COUNCIL DRONES ON ABOUT DRONE … & PUTS US ALL TO SLEEP.
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY SEPT. 16, 2026) — One of the more silly and amusing debates, or what passes for debate, on the Bitchfield city council involved drones. Yes, our Right Honorable Good Friends wasted hours of taxpayer funded electricity to keep the lights on in a sleep-inducing marathon rivaling the contents of a Sominex bottle.
We’re not talking about the blathering from members of the school committee. Scientists have declared those utterances to be beyond “drone” classification, and as of yet, they haven’t found genus or species for that particular form of speech. THE PLANET has hope, though, it will be soon coming. We expect it to be somewhere between zygote and zombie, particularly when Kathy Yon begins to croak.
The drones in council’s case pertained to a federal grant of $31,167 from the U.S. Department of Justice. If accepted, the grant would equip the Pittsfield Police Department with two drones to help first responders “arrive” at the scene of trouble and provide advanced data that would help public safety officials (cops and fire) with treatment and reaction. Of course, the council had to nit-pick and navel gaze, stumbling over the fact that accepting the grant would help local authorities to, among other things, nab illegal aliens. Criminals, in other words.
No. The council would much rather enable a spendthrift corner office to burn taxpayer money on foolishness, for example, ignoring deplorable roads in favor of a $15 million demolition of historic Wahconah Park, all so Lumpy, Voltron, Dumpster, and friends can hang out at the beer tent.
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Alisa Costa-Plenty, truly a councilor at large, said the grant “goes against our own policies … [and] our community values.” THE PLANET wonders what values she speaks. Is it the value of taxing homeowners out of their dwellings and small shop owners out of their businesses? Is it the value of allowing the city’s infrastructure to deteriorate? Or perhaps she meant how local pols love to squash dissonant voices and punish those who dare to speak out about corruption to the point where no one talks and fear rules the day? Maybe those values, councilor?
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Ward 2 councilor Cam “Bam” Cunningham first came out in support of the grant, joining Ward 1’s Slurpy Warren and Ward 3’s Mat Wrinn-Tin Tin. … until they got to him. Suddenly, Bam had a change of heart. At the last second, Bam Man claimed that to accept the grant would violate city code. Right. As if that’s ever stopped the skunks in power from doing what they please.
The PPD wanted the two new drones — Skidoo R10 models — to go with its fleet of 11. As iBerkshires’ Brittany Polito reported, the drones would have “modernized and diversified the fleet.” She quoted chief Marc Maddalena as viewing the grant as “an opportunity … to increase our use with the drones.” Bog forbid. The chief was quick to genuflect before the council and mayor, saying he didn’t read the grant provisions carefully enough.
Dizzy Dina Lampiasi, who is rumored another life to be the Ward 6 councilor, spewed a conspiratorial word barrage that made it sound like the drones were part of a federal plot between the Illuminati, the Masons, Billy Graham, the Grassy Knoll, and Emmett Kelly, the Sad Clown.
“There is so much going on behind the scenes … and I know it seems like we’re talking extremes right now, but it’s not. It’s all connected …”
Yes, Dina, and there are Secret Tapes in Baltimore.
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“Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a … drone” — Sky King.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
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Re: Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti online interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLcj-M5H6qU
“The most visible mayor that the city has ever seen”.
Sarcasm: Is the above quote attributable to his BIG beer belly?
How about: The WORST mayor that the city has ever seen?
Jon Melle
Jon.
To be fair in my just over a quarter of century back here in Pittsfield my experience is that whoever is the current sitting mayoris always characterized with the the worst mayor we’ve ever had, so without like a top five list of candidates for who was the worst mayor and descriptions of why that we could vote on, that’s too broad of a characterization!
And it is also difficult to quantify who is the most visible mayor but I will say when I attend community events he has almost always put in an appearance at whatever it is more than any mayors we’ve had previously while I’ve been here so there’s probably real substance to that claim.
Well then. I guess that you enjoy paying taxes for Pittsfield’s record-setting fiscal year budgets with one of the top commercial tax rates in Massachusetts.
Do you or others even realize that Earl and the 2-Pete’s Pittsfield politics always spend tens of millions of dollars per fiscal year MORE than Pittsfield’s peer small cities such as Fitchburg and Westfield.
If you or others want to prove me wrong about Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti, then ask him to pay for a FORENSIC AUDIT of Pittsfield’s cooked books to clear the air.
Tagline:
Earl and the 2-Pete’s Pittsfield politics pounds, pummels, pulverizes, punishes people’s purses.
Wow! No mention of Andy!!! Way to go
Learn Laugh Teach ·
They say teachers are burned out. That’s not the truth.
Teachers still love teaching.
They love their students.
They love watching kids grow.
What’s draining them is chaos being excused.
Disrespect being ignored.
And a system that ties their hands, then blames them when classrooms fall apart.
You can’t teach when there are no consequences.
You can’t build learning in an environment that refuses to protect it.
This isn’t burnout.
It’s exhaustion from being expected to manage everything… with nothing to back them up.
And until that changes, we’ll keep losing good teachers who never wanted to leave.
Too many now think protecting children means protecting them from responsibility and consequences. Participation trophies taught them that win or lose, they are a success. Social(ist) Media has taught them they must be outrageous to get noticed, and the excessive tolerance now practiced by society lets bad behavior stand without penalty. In our day, if you didn’t show respect to an adult or authority, you’d rue the day. Coddling children have turned many young people into uncivilized horrors or hopeless whiners unable to cope with life. No doubt if accountability was handed out the kids would become
functional adults.
” …the excessive tolerance now practiced by society lets bad behavior stand without penalty.” Sentence of the Month!
You’re talking about drones, but there’s another piece of this mess that deserves daylight: who the hell is actually handling PPD technology these days?
The City fired Gary Munn, the guy who had spent years handling PPD’s public-safety technology and working with specialized systems and digital evidence. His position wasn’t just “the computer guy.” Police technology is its own animal, and it requires knowledge and experience specific to law enforcement.
What replaced that?
From what I’ve been told, PPD’s replacement technology support has largely amounted to the basic stuff—printer cartridges, passwords and routine IT assistance. That’s a pretty dramatic departure from having someone embedded in the department with specialized public-safety technology experience.
And hovering over all of this is CIO Kevin Zawistowski.
I’ve heard plenty about the ongoing friction between City Hall IT and PPD since responsibility shifted. I’ve also heard from inside City government that Zawistowski’s management style and insistence on controlling technology have become their own running joke.
But this drone debate raises a much bigger question.
PPD acknowledged during this discussion that technology had been used or demonstrated without the approval required under the City’s existing surveillance policy.
Okay.
Then where was IT?
If the Police Department was using technology in violation of City policy, who was responsible for catching that?
Was it Chief Maddalena, because he allowed his department to use the technology?
Was it the officers using it?
Or does some responsibility belong with the CIO—the person whose department now runs and controls City technology?
You can’t centralize control of technology under City Hall IT and then suddenly become a spectator when PPD technology becomes controversial.
That’s why I hope people have been paying attention to the PPD/IT problems that have been bubbling up over the last couple of years.
This wasn’t the relationship we watched under the previous CIO.
Something changed.
And instead of asking what changed, Pittsfield keeps adding more technology.
This isn’t somebody forgetting their Outlook password.
Modern police work depends on technology to collect, preserve, retrieve and analyze information that can become evidence. Screw that process up and you’re not inconveniencing somebody in Accounting. You’re potentially affecting an investigation.
Which brings us beautifully back to your drones.
PPD already has ELEVEN.
Now we’re discussing two more, additional technology and additional data while simultaneously learning that existing surveillance requirements apparently weren’t followed.
Perhaps before buying Drone Twelve and Drone Thirteen, somebody should answer a much simpler question:
Who is actually qualified—and responsible—for overseeing Drone One through Eleven?
Because firing specialized public-safety IT expertise, moving greater control to City Hall, replacing that expertise with basic IT support, and then continuously adding sophisticated police technology seems like an awfully strange way to modernize a Police Department.
You can buy every shiny gadget the federal government offers.
It doesn’t mean shit if you don’t have the people with the specialized knowledge to properly run it—or someone willing to take responsibility when the rules governing it aren’t followed.
Maybe the drones aren’t the problem, Dan.
Maybe we should be looking at who’s holding the controller.
Excellent points, VEN. Your arguments, always well articulated, do what this board exists to do (and often doesn’t), which is the not just advance and elevate the discussion.
City gonna be needing an IT guy for the new multi million dollar ballpark/emporium scoreboard.
A stadium scoreboard typically costs anywhere from $3,500 to over $1,000,000, depending entirely on the venue size, digit style, and video capabilities. Nevco +1
Cost Breakdown by Venue & Type
” “You can’t centralize control… And then suddenly become a spectator when PPD technology becomes controversial”.
Well said, Vendetta! ( No this is not sarcasm it’s real admiration for that observation)
Dan misses the lede
Drone recordings , can be used as evidence, which would lead to ACCOUNTABILITY.
2022 Shitsfield Police tried everything, to avoid wearing body cameras…
Going so far as claiming it violated wire tapping laws, knowing fully only secret recording of citizens, is illegal. If your holding camera, and recorded party knows. Timmy the fixer, administrative assistant Sue , left an incriminating on my voicemail, then tried to say it violated wire tap laws.
Only thin dumber than a cop, is a liar(lawyer)….
Seeing the pattern yet?
Pattern practice or custom of criminal conduct…
Did the planet forget, or did Timmy, threaten him like in 2012?
Last thing Timmy the fixer wants is more evidence, of his criminal obstruction of justice and continuing violations of civil rights.
Philly Distracted Attorney Krasner
Has another criminal referral:)
Larry is important, Timmy not so much…
Timmy like Larry will be getting an October surprise, time is not on their side.
9/16/26@6am
Tom
Dumbocrats really be reckoning with the all-powerful Timmy fixer.
Tom sez Dan misses the lead.
Seeing the pattern yet?
Cam Cunnigham has some ‘learing’ to do. The Council busts every rule and code until it won’t work. Then they abolish it because it can’t be used anymore.
Ratsy
Clownsil is attempting to avoid accountability and liability….
See my previous post
Vermonica even , kinda gets it…
Seeing the pattern yet?
9/16/26@12:30 pm
Tom
Dan. Your story made me watch the council replay. Twilight Zone.Thanks. Another council shit-show.
Thanks, GUMM.
Wow totes and chemical cost way up. Shortage of totes count and new system adjustments for chemicals. Who kept track of the numbers?
Dan. Can you find out if fritz will pay for my nieces wedding? I’m a gazillionaire but 150 grand is ok.