BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, OCT. 16-18, 2015) — Politics is confrontation as much as it is compromise, especially today, where compromise consists of two heads yelling at each other. Taking Pittsfield’s mayoral campaign out of the coma ward, the candidates have raised the volume with a […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, OCT. 15, 2015) — The news of Sabic’s exit has knocked the 2015 election out of the news and into next Tuesday — into Tuesday, Nov. 3. Not that this snoozefest has generated enough interest to warrant Bodoni Bold in neon on the marquee. […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY EDITOR’S NOTE: Tomorrow evening at the school committee meeting, supercitizen and PLANET VALENTI TV guest host Terry Kinnas will invite any candidates for that board — incumbents and challengers — to join him on PVTV. The show begins at 7 p.m. Thursday and runs for the hour. […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, OCT. 13, 2015) — Even under the most harmonious of scenarios for a city strapped with debt, a shrinking tax base, a falling and aging population, $5 million lost each year through school choice, and a government addicted to spending, the timing for […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, OCT. 9-11, 2015) — The news is as dour as it gets but only as consoling as the writing on the wall has indicated for at least a year, that is, such time as when THE PLANET first talked about the exit more […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, OCT. 8, 2015) — Picking up on yesterday’s topic of “revitalization,” mayoral candidate Linda Tyer held a moveable campaign event Tuesday. Cue Sammy Vincent and the orchestra: “A little traveling music, Sam!” The Lovely Linda, the press release goes, “began a walk of Pittsfield’s downtown. […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 7, 2015) — If Tyler Street was an early 1960s game show, it would be Password. In Password, the word on the screen would be flashed for “those viewing at home” and the studio audience. It would be hidden from the players. […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, OCT. 6, 2015) — It’s on. THE PLANET will host a TV debate between the mayoral candidates beginning at 7 p.m. Oct. 29 as an episode of PLANET VALENTI TELEVISION. It shall be the campaign’s most highly anticipated event, and with it being so […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, OCT. 5, 2015) — The message began this way: “After my cousin’s windows were shot out on Brown Street Saturday afternoon …” It gets your attention. “After my cousin’s windows were shot out on Brown Street Saturday afternoon, I wrote a letter to the editor [The […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, OCT. 2-4, 2015) — Welcome to The Weekend Edition, where we open The Comment Line. A couple months ago, a witty wag asked us “How is The Comment Line different from every other day, where people can freely post?” It brought a […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, OCT. 1, 2015) — Today THE PLANET begins our sixth year. This is column 1,300. What started out as a simple writing exercise (our equivalent of a daily workout) has blossomed in a way we did not plan, could not anticipate, and would not […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 2015) — Here’s a comment from Irishman relating to last night’s city council meeting: Police union exerting its self serving protectionism and paranoia in regard to a rather innocuous special police provision … Obviously the police union is self-sustaining only, showing […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, SEPT. 29, 2015) — It’s all connected. Let’s explore. Revised Dress Code THE PLANET likes the attention the Pittsfield School Committee has given to the district dress code. We have long been a champion of a stricter code and, more importantly, enforcement of it. You […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, SEPT. 28, 2015) — It’s not exactly “Man Bites Doberman,” but it is out of the norm for a two-term, incumbent mayor to issue a debate challenge to an opponent who has never held a public-service executive position. Last week, Mayor Dan Bianchi […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, SEPT. 25-27, 2015) — This week having put to rest the preliminary phase of the 2015 campaign season, THE PLANET provides this information for perusal. It’s the school department budget, in all its glorious multimillions, which doesn’t include the pay raises just agreed […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, SEPT. 24, 2015) — Welcome to autumn. Today, THE PLANET begins with one of the best questions that can be asked at this point, a couple days after the preliminary election and nearly six weeks before Election Day in November. Romaniel’s question goes to […]
