BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2016) — THE PLANET found ourselves in beautiful downtown Pittsfield last night and thus, taking advantage of our misfortune, turned lemons into Jolt! cola. We popped in for the beginning of the city council meeting.

We heard a few comments from the open mic session, which included a lecture from The Great Gazoo. She was followed by the two “heads” of the ever-irrelevant and soon-to-be-defunct Downtown Pittsfield Inc. telling councilors how sending hundreds of thousands of additional dollars in tax relief to a multimillionaire developer to prop up the money-losing Beacon Cinema would be in the taxpayers’ best interests. The statements were full of unsubstantiated and grandiose claims, easily refuted.

It occurred to us during this procession of The Suits that their participation in the political process fell strictly within the rules of the game. More power to them. No one from the public was there to speak against welfare for The Beacon. They were probably too tired from a hard day’s work, too pressed figuring out how to stay afloat financially with more tax hikes looming, or vegging out on Pat Sajack. Citizens, once again, did not attend.

And so what?

Just Who Are the ‘Representatives’ Representing?

Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski were there. We The People did have a dog in the fight. The Little Guy could be found hiding in broad fluorescence. THE PLANET refers, of course, to our 12 Right Honorable Good Friends sitting as The People’s representatives. Right? Is that how it’s supposed to work? The Suits make their pitch, and the people’s representatives render a judgment in the best interests of citizens — not the Special Interests.

What happens, however, when the people’s representatives become pawns to teachers’ unions, developers with political clout, and others of that variety? You get a rigged game where the house always wins. We have seen that in play this week, with the city scrambling like heads with their chickens cut off trying to figure out what to do about gangs, crime, drugs, and all the rest of it.

While reports of another shooting, this one downtown, resounded through the grapevine, the echos of Monday’s “press” conference still bounced hollowly off the walls of buildings and down lonely alleys. Good, honest citizens have been squeezed into a corner by a failed local economy and mayhem taking over neighborhoods and streets. Ordinary citizens are starting to realize: There is no Promised Land. They lied to you. They are still lying to you.

Politicians and officials, doing the work of the “gimme” developers and scam artists who flock to Pittsfield, keep offering this and that latest project as the next savior. EV Worlwide would save Pittsfield. WorkshopLive would save Pittsfield. Spice Restaurant would save Pittsfield. Nuclea would save Pittsfield. All these and more failed after several years of operation and countless millions of public money stolen.

Applying the BIC Factor 

The best is yet to come, with five more years of giveaways to the failing Beacon, to the new Taconic High School, to the Berkshire Innovation Center (BIC). All these projects, “economic engines,” will save Pittsfield. The Beacon we’ve already dispatched. It’s a loser and throwing more gift money at it will hasten the city’s financial doom. As for the other two projects, we can link them. The BIC first began with a $6 million budget. That’s up to $9.7 million. Worried state officials are now peppering backers about the new price tag: Almost $13 million. The hike hasn’t been properly explained. All we can say is, follow the money.

How is that linked to THS? The Suits claim the school will cost $121 million. As bad enough as it is for a shrinking tax base and more spending, THE PLANET insists that price is fiction. Let’s apply the “magic BIC mark-up” to THS. The BIC has gone from $6 million to $13 million. That’s an increase of 120%. Applied to THS, we arrive at $266,242,000. We shall use the rounded off $262,000,000 as the new figure for THS. There. If anyone asks us again about the validity of the $266 million for the new high school, we shall refer to The BIC Factor.

Hey, the price of salvation has gone way the up, people.

You still wanna be saved? Just wait until your heroes unveil the new municipal spending plan. There will be everything for everybody — except poor Joe and Mary Jane.

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“Certainly the game is rigged, but don’t let that stop you. If you don’t bet, you can’t win.” — Robert Heinlein

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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