BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JAN. 31, 2022) — On this last day of January, allow us some housekeeping as we clean out the garage of a few bit-sized items:

• GENDER-EQUAL PLOWING — We kid you not. With this weekend’s snow, Boston plow jockeys are boiling. Seems that new mayor Michelle Wu has installed a new system of plowing called. Her new chief of staff, Tiffany Wu, said the new DPW plan would be “Equity Plowing.” We kid you not. “It’s about snow plowing, and the concept can be sexist. And the answer is ‘yes’ wholeheartedly: [a] gender-equal plowing strategy.” Which is what, exactly?

• Chu explains: “Clear pedestrian cycle lanes first, especially near schools and day-care centers, and then, later on, major streets.” Why? Because, Chu explains, drivers on main roads are mainly white men. Some topics defy comment. Their sheer idiocy speaks for itself. Probably be just a matter of time before Gender-Equity Plowing comes to Pittsfield. Bike lanes first, the rest of the city later. Mayor Wu’s phone melted in her hands with hot calls from irate residents.

• PLOWGATE — In Pittsfield, the snow jockeys had the time of their lives, fighting bump-outs, rotaries, traffic comes and barrels left out in the street, parked cars, obstacles placed in the road because of bike lanes. THE PLANET heard from one private contractor: “I’m scratching my head over the city’s plan for the roads. There seems to be little coordination. I do my best. I even try to raise the plow if I’m passing someone’s driveway, but I know of a couple [contractors] that are using salt from the city to do private work.”

• My Plow Guy said the city could easily find out who was cheating and who’s not, but there’s no interest, apparently, in accountability. “I just do my routes the best I can.” Idle thought. Was mayor Tyer out with the crews supervising? Fortunately, The Berkshires got off lightly, with, what three to four inches of snow?

• RICKY’S RUMUS REDUX — THE PLANET wonders: If the city’s inefficient snow-removal plan just and extension of the wildly popular Ricky’s Rumpus, Pittsfield’s version of “Squid Games” that debuted at the wonderful, new Tyler Street/Woodlawn rotary? We invite Ricardo Morales to comment.

• WIN FOR VOTING SECURITY — News item, from MSN: “A Pennsylvania court on Friday struck down Act 77, the law that established no-excuse mail voting in Pennsylvania, saying it violated the state Constitution. The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court said the state’s constitution requires votes to be cast in-person unless voters meet certain requirements. The ruling will likely be appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which leans Democratic.”COMMENT

• YOU CAN’T MAKE IT UP, PT. 2 — D.A. birthday post, share with THE PLANET by one of the county’s top legal minds, with the comment: You can’t make this sort of shameless self-promotion up: Andrea Harrington posted: “I share my birthday with the day Auschwitz was liberated. We can never forget the horror of the Holocaust and that regular people allowed it to happen. This is a day to recommit to standing against hate and to be vigilant demanding accountability for anti Semitism.” Tone deaf and clueless in 1,0001 ways.

• MMA? MAMA MIA– Congratulation to mayor Linda Tyer on her ascendancy to head of the Massachusetts Mayors Association. We think. At one time, the MMA may have served a tangible purpose. Those days are long gone. Today, the MMA is largely a group of 47 hizzoners who gather every full moon when the wolfbane is in bloom, keep their eyes peeled for Lawrence Talbot, and pat themselves on the back for the great job they’re doing. Tyer says she’s going to be talking up Pittsfield. Wonder what parts she will leave out? From what we hear, the city is still “vibrant and dynamic.”

THE PLANET, as always, welcomes your views on these topics and others of your choosing. Try to CONTRIBUTE to the discussion, eh?

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LOVE TO ALL.

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