BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

First of Two Parts

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2016) — With the great grand opening of the Berkshire Carousel over the holiday weekend, with even the weather pulling an A+, the city got to see the difference one person with a positive vision can make. Jim Shulman had a dream of doing something for citizens that would be whimsical, fun, and combine craftsmanship with civic responsibility, the latter of which included funding this venture privately.

JIM SHULMAN, in the Stetson, rides again! (PHOTO: Facebook)

Rather than hit up the public till, which is the Standard Operating Procedure of fore flushers coming to Pittsfield with the title “developer,” The Shulmans dipped deep into their nest egg to give this spectacular attraction to the city, ironically, on the spot where a new stadium was once proposed. You remember that debacle.

There was no question the city was ripe for a new ballpark, one that would have attracted Single A and even Double A ball. In 1997, Pittsfield commissioned a study on where best to put a ballpark. About 10 locations were cited, including one of the best options: next door to Wahconah Park. The study did not recommend the parcel at Center and West streets, where the carousel spins. Nonetheless, by 2000, The Suits had commandeered the project. That was the beginning of the end. All of a sudden, this worthy venture turned into a political grab under a mechanism for dictatorial control called the Civic Authority — a municipal board with sweeping powers, with the majority of seats mayoral appointees. No recipe for disaster there.

For once, the citizens said no. Despite desperate odds, We The People forced a referendum and won.  The Suits never intended to build a stadium. Instead, playing the most cynical brand of politics, they used the stadium as a Trojan Horse. The trick didn’t work. It was the most recent and perhaps final time citizens asserted themselves, wielding power they taken from its unlawful owners.

One might argue the city is in no better shape now, these 17 years later. The FY2000 budget totaled $86,701,771. It has more than doubled since, despite a falling population, a shrinking tax base, and a reduction in quality of life. One reality has become apparent over those 17 years: The current policy regardless of which political machine obtains office is to steal all the public money they can, because they know the end is near.

With austerity will come no more 18% pay raises, no more make-work jobs at exorbitant salaries, no more “favors” for one’s chums and buds. Until the gravy train rusts to a halt, however, you can bet on more outlandish municipal budgets that will continue with unwarranted pay and benefit hikes. The record budget just proposed and approved for FY17 is not a sign of The Suits’ belief in the future of Pittsfield but a confirmation of their intention to grab all they can before the death watch begins.

All of which, like a carousel and Finnegan’s Wake, brings us back to the beginning. Jim Shulman stepped up to the plate for the city he loves. The effort has received mounds of praise and also some criticism in a ratio THE PLANET would estimate as 9-to-1. Here on THE PLANET, while most of our correspondents thanked the Shulmans, a few went the other way. It prompted Jim to contact THE PLANET to “set the record straight.”

THE PLANET will present Jim’s response in tomorrow’s column. Meanwhile, downtown Pittsfield has a gem. It’s not a game changer but a symbol of hope, an exemplar of what citizens can do if they bypass political corruption and take positive action.

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“The best thing about war is that it’s a three-letter word and fits great in headlines.” — Sir Tiberius Fruitjuice.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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