WHILE PITTSFIELD BURNS, COUNCILORS NERO IN ON MEANINGLESS RULES … or … WHAT ONE BIG BUREAUCRATIC CICRLE JERK LOOKS LIKE
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, FEB. 25, 2016) — The editorial “he” and other masculine pronouns have the Pittsfield City Council in a tither. Nice to see them worrying about important things rather than trivialities such as the ruinous amounts of money annually wasted by a top-heavy, underperforming Pittsfield School Department. Yes, Virginia, this is your father’s city council— and mother’s as well.
Rather than put its collective firepower to work on how to drive educational quality while lowering cost our Right Honorable Good Friends wasted a full day of man-hours … er, “person” hours — wringing the arthritis in the joints of its rules. Think about it. Your “representatives” spent a collective work day plus two hours on issues of no concern to Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski. This “inside baseball” is so “inside” that it has the august body of 11 outside of relevance with respect to its constituency. What a shame.
Politically Correct … But of Course
At the Ordinance and Rules Subcommittee earlier this month, council president Peter Marchetti said gender references in the council rules are not politically correct. Granted, if one is starting from scratch with a document, it’s best to use gender-neutral language when and where appropriate. With council rules, however — written in a different, earlier, and in many ways saner era — leave the “he” and “him” alone.
Melissa Mazzeo chairs O&R, with Peter White, Nick Caccamo, John Krol, and Donna Rodd Rivers as members.
Pittsfield Gazette publisher Jonathan Levine in an editorial called the “dreary meeting” an exercise in “total … insider politics.” Levine then pointed out the biggest problem with this council circle jerk: “At a meeting that should be about transparency, the discussion involved a vague agenda that no one outside the room had seen. Rather than publicly present a list of topics and recommendations, council President Peter Marchetti ensured no one in the public could follow what was happening.”
Ah, that word again, “transparency.” New council, same secretiveness. Once more, when the city’s board of co-governors had the opportunity to open the process to the public, it did the opposite. Beaten, bedraggled citizens and taxpayers heard from the CC loud and clear, “Stay out of our business. You are only good when we need your vote and when you pay taxes. Otherwise, shut up.”
How bad did this 24 hours get? A month into the new term, the pissing match over how the council elects a vice president came up again. THE PLANET to councilors: There are far more serious issues that need to be addressed (finances, crime, drugs, gangs, over-taxation, waste, corruption, and so on). A simmering, boiling citizenry doesn’t care about your childish December squabble over the Veep position. Who cares about i council VP, much less how this person gets “elevated” to a heartbeat away? Ladies and gentlemen, you are officials in Podunk, Massachusetts, a place Boston doesn’t even know exists.
THE PLANET won’t honor the cat fight over the vice presidency with an explanation. Suffice it to say that Mazzeo, the previous council president, and current prez Marchetti had at it. According to Levine’s report, Ward 3 councilor Nick Caccamo “did not want to revisit the issue.” What? Was there a ray of sense showing?
Council Ignores Citizens, Wastes Time on Nothing
You’ll be pleased to know that councilors shook the earth by advancing these heart stopping proposals:
* O&R wants council “subcommittees” to be called “standing committees.”
* O&R wants to look at Demeter vs. Roberts for its rules of order.
Big stuff. Meanwhile, The Kapanskis (not to be confused with The Kardashians) worry about the latest round of drunken spending (mostly for the PSD) and the resultant increases in taxes they can’t afford. The kicker for all this nonsense is that none of this lengthy deliberation mattered. It was all non-binding hot air. They sent a pile of paper to attorney Rich Dohoney with the instruction to draft this junk into changes O&R can “debate” again at its March 7 meeting. THE PLANET wonders if Dohoney will put in a provision that requires the council VP to be chosen by Russian Roulette, Soviet style: You put five bullets into the 6-hole chamber, spin the dial, and pull the trigger.
THE PLANET advocates such a measure.
That’s one We The People would want to marry.
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“Bureaucracy — the giant power wielded by pygmies.” — Honore de Balzac
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
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Pittsfield politics does the same thing year in and year out. It raises its annual budget by about 5% in the name of the children. Pittsfield politics is totally corrupt! It is ran by the Good Old Boys club of political hacks. If you are not on the inside, you are an outsider. There is no in between.
Pittsfield politics biggest problem is its unsustainable financial situation. Pittsfield politics is reaching it property tax levy ceiling under Prop. 2.5. Its ability to tax will be greatly diminished. Its bond rating will drop. Pittsfield politics has nearly $500 million in debts. These debts will never be paid off in our lifetime.
Now is the time for the lovely Linda Tyer to show her leadership as Pittsfield politics’ new Mayor! What is her plan to solve the important issue facing Pittsfield?
– Jonathan Melle
Off topic, but related in a roundabout way. The BB today, in describing the proposed cut of an art teacher in the Berkshire Hills school district stated that the budget was rising by 3%. They then said that individual assessments were going up by 6.66% on average (this one is rich in comedic material) and went on to list the increases for each of the member towns.
I have always wondered: why when a municipal budget rises 2-3-4-17% do my taxes increase at a rate twice that? By the way, my house has been consistently assessed on the “average” side, so when they say a typical homeowner will se an X dollar increase – again, I see more.
Since we KNOW Pittsfield will come in with an increase, and I am certain mine will be double that – I thought someone smarter than me could answer how budget math translates to tax bill math?
And on topic: MM is a sore loser, so sore that I hope folks see this in two years and finally throw her out.
Ah but the tax increase should be much smaller given all the money the mayor is seeing in winter related costs. Huge heating cost savings. Huge! Huge savings in salt and sand and plowing. Huge savings in the cost of gasoline for the many city vehicles. We may even see a tax decrease if the books are kept right.
There will never be a tax decrease in a democrat run city. Never.
Do you think there would be a decrease in a republican run city. I think not
give it a try
Don’t count on it.
It’s my understanding that the snow and ice line item can not be decreased from one year to the next. It must be at least what the previous budget was. I believe it is state law.
Southeast
I agree with you about MM. She has a real attitude. My surprise is that she was actually voted back. She does not fit in with the current majority, and it shows. She doesn’t like getting what she gave out!!
It is usually good to have someone on the other side of an issue. Someone needs to ask questions and provoke discussion instead of everything being rubber stamped. Pittsfield taxpayers have been rubber stamped into the poorhouse.
asking questions is good. beating an issue to death, especially when it is a non-issue is ridiculous!! Also, asking questions, then voting with the group – why even pretend?
Right Southeast… to your point.
She got in because she was running in the side line with Bianchi. His votes, her gain. Lets see who’s side line will she be in come next election.
Property taxes pay only half the total budget, so if that obscene amount increases by a certain percent it means the percent increase for property taxes will be up to twice that amount (less the additional contribution from the state, which gradually increases its spending from growing incomes and spending, unlike the city government which smash and grabs from resident victims.
If your tax bill is higher than the quoted “typical” bill the only explanation is your house is assessed higher, $200 for every 11k.
City Councilor, Amuso asked Independent evaluation of city’s budget–OK, good idea…
And then she asked Mayor, Linda Tyer to appoint someone
for this completely “Independent” evaluation.
Gender is a category used to classify nouns, pronouns, and verbs (as masculine, feminine, or neutral).
Human beings have a sex not a gender……the Planet has gone PC in this instance.
How can that be, when THE PLANET is doing the opposite? This isn’t quantum biology, after all … although, in a spooky way of the quanta, it is.
Same old thing on the Council when they are running they make you thing they will fight for you and then when they get in office they do what they think is important and it usually not. They want to do everything they can out of the public eye. People of this city have short memories.
I don’t think they interpret their oath of office literally. They say we elected them to represent us. And I think they think we elected them to interpret their oath of office as they see fit as well. So our expectations may be skewed to the left of reality.
Yes, when they get in they think they are representing themselves. Pittsfield really does have taxation without representation.
Ladies and Gentleman their is opportunity out there. The City is taking apps for any aspiring artist to recieve a couple hundred bucks to paint electrical boxes thought the City.Get the paint brushes out and go for it, a once in a lifetime opportunity. Cuz that’s what we do. That is why we are Palookaville! Dan, didn’tyou have your eye on one of those outlets during a filming of Planet Valenti?
Sounds like a job for some of the aspiring graffiti artists. Might be a good idea to disarm them first though.
On topic, I noticed that Nick Caccamo was the voice of reason in the discussion about the rules. So the question is was he really trying to steer the discussion back to topics that matter or was the discussion too confusing for someone who is generally relegated to the “kids’ table” and he was merely trying to get back to something he understood – like hackey sack and skateboards?
Insurance co pays went up drastically for my insurance, as much as fifty percent.
Then it’s time to up the public sector co pay ante, will save millions. Come on Mayor?
LOw stated at the Airport Study Committee, that wear on a surface such as a Truck to a car is times a thousand? It has to be way more, almost 10 times that theory. LOw looked tired, maybe he needs a vacation.
Too much coversating.
Heading into March the Tyer/Marchetti adiministration has done nothing……….snoooooze
Comment line open? Good! Who owns the First St. bridge sidewalks, and why are they never,ever shovelled, plowed, sanded, de-iced, Bobcatted, or anything even close to providing safe passage for anyone who must walk over that bridge after a storm? It is life threatening to have to traverse that span, especially if you try that old tried and true Pittsfield tradition of walking in the street because the sidewalks are impassable. You may see the oncoming headlights, but no way do they see you until it’s too late.
This looks like a job for Mayor Tyer. The Bat Signal has been sent!