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IN LENIHAN v. CITY OF PITTSFIELD, HRC FANS AND FAILS AGAIN

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By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, SEPT. 1, 2015) — In the aftermath of THE PLANET’s coverage of Lenihan v. City of Pittsfield, a four-part series that ran last week, a question was tossed around, which, from various reports, generated quite a discussion.

QUESTION: One of the five charges Sgt. Mark Lenihan brought up against the city, the mayor, the police chief, and a captain related to a violation of his civil rights. So where was the Human Right Commission?

The nine members, all mayoral appointees, have collectively been a non-factor not only on this case but on practically everything that has crossed its transom.

Part of the problem with this board is its enabling legislation. The law under which the HRC was created, Ord. No. 666 (sign of a beast, for sure), requires the commission to “meet as frequently and at such times and places, within the city, as it may deem necessary for the proper exercise of its powers and discharge of its duties, but not less frequently than once in three months.”

Who writes these laws? Captain Vague and The Nebulons? With that type of undefined leeway and with its political composition, the HRC has been about as effective as an ashtray on a speeding motorcycle.

HRC Has Power to ‘Initiate’ Probes, So Why Doesn’t It?

As best as THE PLANET can determine, Lenihan never sought remedy through the HRC, which speaks for itself. Of course, if the HRC had any mettle, it would “initiate its own investigation” of the serious charges Lenihan has leveled at the mayor and the police department. It has the power to do so. Instead, the commission is underwhelmed by bureaucrats, do-gooders, incompetents, “I-want-my-name-on-the-letterhead” types, and suck-ups courting favor. Members, come on down: Chairwoman Cecilia Rock, Pummelin’ Pam Malumphy, Robert Sykes, Mark Miller, Mark Kennedy, Louis Perez, Maria Elisa Fuller, Maria Rapetti Cawse (Pittsfield Public School designee), and Churchill “I’m Only Sleeping” Cotton (city council designee).

THE PLANET calls upon the HRC: Prove us wrong. Prove that you care about the city of Pittsfield. Prove that you take your mission seriously, “to protect each individual in the enjoyment of his/her civil rights.” Prove that you have a backbone. Prove that even though you have been appointed by Mayor Lockdown, and even though Mayor Lockdown is personally accused in the lawsuit of violating Mark Lenihan’s civil rights, that you can act  for the greater good.

Or is THE PLANET correct in its characterization of you?

Sing Along with Snitch

Did the mayor order the HRC chair, through his spy on the commission, not to touch Lenihan’s claims? Are our sources correct? Is the mayor’s HRC snitch Pummelin’ Pam? We can’t ask the mayor or Pummelin’ because they don’t respond to us. For the record, neither the mayor, police chief Mike Wynn, nor Capt. David Granger responded to THE PLANET‘s request for information on Lenihan’s actions. Yesterday, THS principal John Vosburgh, PHS principal Matt Bishop, and Pittsfield School Department athletic director Jim Abel ignored our request for comment.

“Orange Alert! Orange Alert!”

“Lockdown! Lockdown!”

arrroooooooooooooga … arrroooooooooooga

“Dive! Dive!”

Cutler Your Losses and Run

The HRC was doomed from the start. An over-ambitious, green Josh Cutler, who is also a school committee member, sought the chair in May 2014. He didn’t last six months. A couple of hot cases came up right away, and Cutler bailed. Smart boy. He’s young, ambitious, and he doesn’t want to rock the boat with his elders looking. Isn’t it a pity?

Since the commission came into being in May 2014, Len Kates, Susan O’Leary, Alfred Johnson, and Maryann Hyatt have joined Cutler ducking out the nearest exit.

If the HRC refuses THE PLANET’s kind offer to prove itself, it will once again have whiffed on an opportunity to do good in a city definitely turning, full speed down, to the bad.

————————————————————————————————-

“Lay on, Macduff, / And damned be him that first cries, “Hold, enough!”William Shakespeare, Macbeth’s final words, Act V, scene viii, lines 38-9, Macbeth, (1606).

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

The views expressed in any comment section are not those of PLANET VALENTI or endorsed in any way by PLANET VALENTI; this website reserves the right to remove any comment which violates its Rules of Conduct, and it is not liable for the consequences of any posted comment as provided in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and PLANET VALENTI’s terms of service.

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Quentin
Quentin
8 years ago

It was a question I had too, DV. HRC? Nice job as usual with this article!

Pat
Pat
8 years ago

Thanks for naming the people on this HRC. These people should be outed when they don’t do the job for which they were chosen. With so many PPS people on this commission it may be a matter of “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”. This isn’t a healthy attitude for a commission that is supposed to be looking out for the rights of others. People on this commission should be impartial.

Thomas More
Thomas More
Reply to  Pat
8 years ago

There is only one PPS person on the commission.

Pat
Pat
Reply to  Thomas More
8 years ago

I stand corrected, however, as appointees of the mayor I would think that none of these HRC members would go against him if he was involved in a human rights violation. I don’t think the mayor should appoint the HRC members. Maybe the city council should have this job instead.

Guess what
Guess what
Reply to  Pat
8 years ago

This commission was re-created when the complaint was filed against the mayor by Wade. No city employee in their right mind would file a complaint with this board knowing that these people are appointed by the mayor. You would be wasting your time. Go straight to MCAD (Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination).
And forget about the councilors.

May Hemm
May Hemm
8 years ago

Bathrooms at the Common? Definetely a piece for the Planet to film.

Thomas More
Thomas More
8 years ago

It’s understandable why PHS principal Matt Seeley didn’t respond because the principal at PHS is Matthew Bishop.

Thomas More
Thomas More
Reply to  danvalenti
8 years ago

I’ll accept. My days at the Meek School are finally paying off. I’ve already lined up a couple of advertisers to help pay our way .I won’t reveal now but one is located at 100 North St. and the other is a Newell St. emporium.

dusty downer
dusty downer
8 years ago

Did the mayor appoint or control appointments to the HRC? If so I am sure they were told to keep their mouths zipped much like all city employees who value their jobs.

The Shadow
The Shadow
8 years ago

Pam Malumphy should be the 1st ousted. When she was a city councilor, she seem to have a hidden engender and an axe to grind.
Also she’s was a cry baby with no backbone while on the council. Every time you turned on the council meeting on local TV when she was a council women, she was either grinding her axe, or weepy eyed.

Ron Kitterman
Ron Kitterman
8 years ago

Thomas Jefferson “Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.” – One of the cool things about Pittsfield is every four years you can ask the tough questions, I can’t wait till they ask the mayor who promised us the most transparent administration, what his favorite color is ?

Pat
Pat
Reply to  Ron Kitterman
8 years ago

Will Bill Sturgeon (I think he will be the moderator for a debate of the mayoral candidates) ask tough questions or will questions like, “What is your favorite tree?” be the norm of the type of questions asked? People on this site have mentioned so many great questions that should be asked, but this being Pittsfield we may get a very tame debate.

acheshirecat
acheshirecat
Reply to  Pat
8 years ago

Mr Sturgeon will ask good questions I am sure. Its the answers that won’t be followed up on. Here is a link to a ward one debate he moderated at BBB in 2013 between Tully and Yon.
http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/election2010?bid=2291

Here is a funny quote from the article from now counselor Tully.
“Tully said if elected another focus would be stabilizing tax bills. She said the city should look at consolidating city-owned buildings and getting a better handle on the school budget.”

SOL
SOL
Reply to  acheshirecat
8 years ago

Tax bills are stabilized – they go up steadily every year. And there is a better handle on the school budget – they’ve handled the process of increasing it sky high every year too.

acheshirecat
acheshirecat
Reply to  SOL
8 years ago

Don’t forget $100,000 move to 100 North st . She started kissing Don Bianchi’s ring as soon as she took oath of office. Talk about flip flopping.

Nota
Nota
8 years ago

H R C- Hillary Rodham Clinton….No Thanks.

MrG8811
MrG8811
8 years ago

Yeah…off topic,,,but Tammy Ives was made to look like a raving loon in the eagle today; truly nuts. She then wrote in directing readers ti iBerkshires to read her side…and it’s truly no better! Really a convoluted story that seems to involve vindictive people on both sides who refuse to talk out problems and instead resort to immediate, frivolous litigation. I’m talking about the city and its inspectors and all the neighbors as well as the Ives. Wow, what a mess!

maxwell edison
maxwell edison
Reply to  MrG8811
8 years ago

It explains a lot.

Shakes His Head
Shakes His Head
8 years ago

I hardly think that the allegations regarding the disgruntled PPD employee, the one that does not respect chain of command, regard his race, gender, or sexual identity, therefore aren’t really a subject of ‘civil rights’. Let the court decide it.

Also, the name calling is getting ridiculous on here. I understand the end game is to generate serious and constructive debate. I’d rather read one blog post a week rather one a day filled up with new childish slanders for the different public officials. This discourse is falling beneath sophomoric satire and is mean spirited and insults individual dignity.

Maybe the Planet should be willing to discuss that in front of the HRC.

spagirl
spagirl
Reply to  Shakes His Head
8 years ago

Shakes his head

Casting Stones.

Critical thinkers and watch dogs are not childish slanders. Find a new hobby.

Shakes His Head
Shakes His Head
Reply to  Shakes His Head
8 years ago

Out of curiosity I read the complaint filed and I think that it is a poor effort and really just a petty distraction to resolving problems in the City of Pittsfield. I am curious why a separate action was not filed in state court, but I am not a lawyer, so I’ll just assume that the US district court can actually act on violations of state law. Seems to me that for a few hundred bucks of a filing fee, the City now has to defend another Federal civil case and it is really more a headache than anything else.
Next time my boss punishes me for doing something they don’t like. I’ll just claim that they violated my civil rights.

Tammy Ives
Tammy Ives
8 years ago

your right it is a mess. I did for 12 years try to talk about it and no one will listen except for the first round of health department officials. We were cleared and that is what I am going with. What about all of the other scrappers out there. The only difference is they have decent neighbors and I have a bunch of nosy rejects. Plus I have a fence and yes it is legal and it was cleared about 12 years ago.

As far as Tully’s comments it seems like she is trying to dodge a debate .Either way she knows what the truth is. I am glad this came out because now people will know the reason behind the the stupid comments from the likes of sal and larry.
I have this mess but that is nothing compared to the two years of disappointment ward 1 has suffered.

Southeast
Southeast
Reply to  Tammy Ives
8 years ago

I think the problem at your house starts with a burned out garage. it’s easy to ignore what can be covered up, hidden, or put away (as I wrote that I think of how that applies to lots of stuff in life).

Generally speaking, if you were adequately insured, there is enough money to take a garage down. there may be enough to set a pre-fab unit on the slab as well – and if you aren’t well insured enough, then a real question is if that is an excuse. the fire occurred long enough ago that however much money you spent fighting, if you had saved it and combined it with the insurance money, there would be some progress.

we all hate building inspectors – and in many of the small towns around here, the inspectors are far tougher than in Pittsfield. at some point the burned out shell is a hazard that needs mitigation – and if the insurance is inadequate, that is part of the price of homeownership.

I don’t live near you, but it does seem that some of these wounds are self inflicted. it takes many parties to make an argument – and there are usually at least three sides to every story. but it seems like if you wanted to show your neighbors you wanted harmony, a good start would be to re-paint the fence one color, finding a properly zoned place to store your scrap – even overnight, and getting a dumpster in there to take down the burned out garage – after you get a demo permit and a dumpster permit. even if you dislike the laws, not following them seems like you are not willing to – and hurts your own argument that you are trying.

dusty downer
dusty downer
Reply to  Tammy Ives
8 years ago

Oddly enough none of this was front page news until Mrs Ives decided to run against the mayosr favorite councilor Lisa Tully. And then someone called their friends at the Eagle and presto…front page coverage.

but I am sure this had nothing to do with any dirty election tricks

Gene
Gene
Reply to  dusty downer
8 years ago

That’s a very fair observation.

Pat
Pat
Reply to  Tammy Ives
8 years ago

Tammy you still have my vote and my husband’s vote. Lisa needs to go. She is just not doing a good job. Her remark about stabilizing taxes shows just how far she is from her original intention. She has done nothing but raise taxes by voting for increasing the school budget each year and for the new Taconic. She went door to door to everybody’s house in Ward 1 and made lots of promises and then did the complete opposite of what she said she would do once she became councilor.

PC 31
PC 31
Reply to  Pat
8 years ago

So you want to go from bad to worse? This is no joke, Pat. A councilor is frequently put in the position of mediating neighborhood conflicts. Tammy can’t even stay out of trouble in her own neighborhood. A councilor takes an oath of office, and we expect them to comply with a lot of laws. Tammy openly admits to not complying with a lot of laws. They don’t apply to her. She is a megalomaniac just like the mayoral candidate she supports.

dusty downer
dusty downer
Reply to  PC 31
8 years ago

How many of these councilors now in office do you feel lived up to their oath of office? How many do you think even had the intention of doing so? How many in the last 15 years?

PC 31
PC 31
Reply to  dusty downer
8 years ago

I think a lot of them have served honorably even if i disagreed with their politics. Some of them went bad after getting in office but at least we can say they fooled us. Since we now know that Tammy is not a reasonable person Tully becomes the only choice in our ward.

Pat
Pat
Reply to  PC 31
8 years ago

You are saying that Tammy is not capable of being councilor and I am saying that Lisa is also not capable of being councilor. Where does this leave Ward 1 and the city? I’m willing to take a chance on Tammy because to me she is unknown unlike Lisa who I have seen for myself that she doesn’t do what she promised to do.

Discreet Cat
Discreet Cat
8 years ago

Tully,Tyer, Tes, is just a mess, as Tammy’s Garage.

Two Cents
Two Cents
Reply to  Discreet Cat
8 years ago

Watch out..Officer Obie will track you down!

Dilly Dally
Dilly Dally
8 years ago

Jake is taking charge!

Ron Kitterman
Ron Kitterman
8 years ago

Ward 1 would be a great opportunity to stage a write in campaign in the preliminary, knock out Tammy and use acheshirecat’s link http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/election2010?bid=2291 and come up with some common sense solutions for the ward and you’d win for sure.

Tammy Ives
Tammy Ives
8 years ago

Ron people had a chance to run and no one did. Why is that? Seems like this whole city lacks commonsense.. Why didn’t you run for something. Like me or not at least I am running unlike others who just complain.

Dilly Dally
Dilly Dally
8 years ago

Way to go Tammy!

Southeast
Southeast
8 years ago

Tammy, I wholeheartedly agree with you. No one ran for that ward except Tully – and you are challenging her.

I think you would be wise to make your property look better – and after driving by today and seeing the garage, it certainly looks repairable – it seems like you could remove yourself as the issue if the place looked like you cared.

you may have some good ideas, but being a good neighbor goes a long way towards showing you will be a good counselor.

Ron Kitterman
Ron Kitterman
8 years ago

@ Tammy respectfully I would disagree you according to the Secretary of State : How to Run for Office as a
Write-in or Sticker Candidate
A person can seek nomination and election without filing nomination papers to have their name printed as a candidate on the ballot by conducting a write-in or sticker campaign. All ballots must have an area designated as a write-in space. This space allows a voter to physically write in the name of a person other than those names already printed on the ballot and thereby obtain a vote. A “sticker campaign” is when a candidate provides voters with stickers containing the candidate’s name as registered to affix on the ballot in the area for write-ins. A voter need not use the sticker to have such vote counted for the sticker candidate. He or she can physically write in the name of that candidate.
The first step in running for office as a write-in or sticker candidate is checking with local election officials about any particular technicalities involved, such as enrollment or residency requirements. Also, while not required, our Office strongly recommends notifying your local election officials of your intention to run as a write-in or sticker candidate. When notified, the local election officials can inform precinct officials to carefully count all write-ins or stickers.
Informing the public of your candidacy will be your primary activity. To vote for a write-in or sticker candidate, voters are being asked to extend themselves beyond customary voting practices of simply filling in an oval, connecting an arrow or marking an ‘X’ next to a name on the ballot. Accordingly, you have to inform voters of the procedures to follow so that their votes are valid and counted.

Ron Kitterman
Ron Kitterman
8 years ago

As someone who has sought and held political office for many years, there are numerous ways you can make a contribution. Volunteer your time at a homeless shelter, feed the hungry, teach people how to read, sit with a dying or sick neighbor or friend, visit someone you know at the hospital or repaint your fence, cover up the FU and reconcile with your neighbors and rebuild their trust. Offer to help candidates that are running or run for political office that hold your values and principals. Most of them are doing it for good of the community. It’s not about liking you or not it’s about service, and I’ve been there and done that before.

Gene
Gene
Reply to  Ron Kitterman
8 years ago

You certainly have, Ron, and you were a good one.

Paul
Paul
8 years ago

The city does pick and choose when to enforce certain rules. I had a neighbor who had a junk car with no plates sitting in the driveway for three and a half years. In addition the pile of junk behind the house was beyond explanation and was complete with rats. The city never did anything.

dusty downer
dusty downer
Reply to  Paul
8 years ago

My wife had one several years ago that the plates were off one week before it had a ticket on it. We were flabbergasted that they could have even known about it. And it was a nice looking car.

Dilly Dally
Dilly Dally
8 years ago

Tammy, all you have to do is tell people the truth. The GaRaJ should be a City problem as it could be a Hazardous Safety issue. Has it been Condemned? maybe the Health Department can get things rolling for you, they do have some clout with abandoned property initiatives, but you just can’t let it linger while you run a campaign, sends the wrong message. You have a pretty good opportunity to win an election. take care of Business First!

ShirleyKnutz
ShirleyKnutz
8 years ago

Tammy…you should have a fundraiser at your garage and everyone could help fix it up!!! Become a can do candidate and build grassroots support…you may even get some free publicity. Question for all candidates…will you accept free gifts, even if the ethics committee says it’s ok? If in office, have you ever received gifts worth over $50?

Dilly Dally
Dilly Dally
8 years ago

Yu mean a Barnraising Nutz? Good idea, who do you think will show up in that already alienated neighborhood? Other than Mr. Rogers?

Dilly Dally
Dilly Dally
8 years ago

F U could stand for Fed Up?