BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY AUG. 9, 2016) — The agenda for tonight’s meeting of the Pittsfield City Council exemplifies the preference of Official Pittsfield to keep its citizens in the dark. We can’t get into all of the crawling dishonesties, but three examples should suffice.

Point 1 — Legality?

We aren’t sure of the legality of the agenda and therefore the meeting. The agenda did not appear to be posted on the city’s home page in a timely fashion. Posting on the council’s page is fine, and THE PLANET did find it there, but to the best of our knowledge that cannot satisfy the legal requirements by itself. The agenda must be on the home page. It didn’t appear to be. If that is the case, the blame falls on council president Peter Marchetti. He has enough political experience — that third-rate quality incumbent and retread candidates magnify during every campaign — to know better. The city has broken the Open Meeting Law a bunch of times. This time it may to hit someone personally in the wallet. Fortunately, Marchetti’s a banker. He knows all about money.

Point 2 — Give us English, Not Gobbledygook

The four-page agenda has about 400 pages of supporting documents, enough to entomb The Cardiff Giant. Agenda item 11 is a request from mayor Linda Tyer for the council “to approve a Tax Agreement for personal property with Syncarpha Hancock III, LLC.” This mysterious sentence appears to be a tax break. Syncarpha Hancock III, a developer from Delaware, wants to build a “wholesale” solar generating plant at 42 Central Berkshire Boulevard on land owned by Hancock Shaker Village.

The agreement “explains” how the company will pay its property taxes. THE PLANET can hear you know with the Dragnet “dum-de-DUM-dum.”

We looked for an honest lawyer or a four-year-old child to decipher the legalese. Finding neither, we waded into the wordy swamp ourselves. Best we can tell, the city has granted a fixed tax rate that shall remain the same even when taxes go up. Taxpayers lose money. THE PLANET then read this ominous line: ” … the Developer [Syncarpha] will not be assessed for any statutory personal property taxes to which the Project would otherwise have been subject under G.L. c. 59 … .” Looks like Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski lost more money.

You’d never know all this by looking at the agenda. Would it spoil some vast, eternal plan for Marchetti to add some plain, English sentences — a couple should suffice — spelling out exactly what this “agreement” means for citizens and taxpayers should the council approve? Ah, but that would mean informing citizens, eh Pete?

This appears to be another deal to shortchange the public treasury at the hands of The Connected.  Our Right Honorable Good Friends dare not reject this.

Point 3 — To Transparency, the Invisible Ghost in the Gauzy Veil

In official Pittsfield, “transparency”means “to obscure by hiding.” Thus, for agenda items that will either spend or lose money for taxpayers, Marchetti, like all “good” council presidents, eschews obfuscation (we couldn’t resist!). Agenda item 9 asks the council to OK a new lease for the company that rents one of the buildings at the airport’s Westview Business Park. The company is changing from a partnership (LAS Realty) to a limited liability corporation (6 Westview LLC).  There are 80 pages in the packet. Here’s what THE PLANET gleans, in English:

The brothers Lior, Amir, and Shye Evan, who operate Pittsfield News out of the Westwood facility, were beneficiaries of the initial 40-year lease signed in 1987 by then-mayor Charlie “We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Mall” Smith and “Tell ‘Em Angelo Sent You” Stracuzzi, late of Biddeford, Maine. That deal gave the brothers 40 years at an annual rent of $1 a year. That’s not a typo: 40 years for $40 dollars. As you can see, Charlie and Angelo drove a hard bargain. Nothing was in it for them, we’re sure.

That original deal, if not redone, expires at the end of next year. If the council does nothing, at expiration, all bets are off. The brothers have the right to request a 40-year extension but this time it would be on terms more favorable to the city treasury — your money. The city can require fair-market rental, but only if the council rejects this deal. What would fair-market rental be? $2,000, $3,000, $5,000 a month? More? We don’t know. It would appear certain, however, that the airport commission, council, and mayor have a once-in-40-year opportunity to do right by citizens.

You know, of course, the council will approve this deal. This likely means another 40 years, to 2057, for another 40 bucks. Just tell ’em Angelo spent you.

And now you see why Pittsfield council presidents don’t tell the truth when composing agendas. Folks, you have to fend for yourself or continue to get eaten alive.

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“He’s a good teapot but a lousy pourer.” — Sir Tiberius Fruitjuice

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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