LENIHAN v. PITTSFIELD PART 4: A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
Last of Four Parts
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, AUG. 27, 2015) — In accusing the mayor, police chief Mike Wynn, and Capt. David Granger of intimidation, conspiracy, and a other harmful actions in a federal lawsuit, Sgt. Mark Lenihan has given rise to PPD sources who have become more emboldened about speaking out against what they claim is factionalism that’s tearing the department apart.
In wake of the second murder and incident of gunfire at the end of July, the one that left a teen shot to death and another wounded on Tyler Street, THE PLANET heard from several sources. One with knwledge of the department’s operations said this:
“I find it unbelievable that there has been yet another shooting and the public is crying for the department to do something, and [the] response is to have Captain Granger and Lt. Mark Trapani out riding bicycles on North Street, of all places, at time-and-a-half. Those two salaries combined could put another patrol officer or two on the street in high crime areas.
“Also, prior to the Granger/Wynn regime captains and lieutenants were NEVER allowed to work overtime due to obvious cost reasons and the fact that it deprived patrol officers of the opportunity. This is a sad miscarriage of injustice and a wast of taxpayers money.”
THE PLANET has requests for comment in to the mayor, Chief Wynn, Capt. Granger, and Officer Trapani.
OT Patrols at Issue
A source told THE PLANET that Sgt. Matt Hill, president of the supervisors’ union, “is not happy with Granger’s ‘selection’ for overtime patrols that should be going to others.” This source claims that several members “got screwed by the department.” These include, the source claims, Sean Klink, Darren Cowell, and Ignatios Matos. The source listed other officers who have felt the wrath of Capt. Granger: Christopher Kennedy, Walter Powell, John Murphy 3rd (patrol officer, not sergeant), Dale Eason, Dave Hallas, Nicholas Sondrini, Jennifer Breukman, Det. Thomas Harrington, Hill, and Lenihan.
THE PLANET cannot avow for the certainty of these claims, but in light of Lenihan’s lawsuit, they have received a dose of credibility.
The Stakes are High
In the end, all of this boils down to a question of leadership. The ultimate source for the city’s direction stems from the corner office. Thus far, the mayor has not said a word about this case. Obviously, the police department is unsettled, and that can’t bode well for public safety. The enormity of the situation comes into focus when you consider the trends in population (decreasing), tax base (shrinking), economy (service-based and incapable of supporting people and families), and crime (skyrocketing).
More and more, people are afraid, with good reason, not only to venture to parks and the downtown but have been warned to initiate a lockdown of their homes, cars, and neighborhoods.
The mayor is in over his head. This isn’t just a matter of politics, or getting or losing votes. This is a matter of life and death — the life and death of individuals, the life and death of an entire city.
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“She broke down and let me in. / Made me see where I’ve been. / Been down one time. / Been down two times. / I’m never going back again.” — Fleetwood Mack, “Never Going Back Again,” from the Rumours album, (1977).
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
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King Midas was given a power where everything he touched turned to gold. Bianchi thinks he has this power but most of what he touches turns to shit. Over and over.
There was talk of recalling him way back when and it appears it was a sorely missed opportunity. But the people need to bone up on this procedure because given our very weak choices, no matter who gets elected this time, we may need relief.
No matter what….the Pittsfield Citizens need to step up and Vote this Arrogant destruction out. The turmoil in City Hall and all Departments is on him and him only. He is exemplary all right. That statement from Darren Lee takes the cake.! One statement sure to come back again and again.
Pittsfield use to have one year terms for mayor that were partisan elections. In 1934 the charter was changed to 2 year terms non partisan elections. Fast forward to the wonderful document we have today of the new charter, we will have 4 year terms. The best is yet to come or Furgeson and Baltimore coming to Neighborhood near you. I don’t know if term limits are the answer to our problem or not but clearly there is a lot of anger out there.
I would be curious to know how many voters bothered to vote for or against this charter. Before they voted did they read any part of it or follow any of the televised hearings by the charter review committee chaired incidentally by Linda Tyer. Or were the kardasians on?
Ron…I see you use to be a police officer for the Pittsfield Police Department and you seem to know a lot about the internal upper management abuse of power. Could either you or The Planet explain how Chief Wynn was suppose to report to Pittsfield District Court because he failed to pay for an outstanding credit card balance but failed to appear. I believe if you fail to show up for court then a warrant would be issued for your arrest. For some reason this issue was swept under the carpet and the Chief did not have to answer for this larceny. Also it is my understanding that Dave Kirchner was never charged with a crime over the steroid incident because Captain David Granger blackmailed Dave Capeless by threatening to go public with his handling of a Berkshire County Drug Task Force member who was caught up in a cocaine sting. It sounds to me that both the Chief and Captain Granger are very shady and should be investigated.
So Ron you were a cop, tell us is this all true or is this just Dan being Dan?
The New Charter is a stroke of dictatorship. This does not in any way bring a Community together or move it forward. It’s about Control and destruction. This is Signature with the current sitting Mayor.
I voted against the charter !!!!
Question, a poster yesterday mentioned a “forum” of mayoral candidates of some sort that apparently took place also yesterday. Was there such a thing? And if so…why is there absolutely ZERO written about in on the Eagle web site today? If something like that occurred and wasn’t covered by the newspaper of record, that is truly shocking and reprehensible.
Yup…wow. The Gazette has the story. Isn’t that real, hard news in this city? That the 4 mayoral candidates sat in the same room and discussed issues. I am blown away by how shockingly piss poor the Eagle is at doing its job.
We have terrible news coverage in this area. They only print what they want you to hear.
The Pittsfield Gazette was not notified of this forum but heard about it through the grape vine. Jonathan went to cover it.
I bought a Pittsfield Gazette tonight thinking it had the article about the mayoral candidates, but it was the wrong issue. Will have to go back to Big Y tomorrow and see if they have the latest edition of Pittsfield Gazette available.
Aren’t Capt. and Lt. supervisory type positions? If so, why on earth are they getting paid OT in the first place? In the private sector management and supervisory positions are always exempt, salaried positions not eligible for OT. Is everyone seeing how horrible these union/politician negotiated contracts are for the hard working taxpayer?
@ Santanio Valdez who do you think I am Donald Trump ? ” Who do you think is doing the raping?, somebody is doing the raping “
This is not unlike the private sector, where a group leader with a higher rate who distributes overtime, take overtime also at the higher rate. If you’re short staffed who’s going to complain?
The next time the liars tell you that Pittsfield taxes are not high, show them these numbers from a nearby town with almost no crime, an excellent school system, and well kept roads:
Assessed: $226,400
Tax: $3165.07
Tax Year: 2015
Which nearby town pray tell us?
If you do the research you’ll find there are numerous towns in western ma with tax rates much lower than Pittsfield. Here’s something to chew on:
Northhampton residential tax rate: $15.80
Pittsfield: $18.06.
Which place would you rather live? The fact that a town of 29 thousand people can have a tax rate that much lower, and provide a much better quality of life, just shows how f’d up this ‘city’ is.
So when the liars throw up a bunch of tax rates higher than Pittsfield it’s because they cherry picked the data to find them. But then they leave out the fact that the towns with higher tax rates offer a much higher quality of life.
What’s the average house cost in Northampton ?
It is significantly higher than Pittsfield. So if you own a home in NoHo, when you sell it you get alot more money for it, to put in your pocket for retirement.
http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/bbj_research_alert/2015/01/massachusetts-property-tax-rates-in-2015-by-town.html
When you look at the chart on this website, please notice the Average Single Family Tax Bill column. Pittsfield had a higher tax rate but is lower than many towns in terms of the average single family tax bill column. I also don’t know if comparing Pittsfield to a college town is fair or not. I’m not saying it is or isn’t, just that I don’t know the answer.
MS, thank you for that link. I encourage everyone to check it out. According to that, Pittsfield has the 5th highest commercial tax rate in the state! And it’ll just get worse once the new Taconic is built No wonder businesses won’t come here.
Pittsfield has a poverty rate of 70% of the population. The taxes are way too high when you take into consideration the poverty rate.
How much do you pay for garbage pickup?
I’d rather pay a small amount for trash pickup than dodge bullets on Tyler St., have criminals cleaning off roofs at schools, have to clear sidewalks the city owns, ruin my car on potholes, and put up with an under performing school system.
tax rates are a mirage. in GB, the rate is lower, and the average house is worth about $500K – with a tax bill of $5500.
Northampton has way more crime than you read about. it abuts Holyoke, and I applied for a job there a couple of years ago. the interview team included the police chief who said that the drug and violent crime was extremely high – they are like the BB in that the newspaper has a see no evil, print no evil attitude..
all is not as it appears to paraphrase someone famous.
SE, please find the last time a shooting and murder in North Hampton occurred and let me know what year it was in. Compare Look Park to The Common. Compare the downtown appearance of NoHo to Pittsfield, including their respective parking garages. When I walk on Main St. in NoHo I feel safe. Here I don’t. If you had a free choice where to live, which place would you choose? If you say Pittsfield I don’t believe you.
And North Hampton does not abut Holyoke. Google Map is a wonderful thing!
actually, Northampton abuts Easthampton and Holyoke on the south. I-91 goes through Easthampton first before Holyoke – and Rt 5 goes through Holyoke after leaving Noho.
Yes it looks great. yes there are tons of gang bangers there. yes the drug dealing is high there – no shootings, but they have a good number of crimes. And at night while businesses are open, it is very safe – and if we had more nightlife here – we would be or feel safer too. if you just judge by what you see then noho is paradise.
would I choose noho or Pittsfield? neither actually. I would prefer to live on top of a mountain with no neighbors about 10 miles from Pittsfield – like I did while growing up.
http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Northampton-Massachusetts.html
Sol,
So would I. We need a Leadership that leads their Departments, and brings Government and City together. Positive decisions that move a broken system forward. Cleans out the corrupt, and shows them the door. Listens to Taxpayer voices, and includes them in decisions that put them on the hook for Millions of Dollars . That puts Public Trust and Safety on top of their list. What Pittsfield went through last Winter is unacceptable. The roads were deplorable, while we watched private plows going up and down streets over and over suckling up overtime. Incompetence reeks in the current Government. Workers can’t speak, and are scared of retaliation. This borders on criminal.
The Police Department is imploding because of the same Culture.
Who the hell would question a Vote for Bianchi.
Love to see City hire part time officer’s to help control over time. Once a opening becomes available, they become full-time.
Good idea, but me thinks the union would squash that in a millisecond.
Come on guys. ome times neglect is a good thing. We currently have multiple Lakes in the city, and now, we have a couple nice Forests, Hess and outer West Housy…enjoy!
https://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cispdf/County_Map.pdf
If you look closely at the map you’ll see that NoHo does not abut Holyoke. Easthampton and Hadley do. Look again.
Morgan, thank you for the link. According to that the last murder in NoHo was in 2010. When was the last murder in Pittsfield? Just last month! These shootings and murders are what have so many people scared and worried here.
I agree SOL. It’s scary to think of what Pittsfield has become. Something has to be done about the safety of our citizens. I wish I knew the answer to that……perhaps a mayor who cared about us and who would research other communities like ours to see if there has been success in curtailing these crimes? Sometimes it feels like the laws were made to protect the criminals.
How can we take back our city? I know that I would fear for my life in doing so.
Fear what you want, man, but I figure I’m much more likely to be killed by a texting teen driver.
Perhaps a texting teen gang banger on his way to do a hit job.
That could be true Maxwell Edison. My point was that I don’t know how we can take back our city without the fear of getting shot in the process. I am curious as to whether you have your own ideas in finding a solution.
I’m an old man, I don’t have a very modern way of thinking, and I am not able to recall everything I wish I could. Back in my day, the cops or someone with influence would be able to approach thugs and tell them to get out of town and don’t come back. Said thugs would be fearful and leave town. I’m no cop and certainly not anyone with any influence but if I were to approach the thugs of today and tell them this is my city, you don’t belong here, and get the hell out and don’t come back said thugs would laugh at an old man like me and probably not hesitate to shoot me. That is the fear I was talking about. If there is a solution to getting rid of the worse crimes in the city it’s highly unlikely I’d live to see it.You can laugh at this post, and I understand and take no offense. It’s sad for all of us, no matter our age, to see what Pittsfield has become.
Mr. Stern,
I will say this. Taking a small child for an ice cream cone on Tyler Street, makes one think perhaps I shouldnt. Taking the same small child to the new Common playground invokes the same second guessing. Is this adult fear in Pittsfield? Yes, Mr. Stern, I agree it is.
This Administration and Council doesn’t compare how good the tax rate is with surrounding communities, they goe to New York State for that comparison,which is much higher. Then tell us slobs we have a great rate. Kick a Buck!
I feel bad for our police force. They do there job, arresting the dirt bags and drug dealers only to watch the judges let them off with probation and light sentences.
ANYONE THAT WEARS A BADGE UNLESS THEY THERE ARE ROGUE POLICE OFFICERS SHOULD BE RESPECTED BY THE COMMUNITY. IN DEFENSE OF THE CITY SOLICITOR THE LEGAL PERAMITERS DON’T PERMIT PUBLIC LITIGATION?
Is CG back with the all CAPS?