PLANET BOOK SIGNING SATURDAY @ B&N … EPSTEIN BUX … VERDICTION … PROGRESS … SCHOOL’S OUT … THE POOR PENNY
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE THE WEEKEND EDITION NOV. 21-3) — Thoughts while peeling a grapefruit:
— Meet THE PLANET!: This Saturday, Nov. 22 beginning at noon, THE PLANET will be at Barnes & Noble bookstore at Berkshire Crossing to sign books. Rumor is that Dan Valenti will make an appearance as well. This will be a great opportunity to stop by and say hey. We’d love to meet cha. And what better gift that to buy from a local author and support a local publishing house that’s been making waves internationally with our book on legendary director Stanley Kubrick. Book sales have been strong in both America and Europe. This will be one of the last chances locally to meet Dan, buy a book, and have him personalize it. Next year, the Kubrick book tour goes nationwide.
MEET DAN VALENTI! SATURDAY, BARNES & NOBLE PITTSFIELD
BEGINNING AT NOON. BOOK SIGNING!
YOUR PERSONALIZED GIFT FOR CHRISTMAS GIVING!
BUY A BOOK AND GET A BOOK FREE!!
This and other titles available
— How Come the Money?: Now that both houses have voted for the release of the Epstein Files and President Trump signing off on the petition, we wonder if the material will answer one nagging question: How did Epstein make his money? We’re talking about enormous wealth, and thus far, no one has been able to figure out how he got it. He may have invented the nozzle for aerosol spray cans, and we missed it. Barring that, what was the source of his wealth?
—Verdiction: To clarify misinformation pertaining to Victoria May’s lawsuit against Peter Marchetti, Pittsfield Co-Op, Chip Moore, and Jay Anderson, the trial is slated to being May 18 in Federal Court. The jury will consist of the usual dozen, with maybe an alternate or two. A verdict there must be unanimous, unless both parties agree otherwise prior to the trial. May has accused Marchetti and the others of sexual harassment and workplace abuse. Marchetti was a VP at the Co-Op. He quit there, or was fired, prior to his run for mayor in 2023. If the matter comes to trial, it will shed light on Marchetti’s suitability as an executive. The last we checked, screaming, raging, and petulance are not characteristics of an effective chief executive. Mayor Lumpy might disagree. We don’t know, because he’s in hiding from THE PLANET.
—‘Progress’: Rather than worry about insignificant problems such as punishing taxes and a broken school system, THE PLANET‘s Right Honorable Friends on the Bitchfield City Council should take a cue from the Boston City Council. Our friends to the east this week established a Transgender and Queer Community Advisory Council. The council will function within Mayor Wu’s Office of LGBTQIA2S+ (we kid you not … that’s its name!). Shows you how far Bitchfield lags in the race to be best in ignoring bread-and-butter issues of vital importance to Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski in favor of an outlying issue of dubious value that exists on the outer margins of sanity’s border with insanity. In the Bay State, this is called “progress.”
—School’s Out: A report issued by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education shows that in the 2024-5 school year — one that ensnared Bitchfield School Department in a wave of scandal ignored by the mayor, city council, and schwsocohlozx committee — administrators, school teachers, and staff missed on average 12 school days. That’s an extra two weeks of vacation with two days left for catching butterflies. In the Northampton District, the admin/staff hooky rate was 60 days! Can you image how many days staff didn’t show in Bitchfield? There isn’t a number that high!
Kick A Cent: Pennies from Heaven. A penny for your thoughts. Penny ante. A penny save is a penny earned. A pretty penny. Penny wise, pound foolish. THE PLANET must put our two cents in on the demise of the penny. Pennies were our first coin of the realm as we rummaged Deming Park summer mornings for soda bottles. When we had five in hand, we’d take them into Palmer’s, get a dime, buy a pack of baseball cards, and put a nickel in my Scotty-shaped bank. We’re gonna miss the penny.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
——————————————————————–
“I’m Will Robinson, and this is my sister, Penny” — Billy Mumy, from TV’s Lost in Space.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
Copyright (c) 2025 By Dan Valenti, PLANET VALENTI and EUROPOLIS MANAGEMENT. All rights reserved. The views and opinions expressed in the comment section or in the text other than those of PLANET VALENTI are not necessarily endorsed by the operators of this website. PLANET VALENTI assumes no responsibility for such views and opinions, and it reserves the right to remove or edit any comment, including but not limited to those that violate the website’s Rules of Conduct and its editorial policies. Those who leave comments own all the responsibilities that are or can be attached to those comments, be they rhetorical, semantic, or legal. Such commentators remain solely responsible for what they post and shall be and remain solely accountable for their words. PLANET VALENTI shall not be held responsible for the consequences that may result from any posted comment or outside opinion or commentary as provided in, but not limited to, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and this website’s terms of service. We serve as a marketplace of ideas, without prejudice and available to all. All users of this site — including readers, commentators, contributors, or anyone else — hereby agree to these conditions by virtue of this notice and their use of/participation in this site. When PLANET VALENTI ends with the words “The Usual Disclaimer,” that phrase shall be understood to refer to the full text of this disclaimer.
Looked it up. Epstein had a lot of rich people. Namely one fella name Werner. Ep oversaw his fiancés and was paid handsomely. He was a buffoon as a math teach at the Dalton school though. And was fired.
Instead of the Pittsfield City Council voting to giveaway $1 million from the GE Fund to BIC, they could instead vote to give me – Jon Melle – the $1 million for my would-be penny museum.
I would promise to hire one dozen employees, and hope to expand to nickels, dimes, quarters, half-dollars, dollar coins, foreign coins, and coin art pieces.
You got your bag from the taxpayer already.
If you’re keeping score in the DEI hiring race between the Illegal Aliens Gov, Maura Healey, and Bitchfield Mayor Lumpy, I think Maura Healey just landed the knockout shot with her latest hire.
To update you, Lumpy, by default of failed mayor Linda “Flat” Tyer-Clairmont, one upped the state when they hired a black male, drug dealer, and tried to pass him off as a school administrator.
Maura Healey and her team of left-loon liberals set up ad-hoc committees and used MA taxpayer money to hire “consultants,” to try and better Bitchfield.
THEY DID!!
Let me introduce you to Giselle Byrd. Giselle is a BLACK MALE, POSING AS A WOMAN, hired by Maura Healey, to lead the office of the COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN.
A DUDE WITH MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES, IS LEADING A COMMISION ON WOMEN’S ISSUES.
You honestly can’t make this crazy $hit up.
Vendetta Vale, I have to ask you an honest question.
As an educated woman, does this bother you? If not, I’m curious about your reasoning.
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1989858663746445670?s=43&t=A4dIfU1zY5Cy5R_zEZP9EQ
Healey just gave everyone in the state, especially women, the Byrd.
And lumpy the back door taxes thing. While all the student murder and gang bangers run around.
A 120MPH served Ace. Nice Dan!!
You got children murder children here Lump. No speeches concerning this diologue that even not is reporting nightly.
Markus,
Before I answer your question, let me point out the pattern you seem determined not to notice:
When I present facts, you dismiss them as “emotional.”
But now you’re asking me how I feel about something — and the moment my response contains both facts and clarity, you’ll claim I’m “too emotional” to be taken seriously.
You don’t get to weaponize my feelings in one breath and then request them in the next.
That’s not discourse; that’s bait.
Now, since you asked for my reasoning:
Your argument relies entirely on inaccurate terminology, unsupported accusations, and a fundamental misunderstanding of both Massachusetts law and the function of the Commission on the Status of Women.
Here are the facts:
So, does this “bother” me?
No — because I evaluate professionals based on qualifications and statutory compliance, not identity-based fearmongering.
What does register is the transphobia threaded through your narrative, and your attempt to frame that prejudice as a neutral “concern.”
You’re free to dislike DEI, state policy, or specific appointments.
But you’re not entitled to rewrite law, medical consensus, or reality to make your argument land.
If you have something substantive — statute, case law, documented misconduct — bring it.
If not, understand that calling a woman “too emotional” after she presents facts is not the winning point you think it is.
First off, I don’t believe I’ve ever said you’re “too emotional.”
What I did say is you like to blur the lines of a mental illness defined by the AMA as Gender Dysphoria, with political correctness and try and shame those (like myself) who don’t play make believe like yourself with adults.
Here’s a hint for you VV:
If you grab below a persons belt and grab some tree trunk and not a bush, it’s a man; regardless if HE is wearing women’s clothes.
To believe otherwise is placating a persons mental illness for political purposes.
Markus, darling — let’s pause your little monologue about “mental illness” and address the part you accidentally revealed about yourself.
Why exactly are you grabbing people below the belt?
Why is your entire argument centered on what’s between someone else’s legs?
Why are you so fixated on other adults’ genitals?
Most people can discuss identity, medicine, or policy without mentally groping strangers.
Your obsession with other people’s anatomy isn’t normal — and it certainly isn’t the moral high ground you think it is.
And here’s the real kicker:
Trans people aren’t harming you.
They’re not disrupting your life, invading your privacy, or causing you any measurable harm.
You know who is causing harm?
People who weaponize ignorance, mock medical conditions, and build their worldview around other people’s bodies.
Let me say this clearly so even you can follow along:
It seems to me the people who are transgender aren’t the ones struggling with mental illness — the ones obsessing over strangers’ genitals might want to take a quick look inward.
No one is asking you to “play pretend.”
We’re asking you to stop turning your personal discomfort into a crusade and stop confusing your fixation with a valid argument.
When you’re ready to have an adult conversation without fantasizing about what’s in someone else’s pants, Val will be here.
Until then, take your hands — and your imagination — off other people’s bodies. This is the behavior of a sexual predator, Sir.
Jim Crow was settled law too in spite of science and Common Sense.
Pittsfield has a new book store on North Street that will be hosting Drag Queen Story Hour for small children so Boston is clearly influencing this area. Pittsfield was also made a sanctuary city and we are seeing the results of that decision.
Pittsfield schools are reaching the point where there will be more days off than days spent in the classroom. It’s perfect for a far left school system that doesn’t want the young to be too smart. New York City elected a Socialist/Communist mayor and it was mostly college educated young women who voted for him. Mamdani wants government to take over private property and these young women are cheering him on. It’s the reason why housing really isn’t a big concern here in Pittsfield, despite what the Democrats keeping spouting, because they want most people, except for themselves, to be renters in the future.
Happy Friday, 11/21/2025
Hello Pat,
Don’t you find it strange with the millionaire surtax, the large tax/fees revenues from the lucrative multi-billion-dollar Massachusetts marijuana industry, the state’s three casinos, along with the (voluntary) regressive taxation state lottery SCAM, the high state excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco products, along with the Opioid settlement funds, and so on, that Boston is under-funding state aid to local governments that are now at a financial crisis point, while Beacon Hill/Boston lawmakers are enjoying their 6-weeks-long Holidays Season vacation, and on Tuesday night (11/25/2025), the 2-Pete’s Pittsfield politics will vote to giveaway $1 million from GE Fund to BIC, while earlier in the same month, they told senior citizens on a fixed income, as well as other low-to-moderate-income Pittsfield homeowners that their residential properties increased by over $20,000 in only one year’s time, which resulted in a 4.1 percent increase to their property tax bills, which is above the rate of inflation?
I have a request, please. Would someone read the above paragraph at the open mic segment of next Tuesday’s Pittsfield City Council meeting, please?
It is under 3 minutes long, so Voltron won’t be able to bang his gavel at you when you tell them that the 2-Pete’s Pittsfield politics pound people’s purses and persecute people who didn’t move away from Pittsfield.
Best wishes,
Jon Melle
It’s Time. Time for Dan to right a book about Bitchfield. Then a Movie.
the subtitle will be called….A Tired Community…by Dan Valenti…..
Pat,
At this point, the “Boston is corrupting Pittsfield” narrative isn’t just wrong — it’s imploding under the weight of basic facts.
Let’s review:
Not a single Boston tie anywhere.
Your whole geography conspiracy is held together with duct tape and wishful thinking.
And since you’re so busy stitching national politics into local issues, here’s a reality check you might’ve missed while spelunking in the rabbit hole:
Even Mamdami and Trump seem to have found areas of alignment lately — a pairing no one had on their political bingo card.
So if you truly believe Pittsfield is being secretly run by ideological puppeteers from Boston, you may want to crawl out of the warren for a breath of fresh air and take a look around.
The world is a little more complicated — and a lot less dramatic — than the script you’re reading from.
Local people.
Local choices.
Local outcomes.
No boogeyman required.
Not ideological,theres no evidence that ideology is moving things there. It’s just the mob which presumably has its center of gravity in Boston.
How is the snow fighting going in Pittsfueld? Did you gey some new expensive trucks and a fat budget? Boston bestowed highest honors upon your public works commisioner. That’s evidence for Pat’s point.
Let me straighten this out for you, because your comment is a casserole of half-formed ideas.
First, “not ideological”?
Please. Everything in municipal governance is ideological — whether acknowledged or not. Pretending otherwise doesn’t make you neutral; it just makes you unaware of the forces shaping the policy you’re commenting on.
Second, this mystical “mob in Boston” you keep invoking — that’s not analysis. That’s folklore. Pittsfield’s problems aren’t imported from I-90 East; they are handcrafted right here by our very own leadership. No need to outsource the dysfunction.
As for the snow-fighting budget and trucks:
If your argument hinges on equipment purchases and a ceremonial award from Boston, you don’t have an argument. You have talking points. Awards are political currency, not empirical evidence. They prove nothing except that someone shook the right hands at the right luncheon.
So if you’re attempting to build a case, you’ll need more than anecdotes and civic mythology. Bring data, bring policy, bring something other than “Boston said it, so it must be true.”
Until then, your point remains unproven, unsupported, and — like those new trucks — mostly for show.
All this talk about money. Any thoughts on these former employees (allegedly) stealing client information and bank assets from Mountain One?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Trv7iThUsYqoRTJQrV4x3Jwyd5uq8nwo/view?ref=ruralintelligence.com
Most interesting indeed, ABEL. The damage to a trusted financial institution of this kind of alleged subterfuge is almost beyond calculation.
My view is straightforward: this case is a fiduciary train wreck.
Three advisors allegedly built a competing firm while still on MountainOne’s payroll, lifted confidential client data, and used company resources and staff to do it. That’s not a misunderstanding — it’s a textbook breach of duty.
And let’s not ignore the backdrop: one of the defendants, Kestra, already has a documented history of this exact type of conduct. FINRA called them out for it in 2020. When a pattern appears, judges pay attention.
If the evidence matches the allegations, expect the court to move quickly: injunction, forensic imaging, data freezes, and a punishing 93A tab. Kestra will settle early to contain the damage. Green River will be scrambling to survive.
Didn’t they get tax abatement privileges from the city when they set up, on top of discounted or free land to build on? They may still be getting them along with so many other business s owned or ran by wealthy folk who never needed them in the first place.
Pittsfield is a grifters paradise.
City warning peeps that while it is raising taxes again, that on top of having the states worst rated schools it also now does not have enough people, plows or contractors to take care of the roads this winter and it will be up to YOU to be both patient and careful. And make sure you pack a lunch and keep it in your car in case you slide off into a ditch because no one will be able to get to you for a while either.
But cheer up cuz they be gonna start working on the 40 million dollar ballpark/special event emporium soon. And while getting to school and work and medical appointments safely in the winter may be important to you, please try to focus on how delicious that nine dollar Fenway Frank will taste once triple A ball takes hold on Waconah street.
Spend, Spend, Spend….because the price of the average Pittsfield home increased by over $20,000 in one year’s time, Mr. & Mrs. Kapanski!
It’s 10.oo with relish and onions. And the Bimmer will be throwing 10 dollar bag peanuts at you. Dan will be in a boat in the parking lot with his glove catching foul balls, signing books and ol Murph will be cheering the new team on,near the dugout fence.
The late Jim Bouton wrote “Foul Ball” about Pittsfield politics.
Dan Valenti could write “Bitchfield Ball”.
That could be a chapter name. I propose the title be Shittsfield; How a once fine city flushed itself down the shiitter.
It is actually BECOMING the shitter.
It’s Ben a shitter since shot glass.
Dan Valenti could write about shitty Syracuse football.
You could bitch about a Shiitty military career.
Only in Pittsfield do we receive an official notice that the city cannot adequately plow the roads, cannot staff essential services, and cannot remedy the lowest-rated schools in the state — yet can somehow justify a $40 million ballpark.
All of this unfolds under the same mayor who publicly acknowledged that his own policies “threw the community into chaos” and would result in “a bumpy road.”
On that point, he was entirely correct.
The community is in chaos, the roads are quite literally bumpy, and residents are now advised to pack provisions in the event their vehicle ends up in a ditch — all while being instructed to “be patient.”
If they gave the Sub Contractors a competitive wage to the market rate they wouldn’t have problems finding plow drivers. Cut back on the frivolous pork. Start with all the money the City pisses away on Downtown Shittsfield! Of course the School Department needs a good purging too.
Exactly. Like the money the Influencers got.
Are you talking about the $350,000 ARPA money that Linda “Flat” Tyer-Clairmont handed out to influencers to promote Picklefield?
It did absolutely nothing for Bitchfield economically, but I bet those kickbacks and “Christmas cards,” were hefty for those involved.
Digital marketing campaign boosts tourism in Pittsfield – Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA)
Betcha those “influence-rs” were not strangers to her. Maybe pals from the elitist circle?
And how much of that dough went under the table to those n y porkers?
Terrible investment.
Right on Bro.
It’s not about the budget, the policy is not to pay anyone who does any work for the residents since that is waste. Lifeguards, 911 operators, lunch ladies, water treatment plant operators: waste!
Total lack of interest in doing a serious audit of the budget and finances. All sorts of financial misdeeds taking place all over the county but Pittsfield seems to have no interest in finding out what is going on within.
It is just weird. All business people know the value and utter necessity of such a deep look and yet here we are staring off into space singing la la la laaa. No real budget cuts or even serious recommendations. Just tax and spend like high society folk during the gilded age.
You’re absolutely right — and the clearest proof of how deeply this city protects its insiders is the situation with Marchetti’s own niece, Abigail, at the Pittsfield Police Department. Just one example. I have dozens more in my vault.
Abigail has a documented history of overtime irregularities and failed to perform required statutory duties — failures serious enough that they triggered an ACLU lawsuit against the City of Pittsfield for violating public records law. And despite all of that, she still has her job.
Anyone outside the mayor’s family would have been terminated immediately.
But this is how Pittsfield operates under Marchetti:
family stays insulated — everyone else is disposable.
He governs by protecting the people who keep him secure, not the people who actually keep the city functioning. It’s about optics, numbers, political survival, and maintaining his inner circle — not about ethical governance or public trust.
That ACLU case makes it very clear:
The issue isn’t workload or staffing. It’s mismanagement and political shielding.
Here’s the case link:
https://www.aclum.org/cases/aclu-massachusetts-v-city-pittsfield/
So yes — the contracts are bad, the wages are behind market, but the rot goes deeper.
City Hall protects its own, especially the mayor’s family, while everyone else pays the price.
That’s the real problem.
And that’s exactly what needs to be cleaned out.
Good show, VALE. You have become an invaluable source.
Want a scary thought? Try to imagine Pittsfield’s NEXT mayor?
Here’s the real nightmare:
Not that Pittsfield will elect the wrong person — but that it will elect the same kind of person, wrapped in a new bio, new branding, and the same hollow promises.
And if history is any indication?
The next mayor will campaign on “moving forward,” get sworn in, and then spend the entire term explaining why nothing can actually move.
So no — imagining Pittsfield’s next mayor isn’t scary.
What’s scary is how many people will pretend to be surprised when the cycle repeats.
Most trenchant.
But now that he has officially warned us we cannot sue the city. Or complain.
Taking land without authority is unethical.
Lending half a million dollars to a nonexistent entity is, an actual crime unlike calling someone bitch, this actual Matters.
Yeah but this was an original previous administration feel good project and get that state money montre. Remember Blowvier and her Taconic resolution?The State Match? For funding.
Eventually if successful, the taxpayer will never see the 500g back? One councilor actually believes the reasoning for the 500g is it’s good for restaurant business. The same old reasoning.
Remember the battery company that fleeced us (shot glass)
Trump is not suited to be the President
I was watching a man from Monterey questioning the motives of the hundreds of thousands of dollars 18° Degrees gets, and how a movie that they had had made was tucked under the rug concerning the recent murders by two yuuuuths,
The gentleman that was presenting his comments, and was making interesting comments until Mayor White, I mean Council President White shut him down. The gentleman was bemiffred as he was the only speaker? And didn’t look to happy. After this episode a City employee gave out some cheesy awards for graduating a citizens academy. Which took well over three minutes. And was not interesting at all. White helped give out the award.
Looks like the City isn’t interested when youths are murdering or carrying guns.
November 23, 2025
Hello blogger Dan Valenti,
Someone posted on your blog: Planet Valenti: “You [Jon Melle] got your bag from the taxpayer already.”
My reply post: I served honorably in the U.S. Army, and I am a permanent and total 100 percent service-connected disabled Veteran.
My case is NOT the same as the 2-Pete’s Pittsfield politics Tuesday night’s vote to giveaway $1 million from the city’s GE Fund to BIC, while raising Pittsfield property taxes by 4.1 percent in the same month.
My case is NOT the same as the Boston state lawmakers, who are enjoying their 6-weeks Holidays Season vacation, having plenty of state revenues from the millionaire surtax, the multi-billion-dollar, lucrative marijuana industry taxes and fees, the Opioid settlement funds, casino and state lottery gambling regressive revenues, and so on, while severely under-funding state aid to local governments in Massachusetts, which are at a financial crisis point.
Then someone posted: “You [Jon Melle] could bitch about a ‘Shitty’ military career.”
I ask: What happened to being a good man?
Many successful people who have had accomplished careers have won at any cost without being a good man or woman.
I don’t care about being a big wheel in business or politics. My name is NOT Donald Trump, the billionaire U.S. President who always has to be the BIG number one.
If Trump or anyone else out there wants to take away my VA benefits to make themselves feel powerful and self-righteous, then go right ahead and betray me like so many self-important people have done to me over my 50-year-old life. I will still be a good man without my VA benefits hoping to live in a public housing unit instead of homeless shelter. My pretend homelessness sidewalk sits on the corner of First Street and Fenn Street in my native hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Nonetheless, most people respect me. Yes, Pittsfield State Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier and others like her blocks all of my political emails; since April 2025, Trump has NOT sent me a written response from The White House; Governor Maura Healey does not take me seriously when I write to her, especially about the alleged scandals at my alma mater, Pittsfield High School – (Class of 1993); and so on.
For close to the past 22 years, The Berkshire Eagle has blacklisted me from publishing my opinion letters to my native hometown newspaper (Pittsfield’s yellow rag). But at the end of the day, I am proud to be an American Citizen who exercises FREE SPEECH.
Best wishes,
Jon Melle
November 23, 2025
Hello blogger Dan Valenti,
Pittsfield hosted a community forum on homelessness whereby the speakers stated that the city’s funding is insufficient to meet the demands of providing social services programs for the people who are in most in need of them.
What is wrong with this picture?
We can say “hello” to everyone, be open and curious, lead with your heart, treat everyone without biases, generalizations and stereotypes, do not blame the underclass residents for litter and other unpleasant issues, but when it comes to city funding, it is not nearly enough to put a roof over people’s heads who have no other choice but to live out on the street.
In 2 days time, on Tuesday night, the 2-Pete’s Pittsfield politics will vote to giveaway $1 million from the GE Fund to BIC. Earlier in the same month, they raised Pittsfield property taxes by 4.1 percent. But there are insufficient city funds to care for the homeless residents who suffer in misery in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
As a disabled Veteran, I read that the VA stated that the leading cause of Veterans suicides is homelessness. We need to end homelessness instead of only talking and writing about it. Put a roof over people’s heads.
Best wishes,
Jon Melle
P.S. We cannot all live in $1 million mansions in Pittsfield’s elitist Gated Community neighborhood that is west of Berkshire Community College like my Enemy #1, who also lives in an upscale residence in Boston, along with owning other buildings in Pittsfield and Boston that he is wealthy landlord of, along with his lucrative “Berkshire Roots” marijuana business, along with his financial-based law office in Boston’s Financial District, who is none other than the mean-spirited millionaire Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior, along with his political neighbor, the former Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer and her millionaire 3rd husband, CPA Barry Clairmont, but it would be nice to live in luxury in Pittsfield instead of living on the streets there. My pretend homelessness sidewalk is on the corner of First Street and Fenn Street in my native hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, because I am not allowed in the aforementioned gated community neighborhood to claim my would-be pretend sidewalk there.
—–
“‘Be open and curious.’ Conversation about homelessness educates attendees at Wander in Pittsfield”
By Nate Harrington, The Berkshire Eagle, November 23, 2025
PITTSFIELD — The warmth of Wander Berkshires cafe helped foster a sense of safety to discuss a sensitive topic: What are the challenges with supporting people experiencing homelessness?
About 25 people joined Wednesday’s discussion, which ranged from talking about the specific programs people should be aware of to how saying “hello” can help everyone.
The event, titled “Unhoused,” was the fifth in a series of community conversations sponsored by the Berkshire United Way. The goal is to build a deeper community understanding of local issues. The sixth and final event, LGBTQ+ with Berkshire Pride and Seeing Rainbows, is scheduled for Dec. 3.
The series was born out of community, said Katherine von Haefen, the CEO and president of Berkshire United Way.
“A couple of our community partners and I came together and thought that the time was ready to bring the community together, to have conversations, to highlight what we call marginalized or vulnerable populations in the community,” she said.
Because of the topics covered, an important part of the conversation was a feeling of trust and safety in Wander, a trans-owned downtown cafe and event space.
Michael Obasohan, the chief diversity officer for the city of Pittsfield, and Rachel Melendez Mabee, the vice president of culture and brand at Greylock Federal Credit Union, helped establish some base rules to keep the conversation productive and attendees feeling safe.
The pair fielded answers from the crowd, jotting down rules like “be aware of biases, be present, be vulnerable and take care of yourself” on a large yellow pad of paper.
Eileen Peltier, CEO and president of Hearthway, and Erin Forbush, senior director of shelter and housing for ServiceNet, led the conversation.
Both organizations deal intimately with people experiencing homelessness. Hearthway works to get people into housing and ServiceNet operates the shelters and other related services in Berkshire County.
The pair gave a quick overview on their organizations and then jumped into answering questions and responding to comments from the attendees.
They answered questions about funding — which is not sufficient to meet the demand, said Forbush — and what services are available for people experiencing homelessness. Peltier and Forbush both referenced already opened shelters and the forthcoming resource center at the Zion Lutheran Church.
Although the conversation was wide-ranging, one common theme was touched upon by Peltier and Forbush: approaching people with curiosity and kindness.
“If there’s a message that’s going to change things, is to be open and curious and be here and not here,” Peltier said, pointing first to her heart and then to her head. “There’s, you know, there is a lot of generalizations, a lot of judgment in our community and everywhere.”
This curiosity helps people get past generalizations and stereotypes, Forbush said, and can uncover the human story behind people.
“People who are unhoused are currently being blamed for all the ills of the economy and, you know, cigarette butt on the street, like it’s everything is sort of directed towards their targets right now,” Forbush said. “So, you know, check the blame game.”
This sentiment is what Haefen said she wanted attendees to take away: “Lead with your heart, lead with curiosity, instead of just making assumptions and judging people for things that may not necessarily be true.”
Dan,
How was your even at B&N?
It went well. Robust sales and a special “happening” that I present today (Monday).
I might add that the bookstore has a dedicated table with Kubrick books and a couple of my baseball titles. On your way to Starbucks there, you’ll see the table.
Dan. We have to all get on board here even if it takes a couple of your insiders on here pro or con. I realize you have an allegiance to a couple folks on here,That’s fine. But the Chicanery and blatant goings on here is unbelievable.
Jon the draft fluk up,yes J- Low hit the nail on the head locally here, when he called out the Bitchfield Gene Pool. From Carmen right to Bitchfield himself, has been nothing but a Shit-Show.
Same plurality at the voting booths confirm that.
I was walking down partridge rd. Last week and went over the eight or nine speed bumps. I said to myself? Why are these needed? And how much did this idiot d p w goofball appropriate for this nonsense. That’s one of many appropriations.
Agree 100%
Someone mentioned Ricardo said it’ll take time to plow the streets. Is it because we don’t have the bodies or the Money,bicycle boy? What this Does mean is you’ll have to shovel your own asses out. Then they’ll plow your ass in.
Another was actually on my street off elm. They took out the curbs and well,let’s be nice,they didn’t know what the fuck they were doing and had to re-do over?