GE’s COMING TO BOSTON. HOORAY!! … BUT! … DID PcbITTSFIELD ONCE AGAIN GET SNOOKERED?
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, FEB. 4, 2016) — There is a star-bursting rumor circulating with respect to Pittsfield regarding GE‘s recent decision to move its corporate HQ from Fairfield, CT to Boston. THE PLANET has heard it cross-referenced among several key sources for a few weeks.
One of the “understandings” of GE’s move to Boston, according to one of THE PLANET‘s sources, was a guarantee given to the company by the state. Supposedly, the stipulation dictated that the 1998 Consent Decree would not be reopened with respect to negotiating new liability on the part of GE regarding industrial toxins left in the city’s land, water, and air. Sources say Pittsfield wasn’t informed until after the state and GE reached an understanding.
SILVER LAKE, looking east-southeast. (PHOTO: iBerkshires)
If true, it would mean that GE’s one-time payoff of $10 million to the city, the cap on Silver Lake, and the location and status of Hill 78 would become “non-negotiable.” No re-openers. Period. Was this part of the GE-to-Boston move? Just a question.
The question is not just curious. It’s monumental. When re-opening the consent decree was discussed in Pittsfield a few elections back, we heard it sent shock waves through the company. Councilor Melissa Mazzeo made reopening the agreement a campaign issue. We all know what happened after she won re-election. She dropped the matter faster than a blink.
Comments Show Toxicity from GE Still a Touchy Topic
Two recent comments from readers come to mind, the first from Jonathan Melle:
GE didn’t cleanup most of the PCBs chemical toxic waste pollution in Pittsfield! Instead, GE capped the pollution. That is what GE wants to do with most of the Housatonic River, too. Caps do not last forever. From day one, caps need to be monitored for their effectiveness in stopping the spread of pollution. Caps last between 20 to 30 years. After the caps outlive their usefulness, the pollution needs to be cleaned up again and then recapped. It is an ongoing cycle. When GE says “cost effective”, they mean capping most of the PCBs in Pittsfield and now the Housatonic River.
Then there was this double query from PLANET correspondent “Irwin Corey:”
Silver Lake is spring feed and it does empty into the Housatonic river. How can you cap a pond that’s spring feed? Won’t the pressure of in coming water push whatever’s in the sediment into the lake? Why did the EPA screw around downstream without solving Silver
lake?
Here’s a link with an interactive map of “old” Pittsfield, circa 1899, just prior to GE coming to town. You will notice Silver Lake and the surrounding land is pristine. It’s a sad view, seeing this unspoiled gem of nature prior to its death by poison. The map shows a stream from Silver Lake running under East Street, then called Beaver Street.
http://www.loc.gov/resource/g3764p.pm003182/
Today there is a pipe or culvert that runs under East Street. Water from Silver Lake flows from it in the Housatonic.
That may answer the question of build-up, but how long will the Silver Lake cap last? Moreover, if you take a look at the remediation around the lake, it would appear GE got off cheaply. Couldn’t the landscaping have been more parklike and less “weedy?” And check out the shoreline. There is still a lot of debris — weeds, dead logs, rocks. What about maintenance? In one of the movies THE PLANET made this summer for PLANET VALENTI TELEVISION, we featured segments on how badly the city let the plantings around the lake fall into neglect. If the city had to settle for a lake cap, couldn’t it have at least pressed harder to saddle GE for better landscaping with lifetime upkeep?
Ah, but we dream. The city sent Tom Hickey, Gerry Doyle, and the Hon. Charles H. Hungadunga, Esq., up against a building full of Fairfield’s top corporate attorneys. It was the Great Whites vs. the guppies. THE PLANET needn’t tell you who won.
Pittsfield got snookered 20 years ago, and the economic effects are only now about to be fully felt with the city’s aging population, the loss of GE retiree money, and a score of disastrous municipal budgets. Thus we wonder with GE’s move to Boston, did Pittsfield get sent to the sacrificial altar once again?
THE PLANET intends to celebrate this summer by swimming in Silver Lake. They tell us is can be done. Safely.
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“Open the pod bay doors, HAL.” — David Bowman to HAL in Stanley Kubrick‘s 2001: A Space Odyssey, (1968).
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
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I am told Doyle works a local funeral home now. How appropriate for the man who all but put Pittsfield in the grave.
You can find Hickey as the occasional co-host of No Klew Lew Markham’s PCTV show “Consider This.” Hickey has stated on the show that there is no such thing as a Good Ole Boy network in Pittsfield. This is the funniest show on PCTV even though it’s not meant to be. Lew tells us that this city is moving forward…..If you say so No Klew…..Oi Vey.
I saw noklew’s show last night. Marchetti wasn’t bad noklew didn’t say as much dumb stuff as usual. Lothrop however was a bore and quite the windbag. He’s not a wing man, he’s a wind man. The call ins were sort of silly.
Charles H. Hungadunga? Captain Spalding’s cousin or Prof. Wagstaff’s dad?
Like the last Pittsfield murder, you will not be hearing about GE bailing on Pittsfield. Not in the Eagle, not from city hall. Everything in Pittsfield is wonderful. No warts. No chips, cracks or staining.
I think it’s more like Boston bailing on Pittsfield. Let Pittsfield deal with it’s pollution because Boston wants GE in its beautiful city.
Once again Dan is just getting the Planets stired up. I’m not a lawyer but I’m pretty sure there is no way the state could legally sign a agreement like that.
Vic, you are correct. The State would never sign an agreement like that – but it could become the unwritten policy, and DEP could just take a hands off approach. Kind of like they have been doing for the past few years.
As for the weeds and dead wood – that is to create a naturalized shoreline (no joke). The best wildlife lives in the edge habitat, and if the shoreline were more sterile (i.e. park like), there would be fewer things like blue herons and the like. I would imagine the thicker growth (what looks like weeds) also keeps a lot of the road silt out of the lake.
I walk by a lot and there are tons of bird watchers there – and they tell me it has become a mecca of urban birding.
It would be nice if the trail area was mowed though.
We want it natural. We want a park. We want whatever it isn’t. Does Pittsfield understand with population shrinking by 25% it cannot maintain the park system built for 75k people?
SE, see my reply to VIC.
VIC
I agree completely: “[T]here is no way the state could legally sign a[n] agreement like that” but with these provisos:
(1) The state (or anyone else) “could” sign an agreement on anything, with any terms. You mean to say “would,” as in, “… no way the state would …”
(2) More importantly, who said they SIGNED anything? Nowhere did I mention a signed contract, deal, or agreement. If this deal happened as some sources claim, it was a tacit understanding. That’s how these things are done. The cold turkey is negotiated in private, with no paper trail. The hot, roasted butterball you see served on the public table is something else altogether.
For an object lesson, let all who have ears hear, and all who have eyes see. Our reader in this case assumed that because we mentioned an agreement, there was a signed, public deal. The point: Read carefully my words. Listen carefully to what I say. I write and speak what I write and speak — not what anyone THINKS I write and speak. That’s how many wild rumors about THE PLANET get circulated. People read or hear second- and third-hand. Why, Supt. JIV himself admitted this to me. When that happens, each translation outs more an more words into my pen and mouth — things I never wrote or said but that people assume I did.
Great article Planet, again! Have to agree with the capping theory, as it relates to dredging. You can also apply Hill 78 to this theory, as erosion is a vertical process into the ground. Why don’t we just call G E’s move to the Southeast……The Boston Massacre.
One of the complaints GE has about the rest of the river cleanup is that the EPA wants GE to move all of the excavated sediment out of State. Playing devils advocate, one can see the point – besides cost – isn’t that just relocating one community’s toxic waste to another? who honestly wants to be on the receiving end of that?
I hear that the people living right near the river want no part of the EPA solution.
How does everyone feel about Adam Hinds running for Senator?
One word… Who?
oh the poverty industry will get behind Adam. I mean funding for midnight basketball and coffee with a cop programs work so much better than cutting taxes, bringing in real jobs to an area and creating a strong economy. I mean why not elect a guy whose solution to crime and poverty would be to keep the poverty and institute more programs? Its worked so well thus far hasn’t it?
I agree. Poverty is helping government to get even bigger.
Read about him in the Berkshire Eagle or iberkshires yesterdays edition.
Hinds has only been at his current job since September 2015 and now wants to quit.
He’s rising so fast around here, gotta suspect he is the Manchurian Candidate.
Pittsfield is getting $500k a year to combat gang violence- that equals spending $1,900 a day, Monday to Friday. Not a lot of oversight into this money. Probably going into the hands of gangs, actually. Ironically the “Youth Center” is right next to a shop the owner of which used to allegedly sell cocaine, probably still does.
He even looks like a Manchurian candidate.
Does anybody make sure the money in this city goes where its supposed to go?
Great question, PAT. I wonder what AH would do if I asked him for a copy of the books, so I could have an independent look?
I think he will be a great Senator. His background, experience and commitment has already made a great impression with many people in Pittsfield and North County. I will support him all the way
I have the Purrfect candidate for State Senator….Whoever the Dems want to Wheel Out! Surprised Paul Mark hasn’t announced?
Paul Stretch Mark?
Dan Valenti is right about Pittsfield’s PCBs chemicals left behind by GE. They capped a majority of these cancer causing chemicals, knowing that the caps do not protect local residents from getting cancer. I wish the Berkshire Eagle would publish a list of all of the names of people who have suffered from cancer in Pittsfield. A family friend who lived in Pittsfield died of brain cancer 2 days prior to Christmas 2015. My paternal grandfather died of brain cancer, too. My family member suffered buy survived 2 bouts of cancer. I just don’t understand why this huge problematic issue persists with lies and corruption! The Consent Decree is fraudulent and needs to be reopened with a real cleanup of Pittsfield’s chemicals. Gerry Doyle and Jack Welch are unconscionable. The federal and state government are also unconscionable. People have and will continue to suffer and die from cancer in Pittsfield when there are viable solutions to cleaning up PCBs!
I wouldn’t eat PCB but they have never been proven to cause cancer. After several decades of trying to prove that they do the best that the EPA can say is that they suspect that they might. In other words, a definite maybe.
No surprise that Boston has screwed Pittsfield/Berkshire County again. Most of the state taxes and fees (taxes) we pay are poured into Boston. We helped pay for the most corrupt construction project in history, the Big Dig which does nothing at all for us here. Back came the Mass Pike tolls for exits 1-4 so that we can once again help pay for eastern MA. It just goes on and on.
North Adams’ City budget is well over 50% state funds. Pittsfield is up there too. Barking up the wrong tree, The Berkshires are a recipient area, not a donor area, of state taxes and fees.
Last time I checked Vic the state of massachusetts was doing a good job of picking my pocket……pittsfield did a good job on the 1st of robbing me….maybe you don’t pay taxes.
Great article, DV. Appreciate all you do to give us coverage we can’t get anywhere else.
Thought for the Day: Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy……Glen Frey!
Adams Hinds is another Obama….a community organizer who will continue up the political ladder with the help of “liberals” in this county…..even though he lacks political experience.
The fact that he is not qualified for the position doesn’t matter to the do-gooders.
He’s really a poverty pimp. Ever since LBJ pushed through his “great society” programs progressives have been scrambling to undo the damage LBJ did. Pittsfield is in this category. How Hinds wants to go to Boston and do for the state what he did for Pittsfield which was primarily to waste tax payer money. He’ll fit right in with the Berkshire delegation.
With about 70% of Pittsfield residents living in poverty, Adam Hinds will actually help all of the poor people living in Western Massachusetts. I like him! I hope he succeeds in his campaign for Berkshire State Senator!
You say “he will actually help all the poor people” And will he help all the “poor” taxpayers who are shelling out their hard earned money for these programs….some of which are questionable.
I would like to see a candidate come forward who will truly represent them.
If only the do-gooders would actually do good things.
http://www.iberkshires.com/story/51144/Old-Country-Buffet-Abruptly-Closes-in-Pittsfield.html
Next ????
Should have closed two years ago…horrible food high prices dirty silverware
heart attacks and strokes instantly went down.
I loved Old Country Buffet. Very sad. They had healthy food too. You just had to make the right choices just like any restaurant. All the people putting down Old Country Buffet probably go to the high priced restaurants in South County and this is why they turn up their noses at Old Country Buffet. Sorry, but for the 70% of the poor living here in Pittsfield, Old Country Buffet was a good choice. Problem is that even the poor can’t afford to eat out as much as before and by poor I also mean the middle class footing the bills for the Pittsfield school system.
Soon Berkshire County will be just a playground for the rich which I believe is what the plan of the GOB’s has been all along. Those on public assistance will have nowhere to go out to eat or shop, but they will have their monthly government check and will keep the non-profits in business. The wealthy will also be able to survive here, but nobody in the middle income range.
Smart and frugal residents cook their own food.
Not 365 days out of the year they don’t. At least this woman doesn’t and I’m as frugal as you can get since I do cook most meals at home, but even I want to go to a restaurant on Valentine’s Day, my birthday and on our anniversary and just relax and let someone else prepare the food.
I’m not sure the OCB was ‘affordable’. It was, however, a great place for a last date.
What will happen to the poor slobs that filled their plate high, took a few bites then dumped the rest then went up to get a new plate?
Sorry, but the poor people I know never did that. They don’t believe in wasting food. I went to Old Country Buffet many times and enjoyed the food. They made salmon that was very good not to mention roast beef and ham. I always took my in-laws there and they loved it as well.
We went there quite often with the grandkids. Loved the fried chicken and the clam chowder on Fridays. Did a few breakfasts also and yes, I did see certain people do what I described. The wasted food was awful.
Their chicken soup was great too with big chunks of chicken in it. Let’s not forget the spaghetti with hamburger in the sauce. I miss that restaurant already!!!
Did Mayor Tyer go knocking on the Manager’s door like she said she’d do during the campaign after Sabic’s sudden announcement that they were leaving?
Mayor tyer should bring yon,mccandless, amuso,in for a 2 hour call in show to see what they know about the pittsfield economy, we always assume they know…pittsfield lost 60 more jobs with another business closing. ..they must not know. ..the economy tyer inherited is worse than the grammar school principles mccandless inherited……
I watched Matt bishop of phs talk about a new a p program and yon,Taylor and the other woman were blushing and giggling as this man spoke…he could have said he needed 2 million dollars and they would have said yes…I saw curtis blushing ,it was weird, they are nuts….I don’t even think they know they are doing it….this is the school committee, amuso and yon did this with eberwien …
Bianchi and Degnan used to do the same thing on Camera at the City Council Meetings……..Morons
Cannot disagre, SPA, particularly wit the last word.
They are laughing and giggling all the way to the bank. They have lots of money and aren’t worried about their finances so they can afford to giggle and not care about the majority of the people in the city of Pittsfield. They think they are doing all this great stuff and for the greedy school department they are, but not for the rest of the city.
Lack of professionalism, all the way. No wonder they are scared spitless about facing honest questions!
The new mayor has been traveling to Boston a lot, any reason? She did recently sign a police officer in…she be 1/27 of the way there?
70 of every 100 dollars goes to…..T H E M.
Snow White ( Cindy ) was full of glee at the end of the last S C M.
“Snow White” — like that one, too, for Cindy Taylor. DC, do you want the gig as one of THE PLANET’s “Namers?”
The School Committee has aged some of the members.
Jake and Curt is Jump and JIV, I jump you JIV
Jump ‘n JIV. It’s got a ring to it, NOTA!
Amuso, mazzeo, Taylor, yon,dan,councilor Kool all blush at school request,grilled I say grilled highway….highway dept head was not in the political brotherhood….amuso killed this guy ,she’s so worried about money spent on icy roads….eberwien would spend thousands on staff day….no problem. ..he would let her talk about education…on and on…blushing at school dept money….but now grills highway
Why won’t amuso blush at highway spending,yon and amuso blushed at every dollar eberwien spent……….Allendale school is built on a toxic swamp yon and amuso allow children to be educated in this swamp…blush at that,ge got caught lying about pcbs,pittsfield ma is worse off than flint Michigan
Who was the politician that once said, going to school next to the Hill will make a student tougher?
Many years ago, went to Country Buffet, once. Not by choice, entered the joint after drinking, thought it was a bar.
,