!!JUST IN!! TWO MORE SHOT IN PITTSFIELD!! … SCOOTERS FROM OUTER SPACE … ‘RICKY’S RUMPASS’ GETS EVEN MORE DANGEROUS … COMING THIS MONTH … YOUR TAX $$$ AT WASTE
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
ADD 1, 4/4/22 9:42 p.m.: This just in from the Pittsfield Police Department:
On Monday April 4th 2022 at approximately 4:22 pm members of the Pittsfield Police Department (PPD) responded to an area near the intersection of King Street and Von Nida Avenue for a ShotSpotter activation. Responding officers located evidence and shell casings at the scene.
Investigating officers learned that two gunshot victims drove themselves to Berkshire Medical Center (BMC.) following this incident. Officers who responded to BMC spoke with an adult female victim who had sustained a non-life threatening gunshot wound. The second victim, an adult male, was taken into surgery for what are considered life threatening gunshot wounds.
During the investigation Detectives learned that a known suspect fired several rounds at the victims, which resulted in the injuries to both victims. The subsequent investigation by Pittsfield Police has led to the arrest of an adult male, 27 y/o Laquan Johnson of Pittsfield. This party will be transported to the Pittsfield District Court in the morning for arraignment.
Anyone who wishes to provide information regarding this incident is asked to contact Detective Civello at 448-9700 x522. Information can also be provided anonymously via the Detective Bureau Tip Line at 413-448-9706, or by texting PITTIP and your message to TIP411 (847411).
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(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY APRIL 4, 2022) — Just when you think that the out-of-touch, corrupt insanity that’s torturing the Kapanskis has hit a new low in Pittsfield, we have this.
We have e-scooters, the latest reeking wrinkle of “Ricky’s Rumpus.”
The hits just keep coming from the Tyer Administration.
You’ve heard of Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein? THE PLANET presents Danger City Meets Ricky’s Rumpus.
Let’s hear it for “RICKY’S RUMPUS,” the gift that keeps on giving! What better way to take advantage of pot-holed, drug-infested, confusing, dimly-lit Pittsfield byways than to put people on incredibly dangerous e-scooters that, guaranteed, will generate more broken bones, lawsuits, and even fatalities than a trip down Dewey Avenue at 3 a.m.?
With the help of our good friends at Shouse Law Group, we present verse and chapter why e-scooters will be disastrous for Pittsfield, and not just for the ridiculousness cost. To make it even better, rumor has it that somehow, the city is doing business with developer Rickard Stanley of Beacon Cinema fame. The city will be using scooters supplied by Bird.
Here’s the skinny. The e-scooters:
- will cost $23.40/hour plus $1
- small, solid wheels with no shock absorbing and poor traction
- have weak headlights
- high center-of-gravity with wheels not far enough apart to prevent frequent tipping and loss of control
- come with no training
- anyone with a smart phone and a real or fake I.D. can use one
- prone to vandalism (a favorite is cutting the brake lines
- are not maintained or routinley examined for safety.
What could possible go wrong?
For those who want for full story, THE PLANET and Shouse Law Group are here to give it to you.
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From Shouselaw.com
Poor design features make shared E-scooters dangerous
Some of the problems with shared E-scooters have stemmed from poor vehicle designs. These problems have led to E-scooter lawsuits being filed against Bird and Lime for defective designs.1
1. The hidden fender brake on the back tire
Some, but not all, shared E-scooters come equipped with an emergency brake. It is located on the back wheel. However, to the untrained eye, it looks like a plastic covering for the back tire. Few people know that you can step back onto the plastic covering to push it into the wheel.
When going down a hill, this hidden fender brake can be the only way to slow down.2
People who do not know about this hidden brake will not be able to use it when they need to. They can also accidentally trigger it, potentially causing an accident.
2. Only consumer quality parts are used
Many of the E-scooters on the road are consumer models. These consumer models are not made of materials that are designed to withstand constant use. Instead, they were made for single owners who only rode it a few times a day, at most. Consumer parts, especially those that are made of cheap plastic, deteriorate under the stress of constant use.
3. Weak headlights
E-scooters are not supposed to be on the roads at night. However, they are still often being ridden as the sun sets. The weak headlights that adorn many E-scooter models are not enough for anything but the bright daylight. Riders are left to squint at the road ahead. Other drivers can miss oncoming E-scooters because of the weak headlights.
4. E-scooters have a high center of gravity
E-scooters are meant to be stood on, during the ride. As a result, the center of gravity for E-scooter riders is very far from the ground. The spacing of the wheels is not wide enough to provide stability for a center of gravity that far away. Tipping over or losing control becomes very easy to do.
5. The small and solid wheels
The wheels on shared E-scooters are small – 9 inches or less on most models. They are also solid, rather than filled with air. This design was to reduce maintenance costs. However, the solid wheels do not absorb shock very well. They also do not have as much traction as an air-filled tire. They are also much less able to roll up small steps in the road, like the cracks between sidewalk blocks or up the bump between the sidewalk and the street. This can cause you to lose control and get in an accident.
Things that make riding a shared E-scooter surprisingly difficult
E-scooters are also dangerous because they are not easy to ride safely. E-scooter sharing companies could have made them easier to ride. However, they failed to do this, putting riders and other innocent people in danger.
6. There is no rider training period
Anyone with a smartphone can download an app and unlock and ride an E-scooter. There is no training session or even an instructional video. Riders have to pay for their first ride, too, so they do not want to waste their money getting accustomed to the way it rides.
It should come as no surprise that one study found that one-third of riders who got hurt were in the middle of their very first ride.3
7. Most riders do not know traffic laws for E-scooters
Different states and even different cities have their own rules for where you can ride an E-scooter. Some require you to ride on the sidewalk. Others forbid it.
Few riders know the rules of the road for where they are. E-scooter sharing companies could provide a database of E-scooter rules and regulations, but they do not.
8. At a glance, E-scooter riders look like they are walking
E-scooter riders are in a standing posture. At a glance, drivers and pedestrians rarely realize that they are riding an E-scooter. They then make decisions on the assumption that the E-scooter rider is going far slower than they really are. This can cause confusion and an accident.
Safety precautions E-scooter sharing companies could have taken, but did not
Finally, there are 4 safety precautions that E-scooter sharing companies could have taken to protect riders, but did not.
9. Warnings before triggering an automated speed reduction
In some cities, E-scooter companies have created “geo fences” where their scooters can go faster.4Once the E-scooter crosses one of these fences, a computer program automatically slows the vehicle down.
Riders, however, are given no warning, and cannot see geo fences, which rely on GPS tracking. The sudden decrease in speed can cause a crash.4
10. Vigilance against known vandalism
Some people do not like E-scooters on the streets. A few have resorted to vandalism to make their anger heard. A couple of them have resorted to cutting the brake lines on E-scooters.5
Despite knowing about the danger, though, Lime and Bird do not regularly check their vehicles for damage. This puts riders and innocent bystanders in danger.
11. Notifying riders of damage on an E-scooter
Bird and Lime have developed E-scooters that self-report damage.6 Those reports, however, only go to the sharing company. They do not notify users of any damage or defects on the E-scooter they are about to ride.
In fact, both Bird and Lime expressly disclaim liability for damaged or defective E-scooters in their user agreement.7 They also force users to agree to conduct an extensive pre-ride safety check.8
12. Standard maintenance policies
Both Bird and Lime rely on independent contractors to collect, recharge, and report damage to their E-scooters. These independent contractors do not have a strict policy to follow. They frequently miss clear signs of abuse or damage that endangers later riders.
References:
- See Joshua Emerson Smith, “Injured scooter riders line up to sue Bird and Lime, but ‘user agreements’ could shield companies,” The San Diego Union-Tribune (November 5, 2018). See also Man Killed After Collision on E-Scooter in Koreatown, NBC Los Angeles (March 5, 2022).
- See Madeleine Pauker, “Brake complaints accelerate for e-scooters,” Santa Monica Daily Press (February 27, 2019).
- “Dockless Electric Scooter-Related Injuries Study – Austin, Texas, September-November 2018,” Austin Public Health (April, 2019).
- See, for example, Sonja Sharp, “Did your rented e-scooter suddenly shut down? Blame the invisible geofence,” Los Angeles Times (September 17, 2019) (Los Angeles and Santa Monica), and Lynda Lopez, “Geofencing Will Stop Scooters If Users Leave the Pilot Zone,” Streetsblog Chicago (May 15, 2019) (Chicago).
- See, for example, Ben Tobin, “Several Bird and Lime scooters removed from Louisville due to vandalism,” Louisville Courier Journal (August 19, 2019) (Louisville, Kentucky), and Brian Schlonsky and Zac Self, “Vandals cut brake lines on scooters in Pacific Beach,” ABC News – San Diego (July 8, 2019) (Pacific Beach, California).
- Andrew J. Hawkins, “Bird’s new electric scooter has a better battery and anti-vandalism sensors,” The Verge(August 1, 2019).
- See Bird Rental Agreement § 15 and Lime Rental Agreement § 6.2.
- See Bird Rental Agreement § 3.1 and Lime rental Agreement § 12.1.
- Medical expenses,
- Lost wages and other professional consequences like a reduced earning capacity, and
- Pain and suffering.
Scooter accidents have also become far more common with the advent and proliferation of E-scooter sharing companies like Lime and Bird.
The California personal injury lawyers at the Shouse Law Office strive to represent people who have been hurt in a scooter accident. In this article, they discuss:
- 1. What are scooters and E-scooters?
- 2. E-scooter accidents
- 3. The role of user agreements in E-scooter accidents
- 4. E-scooter accident injuries
- 5. Compensation for E-scooter accident injuries
1. What are scooters and E-scooters?
Scooters are two-wheeled devices with a flat platform between the wheels. People stand on this board and can propel themselves by kicking on the ground.
E-scooters, however, are scooters that are propelled by an electric motor. Not only do they move without the rider kicking it forward, E-scooters can also go much faster than normal scooters – some of them can go up to 15 miles per hour.
1.1 The rise of E-scooter sharing
E-scooters have become incredibly popular in the last few years as a form of shared transportation that can be used for “last mile rides” – those that are too far to walk but not far enough to drive.
Riders can rent an E-scooter, often for as little as a dollar plus mileage, through a smartphone app. Once at their destination, riders can end their rental period and leave the scooter at their destination. Because the wheels of the E-scooter lock when the scooter has not been rented, E-scooters do not have to be docked in special locations like shared bikes do.
1.2 E-scooter sharing companies
Several E-scooter sharing companies have instigated and capitalized on this demand for rentable electric scooters. Some of the bigger companies providing smartphone apps and rentable E-scooters are:
- Bird,
- Lime,
- Skip,
- Lyft, and
- Spin.
These companies have stirred controversy by dropping off hundreds of E-scooters in a city with little warning to local officials. In many cases, cities have no traffic rules or regulations in place for E-scooters, which frequently fall outside the definition of bikes, cars, and motorcycles. As a result, locals rent and ride E-scooters with no rules to dictate where they can and cannot go, putting themselves and others in danger.1
Some cities, including Los Angeles, have even temporarily banned E-scooters while lawmakers work to lay down regulations.2 Other cities have sent cease-and-desist letters to E-scooter sharing companies who have dropped the devices within city limits without talking to local officials, first.3
1.3 Lack of regulations for E-scooters
One of the most controversial aspects of E-scooters has to do with the lack of regulations that govern how riders can use them.
Traffic laws governing non-traditional forms of transportation – like E-scooters – are frequently left to local governments. This means one city can require E-scooter riders to stay on the sidewalk, while another city can require them to stay on the street. The confusion can cause serious accidents that leave innocent people hurt.
2. E-scooter accidents
As E-scooters have become popular, the number of accidents involving an E-scooter has skyrocketed as well. In each city that has been inundated with E-scooters, hospitals noted a sharp rise in the number of patients visiting their emergency rooms.4
These E-scooter accidents can happen in a wide variety of ways. However, they can all be put into four categories:
- A single-party accident that leaves the E-scooter rider hurt and no one else affected,
- A collision between an E-scooter and a pedestrian,
- A collision between an E-scooter and a car, and
- A pedestrian tripping and falling over an E-scooter.
In each case, determining who was liable can be difficult. This is especially true because of the terms of use that E-scooter sharing companies force riders to agree to, in order to rent an E-scooter.
2.1 Accidents involving only an E-scooter rider
Many E-scooter accidents are single-vehicle crashes that happen when the rider loses control of the vehicle.
In many of these cases, the rider’s inexperience contributes to the crash. One study commissioned by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to cover E-scooter crashes in Austin, Texas, found that 33% of riders were hurt on their very first E-scooter ride.5
However, not all of these accidents are the rider’s fault. In some cases, single-vehicle E-scooter crashes can happen when a rider is driving safely, but hits a bump in the road or a sudden rough patch of sidewalk that makes them lose control and fall.
Example: Clara is riding an E-scooter slowly on the sidewalk, where she is supposed to ride. Ahead, there is a sharp drop between the blocks of the sidewalk. She does not see the drop, and the sudden fall makes her lose her balance and veer into the side of a building. Because she was hurt by a poorly-maintained sidewalk, the municipality could be held liable for her injuries.
In other cases, the E-scooter itself may have caused the crash. In early 2019, a rash of seemingly unforced accidents was connected to defective E-scooters provided by the E-scooter sharing company Lime. In those incidents, the brakes on E-scooters traveling at full speed were being applied without the rider’s touch, causing some serious injuries.6
2.2 Accidents between E-scooters and pedestrians
Accidents between E-scooters and pedestrians have gotten the most attention because of the distaste that walkers have for E-scooters being driven on the sidewalk.
Crashes between an E-scooter and a pedestrian can be severe because of how vulnerable pedestrians are, especially when they are hit from behind. However, not all of these accidents are the E-scooter rider’s fault.
Example: Paul is riding an E-scooter on the sidewalk, where he is supposed to be. However, he is riding at 15 miles per hour, which is too fast for the lightly crowded sidewalk. Mary is leaving a coffee shop and as she opens the door and steps into the sidewalk, she gets hit by Paul because he has no time to stop or change direction. Paul will likely be held liable for the accident.
Example: George is crossing the street. He looks both ways for cars, but does not notice Tom approaching on an E-scooter in the bike lane, where he is supposed to be. When George steps out into the street, Tom crashes into him. George may be held liable because he did not see Tom.
2.3 Accidents between E-scooters and cars
While relatively rare, accidents between E-scooters and cars are often the most severe. The weight of the cars and the vulnerability of an E-scooter rider often mean that the rider will suffer serious injuries.
One particularly common scenario is when a car “doors” an oncoming E-scooter. Many cities require E-scooters to be driven in bike lanes or on the far right side of a street. Car drivers who have parked on the side of the street often fail to check their side mirror before opening their car door. If they open their car door suddenly and an E-scooter rider is just about to pass, the driver could be held liable for the accident.
2.4 E-scooters tripping pedestrians
One of the reasons why shared E-scooters have become so popular is that they are “dockless” and can be left anywhere. As E-scooter riders reach their destination and discard their ride, they frequently leave the E-scooter in a place that can inconvenience others or trip them as they pass by.
Pedestrians who get hurt after tripping and falling could be entitled to compensation from one of a variety of different people, depending on the details of what happened:
- The E-scooter driver who left the vehicle for the victim to trip on,
- The E-scooter company, if the vehicle had been left there for an overly-long time,
- The owner of the premises, if the vehicle was left on private property, or
- The city, if they have assumed the responsibility of removing discarded E-scooters.
3. The role of user agreements in E-scooter accidents
A key component in determining who was liable for an E-scooter accident – and therefore who should pay compensation for the injuries it caused – are the user agreements that E-scooter sharing companies require riders to sign before they can rent an E-scooter. These user agreements are binding contracts between the rider and the E-scooter sharing company, and go to great lengths to waive the company’s liability for a crash.
E-scooter sharing companies use these agreements to disclaim responsibility for accidents and pin liability onto the rider to the fullest extent possible. For example, Lime’s user agreement7:
- Requires riders to abide by all traffic laws, but does not specify what they are or how to do so,8
- Makes riders claim that they are “familiar” and “reasonably competent and physically fit” to drive an E-scooter before they are allowed to take their first ride,9 and
- Requires riders to perform an extensive safety inspection before riding, and disclaims liability if the E-scooter was defective.10
E-scooter sharing companies also write their user agreements in ways that ensure no rider will read them before renting an E-scooter. For example, Lime’s user agreement is 53 pages long.11
Breaking any of the provisions in these agreements, though, can be used by the E-scooter company as an argument that they should not be held liable for injuries sustained in an E-scooter accident.
4. E-scooter accident injuries
The injuries that frequently occur in an E-scooter accident are shockingly severe, especially when the E-scooter rider was hurt and was not wearing a helmet.
According to one medical study, which examined 249 patients who went to an emergency room for an accident while riding an E-scooter over a one-year period, head injuries where the most common12:
| Head Injuries | 40.2% |
| Fractures and Broken Bones | 31.7% |
| Soft Tissue Injuries | 27.7% |
That study found that only 4.4% of riders were documented as wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.
The study by the CDC also tracked injuries sustained by E-scooter riders. Out of the 190 injured E-scooter riders in their study, nearly half had a severe injury, including:
- 48% had fractures, lacerations, or abrasions to the head,
- 35% broke a bone other than then nose, fingers, or toes,
- 19% had multiple fractures, and
- 3% had skull fractures.
5. Compensation for E-scooter accident injuries
Victims who have suffered one of these injuries in an E-scooter accident deserve compensatory damages for their:
- Medical expenses, both in the past and anticipated in the future,
- Lost wages or income during the recovery process,
- Reduced earning capacity or ability to earn a living in the future,
- Pain and suffering, and
- Loss of companionship suffered by the victim’s family.
References:
- See e.g., Christina Araviakis, “Birds Take Flight in Baltimore: The City’s Attempt to Regulate the New Electric Scooters,” University of Baltimore Law Review (December 7, 2018).
- Laura J. Nelson, “L.A. Officials Moved to Ban Rental Scooters in March. So Why are They Everywhere?” Los Angeles Times(August 16, 2018).
- See e.g., Brianna Calix, “City of Fresno Issues Cease-and-Desist Letter to Bird Scooter Company,” The Fresno Bee (September 7, 2018); Rob Wile, “Scooter Companies Pulling Out of Miami Just Weeks After Making Their Debut,” The Miami Herald (June 21, 2018).
- See e.g., Mary Wisniewski, “Watch Out! Cities With Electric Scooters Have Seen Hundreds of Injuries, from Broken Arms to Brain Trauma,” Chicago Tribune (May 13, 2019).
- “Dockless Electric Scooter-Related Injuries Study – Austin, Texas, September-November 2018,” Austin Public Health (April, 2019).
- Peter Holley, “Lime Scooter Riders are Being Injured by ‘Sudden Excessive Braking,’ Company Says,” The Washington Post(February 25, 2019).
- Lime User Agreement (Updated December 7, 2018).
- Note 7 at Section 1.4.3.
- Note 7 at Section 1.5.
- Note 7 at Section 12.1 and Section 6.2.7.
- See note 7.
- Trivedi TK, Liu C, Antonio ALM, et al., “Injuries Associated With Standing Electric Scooter Use,” Journal of the American Medical Association 2(1):e187381 (January 25, 2019).
So, when will we get a photo of Fat Tyer on one?
When will the first shooting take place with the aid of an E -Shooter?
I mean “E-Scooter”
Don’t give wrongway any ideas Eshooter sounds like a mobile heroin shooting den.
Gang banger wants to know if they come with gun mount and a bandoleer hanger?
Maybe she can get Gastric Bypass Surgery like Mrs Planet Rube
How do these things get recharged and who pays for the electricity?
The reason these things are so expensive is because almost half the money raised per minute goes to the city. Pittsfield will get fifteen cents per minute of the thirty-nine cents. Maybe if they cared about the public and actually thought that somehow this was a good idea, the city would waive its side of the money to lower the cost to the end user.
Question if you use a scooter and have to go into a store, do you have to pay for parking?
I plan to ride one with boots on and my legs up on the handle bars.
Poor Barry can’t ride one because he’s too fat. The maximum weight for each scooter is 250 lbs. Barry just rolled the big 300.
He Barry, Barry fat man. He no ride 3 am.
Bird are consumer scooters that are designed to last 18 months before retirement or full refurbishment (that includes new tires, battery replacement, control replacement, brakes, lights, and possibly frame). It doesn’t seem very environmentally friendly to have to throw these things out every 18 months.
The weight limit that an electric scooter can carry usually depends on the model of the scooter. Generally, the max. load capacity is 220 lbs (100 kg) to 265 lbs (120 kg). Bird makes the lower end consumer models which list 220 lbs as their max rider weight per the contract.
I received an email from a city employee that this has been in the works for at least a year. Internal emails suggest that the bike lanes, the conversion of parking spaces to no parking is all part of the building of “nests” and infrastructure for these escooters. It’s alleged by the DPW employee there are “kickbacks” or incentives to certain spouses of city employees. A consulting contract and that one city employee’s husband is the gig consultant for the charging company.
LAWYER
Feel free to send me more specific details privately if you wish. We can put our spies on it.
What is the policy for bringing them into stores? Can I go up and down the aisles at Carr hardware with one?
Also, it looks like if you are trying to carry ANYTHING, even a cup of coffee, you need to be able to hold on with only one hand. Looks like you need both hands so no cell phone yacking. Exactly WHAT is the stated purpose for these things? Maybe AVOIDING BASIC EXERCISE? LOOK AT ME I am lazy as hell man!!!
Over 40% of Americans are obese. Great idea, get your spouse on one double up the life insurance.
They’ll be throwing them on the tracks at the bum smoking parks.
Will they give us a can of mace just in case?Cant wait to zig zag through rickys plungers. Nah,never mind can’t afford it.
It sounds like a way to attract tourists. If it was a typical Pittsfield local guy, he could ride his E-Scooter to get his pot, booze, cigs, scratch tickets, and stop at a bar.
On another subject, I read that a young woman named Gina Divola is running as a Trumper candidate against do-nothing career politician Trippy Country Buffet for Pittsfield State Representative this year of 2022. All four Berkshire delegates to Boston will have opponents, including independent Pittsfield conservative Brendan Phair who will oppose Paul Marxism for State Senator, a young woman named Paula Kingsbury-Evans who will oppose the 40-year career politician John Barrett III, and a Green-Rainbow Party candidate named Michael Lavery who will oppose Shitty Pigpen, who is completing his 20th year on Beacon Hill.
It is a way to attract shoplifting tourism.
Has there been a drive by recorded on one these ridiculous contraptions? If you see someone with a cane on scooter rickys wild ride,it’s probably the stooge.
You know this isn’t going to fly Dan. They’ll probably end up at the p p d.
So I assume riders will be required by law to wear a motorcycle helmet if they can go 40 mph. If they go that fast shouldn’t they have to ride in the road? I can envision parents with babies crossing at a crosswalk getting run over by these vehicles. While we are talking about funds, how is our parking program doing? I know the ticket lady and tow trucks have been busy. Also what about the drug money the city is getting? Where is that going?
The scooters top speed is 15 mph, not 40. Still too fast to be safe, though.
Still think motorcycle helmets should be required. With the expected percentage of accidents, how many will have head trauma? We all know what that will lead to, can someone say CET
The only thing we need to assume here in Pittsfield is to assume the position.
Wow great research Dan.
Did the City Council approve the scooter program?
Why would city leaders approve this Ricky rollers gig.Most of the leaders are at the 220 lb.limit for safety? Kids can’t use them either nor can elderly. Are these millennials trying to seclude the population here? They certainly haven’t done anything for the elderly lately.Accident waiting to happen.
Down with scooters we need a Hooters
We’ve got shooters.
And some looters
Thanks, LENNY. Don’t know about the council. Anyone out there have an answer on this?
They didn’t need to because this falls under a non-expenditure pilot program. This was in part a Kerwood abomination.
It’s basically a vendor contract, Public Works controls the project, they’ve already made the “nests” when they took up parking spots and had outdoor covered dining capsules.
One person said the dining capsules were going to be repurposed as “nests” for the scooters.
There is a marketing component and either the city will do it internally or 1Berkshire will do it.
A city employee’s husband is starting a company with hopes of being the local gig worker to collect, charge, and manage the bikes as a vendor to Bird. They already have the “preferred vendor” endorsement from Her Plumpness Linda Tyer. That quid pro quo was part of the deal.
It’s a $1 for the billing processor, fifteen cents for the city, fifteen cents for Bird, five cents for the contractor and 4 cents for various administrative costs.
The other thing this deal does is it increases the number of Bird scooters produced which feeds a stock funding scheme.
This is a Ponzi scheme with a highly overvalued company.
Pittsfield has the dubious distinction of being the most expensive city in the us with the rates they are charging.
https://www.ridester.com/bird-scooter-cost/
LAWYER
Thanks. Great detail. Who is the husband of the city employee?
Is his name Barry? Or just a friend of Barry?
Yabba dabba doos?
So proud of the administration for being the first in the state to come up with this novel idea! For the next one as a suggestion, why not use some common sense by getting rid of the bike lanes, fixing the pot holes and reducing spending to lower taxes.
Not the first, Brookline was the first. It got so bad Boston banned them. It’s not the first time Fat Tyer recycled a bad idea from another City or Town. The bike lanes were in North Hampton a much more friendly town to bikes and pedestrians and they pulled those bike lanes out in under a year.
https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/hampshire-county/bike-lane-concrete-barriers-removed-in-northampton-after-businesses-file-petition/
https://blueprint.theblueground.com/neighborhood-advice/bird-scooter-boston/
Rules and rates
Riders must be at least 18 years old to rent and ride the e-scooter
To unlock and pay to ride the scooters, you must download the Lime and Bird apps
To rent a scooter, both companies charge a $1 fee to unlock the e-scooter and then $0.15 per minute of riding time
The e-scooters can go up to 15 miles per hour and should only operate between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m
Once you have completed your ride, park the e-scooter on a sidewalk, preferably near a bike rack The key consideration is to park it in an area that won’t block pedestrian access
During the Bird and Lime trial period, all e-scooters must remain within the Brookline city limits. If for any reason, the vehicle leaves Brookline, the scooter will lock up until it’s returned
Is it true that you get a free enema at the mayors office after your first 20 miles on one of these scooters? And if so, is there a limit? Will one or both of the Petes be administering or are mayoral puppets excused from such duty? (duti)
Yes.
But we’re supposed to call it a frien-ema.
What an idea !
Requiem for Pittsfield
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbvyNnw8Qjg
Zoom TVs has to go. It makes one dizzy looking at bookends, let alone ten people.
He makes a good point. Many actually. Prosecutors prosecute.
Sullivan for Berkshire District Attorney
Now you pledge transparency? Still waiting on transparency for every other injustice and corrupt action you’ve packed in over the last three and a half years. Trying to use this tragic death to your advantage when you have ignored so many others is truly sad.
Where’s the transparency on:
Your plea reduction in the murder of Will Catalano?
Your illegal withholding of the Simon’s Rock records?
Your lack of prosecution in the Williams College case?
Your dismissal of a case (rather than asking for a continuance) where the defendant’s attorney was a major donor to your campaign?
Your blind request to unseat a judge?
Your use of public money to hire a PR firm?
Your use of public money to buy a non-disclosure from a former employee?
Your travel to stump for other candidates across the country when you’re being paid to represent the residents of the Berkshires?
Your focus on legislation over prosecution?
Your support for a federally indicted prosecutor?
Your commitment to a single political group over your constituents?
Your trial stunt and failure in the Jamel Nicholson case?
Your inability to secure a conviction on the top line charge in the Kevin Nieves case?
Trust me, the list goes on from here. We need a prosecutor, not a politician.
AL
Allow THE PLANET to add to the non-transparency list the district attorney’s refusal to honestly engage with the media, failing to respond to inquiries, refusing to hold press conferences on matters of substance, and generally a hostile attitude toward those with legit questions. I have met and sat down with Bob Sullivan. He won’t be like that.
Andrea Harrington has not provided transparency into who her campaign contributors from outside the Berkshires are. We are left to wonder why these individuals would want to participate in a local election. It is one thing to have a few friends and relatives contribute. In December for example Harrington collected $8,126.88 from 25 contributors. All from outside the Berkshires. Who are these people???
If she is going to do the transparency thing perhaps she will tell us WHO these people are??/
I doubt it. But what would be her excuse for not being transparent about it? Can we get her answer on record?
She’s on the media stage at pctv frequently? Bill Sturgeons show?
Great post, Al. Sullivan’s got my vote!
Dan, thanks for all the info on this, very interesting read. Too bad our elected officials don’t feel the need to investigate like you do.
Can’t help but wonder why no matter what Morales wants to do, his crazy ideas are warranted by the Mayor immediately with no questions asked. Why? What is his hold on her? Taxpayers have voiced their objections to the Mayor and our wishes have been ignored on many projects. Bike lanes, Springside Park, the lack of maintenance of our streets and now these scooters. We had no chance to question the pot growing and pot shops in our neighborhoods, whereas towns all around us listen to their taxpayers. It would seem to me by now Morales would understand the four seasons of the Berkshires and realize that our climate is quite different from Puerto Rico. As far as tourism goes and the usage of these scooters, in my observation most tourism for Tanglewood and the many theaters around us, the average age is well over 50, not the age folks want to ride an unsafe scooter. What is there on Dynamic and Vibrant North Street that a scooter would benefit? Imagine riding one of these scooters and hitting a pile of human feces on the sidewalk of North Street. I have seen just in my neighborhood children aged around 8 to 10 take wicked falls riding one of these scooters. These scooters will most likely be the next drug dealers transportation in the City. There seems to be no plan by this Administration to clean up the City of garbage, panhandlers, drug addicts and dealers, broken roads and crime. It does not seem right that ONE person ideas can ruin a City so fast, kudos to Linda Tyer for accomplishing just that!
Thanks, M&B. Excellent comment: On subject, advances the discussion, well reasoned. This is what I’m talking about for this board!
Laissez-faire by an incompetent Linda.
Thank you for not bringing up the FORENSIC AUDIT. Whew, that was close mayor.
I find it ironic that they say these bike lanes and the Springside destruction are for the poor kids yet Ricky Rumpass has not put any bike lanes down the west side! They would lead you to the lakes, glad they are not thinking of themselves but the kids. These bike lanes all lead to the public schools as well!
That should be the subject of another lawsuit We, The People of this Village, should do against Mayor Linda Tyer administration wasting tax-payers money for useless, dangerous project. I am very busy now, but may do that in July. Join me!
Is there such a thing as a taxpayer class action suit if a mayor is just woefully incompetent? Serious question!
Yes, there is. Please, check http://www.masscourts.org, then Superior Court, then Berkshires, then City of Pittsfield.
You will be surprised…
Yes.
Would you do a petition to oust the Mayor V G ? Redacting a position possible?
Ideally, she would do the right thing and just leave office but then we would be stuck with her dark shadow Large Pete, who does not really show any signs he knows any more about running a city that she does. We need to just admit it is over in Pittsfield.
To save the earth from climate change we must literally sacrifice our lives by riding these dangerous contraptions. Isn’t the city worried about lawsuits or do you literally sign your life away before riding these scooters? The creator of a different version of these scooters was killed because he couldn’t stop the thing.
The contact is with Bird, not the city, when you ride the scooters. The terms of service are extremely ridged and allow for liability outs for Bird.
You must watch the training video, you can’t go over x mph, you can’t be over the max weight.
Section 1.3 of the agreement says the operator (rider) agrees to hold harmless/waive liability of the company.
The Lantern on North Street is closing. Maybe there’s not enough business for a place that sells an $11 poached egg or $18 grape, almond, and chicken liver mousse on North Street. Too much competition from that restaurant that sells $25 bacon cheese burgers with 9 french fries, oh wait that was the new lantern too. It’s hard to sell upscale food when bums are sleeping, in one doorway and using the other as a bathroom.
I guess he’s not closing Nudle though.
You know who is NOT closing? Business s that got hundreds of thousands of dollars of covid money. However, the Feds are coming after any who claimed it fraudulently and Pittsfield may have more than its share. Stay tuned.
Any accountant worth his or her salt knows exactly what I am talking about.
The lantern got money.
You can get money. What you cannot do is lie through your teeth about how many employees you have, how much you paid for social distancing materials or how much money you are losing. But Barry could probably answer any question better than I.
It was massive fraud across America and Pittsfield was no exception. Tons of business took tons of cash and didn’t even need it. The question here is, was it legal theft, or the illegal kind?
Well the feds want a lot of it back so I hope Kabuki still has it in the bank
But I thought the houseless Kabuki was using her ill-gotten welfare to buy river side luxury cots under the Mill Street bridge.
I believe the owner of the lantern received funds during the pandemic
The Eagle just got its instructions from the Gobsigs to endorse Andrea Harrington for DA. The call went out today no emails. The Berkshire Brigade and Her rotundness Linda Tyer, have spoken. In a planning meeting they are going that multiple challengers will split any vote.
Expect letter writing campaigns to begin this summer.
No one with any brains at all could possibly endorse Harrington.
Who says there are brains in these hills? Just sheep is all that this one sees, they like the blue kool aides
Well, Harrington was Farley-Bouvier’s pet last go round so I doubt F-B can rebuke her now.
One can always right a wrong.
Sullivan needs to insist on as many televised debates as possible. She will not hold up in the light of day. But I suppose she could have a hair appointment on all the days of the debates and not be able to attend.
A collaboration of Grants $$ –
https://www.iberkshires.com/story/67173/County-Center-to-Aid-Former-Inmates-Gets-240K-State-Grant.html
I predict the Berkshire Eagle will show young people and maybe even some older people doing death defying feats on these scooters. Look, it’s so easy they will say. Think of all the gas money you’ll be saving.
If the scooters go 15 miles an hour and cost $24 an hour to use, my car can go 60 miles in an hour, and costs $8-10 thanks to Joe Biden. Under Trump it was $3 to go 60 miles in my car.
If we go with the federal mileage reimbursement it would be $35.10 with 2022 numbers but I’d take the car over the scooter any day.
And what exactly are these people going to do with the scooters? There’s nothing really downtown.
Funeeeee!!!!
Might be a great tool for a pan handler shuffling from one collection point to another.
Can you picture these things during the 4th of July parade? Driving through all the elephant shit? Knocking over innocent clowns? Getting caught up under the axle of a semi pulling a float?
The only way this business survives is if the city subsidizes it by renting a ton of them and having taxpayers pay for it. And my guess is that that is part of the plan we will find out about after the fact.
People should stick to the bike trail non electric bikes and stationary bikes. Obesity is a real problem. The grandstands at Wahconah Park are not safe from all that extra weight over the years.
Pete White Knievel will attempt to ride a ramp and jump over Tyer’s ass and Warren Dews’ belly to kick of festivities at the 4th of July parade this year.
Attention – Pittsfield Taxpayers – Fundraiser For More Tyer Private Money That Taxpayers Will Never Be Privy To.
Upcoming fundraiser features the following:
Mayor Linda Tyer, Assistant Mayor Barry Clairmont, Deanna Ruffer, PeePee Petie, Dumpster Persip and Restaurant Critic Petie White will be racing scooters down Dynamic and Vibrant North Street. Bets will be taken as to which heavy weight will break the scooter first. Race should not last long at all, won’t take up much of your time.
Should be quite a show!!
And after the show, Earl “Dumpster Diver” Persip, will explain to everyone what it was like to be a person of color riding the scooter.
This way, children of color will see a “person who looks like them” ride the scooter.
It’s a win/win.
Anybody heard from OB yet? I’m curious what $50k plus bennies is doing that the city’s HR Department was obviously not?
That BIG RACIST DUMP didn’t even marry someone who looks like him.
I can see it now wind blowing in their hair and born to be wild by Steppenwolf playing in the background.
I can see the middle of the scooter scraping the ground
Dennis Powell couldn’t be reached for comment.
URGENT
Two people were injured — one seriously — in a shooting Monday in Pittsfield. A suspect is in custody
I don’t believe it.
and schockingly this shooting hit the media rather quickly. Why? What was so different about this one?
It got picked up by out of area news concerns first. The parts they don’t mention is that the shooter, got away scott free because the incompetence of DA Andrea Harrington and her office of fools.
This guy would have been in jail.
But LIAR TYER Endorses WRONGWAY NIPPLES.
https://www.westernmassnews.com/2022/04/05/police-arrest-pittsfield-man-following-shooting-that-left-two-hospitalized/?fbclid=IwAR2ui5RAYyZhVEgL5f0RERRG28pdg5vwAvnPfxNy1VSvFTQfIo4YcVirYLQ
How many times will DA Harrington fail to protect the public from Laquan Johnson? Freed on murder charges due to her inability to put a case together and free again on another shooting and now here he is again gunning down people in the streets. How much more proof is needed that Harrington is a failed law enforcement official?. Police continue to do their jobs and the DA continues to fail at hers. The time has come for voters to elect a responsible DA who who will seek appropriate sentences for violent career offenders like this that pose a threat to public safety.
Amazing. Bob Sullivan and Tim Shugrue should make this case the “poster boy” for the failed D.A.
Johnson is Harrington’s Willie Horton, if you remember him.
Willie was Mass Governor Michael Dukakis’s cement shoes.
If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a thousand more times while DA Wrong Way Harrington is in office.
There are only so many Lonnie Durfee’s.
The leading cause of black males 16-35, is another black man. Locally, the Sacramento shooter, the Dallas shooter, all have one thing in common: a black male shooter. Notice the news doesn’t even mention Chicago, which has mass shootings every weekend.
It simply doesn’t fit the Progressive narrative.
but whitey is responsible for most high count school shootings
True, but black on black violence in democRAT led cities, far exceeds school shootings, in terms of victims and homicides.
But I know, it doesn’t fit the narrative.
The single largest tax increase bill in the over 400-year history of Massachusetts has the support of Trippy Country Buffet and Chrome Dome Adam Hinds.
Fair Share Amendment advocates rally at Berkshire Community College | WAMC
China on the other hand decided not to raise taxes on the wealthy because it would damper the economy. The citizens taking risks with businesses would move to other friendlier countries or just stop doing what they do to make money,
. But our great leaders in MA want to go after the millionaires who all they have to do is move to NH. Everyone works from home now so it would be an easy fix. How do you say stupid? Berkshire Brigades and our state representatives. The state has a surplus so why are we increasing taxes? Of all the issues that these representatives should be addressing all they want to talk about is stealing more of the citizens hard earned money!!
SHIRL
Yes. China has its head on straight, economically and in so many other ways. I wish Xi would come to America and become President. We can make an exception for him.
Tricia never met a tax increase she didn’t like.
Yeah ok , Do your work to benefit our area? What work would that be?
“Is there something in the question that ensures regional equity?” Farley-Bouvier said. “The answer to that is no. We have to continue to do our work [as a delegation] to make sure
that happens.”
Let’s see if anyone that makes a million a year (mamba) is actually on board with this. We need to stop these xtra taxes and start downsizing right here in the berkshires and increases productivity instead of duplication and just plain waste.
Or any meaningful legislation that has helped working taxpayers in her district.
Gina Divola, 32, of Pittsfield, says she is a constitutional conservative who is running because she is concerned with the direction of the state and the country.
Trump MAGA follower running against Bouvier. Can’t wait to see these debates.
Great news. Go Gina!
Dan you might get her started with an interview for us.
Seems like she would fit right in with this crowd.
(maybe not me)
Hopefully she comes in well prepared. I don’t think she’ll win. The power brokers in Boston will see to that. They don’t want someone representing the Berkshires with a backbone.
They want spineless jellyfish who carry their jocks without question, like Tricia Farley-Country Buffet (D), Smitty, etc.
Haha! Sounds like her campaign is already dead then. But sure, good luck!
This “young gentleman” that was arrested yesterday for the latest Vibrant and Dynamic Pittsfield shooting had murder charges dropped in 2019 due to DA Andrea’s office major screw-ups. Given probation for another shooting in 2020 and now this. One man has already died, how many more will die before DA Andrea’s office feels this man is dangerous, needs to be locked up and throw away the key?
You may want to look into who Laquan Johnson is related to, and how that relation influence Andrea Harrington’s choices.
Do tell, who is he related to? Shirl?
can you enlighten us? There’s a few guesses going around
He lives at the same address as Eurquhart.
Any chance it’s the Tzar of Race Relations, Shirley Edgerton? Past family members of hers dealt a decent amount of drugs and community scourge. What’s a couple of homicides amongst fam?
Another shooting, by another person of color. Maybe the raciss Powell ought be askin why the vast majority of the shootins committed in Shitsfield over the past 20 years have been done by POCs. Ya feel what I’m sayin Dennis???????
Exactly. I agree.
Dennis doesn’t care about Black on Black crime, it’s still the racist pigs faults due to poverty
Even though in today’s day and age, with Xi Xiden in office, every federal and state policy, all but gives “people of color” jobs, easier college admissions, promotions, etc, but it’s still YT’s fault.
Same with those “people of color” who grew up during the Clinton or Sotero era, same thing. But it’s all YT’s fault, as always.
Do you ever wonder when someone of color will step up and take pride and quit playing victim? It’s a rough world out there cupcake.
Latest victim has died. Another murder in the city.
Marchetti needs to focus on the condition of the city instead of his naucious rambling of his advertisement for why he is being elected very year.
And unlike the hidden identity of the killer cop, shielded by the corrupt badge, an alleged killer was named on the same day as the shooting. 11 days and counting for the identity of the killer PPD cop.
Speaking of dimly lit streets ,we should turn the street lights up or off.Paying for brownish shadows is silly…….Trump rallies are now desperate pleas to Putin to save Trumps ass by making Hunters laptop the focus…..Trump humpers feel like it’s working.Raise your hand if you are a FOX watching Trump humper who believes the Qanons “Russians” conspiracy publicly…
If you are a white male you believe
Hillary and the DNC were spying on a sitting President.
Remember when Obama told Trump that General Flynn was compromised by the Russian s……Trump hired him.lol…laptop scandl
You are aware all the liberal rags have acknowledged that the “Russia collusion,” was a hoax. It was set up by Hillary and the DNC.
Hillary and the DNC spied on a sitting President. Is that not espionage TSC?
14 shows how lucrative it is to sell snake oil to white guys
“I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work, or scared of losing their job. The dollar buy a nickel’s worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter, punks are running wild in the street, and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it! We know the air is infit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that’s the way its suppose to be! We know things are bad – worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is: ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.’ Well, I’m not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get MAD! I don’t want you to protest, I don’t want you to riot, I don’t want you to write to your congressman, because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first, you’ve got to get mad! You’ve got to say: I’m a human being, goddammit! My life has value! So, I want you to get up now. I want you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, stick your head out, and yell: I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE! I want you to get up right now. Sit up. Go to your windows Open them and stick you head out and yell” I’m as mad as hell and I’m not gonna take this anymore! Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad!… You’ve got to say: I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I”M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE! ” – Howard Beale 1976 Network
CITY
One of the great cinematic speeches!
Possibly my favorite movie, and it’s the entire speech, awesome!
Mayors response…………….”FU”
LIAR TYER PANTS ON FIRE!
This just in. Harrington refused to comment. Public funds are being used to promote her soft on crime agenda. She should just step down at this point.
New England Public Media report examines DA Harrington’s use of outside PR firm
PITTSFIELD — It’s common practice for many elected officials, including district attorneys, to have a staff member focused on communication with the public and the press. But one district attorney in western Massachusetts also hired an outside public relations firm.
During Harrington’s first year as district attorney, her office hired Kivvit, a Chicago-based media relations group. Her office also had contracts with The Management Action Center, a Washington-based organizational management firm, that first year and again in 2021.
It’s unusual for DAs to spend part of their budgets on media firms, according to interviews with prosecutors and a review of documents obtained from public records requests to the three district attorneys serving western Massachusetts.
According to one of the documents, Kivvit had an agreement with Harrington to work on a “Juvenile Justice Program Rollout.”
The agreement said Kivvit’s work included “Intense Communications Support” and “Message Development.” The Management Center, described as a “sister organization” of The Management Action Center, worked with Kivvit on “Transitioning the Comms Office,” which included a “Rapid response structure.”
ARCHIVES
Berkshire DA’s new Juvenile Justice Initiative aims to divert delinquent youths from court system
Harrington’s contract with Kivvit lasted about three months, beginning July 23, 2019, and overlapping with the September announcement of an expansion of a juvenile justice program designed to help keep young people out of court.
“We need to address the root cause of kids’ minor offenses, rather than subjecting them to prosecution and incarceration, that research shows will lead youth to a cycle of re-offending,” Harrington told reporters outside the Boys & Girls Club in Pittsfield. “That not only gives you the better chance of success, it is cost effective and makes our community safer.”
At the time, Jeanne Kempthorne served as chief of appeals and general counsel in Harrington’s office. She started working in the DA’s office after Harrington’s inauguration in 2019, and resigned about a year later following a dispute with Harrington over the release of documents to The Berkshire Eagle.
Kempthorne said she doesn’t know the name of the media firm, but she remembers when Harrington announced the juvenile diversion program.
“I mean, that program I was responsible for putting together,” Jeanne Kempthorne said. “[Harrington] prepared with these consultants all manner of, you know, brochures, et cetera, which I happened to just see, you know, like the day before it was going out. I had never seen them before. So, you know, the content was not key.”
In a statement, Andrea Harrington said her “small and under-resourced office accomplished these bold reforms in part by working on a limited basis with well-respected expert consultants.”
EAGLE FILE PHOTO
Harrington declined to be interviewed. In a statement, she said her “small and under-resourced office accomplished these bold reforms in part by working on a limited basis with well-respected expert consultants.”
Her office serves the smallest population of any district attorney in the state and has the smallest budget. In 2019, it was about $4.5 million. That same year she spent about $13,000 on the media firm.
“That would not fly here. I’ve never even considered it, to be honest,” said Jean Peters Baker, the elected prosecutor in Jackson County, Missouri.
Peters Baker is also chair of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, a national nonprofit. She said she doesn’t like to judge other DAs.
“It’s dangerous for prosecutors to give lots of opinions about how others run their office when I’ve never visited that jurisdiction,” Peters Baker said. “I know here I have never thought of such a thing, but … it would not get approved” by the officials that authorize her budget.
John Flynn is president-elect of the National District Attorneys Association and the DA in Erie County, New York. Flynn said this is the first time he has heard of a DA hiring a media relations firm.
“I don’t know anyone who has ever done that. I just have Kait and Kait taught me,” he quipped.
Berkshire County law enforcement officials attend a 2019 press conference held by Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harrington to announce a new Juvenile Justice Initiative.
BEN GARVER – THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Kaitlyn Munro is Flynn’s public information officer. Like Flynn, the DAs in western Massachusetts, including Harrington, have one staff member who responds to questions from reporters.
But Flynn said he thinks it’s OK if a DA hires a media relations firm.
“If that company or individual is able to help the office do their job, protect the public and enhance public safety and is able to allow the residents to understand what’s going on in the office,” Flynn said, “then I got no problem with it.”
District Attorney David Sullivan is the chief prosecutor in Hampshire and Franklin counties, as well as Athol in Worcester County. Although he does have one press person who has received some training, he said he hasn’t hired a media relations firm since he took office in 2011.
“The best thing to do is, you know, be out there with the public and make sure that you’re in communications with them,” Sullivan said. “So I don’t need any media specialists to tell me where the community is at, because if you’ve been in touch with your community, you should know what they want, what they need.”
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Harrington has framed herself as a progressive criminal justice reformer, launching new policies like reducing the use of cash bail.
“I mean, I guess if you’re trying to make a transition that the public’s not used to, then maybe it is worth having somebody tell you how you might communicate that,” Sullivan said. “But I just haven’t seen a need for [a media relations firm] in our district.”
Jeanne Kempthorne concedes there is a public information component to doing progressive criminal justice work as a DA, such as bail reform.
“But I can’t say that it’s a major function, warranting enormous attention from the person in charge, the DA herself,” Kempthorne said. “It seemed to me very disproportionate — the amount of energy that was spent on it, on media.”
A district attorney’s job is to represent the government when someone is accused of a crime, and to decide the best path toward criminal justice. But to do the work, they have to win elections.
“You can quibble about that,” Jean Peters Baker said. “But you can’t really poke prosecutors for the system by which they have to maneuver.”
If there is any maneuvering, it’s about to begin.
In Berkshire County, Harrington’s first term is up at the end of the year. Across the state, anyone who wants to run for DA has to get their nominating papers in by early May.
A state court of appeals rejected the idea that antisemitism had shaped the conviction of this fire starter. But unlike Lonnie Durfee, he had the backing of the Innocence Project, funded by George Soros and the Open Society foundation. That is good enough for Wrong Way Harrington, who is today announcing the conviction is being overturned.
Here’s the article from something called the “Jewish Telegraphic Agency” a source I can’t vouch for.
A juror called him ‘one of those New York Jews.’ Now his 1983 arson conviction is being overturned because of antisemitism.BY PENNY SCHWARTZ APRIL 5, 2022 8:08 AM
Barry Jacobson, second from left in this undated photo, was convicted of setting fire to his Massachusetts vacation home in 1983. His conviction was overturned in 2022. (Courtesy New England Anti-Defamation League)
BOSTON (JTA) – Barry Jacobson spent 40 days in prison in 1983 after being convicted of setting a fire at his Massachusetts vacation home.
Attorney Barry Scheck participates in an Innocence Project fundraiser in New York City in 2016. (Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images)
He spent the next 40 years pressing his innocence and arguing that his conviction was tainted by antisemitism.
Now, Jacobson’s quest has been answered. A Massachusetts district attorney is set to announce Tuesday that Jacobson, who is Jewish, was wrongfully convicted by a jury whose forelady reportedly referred to him as “one of those New York Jews who think they can come up here and get away with anything.”
Andrea Harrington, the Berkshire County district attorney, decided to vacate Jacobson’s conviction and dismiss the case after undertaking a review spurred by the Anti-Defamation League and the Innocence Project, a path-breaking legal organization that seeks to overturn wrongful convictions.
“The credible evidence of antisemitic juror statements undermine the fairness of this verdict and denied Mr. Jacobson his Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury trial,” Harrington said in a statement released by the New England Anti-Defamation League, which earlier this year filed an amicus brief in the case.
“Prosecutors have the responsibility to implement policies to ensure fair convictions and to rectify past injustice,” Harrington said.
Harrington planned to make her decision public Tuesday at a press conference alongside the ADL and the Innocence Project.
Jacobson’s case is an unusual one for the Innocence Project to take up. The group, founded in 1992 and based at Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law, has typically focused on people who are incarcerated, often on death row, and was founded in 1992 to use DNA, then a new technology, to exonerate victims of wrongful conviction.
DNA evidence did not play a role in Jacobson’s case. But Barry Scheck, the Innocence Project’s co-founder and Jacobson’s counsel, suggested in a statement that the case only adds to the evidence that his group has amassed showing how racism and other prejudices can compromise criminal justice in the United States.
“As reports of antisemitism increase around the country, Mr. Jacobson’s case reminds us that the criminal legal system has never been immune from its pernicious and insidious effects,” Scheck said.
In a statement expressing gratitude to Harrington and to all who helped with his case, Jacobson said he was relieved to be free of a burden that had dogged him even as the New York City real estate executive raised five children, closed countless deals and volunteered extensively in his community.
“This wrongful conviction has cast a painful shadow over my life,” he said. “I am thankful to God, family, and friends. The evils of antisemitism and racism in our legal system must be fought relentlessly.”
Jacobson had owned the vacation home in Richmond, Massachusetts, for nearly five years when a fire heavily damaged it in January 1982. Jacobson’s presence at the scene, his subsequent behavior and costly problems with the property — he’d spent more than $200,000 repairing the $55,000 home and still didn’t have running water — all generated suspicion that he had set the fire to secure an insurance payout.
He was convicted of doing so the following year and sentenced to six months in prison and a $10,000 fine. He served 40 days.
Throughout his trial and afterwards, Jacobson, who lived full time in suburban New York City, argued that he was innocent. That insistence stymied four petitions for a pardon over 15 years, his lawyers said.
“He is a man who has spent his life helping other people,” Cordy, his attorney of 26 years, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “A pardon was within his grasp time and again in the 1990’s in light of his engagement with and many contributions made to his community over the years — but only if he would confess to a crime that he did not commit — and he could not bring himself to do that.”
Jacobson argued that multiple errors had tainted the investigation and trial. A leading arson expert who has argued for improvements in how forensic investigations are conducted, John Lentini, testified that errors in the handling of evidence in Jacobson’s case were the most egregious he’d seen in 47 years.
But the challenge that ultimately had the most influence on Harrington stemmed from a sworn statement from one of the original jurors just months after the trial, revealing antisemitic views expressed by the woman charged with leading the jury.
“From the beginning of our deliberations, the forelady of the jury … repeatedly made reference to Mr. Jacobson as being ‘one of those New York Jews who think they can come up here and get away with anything,’” the juror recalled the forewoman saying at the time.
An alternate juror echoed that observation in a sworn statement.
“When the jury first went out to deliberate they had only been in there, I would say less than five minutes, when I overheard one of the ladies say to the other, ‘Well, this is not going to take very long. We should finish this real quick because you know he’s guilty.’ And says, ‘All those rich, New York Jews come up here and think they can do anything and get away with it,’” the alternate juror wrote.
A state appeals court in 1985 rejected the idea that antisemitism had shaped the conviction, noting that the judge interviewed jurors and found no credible evidence that those comments had influenced the jury. A verdict against a co-defendant was set aside then.
The group is “not aware of another case where antisemitism seeped into jury deliberations of the facts the case,” New England ADL regional director Robert Trestan told JTA. But, he added, “We have to wonder whether there are other cases that had the same result but have not yet been exposed.”
In its amicus brief, the ADL argued that Jacobson’s case shed light on a persistent stereotype that Jews are “avaricious and greedy.” Trestan placed the case in the context of the ADL’s most recent report about antisemitism in the United States, which found the third highest year on record since the organization began its tracking in 1979.
Antisemitism is present across American society, Trestan said.
“The criminal justice system is no exception,” he said. “This case is a vivid reminder of the danger posed by antisemitism and the need for greater education efforts at all levels.”
Ambulance + Potholes
“North Adams man who was part of the Jan. 6 insurrection gets 3 years probation”
Some insurrection if that the sentences they are handing down.
Most of the big sentences are gun violations, imagine that DC actually prosecuting gun charges.
I hear that the hot moment for AOC and others near the building that day was finding access to a restaurant.
Andrea Harrington and the PR firm, not an Eagle story.
Eagle still not making the connections after multiple articles and updates about Laquan Johnson. They still haven’t mentioned DA Harrington and her office bungling the cases against him, including that pesky murder case.
If you are on SNAP, you can ride the scooters for free or at a reduced cost!
Hello Berkshire Eagle Journalist Meg Britton-Mehlisch,
There are a few big facts that you left out of your coverage of the so-called Fair Share Amendment, which would place a surtax on state income tax earnings of over $1 million on Massachusetts residents. This Beacon Hill shakedown scheme is the single largest state tax hike in the over 400-year history of Massachusetts. Last Spring of 2021, the Boston Globe reported that the corrupt career politicians on Beacon Hill give away $17.8 billion per fiscal year in state tax breaks to their politically connected big business campaign donors. Massachusetts has many regressive taxation schemes in place, including the state lottery, casinos, excise taxes on pot, alcohol, tobacco, and so on. If the corrupt Beacon Hill career politicians really wanted a progressive tax system in Massachusetts, then they would not have grown the state lottery and the other regressive tax schemes to multibillion dollar per fiscal year operations. The last big fact is that this is a big election year of 2022, whereby the corrupt state Democratic Party in Boston is using this huge tax hike referendum as a way to bring out more voters so that Beacon Hill will be an even more one-sided one political party state.
Best wishes,
Jon Melle
This arsonist for profit gets his case overturned while Lonnie Durfee rots in jail over a hay bale. Harrington has accused Berkshire County courts, police and prior prosecutors of antisemitism. Money and politics are this DA’s north star and people are fed up and effing livid.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/1983-arson-conviction-vacated-due-to-antisemitism-at-trial/2022/04/05/823cb732-b4dc-11ec-8358-20aa16355fb4_story.html
Wasn’t it Morales that brokered a deal with this bankrupt trash outfit in 2021?
Don’t know, but anything RICKY brokers ends up broken.
Or in a maze of confusion.
The “Innocence Project” is created by Barry Scheck, who defended OJ Simpson and refuses to admit he was wrong even though all of his blood planting and contamination claims were disproven. They use race claims and targeting the police to get guilty people off. That’s what they do and now our DA is smack in the middle of it pandering for votes.
Anyone who has ever had dealings with Barry knows what a crook he is. This guy was guilty, has been guilty, and will be guilty except that Jacobsen is a family friend and client of Andrea Harrington’s father. She should have recused herself from this case, considering her families very close relationship with the Defendant and her father’s company and business dealings with Barry.
https://law.justia.com/cases/massachusetts/court-of-appeals/volumes/19/19massappct666.html
He just happened to be stuck in the snow at 6:30 in the morning of the house fire when he said he was in NYC.
Andrea is always second guessing judges, when all she pretends to be is a lawyer. One thing she isn’t pretending about is how she’s trying to buy votes.
Report to the bar please.
DA Harrington may as well do some favors while she still has the job. Her only campaign contribution this month was $1k from her mom.
Obama at the White House today with Biden to tout Obamacare, but while everyone was drooling over Obama, Biden can be seen standing off to the side of the crowd looking lost. The drooling media never asks Obama a difficult question. Not even a yell out about inflation or gas prices or how Obama and his family live a very traditional family centered life while Obama and his wife made it their mission to destroy our traditions, our culture, pretty much everything, while they themselves live very quiet and traditional lives far removed from the chaos their far left policies have created in this country.
Can the Village Knight assemble a group to redact the Mayor,the police chief,Kuffkinks, Ruffer and six of the current puppet squad on the silly council? Knight? I’m all in if you have the know how.
This is such rank b.s.
McDonough it’s true. Everybody knows it
McDonough everything Pat states is accurate. She doesnt lie.
Andrea Harrington hard at work for criminals.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/04/05/metro/berkshire-da-overturns-1983-arson-conviction-due-antisemitism/
This is some serious BS. Harrington is loving showing her predecessors were horrid people who won cases using anti semitism 40 years ago. Does anyone believe that? She is a real piece of work.
Personally, can’t wait for the scooters. Also look forward to seeing more bike lanes on Tyler street, valentine rd, west st, and so forth. We need this type of accessibility in our City. Maybe stop being so negative all the time and give it a chance? You’re crapping on it and the City hasn’t even brought it in yet.
Wait until the stoners and the meth heads start racing around on them