LETTERS TO THE EDITOR PUT TARGET ON OVER-SPENDING SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION, APRIL 22-24, 2016) — Spring is here, so as we clean up the yard, let’s also clean the mail bag, which has been building up.
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Such a Deal!
To THE PLANET:
A few weeks ago THE PLANET reported on the 100% increase from what was promised when [mayor] Dan Bianchi moved the city out of the state’s GIC pool and into Blue Cross/Blue Shield. The advertised rate of 4.5% turned into 9%, while the GIC increase came in at 3%. As a concerned taxpayer, can you find out what portion I pay? — Edward
THE PLANET Responds: Here are the FY’16 rates:
- Blue Cross HMO, Family Plan, $1,415.32 per month. The city employee pays $212.30 of that, leaving taxpayers to pick up $1,202.02 for each employee.
- The Blue Cross PPO Benchmark Family coverage goes for $1,566,66 per month, with the employee paying $235 and taxpayers $1,331.66.
For FY’17, these figures are going up 9%. The Pittsfield School Department is by far the largest in the city, with more than 1,200 employees. As we earlier reported, rates for FY’18 are listed as “?” — in other words, sky’s the limit. $ $ $ $ coming soon, with out of control taxes, because of the sainted PSD.
Those working in The Dreaded Private Sector can only dream of such a deal. They’re lucky to have any health insurance coverage provided by their employers, and then at 50-50 or 60-40.
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‘The Reality Light’
To THE PLANET:
I finally had a chance to view the March 9th school committee meeting. The vote of the committee was highly irresponsible and today I see that the superintendent is looking for more money [ED NOTE: Yes, $2.2 million more]. Do any of the PSC members think that Pittsfield taxpayers, many of whom are living on a fixed income, can afford more property tax to fund your exorbitant spending? They are nudging our city toward bankruptcy. What will it take for the PSC to see the reality light? — Dave
THE PLANET Responds: What will it take? How about voting them out of office? Short of that, how about recruiting a few Moe Howards to throw pies in their faces. Lady Boots gets custard, Grandpa Munster Jr. gets lime, and so on. Dave, how’s your pitching arm? Ours is in great shape!
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‘Yon, McCandless Think Everyone is Stupid’
To THE PLANET:
[School committee chair] Mrs. Yon and Supt. McCandless think everyone is stupid. They added $1.7 million to cut $1.4 million, and we are going to believe they don’t sit at private meetings on how to play games with budgets? Mayor Tyer had 3 months to come up with a plan to cut $2 million dollars and to do this you have to close 1 high school and Crosby Elementary, which is costing Pittsfield half a million a year just to keep it standing. She will give us the useless new idea that adds up to nothing….Seems like the airport is the diversion during school budget time.
If Jack Welch [was the superintendent’s boss and] said come in with a 5 percent budget cut and make it work or your fired, Mr. McCandless would do that.
There are no other departmental budgets to cut [other than the schools]. Close Crosby, close a high school.The students need to share real estate with each other, share heat, kitchens, roofs, teachers, maintenance people, plumbers. In reality there is no plan for the year after this year.Next year is going to look like this year, no plan to consolidate…things change. People consolidate but not in Pittsfield, Ma. Every other department has been cut over the last 15 years, always to save the school department. If you want to get control of money, you need to start at the school department. Next year’s school budget will be higher, and the year after will be higher.
Teachers start new negotiations in 14 months. We need less brick and mortar to teach kids in high school. Turn St. Marks into a charter school for elementary on the west side and watch that building expand. — Change
THE PLANET Responds: Yes, they think everyone is stupid. To put it another way, they think they know more than you do. We remind everyone that the next school committee meeting is at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, in city hall council chambers. THE PLANET urges citizens to show up in numbers to protest the raping of taxpayers by the PSC.
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To THE PLANET:
DV keep up the good work. Keep the pressure on. Your name comes up just about every day. Sure you have enemies here but for what it’s worth you have friends. — Anon.
THE PLANET Responds: The “here” mentioned by Anon. is inside the Mercer Building, which is HQ for the PSD. This person is one of our sources there. Needless to say, they have to tread carefully, but we appreciate their courage in sending along tips. This was sent as a private e-mail. THE PLANET received permission to publish it here.
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Sorry for the lag in getting to these letters, and we shall try to be more timely in the future. Meanwhile, keep sending them. The Comment Line is now open. Give us your intelligence not your ignorance. You got an A-Game? Let’s see it.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
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“Hey, you musclebound porcupine, gimme that board.” — Moe Howard.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
The views expressed in the comment section or opinions published within the text other than those of PLANET VALENTI are not those of PLANET VALENTI or endorsed in any way by PLANET VALENTI; this website reserves the right to remove any comment which violates its Rules of Conduct, and it is not liable for the consequences of any posted comment as provided in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and PLANET VALENTI’s terms of service.
You aren’t living on a fixed income if you can get your ass out the door and work.
The elderly and disabled can’t easily earn more money. Not to mention retired people who had a hard enough time finding work in this area before they were retired. Progressives can be very cold hearted when they insist on continually raising taxes that people cannot afford.
Hillary says she will tax soda when she is our progressive president. You can be sure that it won’t be the only thing she will tax. Hold onto your wallets if we get another progressive in office. Progressives have destroyed the economy of Berkshire county.
Maybe if they paid their share of health insurance and housing rather than squandering it all away on cigarette and scratch tickets I’d be a bit more compassionate. Hillary is to the right of all the candidates for many issues. I’m salaried, so is my income fixed? No, so for my children to have an edge I hustle. Just how the world is today.
I’m not suggesting continually raising taxes, but at the same time I hope all of you realize that the welfare problem in Pittsfield is all the old people, not the right wing fairy tale welfare queen.
If you want your kids to have an edge you better not be sending them to the school system, because the only “hustling” union employees do is non-productive
One again shakes you prove your ignorance. The elderly have since we’re generalizing earned their Social Sec., or don’t you know how the system works. Its their money the govt. confiscated all their working lives and now God forbid they get some of it back.
Your welfare queens and kings are the young working age hookers, gang members, druggies, alkies, and single-moms-for-a living members of the Pittsfield community..the ones who are overrunning and overwhelming
the city.
Couldn’t have said it better, “Happy”!
John you are wrong again
John, give it a rest.
Shakes you are not only delusional, but apparently a instigator and a gadfly.
As a senior who worked for more years than you obviously have been taking nutrition, in the private sector, I have a fixed income called social security retirement ( which I contributed to for many years). On several occasions, I indeed have taken my senior” ass “out the door and applied for what may be considered menial jobs without success in order to augment my golden years. I hate to burst your myopic bubble however, the reality is that there is not a flourishing job market for seniors on fixed incomes, even those with experience and degrees.
I’ve been skeptical, but perchance the Wiz’s perception of you is correct. I’m sure he will eventually identify you and make it public. There are some seniors and veterans who will want to interact with you mano y mano.
Wofman, you are right on. John is a fool.
So there is senior discrimination? You should sue. The senior population in Pittsfield is growing as the city withers to a husk. I’m paying into your system that between keeping you alive and giving you food and shelter, is at a tipping point of insolvency. So you want collective America to live up to some hypothetical promise to you, to not interfere with your money or how you spend it. In order to do so, you’ll break your promises to government employees, abandon my children, and mask your self serving, petulant greed with some sort of social agenda persecuting people that have nothing to do with you because you are different and better in your own mind.
As your insurance companies take and sell your homes to pay for you long term care that runs out anyways because the Pittsfield market is one of the most abysmal in the Commonwealth, you can babble at a cinder block wall in a memory unit about stopping schools and cutting takes for your precious diet soda and scratch tickets.
Stop running down these mass media perpetuated rabbit holes and save your neighbors and solve your problems, and maybe there will be enough of us around to fetch your meals on wheels.
John, why so angry?
Lady, I don’t even have a J in my name. Go back to watching Matlock.
A gadfly is a person who interferes the status quo of a society or community by posing novel, potently upsetting questions, usually directed at authorities.
I guess we are all gadflies, I take it as a compliment.
I don’t know who you are nor do I care. FYI I am 72 years still working full time and collecting MY social security. Still have a mortgage and need insurance I get my ASS out of bed every day and go to work unlike young welfare reciepients, drug dealers and assorted others that I am supporting.
I’m with you Magic.
And Pat, the Progressives are nowhere near as culpable in the destruction of the local economy as General Electric. There’s certainly no bringing them back, and replacing them is also a pipe dream, bur the progressives have little to do with it. We ultra liberals are mere pikers in the overall scheme of things.
No, I don’t accept that progressives are innocent in what has happened economically to Berkshire County or to our country for that matter. It’s their policies that have created our current situation. Berkshire County has never been in worse shape.
Just today in the BB there is an article stating that nearly130 cases of child abuse happen each month in this area. That is deplorable. They try to blame it all on drug abuse, but its also a poor economic climate that is bad for families. Lack of money due to a lack of jobs creates stress in families and while there is no excuse for child abuse ever, more needs to be done to help families to become financially stable which creates a healthier environment in which kids can thrive and be safe. Instead we have these politicians rewarding each other for all they are doing for children. The usual suspects like Bouvier and Downing. What are they doing for the wellbeing of the children? I’m not seeing it.
I want to hear less from progressives about bathroom usage for extremely small groups of people and giving drivers licenses to illegal aliens. Families are suffering terribly under progressive rule. These progressive politicians are really a joke.
Let’s not forget the move of the health insurance from GIC to Blue Cross was the great work of Dan Bianchi & Mellissa Mazzeo.
As a matter of fact Mazzeo stepped down from her chair as president during a city council meeting to debate Jonathan Lothrop on the subject and at the time applauded the mayor for the bold move that would produce vast savings for the taxpayers.
Why don’t we remember these things when we go to the polls and vote?
The board of directors of GE saw that Pittsfield was pretty much run by clowns. That more than anything made them leave.
Good one John.
The city should truck the spoor at theTHS site to the Superintendents home.
Or better yet , to Neutron Jacks
The spoor, like it.
I am sorry to say people but the people who are in charge don’t care about elderly and the poor only when they are trying to get into office after that they will do the same thing that has always been done rise tax .
I want to claim the city employs who I half to pay part of there health insurance as a dependent .
They don’t care at all about us
The benefits that the school employees are getting are the same as those offered to all city, town and state employees across the Commonwealth including Dan’s precious BCC. While they are generous I would think the Planet would be trying to expose the entire spectrum rather than just focusing on Pittsfield as though Pittsfield is the only place these bennies are being offered.
Yes Tom its all DVs and The Planets fault!! Appreciate what you ahve here man. A worldclass journalist making his product avaialbe to you free of charge.
Dan is also head of a Illuminati, was the driving force in getting Andy Jackson off the $20 bill, stopped NASA moon landings and secretly controls the stock market.
Focus on your own school system. I don’t give a rat’s rear about what other systems pay.
Tom. Where do you think Dan gets his health care…from the state!
Probably the Church, that’s where he works.
I hear that he fills in sometimes when the priests are too busy to hear confessions. That’s how he gets a lot of his stories and tips.
I get my health care from my doctor.
The city should pay a dollar amount towards health insurance, not write a blank check with a percentage.
The planet posters were all stars on channel 16 this morning. See it again at 5 & 10 pm
How many user names did you manage to get televised?
Tin Foil hats are back, they might as well be the scarecrow, the tin man, and the cowardly lion mashed together.
All to do the bidding of the man behind the curtain.
The man behind the Toupee aka, the Rug, aka Roadkill
John, try to be nice
You must be talking about McCandless
Shakes,you there?
?
Did you catch the end of the show?
If u do tell us what you saw? Or maybe you’re sharp and caught it. Did anyone else catch it?
Sorry I only caught the first few minutes when the Waterboy talked about how many “Brothers” had passed away. What’s next? The Waterboy gonna wear dreadlocks ?
I saw the e-mail address where he was posting as Dowager Hat. I’m sure he’s got several aliases. He’s a known liar and a boot licking hack. He’s an all wet buffoon that disgraces himself with over emphasizing his importance. His show isn’t going to make it much longer. He has slum apartments he rents. This is the kind of person that is holding Pittsfield back.
You’re funny John. You’re so angry I’ll bet you wet yourself when you wrote this.
Gonna tell Shakes to wear a diaper Donna? Gee…I wonder where we’ve heard that before.
Shakes – he may have used a DowagerHat post to perform one of his ‘ripping and clawing’ actions (I don’t watch) but he doesn’t post as DH. Dowager has never sanctioned his nonsense.
Donna can speak for herself, but John is free to use any type of underwear he likes or needs.
I think he does post as Dowager Hat just to throw us off.
I bet you can’t lick enough boots to even feel like a human anymore, buffoon.
i’m worried about your blood pressure John.
U get the cookie Shakes.
He should be ashamed at lying about helping Veterans. I don’t know who he thinks I am, and while I may be a jerk, I’m not lockstep with DV at all.
John, I think we can all agree with part of your statement.
122 children are abused in Berkshire County each month. That is deplorable. Its also only the reported cases so its only the tip of the iceberg of a huge problem in this area. This is according to an article in iberkshires today. The progressive pols try to blame in all on drug abuse, but a large part is also economic instability in this area. Money problems create stressful environments for kids to grow up in. Progressive politicians need to do much more to help Berkshire County economically and stop giving awards to each other for all they are doing for children. Every time I turn around they are giving each other rewards for all they do for children.
If they were truly doing all they could for children, the rates of child abuse in this area wouldn’t be so high. They help children by creating a stable financial environment for families not by taxing everybody into oblivion.
It’s not the taxes creating the abysmal economic problems, it’s a lack of jobs/skills/education matching.
I guess that 13 or 14 years of free education isn’t quite enough. How could anyone expect anyone to learn any useful skills in only 13 or 14 years? Maybe if we gave the school department more money we’d have unicorns and rainbows in Pittsfield.
I don’t think any high school senior is prepared to design computer systems for guided missles on littoral combat ships.
So why do school kids get so many days off during the year? They should have far fewer days off and more time in the classroom to learn all of the technical stuff.
You are suggesting that more days in K-12 will create people that it now takes an engineering degree in college at a minimum? That is not realistic.
Should they be?
I’m due to get the peel.
It would be nice if the more outspoken people on this blog put as much energy into concern about our elected officials as they do to a private citizen with an opinion. No private citizen in Pittsfield can raise your taxes or spend them foolishly.
In today’s Berkshire Eagle Pignatelli says the widespread child abuse in Berkshire County is “disgusting”, but what are these pols doing about it except for giving each other awards all the time and worrying about illegal immigrants and bathroom usage for small groups of people? How about helping the financial situation here in Berkshire County?
I find it interesting that the Boys & Girls Club board of directors fired Terry Hughes but the Associate Director, Tina Wixsom, continues to include him at Club affiliated events. He was working the concession during a basketball tournament this weekend and was with the Club’s contingent of staff and members at a ballgame in New York last night.
I think they’ll be OK as long as they don’t bring back Red.
I have to agree with Troll Patrol. Let’s concentrate on those who are screwing up our government and wasting our tax dollars.
Also in Berkshire Eagle, Berkshire County has the second highest incidence in the state of people (many are children) ending up in the emergency room for dental issues. It’s a real crisis in this area. Why? The article blames it on local dentists not accepting MassHealth which is what so many people have in this area. That is a problem and I agree local dentists should accept it, but they don’t want to take a loss in money that they would get if they accepted MassHealth patients. The issue, however, is that people don’t have dental insurance because they don’t have jobs that offer dental insurance. All of the people that lost jobs during the economic crisis also lost their dental insurance. COBRA only lasted so long. Berkshire County has not rebounded financially to offer jobs to everyone that needs them and is in fact going downhill even further.
Pignatelli has some ideas to solve the local dental crisis, but some local dentists say his ideas wouldn’t solve the problem which is that locals cannot afford dentistry. Again, this comes down to a financial crisis that is impacting dental health for so many people here in Berkshire County, but local politicians are not doing enough to solve the problem.
We all know the Pols response to all of Pittsfield’s socioeconomic issues!
They raise our taxes and give each other awards.
Jon The last I knew my taxes where paying your disability pension so you can play on the computer all day!
Well Pittsfield is heading in the direction of being the Appalachia North and the lack of dental care is just one more step in that direction.
They are losing money? Or just not making enough money???? There is a distinction.
School Committee is incredible. They talk like teenagers. Youhave to see it. Thank you Mr. G@etani. Tyer doesn’t have the chutzpah to tell JIV to cut.
All they need to do is pick up a newspaper. See what other communities are doing, research and find out if it’s feasible. Like to see principles covering 2 schools at the elementary level, provided they are under 300 enrollment. Like to see audit of student busing, how many use the bus could they cut down on buses? Could we get out of bus business? Do we need 8 elementary schools?
Board of Health is another joke. Business spends 400 thousand and can’t get a cigarette permit. We should give them the Key’s to the City for fixing the BLIGHT, Mayor. Cigarettes will be purchased regardless,
Cigarettes will be purchased regardless, Agree. There are 52 licenses to sell tobacco in Pittsfield. Orsi wants to reduce the number to 26. 26 stores will be dividing the money of 52. Why not reduce the number to one, then only one. She (along with the State) wants to raise the age to 21. Kids smoking will have to revert to what we did in the old days, go over the mountain.
Have to agree with you Nota. Business gets the crap end of the stick in Pittsfield.
Nice look out on West Housywood. An empty Building with a Wood pile next to it. All the while Hess Forest, sits and sits.
I believe that may be a non taxpaying logging business now which is different from a non tax paying old eyesore.
So sick of the same old argument that is believed by progressives in this area. It’s not the economy here in Berkshire County that’s the problem, it’s that the locals are too stupid for the jobs that do exist. Sorry to be so blunt, but that is the gist of their argument. The people promoting this argument probably don’t even have a 2 year college degree themselves and yet they see themselves as the experts on this subject. Also these are the same people who somehow magically get jobs for their kids in this area many of whom do not even have college degrees.
Personally I think they just keep saying this over and over to keep more money flowing to the school system, but they then go on to give so many days off for the kids during the school year that you have to wonder how the children are learning anything on such a light schedule.
People need jobs in Berkshire County for all levels of education not just for those with 4 year college or masters degrees. The problem is that progressives have put such emphasis on higher education as the ONLY way to get a good job mainly because they need to continually promote the school system as we see with colleges that turn out graduates who in many cases can’t even spell properly or think critically.
I could name some reporters at the Eagle that fit that description.
Pat, as you might guess, I completely disagree with your first premise, ranting about progressives requiring college degrees and saying people around here are too stupid for the available jobs. But I completely agree with your second half. If we are to grow, be a self sufficient, non state dependent region and keep our kids from moving away we have to create jobs for all levels of people; engineers with masters degrees to high school diplomas. Right now, the only really good jobs that aren’t govt. or school-district connected happen to be professional; doctors and radar engineers essentially. Has nothing to do with me, a super liberal, thinking people are too stupid. Just a reality…those are the only jobs available, and our local elected officials are NOT doing enough…and raising taxes & throwing money at the school system is not the answer either. The answer lies in opening up our vision, looking outside the confines of Pittsfield, start collaborating with bioTeah and nanotech companies just to the west and develop a more regional economy. See…we agree on more than we disagree!!
Glad we agree on something, but the first step to solving the problem is for local pols to admit there is a problem. They keep insisting there are more than enough jobs in the area, but locals do not have the necessary skills. This isn’t true. The jobs available are for masters degrees and engineers. As you admit, we are not a diversified economy here in Berkshire County with jobs available for all levels of skill sets. As Dan V. has said many times, we don’t have an economy here in Berkshire County.
I’d say most of the positions in tourism activities are for those with a service, unskilled experience. Many people in the Berkshires would be employed if they could just consistently get to work.
Some of these people work as reporters at the BB.
Bad drivers out there.
I believe it.
I’m thinking of moving out of town. This is nuts.
Another stabbing and a shooting…Unacceptable but not impossible.
It’s getting crazier and crazier
I saw this story in the Eagle. I hope Dan has something on it today..
and less than a tenth of a mile from Hotel on North
That should be reckless drivers, you should have seen this clown with a pick up and boat.crossing from North into KK Liquors, just drove across, had the driver In front of me not put on the breaks this clown would have wiped at least two cars out.
Any more news on the shooting?
Go Celtics!
The Taconic Project is starting to Look like a Big Dig.
And that’s the way we like it.
For the real story about sneakers on power lines, A) take a look at Snopes, and B), even better then Snopes is a 15 minute documentary on YouTube that documents sneakers on power lines all over the world, called “The Mystery of the Flying Kicks”. These should put everyone’s mind at ease re: does this indicate drugs and gangs.
Any way you look at it is BLIGHT!
Gang violence worse than I thought. The chief spends too much time playing basketball and being a Casonova.
The groundbreaking for the new Taconic will be Friday the 13th of May. I’m not kidding and Kathleen Amuso says she was born on a Friday the 13th so we are guaranteed it will be a good day. Talk about arrogant. Read the whole article in the BB.
Is it the ribbon from when she won first prize at the county fair?
Who’s cutting the Ribbon, Jason?
Voorhees or McCandless?
You got it.
Simple solution stop blaming the wrong people start blaming your elected officials tax the non profits amazing how much more income would be available including raising the debt ceiling