BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION NOV. 10-12, 2017) — There’s been feverish talk about Pittsfield being on the list within Massachusetts as a location for Amazon‘s new satellite facility. The fever has to be above a Kramden-like 111oF to produce pitiable delusions of such magnitude. Amazon requires 100 acres for its campus (PEDA has 52 available) and will need a huge supply of intelligent, tech-savvy, young, and upwardly mobile workers (exactly the opposite the work-force demographics in Pittsfield [aging, computer illiterate, and going nowhere], or haven’t you noticed those perpetually unfilled “1,200 jobs” Mayor Trashcan loves to cite?).

Massachusetts, let alone Pittsfield? Not a chance.

While the Commonwealth’s politics may be of Amazon’s liking, it wants no part of the state’s anti-business government and its punishing high taxes. The philosophically insightful among us may see the contradiction in such a company policy, but when you’re Amazon, contradictions supply the company’s unique way of articulation to its suitors. Like Walmart, it will sleep where it wants, because it’s the biggest S.O.B. in the room. Thus, you can rule out Boston or any part of the Northeast for that matter. An aside: Wouldn’t it be fun, though, if both Walmart and Amazon wanted to fight for the PEDA space? It would be 10 times better than Godzilla v. Rodan and quintuple the entertainment value of Ghidra v. Mothra.

THE PLANET‘s point in these observations serve to issue a further pronouncement, one that hits close to home because of a honest-to-God, real, live, actual, golden opportunity Pittsfield lost (as opposed to almost 20 years of PEDA lies about  “several hot leads that we can’t mention because of proprietary agreements.” Phantoms, all). When corporate giants relocate a HQ or build a satellite, the business world takes notice and localities dress up like a nervous interviewee. The golden opportunity lost? Let us articulate.

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When soon-to-be-departed (from GE) Jeff Immelt and his board decided to abandon Fairfield, Conn., Boston won the sweepstakes. We could write prose poems about the less obvious and public reasons for the move, but we shan’t.  Suffice it to say, though, that Pittsfield figured into the calculus of GE’s move, which is why the company selected Boston and Amazon won’t.

That, of course, is not letting out any Deep Secrets. The company had its origins in Pittsfield with Edison, Stanley, Steinmetz, and other great scientists of a bygone age. For a hundred years, Pittsfield remained one of the company’s prized locations for its assets in plastics, transformers, and defense, although the end game for that century concerned more the pedigree that had by then worn off. For GE, Pittsfield became that once-proud family that only had a royal name to false-front a legacy marred by ruinous debt. GE got out and let Pittsfield holding the bag … full of PCBs and other industrial toxins.

Coming full circle, when GE decided on Boston, it presented Pittsfield with a stunning, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Think the company isn’t worried that one day a rogue politician might actually force a reopening of the Consent Decree?  That gave the city leverage, an edge, of course, that a generation of pols and a generation more have been and will be too compromised to push.

GE owns large tracts of city real estate, prime among them the former world headquarters of GE Plastics at One Plastics Avenue. It would have made the perfect location for a laboratory, satellite office, manufacturing, warehousing, and a variety of other uses.  The city had great leverage with GE, although its alleged “leaders” — particularly mayor  Trashcan, council president “Fly Boy” Marchetti, and state rep. Tricia Faraway Booboobear (D-Country Buffet) — were scared to utilize. Good politics would have set up a meeting among Gov. Charlie Baker, the city, state reps, house and senate leaders, Boston mayor Marty Walsh, and Immelt, to make the city’s pitch that Immelt, who earned his stripes in Pittsfield, make One Plastics Avenue part of the move.

The meeting never happened. You might argue that no way would GE have agreed, to which THE PLANET counters with a couple points:

• A small chance of success is better than no chance. The New England Patriots trailed the Atlanta Falcons in this year’s Super Bowl 28-3 with under three minutes left in the third quarter, giving them a 0.004% chance of winning. How did that one turn out?
• Folks like to portray GE as a big, bad company, but there is no evil there. The corporation consists of human beings, and, believe it or not, there are some with solid moral and ethical perspectives. There would be a chance the company would want to help “make things right” for Pittsfield in taking over One Plastics Avenue.
• Finally, as we mentioned, the threat of a Consent Decree re-opener might have been played if all else failed. Hardball, too, is a game GE understands.

Alas and alack, though. Boston will host GE HQ within two years and PEDA remains a polluted ghost town.

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“No noose is bad news” — Judge Roy Bean.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

The Usual Disclaimer.