One interesting news item that broke today may have a profound local effect: Mr. Jack O’Brien, head of the state Probation Department, has resigned. O’Brien had been placed on paid leave following the alleged “pay for play” scandal in the department. This is rather like jumping overboard instead of letting them force you to walk the plank.

Observers such as high-powered Boston defense attorney Harvey Silvergate say O’Brien resigned so he won’t have to answer questions that will be fair game for evidence in any future court proceedings against him.

“In a civil proceeding,” Silvergate says, “you do not have the same privilege against self-incrimination that you do in a criminal trial,” Silvergate said. There are criminal probes into the probation scandal now in progress by federal and state investigators. These probes may spill down to the Berkshire County Probabtion Department, run by Cliff Nilan.

The local buzz in the law enforcement community is that  Nilan may face more than the “pay for play” investigation. The source said state officials, including the auditor and inspector general, are aware of the odd discrepencies stemming from Nilan’s supervision of the probation of his Best Bud, Angelo Stracuzzi. State Attorney Gen. Martha Coakley is also investigating the probation department.

Angelo Stracuzzi was arrested by police in Biddeford, Maine, on consecutive days in late July 2005 on charges of assault and prostitution in separate incidents involving two underage teenage boys, one 15 the other 13. Stracuzzi cut a deal with prosecutors. In exchange to pleading guilty of one of the assult charges, officials dropped the other assault charge and both prostitution changes. Stracuzzi received a one-year suspended jail sentence. He was ordered to undergo psychological counseling and to report to probation in Berkshire County. Nilan and Stracuzzi were at the time close friends. No word on how that friendship has survived.

There is no evidence we are aware of that Stracuzzi ever reported to probation officials as a condition of his deal. There is no evidence we have seen that Stracuzzi fulfilled the court-mandated counseling. We are also unaware that Stracuzzi has been held accountable for this apparent snubbing of the law? Are there two sets of laws: one for ordinary citizens and one for Anointed Community Pillars?

Can a person, well connected or not, simply ignore court-ordered punishment? Can a little guy, with no big-shot friends, simply ignore a judge’s ruling because he’s got friends in the right places? Is that what Stracuzzi has done? If so, who — what bastion of The Law — will hold this man accountable? This is a reasonable question for a society that calls itself part of a nation of the Law.

Will Tom Bowler, the new county sheriff, look into this?.Will Martha Coakley? Will the IG? Will Suzanne Bump, the state auditor? Will somebody? If Stracuzzi has somehow fulfilled the court’s dictates, then he has nothing to worry about and would seemingly welcome putting this question to rest.

It is hard to imagine how public officials who provide leadership in community life in Berkshire County, and especially in Pittsfield, can continue with any credibility until they publicly resolve to look into the troubling questions of Stracuzzi and Nilan’s handling of the orders from the Maine court. Every city councilor, every mayor, state rep, police officer, and

selectman in the county has sworn an oath to the constitution, to state law, and to local jurisprudence. Which among them will take the lead in demanding that these unsettling questions be answered? Which member of the bar? Which member of the courts will do the people’s business in this case? Will Mayor Ruberto act on his close friendship with Stracuzzi and want what’s best for his friend and The People? Again, if there has been no spitting on the law, there’s nothing to worry about.

As long as questions linger in the Stracuzzi matter, Pittsfield and the county will continue to suffer from the poison of an unhealed wound. Pittsfield will not be able to move forward with any of its business, including economic development. It will have no moral basis for official action in any sphere.

If all between Nilan and Stracuzzi were handled on the up and up, and an honest investigation reveals that, we shall be first to congratulate both men — Stracuzzi for paying his debt to society and Nilan for doing his duty under the law. If not, then we shall ask for the criminal justice system to handle it as they would in a similar case involving “nobodies.”

Nilan and Stracuzzi were officers at Greylock Federal Credit Union in Pittsfield at the time of the charges in July 2005. For five years, the two men served on the board (Strucuzzi as the high-profile president and CEO, featured the company’s marketing and sales promotion) without telling the company of the situation. Greylock VP John Bissell says the Greylock board had no knowledge of the situation until it emerged in 2010. Stracuzzi and Nilan resigned.

Since then, Nilan continues as local probation chief. Stracuzzi is back in Pittsfield, according to sources, who have conflicting claims about his employment. Most frequently heard rumor is that Stracuzzi is someone connected to Soldier On, the veterans project headed by Jack Downing. That has not been confirmed.

Sources at Greylock claim Stracuzzi received a generous severance package valued in the millions. Bissell has neither confirmed or denied reported terms of Stracuzzi’s golden parachute.

Please, someone in authority. Step up and do the right thing.

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In part one of this series, we heard what could happen if “downtown redevelopment” was confused with “economic development” — the fatal major premise upon which Pittsfield’s entire revitalization strategy has crumbled. The two terms are not the same, and they have been recklessly confused in Shire City.

“Economic development” can and does foster a healthy, market-driven downtown. Pouring public money into “downtown redevelopment” without underlying economic vibrancy ensures the waste of resources and lack of economic progress, as measured by the tax base. This is the situation that has remained unchanged in Pittsfield for a quarter century.

The major “points of light” the Ruberto Administration and its stooges drag out as proof a downtown “renaissance” are artificially propped up with taxpayer funds — the Colonial, Spice, Beacon Cinema, Workshop Live, and so on. That’s not a renaissance. That’s a recipe for mediocrity.

God bless the true entrepreneurs, who use their own capital to take a chance: the Beads, Bath, & Beyond, Bizzy B’s, Pancho’s, and places like that. Such businesses know that public funding = certain market failure.

Exploring that further brings out a couple more interesting points, but first we need to set the stage. Harken back to the days of Thursday night shopping and hanging out on North Street, to the Saturdays and weekdays where downtown looked as busy as a Manhattan crossroads.

Did the City of Pittsfield throw millions of public dollars at England Brothers, Besse-Clarke, or Pittsfield Sporting Goods? Did it give away taxpayer money to the Movie Mart, Dick Moon’s, and Newberry’s? Did the Highland, the Lantern, or the Hotel Wendell? Did the Toggery Shop, Rosenfeld’s, and Mike’s Berkshire Hills?

No, they didn’t. You, the consumer, did through your patronage of those stores.

The entrepreneurs and shop owners took the time to learn what their customers wanted and filled that need. These stores serviced customers. They did not service a demographic type or a region. They flourished until such time as GE folded, and the discretionary income went away.

Needed: Sustainable Revenue

Every administration since GE left — Reilly, Doyle, Hathaway, and Ruberto — tries a different variation of “fake” development. None of these administrations, however, could hide the lack of “GE” type jobs. They’ve never been replaced. Our leaders have failed the people, miserably.

People without good jobs cannot afford $100 shoes, $4 lattes, and brie on boulabrisque wafers . They don’t dine on hummingbird tongues and Beluga caviar. And this is perhaps the main issue as it pertains to the dishonest nature of “downtown redevelopment” as it’s practiced in Pittsfield.

Without a sustainable source of revenue, no business can survive. The redevelopment of downtown Pittsfield as officials have carried out its actions in the last eight to ten years centers on industries, businesses, and stores that cannot hold serve in tough economic times. No amount of false propping up of business with unaccountable giveaways of public money can mask the underlying decay.

If you are having a tough time making ends meet, do you run out and have a $100 meal at Spice and then take in a movie at the Beacon for $40 (including a popcorn and soda)? No, you make beef stew at home, pop in a rented DVD, and microwave a batch of popcorn. The same goes for the tourists. Do they travel as much in a down economy? The answer is no, despite the parroted piece of puffery published by the Boring Broadsheet a couple days ago printing what the local tourism honchos told it — you know, how 2011 was going to be fantastic, great, and full of champagne and dancing girls.

Economic Development isn’t Based on Feelings

The types of businesses the City of Pittsfield has lured here, touted, and set up with cushy deals (with YOUR MONEY, remember, and not theirs) are typically touted on emotion. The “arguments” by city officials from Ruberto to OCD Director and First Deputy Mayor Deanna Ruffer to councilors are made on feelings, not hard data or rationale.

“Feel good” does make sound economic policy. That’s how you get the Berkshire Eagle touting “1,000 Jobs” of a criminal enterprise and sham that bilked Joe and Jane Littleguy out of a ton of their money. For that and other “white” crimes, there is no accountability in Pittsfield. Officials, through ignorance and acts of malicious will, routinely break the law when it comes to procurement of goods and services.

When asked about the secret nature of these dealings, The mayor says nothing. The city council says less. All the “feel good” rah-rah boosters such as the Chamber of Commerce and the “Alphabet Soup Group” suddenly get a case of the mums. The only time they talk is when it’s too the Berkshire Eagle, their accomplice in crime.

With that, we pose this question: What if the Workshop Live and other such businesses did NOT get incentives, credits, inducements, etc. (call them what you like; it’s the “mutant theory” — the power structure will keep changing the names of the incentives once people catch on. The cut on property tax becomes the “tax credit” becomes the “stimulus”). Without the crutches provided by “enterprise” inducements and other forms of public charity, would these business open up elsewhere in the city? Would they follow old-fashioned capitalism and put up their own money, take a chance, and see if it works?

Some would. If you recall, Workshop Live said it didn’t need taxpayers dollars to come to Pittsfield. The city insisted. Why? What was up with that? Who got what? Were kickbacks in some shape involved?  If a business truly believes that what it’s doing will serve a market need, that business will take a chance. That’s the nature of entrepreneurial energy.

No Renaissance, only Redirection

There is no economic development in Pittsfield. There is just redirection of  capital taken from taxpayers, the proverbial shuffling the deckchairs on the sinking Titanic.  The net growth is zero.

When a business opens and the taxpayers are the venture capitalists, the owners have less incentive to service customers than to service the elites of the power structure.  On the other hand, businesses that open without public money must be mindful of the cliental they serve and not the area in which they are serving. This is a major distinction and cannot be under estimated.

Burger Spicey de la Snotty, because they are located in the “enterprise zone” of downtown (and received taxpayer funding), don’t offer a hamburger. That is for peasants. They need to serve berg de la hamboufee. They don’t offer fries. They serve cheddar formage frias and wheat grass at $17.95.

If that same restaurateur opened up an establishment in a different part of town free of the “redevelopment pox,” he would most likely be laughed out of town for such an offering. Instead, this proprietor would serve his customers. He would offer a burger, fries, and soda for $5.95. The business would have them in and out the door all day.

Incentives Don’t Work

Research shows that across the country, more than 300,000 stores, restaurants, and shops have been “incentivized” to artificially locate in downtown redevelopment areas. Of these, 7% survive three years and less than 1% survive five or more years. Stunning numbers. This survival rate also has a detrimental effect on downtown development in terms of other business being wary of entering into and area with a high failure rate area. The bottom line is that if a business needs capital from the government, then it’s going to have a tough go if it.

A strong economic development program, on the other hand, will redevelop downtown, uptown, and in-between town. If there are decent paying jobs, people will have money to spend. It’s that simple.  Go back to Thursday nights on North Street. Pittsfield lacks these jobs, and this lack makes a mockery of the ridiculous term “renaissance” as applied to a few “haves” whose existence slaps the “have nots” in the face.

For example, if EV Worldscam had been real and it created 1,000 jobs, that would have produced 1,000 paychecks to be disbursed as the consumer desired, be it at the theater, dinner, car restoration, or any and every number of things resulting in a diverse economy.

In short, call it what you wish: “downtown redevelopment” … “renaissance” … “investment in the city” … whatever your heart desires, but artificially building up a business because it suits a geographical area or, worse, a political agenda is nothing short of wealth redistribution and VACANT dreaming. As history proves time and again, such a policy is doomed to fail.

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TWO DAYS HAVE NOW GONE BY WITH NO REPLY FROM BERKSHIRE EAGLE EXECUTIVE EDITOR TIME FARKAS TO OUR CHALLENGE TO A DEBATE. IF THE EAGLE REFUSES TO ACCEPT THIS CHALLENGE, IT WILL SHOW THEY ARE RUNNING SCARED. IT WILL SHOW THEY ARE SCARED TO FACE THE MAN WHO CAN EXPOSE THEN AS FAILURES TO THIS COMMUNITY.

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TOMORROW, WE SHALL POST “THE LETTER.” YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS IT. THIS IS THE LETTER “THEY” DON’T WANT YOU TO SEE.