PLEADING THE FIFTH ON ‘100GATE’ … plus … A DONUT STRATEGY WITH NO HOLES
By DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 24, 2014) — Picking up the pieces of a busy day, where continents of sand had to wait for the arrival of their king (obligatory cryptic note), THE PLANET shares two nuggets for thought. The first is on our resident tempest and gale, 100gate. The second deals with Dunkin Donuts.
If Your Flight is Leaving at 100gate, Don’t Get Onboard
Ah, 100gate. THE PLANET painted the picture long before the actuality. We explained how this latest Done Deal happened. The only part of the canvass we couldn’t fill was the “who” of the scheme’s conception. Did the mayor approach his buddy at Scarafoni Associates? Was it the reverse? Was it cozy inspiration from the Clods? We don’t know. However, once the plan was hatched, THE PLANET found out about it. That was the part that wasn’t supposed to happen. The mayor and cronies hoped 100gate would get done under cover of darkness in the dead of the night.
Here’s as close to proof as you will get that this was a pre-cooked Done Deal. As early as March, the city had people in the space on the second floor at 100 North doing prep work. The RFP wasn’t issued until late April. How’s them donuts?
Pleading the Fifth
After THE PLANET exposed the deal, TES & Company had to scramble, inventing one implausible scenario after the other, five in all. With one hurried and implausible rationale after another, it became obvious TES never planned for the contingency of getting caught.
He didn’t plan for THE PLANET.
Thus arrogance makes proper planning the prisoner of smiling pomp.
Here are the fab five:
(1) First, he tried to sell 100gate as an accommodation to business — the “Pro Business Plan.” Fable: So many contractors are complaining about the permitting process that Pittsfield is losing business. Neither TES nor any of his enablers named one of the contractors. Status: Shot down on its face.
(2) Second, the “Roof, Roof Plan.” Fable: The permitting offices need to be under one roof. Status: Shot down when observers noticed that, uh, all of the office ARE under one roof, at 70 Allen St., except for the fire inspectors.
(3) Third, ever resourceful, the fiction writers in city hall went for the “Mighty Moolah Plan.” Fable: The move to 100 North Street will be an “economic engine.” You remember “economic engines.” The Colonial restoration was sold that way. EV Worldwide? WorkshopLive!? Yeah, billed as “economic engines.” Status: Shot down on its face.
(4) Fourth, the city invented the “Radon Men From The Moon Plan.” Fable: The basement offices at city hall are unhealthy due to black mold and radon. Status: Rejected as unsupported. Radon tests that were done in 2012, when the maintenance department performed radon testing as part of asbestos removal. The results came back negative. No radon. TES has released no data to support the claims of mold and radon. If the building is “sick,” where are the studies? Where is the data? Nowhere, man … that’s where. Last night to mayor told the city council that moving 40% of city hall to 100 North St. will enable basement offices at city hall to be expanded. And so we come to …
(5) Fifth, “The Expansion Plan.” Fable: The move is needed so basement offices can be enlarged. Status: Immediately rejected by anyone with at least three functioning brain cells. Or do the alleged radon and mold problems magically vanish? Or were radon and mold not there in the first place?
Signing Away the Store, Once More
Today, TES puts his “John Hancock” on a lease that will cost up to $500,00. He did it first trying to keep it secret. When exposed, he invented five fictive scenarios for the “necessity” of the move, each one easily refuted. The mayor never directly made his case to taxpayers. Moreover, he went out of his way to keep it from them via his stonewalling of the city council. Our Right Honorable Good Friends allowed the mayor to walk all over them.
When the ink dries, Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski, Pittsfield’s beleaguered taxpayers, will pay yet more for the ever-rising price of the city’s political and governmental breakdown. Never has the city been so close to free fall.
Be wary. Be very wary. That first step is a loo-loo.
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Time to Dunk the Donuts at ex-St. Mary’s
With some troops trying to prevent Cafua Management from tearing down St. Mary’s Church for another Dunkin Donuts store, PLANET readers will be interested in this section from a long piece Sept. 17 in Boston Globe Magazine.
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“Occasionally, his voracious appetite for new outlets in unusual places has gotten him into trouble. [ED NOTE: The pronoun “his” refers to Mark Cafua, head of DD developer Cafua Management. His firm is looking to put a new DD at Tyler and PArker streets on the site of the former St. Mary’s Church]. In South Portland, Maine, his purchase of a Catholic church with plans to raze it for a new shop caused a ruckus with residents that is still simmering. He has similar plans for a church in Pittsfield. The joke about Dunkin’ being considered a religion in New England, critics suggest, wasn’t meant to be taken literally.
“And in Laconia, New Hampshire, his plans to raze the historic Hathaway House, a stately but sagging structure built in 1872, set off a bitter fight that has raged for 14 years, even spurring the creation of the town’s Heritage Commission. Dorothy Duffy, a 79-year-old lifelong Laconia resident and a member of that commission, accuses officials with Cafua’s company of being ‘deceitful.’ She says they reneged on earlier promises not to demolish the building and then let it fall into further disrepair, making its fate all but inevitable. ‘We call it planned deterioration,’ she says.
“Cafua rejects Duffy’s accusation with a roll of his eyes. At one point, he says, a different activist argued that the building couldn’t be torn down because a ghost believed to be living in it would have nowhere to go. The ghost will have to find alternate accommodations, though. The town finally granted him a demolition permit in August. (As of press time, the Hathaway House and the churches were still standing.)”
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You can read the entire article at this link: https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2014/09/17/the-secret-world-dunkin-donuts-franchise-kings/pb2UmxauJrZv08wcBig6CO/story.html
The article makes a point that anwers a question many have been asking: Why so many DDs in Pittsfield? Part of Cafua’s marketing strategy is to have a DD shop within easy distance of a customer no matter where he or she happens to be in the city. Based on its demographic studies, the company finds profit in more stores in proximity. Who’s to argue? We live hurried, mobile lives that often require us to move from location to location all over town. Rest assured that no matter where you might end up in Pittsfield, a DD will always be close by.
Personally, THE PLANET would rather see lots of manufacturing facilities “always close by,” but we forgot. “Jobs” is an issue only brought out by the city gasbags every two years between September and early November.
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“Stella this day is thirty-four / (We shant dispute a year or more) — / However, Stella, be not troubled, / Although thy size and years are doubled / Since I first saw you at sixteen, / The brightest virgin on the green.” — Jonathan Swift, “On Stella’s Birthday,” (1719).
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
Part of my business over the last three years has been restoring historical houses/buildings. Can you imagine if Samuel Harrison’s house was torn down for a D&D! With that said the church on Tyler can go as I don’t feel it has any historial significance. Plus the market obviously dictates what business it wants (I’m celebrating ten years!) if people didn’t want D&D they wouldn’t buy it and the company wouldn’t find it profitable to add more locations. It’s like all the resistance arrowhead hit for wanting to raise rabbits but when was the last time those very people with moral objections to raising rabbits for food are a burger at Mcdonalds most likly processed with the unethical use of a fork truck to move a sick or unmotivated animal who’s given up simply because it knows and understands the aweful fate he’s been dealt.
He is spending money like the mayor of North Adams ,look how that worked out.
I watched the mayor parade people up who worked there and. They read off of cue cards, it was so shameful. Bianchi then explains he’s going to expand departments once the move happens, We our adding more space and fuel cost to a shrinking city.
Connell then wants to look at privatizing water and waste water . He explained it was because of licenses and pension issues.Really.? The department can’t have 50 people working there. The real issue of pension destruction and underperformance is the school department,We are paying. Retirements to 600 employees and those who have retired .He wants to look at the ant instead of the elephant. I am so ashamed of the city I live in. I am so disgusted with the lazy self serving leadership that is spending us into insolvency.
I have lost hope that common sense will prevail but I have watched the mayor just ignore common sense and fiscal responsibility,including his former chief of staff.
Dan we are a city destroying ourselves financially .
Will there be a ribbon cutting ceremony when Done Deal Dan actually opens the offices at 100 NS?
Rumor has it that the guy who owns Donut Man also owns some of the buildings that Dunkin is in and wants Dunkin out so he can go i n. Does anyone have the scoop on that?
At least the indroctinated high school graduates can look forward to a career at Dunkin Donuts.
Perhaps there should be a vocational course added at the new Taconic on how to pour coffee. Maybe just maybe you can work your way all the way up to management. Once a manager you might be able your property taxes, water and sewer bill and other city fees. Maybe have enough left over to buy a cup of coffee.
With the help of food stamps and other welfare programs you might have a happy life in Pittsfield Massachusetts.
I believe that Pittsfield’s sky high business taxes are driving away business. Pittsfield lost thousands of jobs over the past 3 decades. Once a job is lost, it goes to China, and it doesn’t come back to Pittsfield. Thousands of people have fled Pittsfield, too. Pittsfield politics is totally corrupt!
You are correct. As a business person paying a commercial tax rate nearing $40 per thousand, I am planning my exit strategy. I will take two businesses with me.
Excellent coverage, Dan. Thank you for your work on behalf of citizens and free speech, and for exposing the political corruption and bad government that has brought our once proud city to the low point where it is now.
Appreciate the nod, L.
I encouraged my councilman to speak out against this move via e-mail. By the way that was a week ago and I still have had no response from him.
And does anyone know who received the “gift” from Taconic High School, I know I received a rejection letter.
Did anyone speak out against this from the audience last night?
Mrg1188. None of the bloggers who like to vent here could not(or would not) let the council know that they were against this idea. They talk like big shots on this blog but they don’t back it up at the council meeting. Dan Why didn’t you speak at the council meeting? Just wondering
HENRY
I do my speaking here at THE PLANET and on PV-TV. On 100gate, I have had more to say publicly than anyone, every word of it using my real name. I can’t speak for anyone else.
I arrived to late to sign up. But did have a few chuckles via the planet. TES made me sick with his first name basis with Councilors. Believe LOw and Krol were the biggest losers on the night. Biggest winner was the Planet for bringing this out in the open sunshine and disinfecting TES and his scabby ideas.
Did you convienlently arrive late? Or don’t you have the grit to ask the tough questions?
Henry, or may I call you Hank? What happened to Terry Kinnas when he asked the tough questions? Obviously you agree with every decision that is made so you can puff out your chest and treat all opposite positions as heresy. You are a new poster too(or using another name for this subject) so either you have a stake in 100 North St., you were supposed to be part of the parade of “basement employees” who “didn’t have the grit” to show your face at the meeting, or you are just one of us “bloggers who like to vent”. Either way it’s all good, you have as much right to bend over as the rest of us…. but some of us don’t don’t do it willingly.
Rock on Dave best post of the year! I’ve written all my councilors on the matter as well as other city business. They don’t give a crap. They don’t represent the people. They represent thier own interest. Ain’t America great!
None of this will end, at all levels of government, until real people step forward, not just anonymous bloggers. Can’t see it happening anytime soon. And by the way, I think this country, maybe the world, is f****d because of that.
Real people tried to stand up to Obama, they got audited for there troubles.
So Joe, we just surrender then?
Thanks, AMANDA.
Krol, was not a loser on the topic of 100 North St., he really drilled TES and trying to get it postponed. Krol did his best but TES just fought him all the way. TES basically told everyone he did not need councilman approval to go ahead and sign the lease.
Anyone surprised by the capital monies being approved? The school is next, do we get a chance to vote on this? Anyone? Hank?
The Sturge’ has TES on his show, he asked, are you running, TES said yes, ‘we have so much more work to do’..
i smell a rat.
Another job opening at Pittsfield’s City Hall.
https://www.smartrecruiters.com/CityOfPittsfield/79187895-principle-clerk-
Good luck!
Shouldn’t that be “Principal Clerk”?
Perhaps this clerk is supposed to uphold our city’s lofty principles.
NEWS ARTICLE:
“Environmental groups say Housatonic River cleanup plan inadequate”
By Dick Lindsay, Berkshire Eagle Staff, 9/24/2014
LENOX — Leading local environmental groups Tuesday night called for a more aggressive cleanup plan for the Housatonic River from southern Pittsfield into Connecticut.
The Housatonic River Initiative, Housatonic Valley Association and the Citizens for PCB Removal were among the organizations who sharply criticized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its proposed Rest of River remediation.
They believe it falls far short of the need to forever protect wildlife and humans from a suspected carcinogenic chemical used for decades by General Electric.
“The proposal leaves behind 75 percent of the PCBs — it doesn’t seem like a very good remediation plan,” said HVA Berkshire Director Dennis Regan.
“If you had a cancer to remove, you wouldn’t remove 25 percent and leave 75 percent behind,” added Barbara Cianfarini of Citizens for PCB Removal.
The EPA remediation calls for capping, rather than dredging, parts of the river bed and leaving undisturbed areas within the Housatonic floodplain with PCB levels less than 50 parts per million.
The criticism came during a 90-minute official EPA public hearing at Lenox Memorial Middle and High School. About 15 of the 60 people attending spoke to the agency’s strategy for GE to remove or encapsulate PCBs in and around a 125-mile stretch of the Housatonic. The public comment period wraps up Oct. 27, with written remarks being accepted at r1Housatonic@epa.gov.
The EPA Rest of the River plan calls on GE to spend an estimated $619 million to dredge, excavate and remove the likely cancer-causing chemicals from riverbed sediment as well as the flood plain in designated zones.
Furthermore, GE would cap “hot spot” areas for 10.5 miles from Fred Garner Park in Pittsfield to Woods Pond in Lenox Dale. The plan would remove 89 to 92 percent of PCBs annually from the most contaminated areas, such as Woods Pond.
“The plan dictates what GE has to do, but not how to do it,” said Dean Tagliferro, EPA’s Rest of River project manager.
The “how to do it” is what worries many Pittsfield residents living within the initial 5 miles of the cleanup.
Jeffrey Cook, who represents the Ward 4 River Watch group, believes the access roads, staging areas and other aspects of PCB dredging will do more harm than good to the impacted area.
“If we had a vacuum up above sucking up all the PCBs, that would be cool,” he said.
However the largest landowner along the Housatonic in Berkshire County, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, find the clean-up “responsibly” addresses public health while protecting the environment.
“It’s been a difficult balancing act .. and [the plan] has our full support,” said MassWildlife board member, Joseph Larson.
GE released PCBs into the Housatonic from its Pittsfield transformer plant from 1932 until the U.S. government banned the substance in 1977. GE has already spent tens of millions of dollars cleaning up the first 1.5 miles of the river in Pittsfield and Silver Lake, once the city’s most polluted bodies of water, now a recreational area for boating and catch-and-release fishing.
Reader’s Comment:
I RATE TAXPAYER:
And they haven’t ever touched Unkamet brook which is heavily polluted and feeds into the river along Merrill Road. Let alone the fact that every time it rains moderate quantities of PCB’s are passing thru GE’s Oil/Water Separators. Add to that the fact that minimal quantities are still being released each and everyday thru GE’s Main Treatment Plant. All of these sources are re-polluting the already “cleaned” stretches of the Great and Mighty Housatonic River!!! Go Figure
http://jonathanmelleonpolitics.blogspot.com/2009/05/gepittsfieldpcbscancercorruption.html
It’s been a murky regime so far.
Bianchi is so full of it…at some point someone should seek a criminal investigation into this 100 Gate.
He’s signing now because he doesn’t want to jeopardize the deal? It’s a BUYERS market for office space in Pittsfield, what is there going to be a run on space…it has sat unused for years….now all of a sudden someone is going to come in and snatch it up?!?!
What about all the code violations there, who is going to fix them?
Seems like a great way to have the taxpayers fix up a friends building…then in a few years when the lease expires, TES will have new office space.
Online permitting is the “wave of the future”?!?! Ummm it is the wave of the past…if small towns have it, Pittsfield should have had it years ago and yes it COMPLETELY replaces the need for centralized offices as the inspectors can do all the permitting from laptops, tablets and even cellphones.
Pittsfield still has the stone tablets.