TYER CUTS THE CHEESE ON TYLER STREET TRASH CANS
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY SEPT. 20, 2017) — It’s come to this: ribbon cuttings for garbage cans. Cue the first three notes of “Taps.”
Ba-Ba-Baaaaaa.
What’s next as Mayor Linda “Trashcan” Tyer presides over the demise she has not only not addressed but has hurriedly hastened? Salutations for strip mines? The Congressional Medal of Honor for a needle-strewn back alley? If it’s Tyler Street, perhaps. The avenue has become The New Big Distraction, a feeble, failing, ailing attempt by Trashcan and The Suits to misdirect attention from a killing tax rate, an obscene budget misspent on the Haves, neighborhoods descending into violence and madness, and a M&Ms-like assortment of other serious woes.
Who advised The Most Stupid Ribbon Cutting of All Time? Alfred E. Newman? Dimrod Clapper? Randy Stein? THE PLANET is reasonably certain it wasn’t Barry Clairmont.
Though one couldn’t have imagined Trashcan ever topping her predecessor in vacuous non sequiturs — ribbon cutting, in this case — reality stepped in to supply the hopeless vision of such a case. Pittsfield features daily gunfire, including killing by cop; drug use has shredded what’s left of the social shawl; rampant gang activity keeps citizens boarded up in their homes and apartments; city officials continue to harass small businesses out of business; taxes have gone beyond the ability of a majority to pay; trash, used needles, and oozing condoms litter the streets, and yet, with all this …
… Tyer took the time out of a busy four-year vacation asleep behind her desk at a hundred grand a year to cut the ribbon unveiling the arrival (dead on arrival, actually) of new garbage cans on Tyler Street. There is no Sesame Street character living in those tins, only the fetid stench of an Administration corrupted by its own futility, an ineptitude of good intentions cozily housed in the cabin of a cruise ship called The Good Ship Lollipop. The vessel contains only enough lifeboat seats for The Inner Circle and for Guys that Know a Guy. Ordinary, good, erstwhile productive citizens have been thrown overboard to die in the icy waters.
Pickle it. Put a period at the end of the hollow electoral declaration Trashcan made in November 2015. Peter Marchetti, the city turns its lonely eyes to you. Woo woo woo. It’s rather like turning to a dentist after having lost an arm to a chain saw. W!here’s Dan Bianchi when we really need him?
For the hopelessly sunk Tyer administration, the bizarre has outstripped expected common expediency to such an extent as to make satire impossible. Why just yesterday, we saw the new garbage cans leading a parade of used condoms, empty cans of spray paint, fast food wrappers, empty shell casings, syringes, and a hot dog down Tyler Street.
What, you didn’t read about it in The Boring Broadsheet? The editors were busy writing bad fiction about the mean old Boston Globe, which essentially praised THE PLANET for our perspicacity.
If you take the “L” out of “Tyler,” you get a synonym for clueless amateurism for heinous that it provides the answer to a riddle:
Q: What is worse a mayor than Linda Tyer?
A: Two Linda Tyers.
Dig it, though, ’cause you’re stuck with it for two more years, and it’s hip.
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“You say you are holy [only] because I have not seen you sin.” — Stephen Crane
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
The Usual Disclaimer.
I’m still waiting for a meaningful ribbon cutting for something that really will help the Tyler Street area like a Super Walmart.
The Berkshire Eagle wrote an editorial in response to the Boston Globe article about poverty in the Berkshires. The BB article essentially said that it’s not so bad here in Berkshire County. What is that Boston Globe article talking about? We must not offend the wealthy tourists since tourism is the lifeblood of this area. According to the BB our local problems come from the federal level. The BB insists on this point of view despite the fact that even after 8 years of a Democratic president in Washington, the Berkshires have been steadily declining. The problem is always “out there” somewhere. We must never blame our local and state politicians for the sorry state of Berkshire County according to the BB.
The Berkshire Eagle is a rag! They are part of the G.O.B.! Pittsfield politics is ran by a China-like one political party system that raises taxes, increases debts, and only serves the special interests, including the Big 3: School, Police, and Fire Unions. Democracy is dead in Pittsfield politics! It is all a fix!
– Jonathan Melle
A greater truth was never spoken, DV; Amen. Additionally, the bedraggled taxpayers of the Pitts will never know the nefarious realities that are trifled, minimized, lost and otherwise concealed from them by the “public sector” for personal gain and to save face.
ad item: Chris Connell advises water/sewer tax may have to quadruple ???
You are not likely to find any hungry politicians in Pittsfield. Neither do they care much about their electric or cable bill soaring past their ability to pay.
And so ignorant voters look forward to one more election where fresh faces vie for council and school board seats. Too late afterwards they realize that though the bilge pump removed some of the swamp water, much still remains. And sadly, even more has seeped in.
Valenti is great, that simple.
The Replacements.
What pisses me off are the media cheerleaders. Yes, give credit where credit is due, but don’t become bootlickers just to get a free meal.
The trash can presser was embarrassing. What’s next?
When even Dudley Dooright (aka Barry C) can’t offer some long winded social justification in defense of his Boo on this sight, we now know we are in deep trouble –
According to Diane Marcella it took two years to get the trash cans so they deserve a ribbon cutting.
“I love that they were designed, engineered, and built in Pittsfield for a Pittsfield neighborhood. It has the Pittsfield logo and the theme of environmental stewardship,” Mayor Linda Tyer said
And they only cost $600.00. (each)
Which relative or friend of the Tyer administration was paid to design and paint the trash cans?
It takes 2 years to get overly expensive trash cans here but the school system gets everything it wants every single year.
I remember when I went to Taconic high school (in the 80’s) a project like that would have been done in the shops. The metal shop printing shop and auto body shop. But the It would have only cost materials and taught the youth a trade. Why be economical.
TRICIA missed this photo-op? WOW
Yeah, the Country Buffet in Worcester was offering “two meals for one Tuesdays,” so she took herself. Only thing more important than a Pittsfield photo-op, is a “home-cooked meal” for TFB from the OCB.
For her the prices are 40% higher
Or did That lady running for mayor in North Adams eat her?
tommy , Tricia would never have looked better than inside one of those trash cans, and while they are empty I can think of a few more local politicians that would look good in there too !!
Disappointed tax payer, you are so right. That would have been an perfect project for the shops. It’s a shame because they probably would have been better than what the city bought. I thought the same thing about the painting of the electrical boxes on North St. Out art students at the high schools could have done that project.
So I saw the write up about said garbage cans and I thought “Well, THAT is a good reason to visit Tyler St.!” So I did. To my dismay, they were nowhere to be found.
Maybe the person who was supposed to disperse them tripped over the ribbon and got hurt.
Let us not forget how almost every department in city hall has become dysfunctional under the Tyer Administration. From the Board of Health breaking the law by imposing fines not backed-up by city ordinance and conditions beyond their purview such as hours of operation; Spring crosswalk painting done in the fall After School Starts! Spring road repair projects not started until late August. The only man who had technical knowledge of how the city’s drinking water is protected fired without apparent cause.Streetlights throughout the city broken with the man responsible actually telling the council, they’re to hard to fix. A community development office without a director for so long, developers have just walked away. I could on and on but as Barry always says…..It’s never Linda’s fault!
Maybe the trash cans are being tested for durability. I heard they were being used in an obstacle course in the basement of city hall. Picture Kerwood leaping high to clear a trash can and getting his foot caught in the opening as he goes over.
Now there is a photo op.
Agree with te Planet.
Matt Kerwood is one of the finest individuals I’ve ever met,his wife is first class,and he’s a Family Man,Pittsfield Native knows what he’s doing, unfortunately he has very little to work with. Somehow we get the perception that Mrs. Bejnke does absolutely nothing over at First. Not true, I’ve seen her working her butt off first hand.
It is really hard for Matt Kerwood to add 5% per fiscal year to the municipality’s operational budget, and add well over $10 million per year to the city government’s debt load. It must be hard work to drive Pittsfield politics’ public finances closer and closer to the fiscal cliff (Nilan).
All well and good. But that does not mean that he can leap a tall trash can or run the 440 in under a minute.
And I will admit that he was pretty good at promoting the ill fated Civic Authority which had the city in an uproar for two years. Thankfully, he and his Civic Authority went down in a rare uprising of Pittsfield citizens.
They both should have statues in Park Square.
Bouvier gave The a great idea on how to deal with those used discarded condoms. TFB said, Linda, send someone around to collect them. When you get 365 of them have then melted down and made into a tire and call it a Goodyear.
Can someone go to the site that has Wong Fook Hing Bookstore, this actually exists. The other day someone posted a funny quip and this place does exist, don’t know how to put it on the Planet.
TFB owns shares in Golden Corral.
Do we have to go there?
Maybe we can farm out the graffiti artist to paint backward G’s on them so we will know they are garbage cans ?
So I watching Jiv talking about,quoteTyler Street one of our great neighborhoods, right as he says it and not a second later over the scanner, youths on Tyler Street stealing things. You coudmake it up, but it’s true.
JIV, another “profile in courage” worthy of a monument in Park Square. I hope one of the courageous school committee members will put in a petition to add $5 million to the school department budget to get this urgent civic project done.
your show is the very best your the best
I have gotten together with 15 of my closest neighbors and we are going to gather up our nicest looking trash cans and put them together in front of one of the nicer properties. Then we are going to link them together with Christmas lights and dance around them in the dark of night. The public is invited and even encouraged to attend this free feel good community event. The date and exact address will be posted soon.
As I anticipated the response has been overwhelming and I am going to have to start a waiting list. Also, NO DOGS allowed. NO SMOKERS allowed and we would asked anyone with exacerbated toe fungus to remain home or at least 75 feet away from our display.
Thank you for your cooperation.
THE PLANET will be sooooooo there.
Awesome Dan. Perhaps we can broadcast your show from there that night. Everyone will be issued a pair of scissors for the ribbon cutting at midnight (right after the fireworks) but please do not run with them no matter how excited you may get.
If this thing gets much bigger i may have to pull a permit!
Last Dave post wasn’t me but this Dave says you should do this in Park Square. Seems like that’s the place to be to try to make a statement nowadays. I will donate my trashcans for a day. Maybe if we get enough to link together that goes all around park square we can get a picture in the BB
Tyer needs a place to put her administrative abilities soon. Trash cans offer a perfect receptacle.
The ship is sinking. The stench has all but covered Pittsfield.
About the only one who has said she’s doing great is the bootlickers on PCTV.
Eberwien has done it.Hes being Superintendent laundered in Lenox,Lee.They will eventually hire this scammer and he comes out clean as a whistle.They made a terrible mistake hiring him.Good luck Lenox your taxes are going way up .He has no right being in a position of power over anyone.What were you thinking.All the men are in trouble .
I thought when the mayor was lying flat finish she said she was going to do some improvements for the Westside . What Has she done.
Put an exercise room in the basement of City Hall big deal
Those new fancy garbage cans belong in Lenox. Who’s idea was the design, the future P E D A Director? Some kid will hit his/her head on the corner of those roofs and that will be the end of that.
I’d like to know if the person responsible for driving through a Stop Sign that killed two people was ever pulled over and cited, or let go for a warning before this accident. It’s time to clamp down on the horrendous drivers in Berkshire Vounty.