BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, ELECTION DAY, 2019) — As you go to the polls today, THE PLANET wants to share a story about crime in Pittsfield. As an issue, it rivals the budget.

It’s an issue that mayor Linda Tyer avoided during the campaign. By almost all measures, crime in Pittsfield has skyrocketed : murder, shootings, stabbings, beatings, drug trafficking — you name it.

During her 2019 “state of the City” address, Tyer mentioned pickle ball four times. Crime? Not once. The campaign has been the same. On her website, Tyer eschewed the word “crime,” instead referring to “Safer Neighborhoods,” including championing the $500,000 failure, Shot Spotter.

The Pittsfield Police Department’s official website reveals the extent to which chief Mike Wynn and Tyer are either deliberately obfuscating or don’t care. If you click on “News” (recent posts), the most “recent” is from Nov. 23, 2015. When THE PLANET clicked CityStat, a monthly digest of criminal activity, we find no crimes reported after October 2015. PPD Employment Opportunities shows the most “recent” job posted on July 15, 2015. When we tried to access the Community Crime Map, our server couldn’t find “the targeted resource” because the [site] “is not willing to disclose that one exists.” Re-read that.

Ask yourself, is that responsible action from the Administration? Is that open? Honest? Is that tolerable to you, the voter?

Here’s what Mazzeo says on her campaign site:

CRIME

If we do not control crime, the other three pillars [the local economy, schools, city services]will fall.

What solutions will I offer? On the day I enter office I will sit down with Chief Wynn to do what I cannot as a City Councilor. I will work directly with the Chief to establish true hot spot policing. Additionally, I will partner with all agencies necessary to help stop crime.

As opposed to the current administration’s claim of hiring more police, it’s about better using our existing resources. In Pittsfield, we will establish a patrol allocation plan where daily data can provide guidance to officers as to where they should be deployed. The real impact comes from deploying large number of police to areas of the city where crime is prevalent. Four years ago, then-candidate Linda Tyer incessantly berated the previous administration for ‘’their failure to keep us safe.” Four years later, crime rates have only increased. It leaves one to wonder, who is now to blame? I understand that the mayor is personally close to both Chief Wynn, as well as DA Andrea Harrington, but that closeness is causing the city to flail. We are failing because our leadership refuses to take definitive action. We deserve better.

So what will happen today. THE PLANET PREDICTS:

Turnout: 19,251

PLANET Endorses:

• For Mayor, Mazzeo
• At-large, bullet vote for Alex Blumin;
• Ward 2, Kevin Morandi (unopposed);
• Ward 4, Chris Connell;
• Ward 5, Patrick Kavey.

As always, THE PLANET welcomes your thoughts.

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“Moral indignation is almost invariably the sign of a bad conscience” — H. L. Mencken.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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