BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2016) — When the City of Pittsfield wants you to think everything’s great, they trot out the artists or send the mayor or police chief to a third grade classroom to read to The Children. The artists and sweet innocent kids become […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION, APRIL 1-3, 2016) — No, it’s no an April Fool‘s joke. After construction crews broke ground for the new THS, they caused a backup of the sewers in the present building. Supt. JIV McCandless and Associate Supt. Kristen “Grease Queen” Behnke rushed from […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY [ED. NOTE: The next meeting of the Pittsfield School Committee is slated for Wednesday, April 13, beginning at 6 p.m. in the PHS library. Any citizen who is serious about putting the heat on the PSC should attend, en masse.] (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2016) […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2016) — THE PLANET wants you to read this carefully. We present just some of the details contracted between the Pittsfield teachers union and the Pittsfield School Committee, also known as The Ship of Fools. While reading the terms, keep in […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, MARCH 28, 2016) — You might have heard about … A creeper in a van tries to pick up a middle-schooler. A man who can’t get a taco at that noted spot for gourmands, Taco Bell, backs out in a rage and, like […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, EASTER SUNDAY WEEKEND, 2016) — THE PLANET wishes all visitors to this site every good wish and will for this, the holiest weekend in the Christian calendar. May it be a time of hope. Let our hope be a design and not a dream. […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016 — Get the panic button handy. As of the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2015, “The City’s liabilities exceeded its assets … by $44,990,750. This compares to the previous year[,] when liabilities exceeded assets by $38,586,112.” For those […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY Third of Three Parts (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, Wednesday, March 23, 2016) — War. What is it good for? If you’re a taxpayer, absolutely nothing. If you’re a liberal politician, however, it’s good for a sinecure and a lifetime of the high life. LBJ had the War on Poverty […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY Second of Three Parts (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2016) — Keeping with yesterday’s theme, the “Gang Violence Public Statement” that Pittsfield filed with the state shared the following additional information. Although the student population (5,774) is 70% white, “students of color are disciplined more frequently than […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY First of Three Parts (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016) — Buried within a massive 350-page supporting package for tomorrow night’s city council meeting a most startling document. It contains something you only rarely come across in official Pittsfield: truth. THE PLANET credits Terry Kinnas for wading […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 18-20, 2016) — OK, off Trump and onto the Chump. Tucked away during the March 9 meeting of the Pittsfield School Committee (PSC), literally the last item of business prior to executive session, was this agenda item: “VI, E. Approval of Contract […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, MARCH 17, ST. PATTY’S DAY, 2016) — Erin, go braless, as they used to say back in the Green Day. Just stay away from green beer. Anyone who drinks green beer on St. Patty’s Day comes off as an amateur. Have fun! The Donald […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016) — Much has been made about protesters getting “roughed up” at rallies for GOP presidential candidate (and likely nominee) Donald Trump. [ED. NOTE: Trump had a big night last night on Super Tuesday II taking Florida and its 99 delegates; Totals […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, THE IDES OF MARCH, 2016) — Yesterday, THE PLANET broke down leases at the Pittsfield Municipal Airport brining in a whopping 15 cents a year. Think about it terms of geological time. At 15 pennies a year, after a billion years, taxpayers have made […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2016) — Some people love flying. Others dread it. All of us, however, want the plane always to fly level, whether it’s on or off the ground. In some ways, on-the-ground activity is the most important of an airport, since it’s there […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 11-13, 2016) — BIC was the name of my first ballpoint pen. BIC then became the Berkshire Innovation Center. Now there’s another BIC in town. THE PLANET has long known that food and classrooms are not a good fit, if, that […]
