CITY IS LITERALLY FILLING POTHOLES WITH ‘JUNK’ … UPCOMING POTHOLE SEASON WILL LIKELY BE WORST EVER … THANK YOU, BUMSTEAD, COLLINGWOOD, and KEVIN SWAIL (rhymes with …)
By DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, FEB. 25, 2015) — For those interested in such things, the large, angry bull mistaken by city Highway Department director Kevin Swail (rhymes with “fail”) for The Big Red Magic Pothole Machine won an honorary Oscar the other night in the new category: “Best Performance By a Quadriped Who Has Been Mistaken for a Magic Pothole Machine.”
The bull, who decided to remain in Pittsfield because of contractual obligations, Skyped his thanks to the Oscar Committee from the back room at Del Gallo’s Bar on Newell Street. Joe (“Not So Haaaard”) Besser accepted the award on behalf of the bull. John “The Sheffield Shuffler” De Angelo had originally been chosen to accept the award, but he could not be pulled away from his lunch (three Triple King Big Macs, four orders of Supersized fries, five pieces of apple pie, and two 128-ounce cups of bottomless Classic Coke).
What’s Going On at Jimmy’s?
Speaking of local establishments, THE PLANET received this intelligence from one of our Z-Agents. The message came into The Secret Squadron coded, of course, from a Telex machine. THE PLANET submits it without comment. For those who do not possess their Captain Midnight Decoder Ring (the one endorsed by Richard Webb and featuring an official Ovaltine logo), it reads as follows:
Word on the street is that Jimmy’s Resturant on West Housatonic Street is closing due to
bad business and tax problems … hate to see something like that happen because Jimmy’s has been around for so long. Word on the door is that the staff is on vacation, but the quality of service has been hurt as of lately.
Jimmy’s has been around since 1968.
This brings us back to the city yard, located just down the street from Jimmy’s on West Housatonic opposite Clapp Park. THE PLANET‘s investigative staff has been on the job. We share this information, obtained yesterday from a reliable source. ‘Tis a pity our Right Honorable Good Friends didn’t have this info going into last night’s game of “Patty Cake:”
——– 000 ——–
Begin The Begala
The official name of The Big Red Magic Pothole Machine is The Bagela Black Top Recycler (aka, The Bagela). The city bought it a few years ago for $129,000. For Pittsfield, that’s close enough to the quarter million dollars we cited in yesterday’s column. With the purchase of The Bagela, the city also bought two “hot boxes,” bringing the amount spent to nearly $250,000 (THE PLANET, vindicated again!). The boxes are essentially heated receptacles used to transport the recycled blacktop from The Bagela. Sources tell us the city is only using one of the two boxes.
Sources say there are thousands of tons of good ground-up old blacktop (called “millings”) and blacktop curbing chunks down at “The Pit” next to the waste water treatment plant off of Holmes Road. The material sits there doing nothing. To take care of potholes, sources say the Highway Department has been using what is known as “junk blacktop.” This is material consisting of blacktop, stones, sod, dirt, trash, and whatever debris has been picked up by The Begala. The “junk” has been dumped at the city yard. Sources says this is the material being used to fill potholes — literally, “junk.”
‘Junk’ Goes In, ‘Junk’ Goes Out
One knowledgable sources explains: “If you put ‘junk’ in, you get ‘junk’ out” — which explains why the city does such a terrible job with those pesky, front-end destroying, crater-sized potholes.
There is, of course, a system for properly filling potholes. Here’s the process:
(1) Clean out any loose material inside the pothole by hand and then with a leaf blower or a compressor.
(2) Heat the pothole with a propane torch. The flame melts ice and gets a bit of heat into the hole for better bonding.
(3) Extremely Important!! Apply the fill (not “junk” fill) and tack coat, a type of glue to make the repair “hold” better.
(4) Roll the repaired surface with a vibrating roller. The city has two such rollers.
(5) Move on to the next hole. Repeat steps (1) through (4).
Sources say if you repair a pothole this way, “99% of them will stay patched. It works!”
Instead, sources say, the Highway Department under Swail does NOT clean out of the holes, does NOT heat the holes, does NOT apply the tack coat, and does NOT use the vibrating rollers.
Time To Vote The Bums Out!
This leads to The Big Question: What happened to the 99%-effective repair system? Answer, from a highly informed source: Management has told workers that “It takes too long that way. Just throw ‘junk’ in the hole, hand-tamp it, and move on. When the potholes keep returning, [Joe] Cimini [foreman] and Swail will be blaming the crew. It’s funny — there is not enough time to fix the potholes the right way, but there’s enough time to repair the same holes over and over and over. If the city keeps ‘fixing’ the potholes this way, this pothole season will be the worst in years. The city of Pittsfield will make the cover of Pothole Magazine if there was one.”
Remember: In this election year, every pothole you hit comes courtesy of Mayor Daniel Bumstead, Bruce Collingwood, and Swail — and also every city councilor who voted to give the three huge pay raises. The price of incompetence get higher by the minute.
THE PLANET attempted to reach Bumstead and Collingwood, but they did not respond. And for the record, THE PLANET will make available “equal time” either on this page or on PLANET VALENTI TELEVISION to any city official or public servant who wishes to offer other views. All they have to do is contact us.
So get angry, Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski. Stay Angry! Keep stewing, right up until November. Time to Vote The Bums Out!
—————————————————————————————–
“‘Non dimenticar’ means ‘Don’t forget, you are my darling.'” — Nat King Cole, “Non Dimenticar,” from the movie “Anna,” (1951).
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
I don’t know why Dan but reading your column today made this old song by “Spirit” get stuck in my head. And I can’t get it out:
“It’s nature’s way of telling you something’s wrong
It’s nature’s way of telling you in a song
It’s nature’s way of receiving you
It’s nature’s way of retrieving you
It’s nature’s way of telling you Something’s wrong
It’s nature’s way of telling you, soon we’ll freeze
It’s nature’s way of telling you, dying trees
It’s nature’s way of receiving you
It’s nature’s way of retrieving you
It’s nature’s way of telling you Something’s wrong
It’s nature’s way, it’s nature’s way
It’s nature’s way, it’s nature’s way
It’s nature’s way of telling you It’s nature’s way of telling you Something’s wrong
It’s nature’s way of telling you
It’s nature’s way of telling you In a song
oh-h It’s nature’s way of receiving you
It’s nature’s way It’s nature’s way of retrieving you
It’s nature’s way It’s nature’s way of telling you Something’s wrong, something’s wrong, something’s wrong”
I remember when Jimmy’s had the best pizza in town.
It ended when they switched to premade frozen crust instead of the handmade dough.
It is a shame they are going under.
Its indicative of these times we live in where nobody has any money and nobody is buying anything or patronizing these establishments.
So many businesses all accross the USA are folding up and calling it quits. Jimmy’s was a true icon in Pittsfield. They had a good run. 1968 – 2015
R.I.P
Joe at Jimmy’s is a kind man with a good heart
This is an absolute disgrace…in this City. That was quite the Dumb and Dumber Show by the three Stooges last night. The disgrace is the incompetence of this bunch. One lies, the other two swear to it. And Bumstead, showed his short temper, and snide attitude toward Barry Clairmont’s very accurate and precise assessment of the systemic fail during the holiday weekend storm. The collective salaries of these three is staggering….
Let him have his temper tantrum .The buck stops at his desk.Why does he feel so uncover it all?The lasti recall he and his minions. Are called public servants.The Mayor blames everyone but himself for everything,he is an embarrassment ! With his everyone is picking on me attitude.Why is Collingwood still employed when his track record shows he is out of his league?Why are people who the city had a issue with kept in management positions? What’s that have to say how really involved is the Chief Executive on doing basic upkeep in the city,that involves no politics ! But Bianchi makes everything personal cause he points at someone else to take eyes off what he can’t explain,fix or accomplish.
Meant above it all
Go look at Dalton ,every road is clear and they are removing snow banks .they snowblwed side walks,so sick of lies and excuses,City Management has never had accountability for anything and who knows if overtime is getting abused like it did with the Water Supertendent when Swail was there.
Lmao. Only in Pittsfield
Schools are failing teachers get a raise
Streets and side walks look disgusting Collingwood & Co. All get raises in city hall
No accountability results in just what we see.Management gets paid no mater what,This shows where there is a City Manager things get done .(Dalton Lenox) no B.S from Politicans or their minons
Pittsfield Citizens are wrong. They put the magic mix down….there was sand…you just didn’t see it. Mayor blowhard wants you to get …that this is the coldest winter in 60 years, and the other towns weren’t clear….nobody can prove it…nobody drove every street in every town. He is such an asshole.
The mayor pre-treated everyone’s brains last night with a substance known as hog-wash. Hog-wash is in plentiful supply this year, being an election year and all.
This substance has the unique ability to wash the brain and lull people asleep; even put people in a total state of apathy.
The power of the hog-wash method:
Tell the people anything they want to hear. Tell the people anything that makes you look good wether its true or not. Get elected. Then do as you damn well please.
Its the people’s goverment before you get elected.
After you get in, its your government and the people have no say in what you do with their money.
Tell them anything. It does not matter. There is no accountability for lying. Its only “campaign rhetoric”. Means nothing.
Maybe they can use the old Taconic High School for road fill. After they demolish it. Crush it up. Add a little tar. Dump it into the Bagel machine. Voila! Pot holes gone. Like magic.
This could be a real money maker for the city.
The bottom line is ……other communities were able to get the magic mix in time and use it. Pittsfield DIDN’T!
So who screwed up? That was the only question that should have been asked. Cold weather be damned. That was a lame excuse and they don’t have the guts to admit it.
Swail did not make a good impression….looks, speech, attitude, etc. Is this the best our city can do?
I watched the snowgate rehash last night. It would have been so much more classy to admit they just messed up the job. But rogue politicians never admit they are human because they honestly believe they are intellectually superior to the masses that elected them.
I think the mayor was trying to save money on the snow plowing sanding account at the expense of taxpayer safety. Probably to balance another account where he over spent foolishly.
There seemed to be all this insistence that sand was put down on icy intersections and hills and yet almost everyone except the mayor was sliding all over. Someone is fibbing probably because if they admitted there was no sanding the city would be liable for a lawsuit or ten. 63 accidents in less than 48 hours pretty much tells the story. Maybe they need “magic” sand. If the mayor did not hold the police chiefs job in his hand perhaps the chief might have shown up and verified how truly ugly it was out there. Many other public sector people dared not show their discontent in front of the mayor.
Lastly, I do feel the city could have more capable people running the highway dept although it would not make much difference if the mayor is telling them to save money by not doing their job.
and whomever the private contractor is who is plowing my section this year does not come out till the end of the day even if the snow stops in the morning. Where else can you have a job where you tell the boss “I will be there when i get there?”
Bring Breuneau and Yon back to Public Services and you will see a different and positive results. When they were in charge the roads got plowed properly, the pot holes were filled, the sweeping was completed, the cross walks and road lines were done on time, and several streets were repaved and fixed. Not to mention all within budget.
Good reason for Bianchi to force them out of the City.
Hafta agree with Tony here…bring back peter bruneau and greg yon. these two knew how to do the job and more imp. knew how to manage those to get the job done…bianchi was disgracful last night…the absolute worst i’ve ever seen…like DV says gotta vote him and rest of the bums out.
You would think mayor Bagelanchi would do a good job on the roads in this election year. The tax paying public seeing the Bagel machine in action might give them a warm a fuzzy feeling that their tax dollars are going somewhere that is benefitting them.
But Bagelanchi would rather create an illusion that the city is taking care of your interests. Snowjob. Filling the Pitts with with garbage at least makes your tires roll without violently smashing your tie rods. Its magic garbage. Refilling the Pitts-holes over and over will make the impression that the city is on top of it.
“Why don’t we do it in the road? Mm
Why don’t we do it in the road? Ah
Why don’t we do it in the road? Mm
Why don’t we do it in the road? Mm
No one will be watching us
Why don’t we do it in the road?
Why don’t we do it in the road?
Why don’t we do it in the road?
Why don’t we do it in the road?
Why don’t we do it in the road?
No one will be watching us
Why don’t we do it in the road?
Ooh
Why don’t we do it in the road?
Why don’t we do it in the road?
Why don’t we do it, do it in the road?
Why don’t we do it in the road?
No one will be watching us
Why don’t we do it in the road?”
– The Beatles
That was a shameful display at last night’s meeting. Not a single one of them took responsibility for any wrong doing what so ever! If this were any other City anywhere in the US the outcome would have been different. The salt shed has been mostly empty for the whole winter. The sand pile also. Let’s be real here! You can’t get the salt if you don’t order it. Or If you don’t let someone order it until the day before the snow storm. I’m sure you wont get it the next day. There are Long term forecasts that have are pretty accurate. Again you have to look at them and keep up with the weather. Should I order salt or sand? Also the streets from the beginning of this winter were NEVER pushed back to the curb. What do we think will happen when the snow finally start’s melting. Last year we also got most of the snow in February.
Yeah, if we just leased or built more storage space for DPW, we would have had the salt on hand. Yeah that’s the ticket, throw more money at it, yeah that’s the ticket.
You know when you try and snowjob the people and tell them you are doing a great job when its crystal clear to them that you did not, its has a very negative effect.
They think you’re stupid.
Why can’t the mayor be honest just once? Why could he not just admit he tried to save some money on road maintenance and screwed up? Tell the people it won’t happen again. The people pay their taxes and deserve better than to be lied to.
This administration is a train wreck. Lockdowns, wreckless spending, deceipt, and failure. The people are not stupid. They can see right through this incompetence.
“What the people need
Is a way to make ’em smile
It ain’t so hard to do if you know how
Gotta get a message
Get it on through”
-The Doobie Brothers/Listen to the music
My conclusion from the start was, less sand, less salt, less potholes. A win, win ,win. 63 accidents in 48 hours, no big deal, nobody died. The three amigo’s are doing less and getting pay raises. They must be doing something right? Right?
Salt and sand have nothing to do with potholes.
Potholes are caused by water. Frozen water. Water gets underneath the road, freezes and exerts tremendous pressure pushing the asphalt upwards. Driving over the busted pavement makes the problem much worse.
Many highways in our Eisenhower Interstate highway system are poured thick concrete, reinforced by steel rebarr. Also have a peastone foundation which gives the frozen water somewhere to expand to. Even then, although they don’t suffer from potholes, they do crack and need to be sealed.
Some of Pittsfield’s roads still have cobblestone buried underneath the asphalt.
Pittsfield will always suffer from potholes due to the construction of its infrastructure. Every spring they need to be repaired. Its always been this way since they started paving the streets. The city knows this. They do budget for this but seem to act like its something new every year. They blame the weather. “Its always an unusually bad winter”. “We don’t have the money”. “Blah buh blah”. This web site shows you where they spend your money.
The city is extremely mismanaged. They always give you a song and dance.
Off topic but in the Chicago election for mayor Rahm Emanuel harvested less than 50% of the vote so their will be another vote in six weeks, If only this were the law in MA our own Trish who garnered less than 40% would have had to go head on head against someone.
I’ve personally witnessed many times how they actually fill potholes:
1. Worker shovels loose blacktop from truck bed into potholes.
2. Worker stamps down blacktop with hand tool.
That’s it. That is why we get pothole hell every year.
Check out the potholes Big Red filled today, some are literally covered with water underneath the mix???? I can do this Mayor Job, I know I can…. Create lawsuits…neglect roads….give none deserving pay raises..Hire Hacks! Then let em go. Raise taxes..forget the taxpayer and all votes on school….continuously argue with Councilors. Work two jobs….I got it!
One of the councilors asked the mayor about cars being towed so the plow drivers could do a decent job. I thought I heard the mayor say they would rather not tow the cars obstructing the plowing. Because he is that kind of nice guy. But he said some might be towed. So is the ordinance selective and will only some people get fined if they leave their cars blocking snow removal? And now when the word gets around that the mayor said they probably won’t be towing your car even though there is an ordinance do you think plowing might be a bit more of a bitch next snow storm? Did I misunderstand him?
Barry? You were there…what do you think you heard?
Depends on your neighborhood…wink wink…get it dusty
Dusty,
I heard it and was shocked.
It’s campaign season.
Barry
It reminds me of one of my first jobs painting. Where the company was getting paid for two coats on commerci buildings but the boss yelled at us and threatened us when it didn’t cover in ONE!
this past Sunday around 5pm the city removed snow banks across from east side café and delgallos restaurants , caused a major traffic back up, my question would be are these city workers being paid time and a half, if so could it not have been done on a Monday to save the tax payers some money.
second question would be who decides what areas are given preference for snow removal , why newell street and not business on north street were customers have to fight with huge snow banks ????
Best pizza ever was The Rainbow in the sixties. best Veal Parm…Busy Bee. Aesthetic Chicken Broaster Chicken in Cheshire. Best Breakfast sandwich..Home Plate, many moons ago.
I’m glad they are using less salt because it destroys cars. I do have a problem with the plowing this year…..what a mess! Also where is the petition for a vote on Taconic?
We need to get our paws on the sales tax slush fund. That’s the reason we should build? I’m for a vote also, have been. I do not want this particular group ( City Council ) to take my right to have a say at the voting booth, build or not.
In other news….Lawyers for Evan Dobelle seek to withdraw over nonpayment.
I guess if he can’t spend someone elses money, then he’s broke.
Every town gets stuff done and these clowns blame everyone but God himself. What a lack of leadership and it is shameful they gave themselves a raise on top of it.
I never thought I would see the day I’m ashamed to live here but that day has come.This mayor makes Charlie Smith look good.
Every town can get sand and we can’t ? Storage? What a load of shit they were classless
Go to Adams ,Dalton Lenox and see for yourself.what a load of incompetence in Pittsfield.We are going to attract business ? Who are they kidding If you can’t sand roads and they had 62 accidents in that storm ,would that make you wanna live here? I don’t think so