By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary

Tune to Channel 16 at 7 p.m. tonight for a live, unabridged, and unexpurgated episode of PLANET VALENTI TELEVISION. You won’t believe your eyes and ears.

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, OCT. 2, 2014) — DON PARDO: “And now, folks, it’s time once again to play Don’t Tell Anybody, Because It’s Supposed to be a Secret. Sitting in for host John Charles Daly, here he is, the one, the only … [AUDIENCE, JOINING IN UNISON] … THE PLANET!”

Pretty snappy opening, eh? We wrote it ourselves. You know how we play the game. The mayor and his stooges, usually while fetching slippers for their masters among The Suits, cooperate in some shady deal. The deal typically protects the tiny but all-powerful Vested Interests and screws citizens, taxpayers, and Little Guys.

The mayor tries to keep this stuff hidden. He succeeds in hiding it from every local media outlet except this one. That’s when we step in and say, “Don’t tell anyone, because you’re not supposed to know, but …”

Sources: PEDA Retention Pond Being Used Improperly, Perhaps Illegally

Don’t Tell Anybody, sources say, but, Pittsfield may be getting into muddy water again. Behind the beautiful Mountain One building at East Street and Silver Lake Boulevard on the PEDA property, a retaining pond sits. The pond is designed to catch run-off water from PEDA’s 52-acres of the former General Electric campus. All well and good.

However — in Pittsfield, there is always a “however” — sources tell us the retention pond is also being used to capture drainage from 91 acres in the Morningside area, greatly exceeding the pond’s capacity. This results in the release of untreated waste water into the just-remediated Silver Lake. Sources say this information has caught the attention of environmental and regulatory officials. Bottom line is that Pittsfield may be required to build a water treatment plant at the site.

As both mayor and PEDA board member, we can understand why TES would not want that information made public.

We have a request for comment into Mayor Dan Bianchi. When the phone doesn’t ring, we’ll know it’s Big Bianchi (move over, Big Brother) not getting back to us.

Opening for Wong and Gaetani?

If the city does need a treatment facility, who better than Dr. Lawrence Wong and Craig Gaetani? They designed and built the city’s Cleveland water treatment plant in Hinsdale (to international acclaim) as well as plants in other cities. They have recently said they can implement federally mandated upgrades to the sewage treatment plant off Holmes Road for about $15 million. The mayor says he will need around $80 million. Ah, but what’s $65 million among friends?

Question: How could Bianchi, as mayor and PEDA board member, have allowed this situation to occur? At what point do the citizens and taxpayers of Pittsfield begin to demand accountability?

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Sources: Bianchi Fires RSVP’s Deborah Sadowy Dargie 

In the lightning round of Don’t Tell Anybody, Because It’s Supposed to be a Secret, informed sources say the mayor yesterday fired the well-respected Deborah Sadowy from her directorship at RSVP. Hmmm … another woman, fired. Wonder why? It couldn’t be because she was a bit too strong, capable, and independent to suit the mayor’s tastes, could it? We don’t know. That’s why we ask.

THE PLANET has a request into the mayor for comment. You know about “when the phone doesn’t ring.”

Sadowy was just hired in June based on “her strong leadership skills, successful grant writing history, past experience in human resources, experience working with diverse cliental, extensive knowledge of the community and her strategic and program management skills,” according to the mayor’s office. Funny how those skills can evaporate, overnight.

“I was delighted when the search committee came to inform me that Deborah was their choice for the position,” Bianchi gushed on June 6. Guess he’s not so delighted today. He’s probably not gushing as much either. One source told us that when she went to the RSVP offices yesterday, the staff was visibly upset, including some who were in tears.

So are the citizens of Pittsfield. Seeing this type of guillotining from afar, why would anyone want to come to work for or in the city?

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Cafua Denies Mayor’s Claims

In exclusive comments to THE PLANET, Greg Nolan — chief development officer for Cafua Management, the country’s largest Dunkin’ Donuts developer — disputed Mayor Bianchi’s contention that the city/corner office was not informed of the company’s plans for the former St. Mary’s Church on Tyler Street. Nolan says he discussed donating the church to the city with the city planner “and other officials” during in-person meetings on Monday, Sept. 29, and in a follow-up letter to the city on Oct. 1.

Nolan confirmed the company’s decision to build a Dunkin’ Donuts on the former St. Mary’s property on Tyler and Parker streets. Cafua withdrew its permit application to tear down the church and build on the footprint. The new restaurant will be built elsewhere on the 2.5-acre site.

Nolan said Cafua Management withdrew the application last week. “It was important to us to present the revised draft plan before making the news public (Sept. 29). With more than a dozen years in the community, we are invested in Pittsfield and its residents.”

Nolan said the company’s “current intention is to relocate out existing shop at 84 Dalton Ave. to this new site. This move will allow us to provide a better experience for our [customers]. We do not have any plans to develop additional Dunkin’ Donuts locations in the city of Pittsfield at this time.”

Cafua wants to take the long-dormant St. Mary’s property and put it back on the tax rolls using its own money as risk capital. In moribund Pittsfield, that’s considered “controversial” activity. Cafua believes it can make products that people will want to purchase in free-will transactions. That’s known as capitalism. The city should welcome this company’s expansion.

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“It’s not unusual to be loved by anyone. It’s not unusual to have fun with anyone. But when I see you hanging about with anyone, it’s not unusual to see me cry.” — Tom Jones, “It’s Not Unusual,” (1965).

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.