By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015) — The street’s talking: The killer(s) got the wrong guy.  More mayhem is on the way.

Is that the dirty secret authorities in Pittsfield don’t want citizens to know? Perhaps they think you’re too immature, too weak to handle the truth. Or they think it will ruin the mayor’s fiction that all is peachy, squeaky-clean, hunky-dory, and primed for glory in the “Renaissance” city.

Killer on the Loose?

A killer is still on the loose, and authorities are baffled, intimidated, incompetent, knowing-but-not-saying, or un-indicted co-conspiritors. Take your pick. They might be as guilty as the man who pulled the trigger. And who will be responsible if, as the street predicts, another hit occurs? It’s a question THE PLANET hopes no one will have to answer.

The unconscionable news blackout surrounding the July 4 Massacre has left speculation and possibilities. Nerves are on edge, particularly on the West Side. The lockdown, Dan Bianchi‘s favorite tactic dealing with his phony campaign promise of transparency, appears to have the mayor’s fingerprints all over it. Hard to say. Nobody’s talking.

There are many conflicting “reports” about what went on at the massacre. Most versions coming from the ‘hood, however, agree on a few pertinent and disconcerting facts:

* The shootings were gang related

* They are part of a growing gang presence in Pittsfield that for whatever reason flies under the radar, pretty much operating at will without fear of the law. The odd retreat of the police chief, the mayor, and the D.A. evidence that assertion.

* More ominously, the man who was shot dead on July 4 was “the wrong guy.” If this was an intended hit that plugged the wrong man, you have to believe, as the street does, that another hit is on the way.

Epic Mayoral Failure Trickles Down

This is regrettable: The mayor keeps citizens in the dark when in all likelihood a murderer is on the loose with promises of more to come. Consider that in the 16 days since five people were shot, one fatally, and credible stories about impending new violence, the mayor hides under his desk. His cowardice apparently has affected acting police chief Mike Wynn and district attorney David Capeless. Not one of these three men has made themselves available to the public in the form of a press conference. The mayor directs calls to the police. The police direct calls to the D.A. The D.A. says the investigation is ongoing and will not comment.

In Pittsfield, when the going gets tough, there are no tough leaders to get going.

Remember this when you head to the polls in September to make your mark for mayor.

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The Price Remains Cheap

In 1969 on this date, NASA released Stanley Kubrick‘s filmed astronaut actors scuffing the surface of a convincing moon set. That “one small step for a man” did not produce a “giant leap for mankind.” More like a stutter step under studio lights.

In 1969, workers at Pittsfield General Electric went on strike. Families had a lean Christmas, but management and workers eventually agreed to a new deal. Good times came back another score of years, but after GE moved out — with Sheaffer Eaton, Sprague Electric, Beloit Jones, the woolen and paper mills, and others — the area lost 25,000 manufacturing jobs.

For the next quarter century, citizens watched in horror as the greasy players of corrupt politics oozed their way into the economic and power void. Representative government was out. The Good Old Boys were in. That first generation GOB has largely aged out and has given way to its successor, The Suits.

This sad fact has produced the deadly combination in Pittsfield of anger and apathy among citizens, incompetence and corruption among local “leaders.” It also created the conditions of present-day Pittsfield, overrun with drugs, gangs, Section 8s, the gimme girls, group homes, and all manner of malfeasance.

Everyone has their price, and in Pittsfield, among politicians, big shots, and the mainstream media, that price comes cheap. No amount of furious bombast will change that or the inevitable financial meltdown the city faces unless there is a radical response to its spending problem.

Pittsfield had one shot at redemption: A huge turnout come election time.

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“The free man believes in destiny and believes that it has a need of him.” — Martin Buber

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE”

LOVE TO ALL.

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