this story on our column of June 12: CONSULTANT HIGHLIGHTS PITTSFIELD’S POLITICAL COWARDICE & ANTI-BUSINESS ATTITUDE.
Here it is again:
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016) — This is Pittsfield.
Instead of developing a site with a proven business that will pay taxes where none are not being paid, let’s oppose it.
This is Pittsfield.
Instead of allowing a company to build on a site to provide jobs to produce much-in-demand products and services, let’s stud the way with obstacles.
This is Pittsfield.
Instead of seeing a gleaming new building of a national brand where there now stand boarded up wrecks, let’s hire a consultant to say what we are afraid to say ourselves.
The company is Dunkin Donuts. The product is a line of baked goods, food products, and, mostly, the best coffee on THE PLANET. The location is the former St. Mary’s campus on Tyler Street. DD wants to extend commercial zoning on Tyler Street a lousy 50 feet to put a driveway in a postage-stamp speck now zoned residential. The consultant is John Mullen Associates, a privately-held company based in Pelham, MA. Web sites list the company as employing “a staff of approximately 1 to 4.” The president is John R. Mullin. Annual revenue: Unknown. It has no website. Perfect, eh?
Mullin is a professor of landscape architecture at UMass Amherst and a retired brigadier general in the National Guard. You don’t get that high up in the chain of command by being independent. Generally speaking (pun intended) you get there by polishing the boots of your superior officer. In other words, he’s an academic with a side business selling assenting opinions to municipalities too chicken to decide for themselves. It’s legal of course, but so is prostitution in Vegas.
And Now It’s Time for — The Consultant Game!!
The consultant game, hosted by Bob Ewbanks, works like this. A city wants to oppose a measure. That opposition that will be unpopular with citizens except for a small portion of NIMBY types. It doesn’t want the political flack of taking a stand. Therefore — despite a plethora of resources from the Office of Community Development, Planning Board, Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, and a host of “job-type” enterprises — it commissions a consultant. For a fee of $65,000, someone like Mullin comes in, sniffs the ground, kisses up the mayor and finance director, then writes a report just as the city dictated to him beforehand.
Cafua Management, a company with a track record of corporate responsibility, wants to build a 2,100-sq. ft. Dunkin Donuts “hub” restaurant at the location. The .8-acre facility on Tyler and Plunkett streets would feature parking, walkways, landscaping, outdoor seating, a drive-through, and an ambience that would improve a seedy area.
No brainer, right?
Nah. For odd reasons, Important Someones don’t want this to happen. And thus is came to pass that miraculously, the city required Cafua to provide money for what it called “third-party research into the impacts of the proposal.”
Dumb de-dumb-dumb.
Traipsing into the Porcelain Commode
Enter Mullin Associates.
Mullin produced a “report” bashing Cafua’s plan. He said this facility would ruin the character of Tyler Street. Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. Tyler Street, a street with its hair so mussed that a psychic couldn’t foresee that she couldn’t make a living there. Tyler Street, where countless long-established businesses have succumbed to the influx of the vermin and scum that have moved in and taken the once-lovely City of Pittsfield into the porcelain commode.
Mullin declared Cafua’s use would be “detrimental to the neighborhood” of drug pushers, addicts, welfare cheats, murderers, and gang members. The use, he said, “is not consistent with the specific goals of the Master Plan” — as if there are such goals and there is such a plan.
Pittsfield should welcome the additional commitment of Cafua, a firm that provides goods and services much in demand — quite unlike a money-losing theater owned by a multimillionaire that can only stay in business with hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax breaks. No one should wonder why Pittsfield is fast approaching its Dark Ages. It won’t be pretty.
DUnkin Donuts on Tyler will hire more people per square foot than a new address for walmart….Tony Simonelli knows the dchools and knows his city and knows SS retirees cant flip the bill anymore.Taconic is a couple of hundred student larger than St Joe was when he went there.
Time to close PHS…its a dump….Crosby is a dump …..that will put 2 million in cap expenses in SS retires pockets
Word on the street is the Century summer school program at reid middle school is a joke and not being run with any leadership and the kids are running down a nice building teachets get lazy in july…not watching bathroom activities
I heard mayor Tyer moved to California in June.
Word is Mccandless on vacation…Curtis on vacation…Behnke on vacation ….every principle and community school co ordinators are not showing up to work….co ordinators are payed to be in the buildings all day all summer but do not show up….they get 5 weeks approved vacation but never make it to work…….Where is the Mayor …where is Joe Curtis
There is ZERO accountability in the school department. The most profound change to make in 2017 will be to elect to the school committee members who will be loyal to citizens, not the Special Interests that have, for more than a generation, used fear tactics and intimidation to get public officials to crave and cave.
Unfortunately they stack the deck with there own. Anyone who thinks outside the box will be eliminated. Receivership is the best option.
Joe Curtis.get to work and visit summer school programs…..Joe Curtis can impress the school committee but not me…..we are watching out of control summer schooling….Joe get off your computer stand up go out the door and go to work
Does Fire Ball still have a job? Take Back the Night just took two high heel steps Backward. Phonies.
All Pittsfield school personnel have the money to go to the Cape or to Maine for the summer thanks to sticking it to the Pittsfield taxpayers. They avoid the hot humid summers here in the city. They are living the good life thanks to the overburdened taxpayers of the city.
Let us blame the public school personnel for Pittsfield politics’ tanking public finances and failed local economy!
It is all the fault of the fat cat local teachers and the hugely staffed, over-paid school bureaucracy!
We need to cut the public school budget in half in order to save Pittsfield!
Once we gut public funding for the local public schools in Pittsfield, then Pittsfield politics’ will stop being controlled by the vested interests, ran by the Good Old Boys’ club, and all of the political hacks will go back home in deference to the grassroots voices of the people and small businesses.
– Jonathan Melle
Who’s the “we” your talking about JM. You live in New Hampshire.
I like to read Dan Valenti’s blog about Pittsfield politics from my perch in Amherst, NH.
Dan Valenti speaks out about Pittsfield politics, while the Berkshire Eagle writes puff pieces.
Dan Valenti speaks the truth!
Jonathan……Pittsfield Social Security check are now being eaten up by women who said they can do it bettèr…..Yon and Tayor believe no one is poor and owns a home…..many over 60 have good city pensions teacher and police…..close Phs and Crosby and Hibbard Stockroom….millions will be saved without losing a job
..
Community school co ordinators dont work all day in the summer….1500 bucks a week and its to much to ask you be there from 7 to 3 pm….they turn 5 weeks vacation into 10 weeks with Joe Curtis blessing…..the school dept is so big no one can even understand what people do…..math coaches ate not available to teach students math before school because the Principle and school coordinator schedule them to watch breakfast program while coordinator restocks spring water and ice cream bars with a 300% markup.
All of that is so outrageous. This is just the way many state workers act in the Boston area. No accountability to anyone. They are the privileged ones who can get away with anything because they OWN the local politicians due to their influence at election time. We know that the majority of Pittsfield school employees live here in Pittsfield which is how they elect politicians every time who will keep the money flowing to boost their salaries at budget time each year.
The Pittsfield Mass. school system is the tail the wags the dog. Every thing in the city revolves around the school system and its budget. There is so many beneficial things that could be done in the city but are not because the school system sucks all the oxygen out of the city budget.
No mayor in the last 20 years had made any serious effort to touch this sacred cow even though it is obvious that it is bringing the city down. What are the possible reasons a mayor, knowing full well the consequences of this porcine budget, would make no effort to adjust it? You decide.
It’s all about getting votes to stay in office.
Yes…walmart…PEDA….sabic….painting signal boxes…you name it…Pittsfield schools wag the dog….Yon wags the dog,Amuso wagged the dog, Taylor wags the dog,Tyer wags the dog….any councilor with any business experience that allows the school department to irresponsibly spray the infield with guilt..Its now Marchetti s problem….A very big problem without a plan.
I am so surprised that the council president offers like all others nothing…do you want to do business in a town that cant count.President Marchetti why did you come back to the council…did you think you have a special way of saying yes to the schools…
One in 3 teachers wont live here…that is very high.I would say of the other 2 half of those want to move to Lenox. Lee…Dalton…Cheshire….Richmond….Hancock
The Berkshire Eagle is so biased that they should be called The Berkshire Edition of the Clinton campaign. It doesn’t matter who you support, it should bother you when a newspaper is this biased. They do the same crap with local elections. The new owners are worse than the old (if that is even possible). I’m amazed how often they refuse to print letters that is in conflict with their views. Shame on them!
I have sent in letters that they literally rewrote for me. they tell you right up front that they have the right to edit. It is a sin what they have done to the fourth amendment.
They have an editorial on the BCC turf. They speak like they have expertise in the field about all sorts of things. But NO ONE AT THE EAGLE SIGNS THEIR NAME to it. If you send anything in they want your name, address, home phone number and jock size. They don'[t tell you why…but they don’t see the need to sign their propaganda. And maybe that is why. They know it is just bullshit and no one in the building wants their name attached to it.
I think it’s Rutberg who wants the jock information
I don’t want to be beating a dead horse but, I’ve said on here before simply not taking the paper is essentially meaningless. Go to those companies, businesses and organizations that advertise in it and inform them that you can no longer support them due to their support of the Berkshire Eagle.
Why do you want to spend your hard earned monies in a place where a portion of that will be transferred to the Eagle who will then in turn use it to promote causes and ventures that may be against your beliefs and values?
The Paper has an absolute right to its opinion and you have an absolute right to vote with your dollars? Let me ask would the paper willingly support financially say the Koch Brothers? Or some other entity that they rail against?
Vote with your dollars
Just sayin
So true, JP.
I have had my letters not printed by them in the past also. If you are not a progressive, they don’t want your opinion especially with the election only months away. They will only push the progressive agenda.
The Pittsfield that Yon Tyer Marchetti Amuso Mazzeo Taylor lead is absolutely hated.People that did not know how much they loved Pittsfield before its demise realize now how much we hate the way this new generation cant lead.
If a group of wishy washy leaders could have the perfect storm of cowardice and lack of logic we are blessed.
If there are people in Lenox wondering how Lindas doing just ask yourself how do liars usually make out.She is the worst mayor we ever had and I voted for her based on her lies.
Once again. Y’all ain’t seen nuttin yet ! She has just started. There eventually will be sand in the vaseline. Wait and see. Much more is planned.
Will any of it be good for the average, poor, beaten down, over taxed citizen or is it all for the elites? Will they all reward themselves with even more perks and higher salaries? Will all the elites end up living in luxurious gated communities while the rest of us fight off crime and poverty out in the real world?
Want an example of failed leadership in Pittsfield bordering on insanity. Take a look at the amateur painting of the electrical boxes downtown.
Terrible. I know three of the artists who contributed designs. They are all “name” artists locally. They were rejected.
The “winners” were non-artists pretenders, you know, art therapy types from among the crazies who walk in zombie fashion on North St all the time.
DV please do another expose on this.
Youre first article on it was right on the traget.
If this is “the best” then they just should have let the elementary school kids paint them. They could have done a better job. They do look very amateurish.
Please interview MayorTyer and ask her where shes been and where shes going…how can Bouvier out hustle our very own mayor.We have a chance to throw Bouvier out.
The City had the Chance for a way better deal than they got from G E …..Doyle-Hicket et al would leave you to believe we had no choice, now it’s coming back to nite us. I don’t think they money we did receive in lieu of taxes was to develope a Wal-Mart. Future employment wasn’t to be minimum wage on that site.
All this time and walmart to the rescue….just tell people the truth
Walmart…at least the hood stays ugly
General Electric got caught lying about PCBs and turned the PCB agreement into a PR deal with Senator Kennedy getting on board to lend his name to this agreement.
Soon after Jack Welch was golfing with Clinton on Martha’s Vinyard where rich powerful people play golf and the rest of us point fingers at each other….its not rich peoples fault they make so much money.
The City of Pittsfield has done absolutely nothing that they said they were going to do with real estate starting with the GE property and extending to the big N property which is now going to be a storage unit and to small businesses which they refused to support good show Linda. I guess the storage unit will be needed for the people of Pittsfield to put there’s furniture and things in because they’ve lost their jobs
Jack Welch believes PCBs weren’t – aren’t harmful, he believes it’s absurd to chase molecules in flowing rivers is nuts? Jack, your Company put them there. Jack Welch’s compensation package from G E was reported to be 471 million dollars. What if Pittsfield compensation from the Consent Decree was 471 million dollars. I believe many worker in G E were affected physically and mentally by P C B contamination during the years before, and after it was found how harmful P C B ‘s were. Welch also had an affair which cost him over 100 million dollars. Was this man to be trusted? When dealing with the city?
The EPA say PCB’s are a probable carcinogen…..in other words a definite maybe.
This guy also started the concept of backstabbing in the workplace……..Corrupt arrogance.
Dilly, many workers from GE died of cancer. Way more than the national average. It reminds me of Agent Orange. The government denied that it was harmful until all my friends were dead from cancer then they finally said, gee whiz Agent Orange can cause cancer. PCB’s are the same crap. Fool mee once………
Point is though that the city has GE at the table then let them off the hook. Because of that PEDA is left undevelopable without millions of remediation. Walmart says $12 mill for its potential site. What legit business would ever want to take on that.
Wish they had told us all this in 1998 and before when talks were still going on.
City got screwed
Walmart will probably recoup that 12 million thru tax breaks the mayor will give them. In other words, the Kapinskis will be subsidizing Walmart. How awesome is that concept??
Wal-Mart is not looking for any tax breaks.
I am fed up with media hype over the “heroin and opiate crisis.” I am in favor of legalizing all drugs. Legalization would address the biggest cause of death for heroin abusers – unknown potency and being cut with Lord only knows what. That said – I have little sympathy for those who abuse heroin. It is a drug for losers who have given up on living and frankly the quicker they die the less damage they will do to those who love them and society. Stop wasting scarce resources on these quitters and use them for those who are trying to make something of their lives. I have known plenty of folks who were alcoholics, cocaine fiends, potheads, lovers of LSD and more who grew tired of letting drugs run their lives and returned to sanity. I have never known a heroin junkie who didn’t eventually die, leaving behind a pile of wrecked hearts.
The truth is that heroin and opiate abusers are actually a very tiny percentage of the population. Unlike other demonized drugs, most folks can easily see the horrific effects of opiates. You only have to be around a heroin abuser for a short time to be certain you never want experiment with it. But heroin abuse has become the cause of the moment for the media – and those looking to make money off it. You ever notice that substance abuse treatment programs are all owned and operated by current and former politicians? Because they control who gets the funding. And they can railroad halfway houses into the middle of residential neighborhoods.
It is strange the government that ran those hysterical frying eggs commercials – “This is your brain on drugs,” doesn’t put anti-heroin ads on TV. Start with a clip from “Trainspotting” of a junkie fishing a balloon of heroin out of the toilet. The first friend I knew was a junkie told me, “that scene says everything you need to know about heroin.” Then run some ads showing a dentist pulling every tooth from the mouth of a long term junkie. Then some interviews with the families of junkies, telling you about how their junkie relative broke into their house and robbed them.
Of course that might conflict with the Pentagon and CIA’s backing of the Poppy growers in Afghanistan.
Excellent comment, MS. Junkies make a choice to use. It’s not an “illness.” It’s a decision. If they want to get clean, they can and will. If not, let them to their own devices. If they die, it rids society of one more problem. As for legalization, I agree: All drugs, across the board. We either believe in freedom or we don’t. Legalizing eliminates the black market, a huge portion of gang money, and would drastically reduce abuse.
Now Kathy Yon is screwing Pittsfield.
Walmart as a store is awlful,smells like old popcorn….the store are visually ugly,when I buy food I want to go to a store that knows how to handle food professionally like price chopper not run things the way the walmart garage runs which is horrible…we have all been there completely understaffed. If they hoodwink pittsfield it will be a eyesore in 2 years.
FORBES Magazine called the Pittsfield Walmart the worst in the country. What basis do we have to believe a Supercenter on PEDA land would be any different in 2 or 5 years?
I must say Izy impressed with the Big Y Gasoline Mart.
Yes. Excellent service, selection, and prices.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz is out as head of the DNC after emails were hacked proving that she was trying to undermine Bernie Sanders campaign so that Hillary could be the nominee. Ms. Schultz was supposed to be neutral. She wasn’t. Bernie supporters are outraged as this proves the election process was rigged against Bernie from the start just as Sanders and his supporters had been saying all along. I’m not a fan of Sanders or his philosophy, but I can understand how he and his supporters are taking this news. He seems like an honest man even though I am not for socialism.
It seems that emails may be Hillary’s downfall after all, They are now attempting to prove that Hillary knew about what Schultz was doing behind the scenes.
The Hillary campaign is saying that the Schultz email leaks are a vast Russian conspiracy.
The Shultz e-mails reveal several things: (1) The deviousness and sleaze of the entire Mrs. Clinton campaign; (2) The insubstantial nature of Wasserman; (3) The extent that the DNC has been built around lies; and (4) How they sand-bagged poor Bernie Sanders. If Sanders doesn’t withdraw his endorsement of Clinton, he’s made another huge mistake.
Pat, I know Nothing.