MAYOR TRIES TO SNEAK IN HUGE PAY RAISE (UP TO 38%) FOR HIMSELF, CITY MANAGERS, AND ALL EXEMPT CITY EMPLOYEES … MANAGER PAY RAISES IN DOUBLE FIGURES, PAY HIKE OF EXEMPTS 5% … GREEDY INCREASE WOULD BE RETROACTIVE TO 2013, WILL COST TAXPAYERS COUNTLESS MILLIONS FOR NOR A PARTICLE MORE SERVICE

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MAYOR TRIES TO SNEAK IN HUGE PAY RAISE (UP TO 38%) FOR HIMSELF, CITY MANAGERS, AND ALL EXEMPT CITY EMPLOYEES … MANAGER PAY RAISES IN DOUBLE FIGURES, PAY HIKE OF EXEMPTS 5% … GREEDY INCREASE WOULD BE RETROACTIVE TO 2013, WILL COST TAXPAYERS COUNTLESS MILLIONS FOR NOR A PARTICLE MORE SERVICE

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary LATE, LATE WORD: DON’T TELL ANYONE, BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW! The Boring Broadsheet is caught once again asleep, so THE PLANET shall break it. A meeting is scheduled today at at 10 a.m. city hall that could decide the fate of William Monterosso, the embattled […]

April 29, 2014 43 Comments

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BIANCHI’s SHADY, POSSIBLY ILLEGAL BERKOWITZ SABOURIN APPOINTMENT NEEDS TO BE CHALLENGED. HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, ARE YOU LISTENING? ‘WE THE PEOPLE’ ISSUE A MOURNFUL CRY FOR RELIEF

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014) — It was the redoubtable Joe Pinhead, one of THE PLANET‘s most astute, formidable, and scrupulous correspondents, who pointed out the supreme irony. On the night our Right Honorable Good Friends of the Pittsfield City Council unanimously approved Mayor Dan […]

April 28, 2014 46 Comments

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EMPTYING OUT THE MAIL BAG: POLITICAL AMBITIONS FOR BIANCHI HIRE? … TULLY ‘CLEARS UP SOME MISCONCEPTIONS’ … PLANET GIVEN ‘WHAT FOR,’ TO OUR DELIGHT … SOURCE OF FUNDING? MOI … plus … APPRECIATION IS ITS OWN REWARD

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, APRIL 28, 2014) — Soon, we may have an exciting announcement for all the readers and inhabitants of THE PLANET. Stay tuned. The substance of this announcement is still in the talking phase, with syllables exchanged and field trips made. It is that […]

April 27, 2014 26 Comments

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BERKOWITZ “THE FIX IS IN” SABOURIN, a.k.a. LADY LIGHT WEIGHT, WINS APPROVAL TO SERVE ‘THE EMPTY SUIT’

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, APRIL 25-27, 2014) — What happens when The Empty Suit subsumes Lady Light Weight? No, this is not a question for Albert Einstein or anyone connected with quantum physics. You need not consult the theologians or the philosophers. Rather, it is a matter more for the […]

April 25, 2014 87 Comments

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JURY STILL OUT ON LEGALITY OF BUS VOTE … plus … PSD’s SPOON-FED BUS NUMBERS DON’T HOLD UP TO INDEPENDENT ANALYSIS … TRUE COST TO TAXPAYERS OF RUNNING BUSES IN-HOUSE: $4.5 MILLION

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014) — First off, gang, after hearing from and consulting various authorities (city clerk’s office, former council president Kevin Sherman, self-appointed parliamentarians, and an attorney or two) it’s still very much an unanswered question THE PLANET raised (what, you think The […]

April 23, 2014 45 Comments

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BUS VOTE PASSES 8-2-1 BUT — STOP THE PRESSES!! — IT MAY BE FOR NOUGHT … DID THE COUNCIL FOLLOW ITS OWN RULES FOR RECONSIDERATION? IF NOT, VOTE MAY BE RESCINDED

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2014) — As you likely know by now, councilor Lisa Tully of Ward 1 changed her vote on the bus borrowing measure, which passed on an 8-2-1 vote. At the end of this column, we shall publish the statement Tully sent THE […]

April 22, 2014 48 Comments

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BUS VOTE 2 TONIGHT … SCHOOL DEPARTMENT BUDGET: A CALCULUS OF CYNICISM AND LIES

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary ADD 1: We are posting this a half hour before tonight’s city council meeting is gaveled to order. We just got a phone call from a source who says he heard from another party who talked to Ward 1 councilor Lisa Tully. It’s third-hand, but the sources […]

April 21, 2014 24 Comments

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‘HAPPY’ PATRIOTS DAY, WHEN TAXPAYERS THROW A PARTY FOR PUBLIC WORKERS … plus … TENS OF MILLIONS $$ RIDING ON TUESDAY’S SCHOOL BUS VOTE REDUX

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2018) — Hey, it’s Patriot’s Day, that lame excuse the Commonwealth uses to give public employees a paid day off courtesy of taxpayers. Let’s see. Working up a rough heading on that, we take the state’s $37 billion budget. THE PLANET conservatively […]

April 20, 2014 88 Comments

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FROM THE PLANET: WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY, JOYOUS EASTER … NEXT WEEK: MORE ON MONTEROSSO SAGA … PLANET CALLED IT ON SABOURIN (THE FIX WAS IN) … MAYOR SENDS BUS BORROWING BACK TO COUNCIL (COULD SOMEONE HAVE CAVED?) … plus … BIANCHI TO GIVE HIMSELF A HUGE PAY RAISE … TULLY STATEMENT ON BUS VOTE

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, EASTER WEEKEND, APRIL 18-20, 2014) — In honor of Good Friday, there will be no “regular” edition of THE PLANET. Instead, we will present a brief look ahead to next week. May we take this opportunity to wish all of our readers a Happy […]

April 18, 2014 35 Comments

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PERSONNEL DIRECTOR DeANGELO STRICTLY D&D WHEN IT COMES TO MONTEROSSO … CITY HALL HR DIRECTOR WAS EXEC DIRECTOR OF KOLBOURNE SCHOOL WHEN IT SUDDENLY WENT ‘KAPUT’ … SOURCE SAYS BERKSHIRE WORKS HAD TO CHANGE LOCKS ON DOOR TO KEEP MONTEROSSO OUT AND ENSURE WORKER SAFETY … MAYOR, CITY WILL NOT RESPOND TO QUESTIONS

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014) — Tuesday, we ventured to city hall to see who would fess up to the apparent mess created at Berkshire Works by the necessarily enforced suspension, with pay, of Mayor Dan Bianchi‘s chosen one, the fair-haired William Monterosso. First, let’s […]

April 17, 2014 43 Comments

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PITTSFIELD SCHOOL DEPARTMENT IS HIDING DATA, STRAIGHT INFO ON CURRENT BUS FLEET … QUESTION IS, ‘WHY?’ ANSWER (AS IT USUALLY IS): TO KEEP TAXPAYERS BAREFOOT AND PREGNANT … TULLY, MORANDI, J-LO, CLAIRMONT, & KROL COMMENT ON THEIR VOTES

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2014) — THE PLANET continues now with one of the most important stories affecting Pittsfield at this time: the vote on school buses. Millions of taxpayer dollars are at stake. Interestingly, it’s been a story both distorted and underreported by the […]

April 15, 2014 38 Comments

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BERKSHIRE WORKS SOURCES: AFTER LESS THAN THREE MONTHS ON THE JOB, WILLIAM MONTEROSSO IS ON ‘PAID LEAVE.’ WHY, AND IS BIANCHI TRYING TO KEEP THIS HUSH-HUSH?

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014) — What’s going on at Berkshire Works? Sources there and elsewhere say the “new” executive director, on the job for less than three months, is already on leave — with pay, of course. The charges? Multiple allegations of sexual harassment. […]

April 14, 2014 42 Comments

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SIMONELLI SHARES FACTS ON SCHOOL BUSES: IT’s MORE COST EFFECTIVE TO PRIVATIZE … TULLY EXPLAINS HER VOTE ON BEHALF OF TAXPAYERS … CACCAMO SAYS HE HASN’T DISENFRANCHISED ANYONE

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary [ED NOTE: What’s up at Berkshire Works? Has the “new” executive director, William Monterosso, been placed on paid leave after multiple accusations of sexual harassment were reported to Pittsfield Mayor Dan Bianchi and city personnel director John DeAngelo? That’s what reliable sources are alleging. You will recall […]

April 13, 2014 61 Comments

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CACCAMO MUST GO … SCHOOL BUS VOTE: RIGHT OUTCOME FOR WRONG REASON … BUS BORROWING MAKES NO ECONOMIC SENSE

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentaries (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, APRIL 11-13, 2014) — First, let us share a bit of “You Can Take It To The Bank” news, the kind that only THE PLANET seems to be able to learn. A well-placed source tells us that a new director of The […]

April 11, 2014 38 Comments

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CACCAMO’s TRIP TO THE ‘LADIES ROOM’ DOOMS BUS BORROWING … AS PLANET PREDICTED, COUNCILOR’S ‘DOUBLE DIPPING’ MAKES WARD 3 CONSTITUENTS ‘SECOND CLASS CITIZENS’ … PITTSFIELD SCHOOL COMMITTEE, CHAIRWOMAN YON, FAILS FIRST TEST … ONLY ELIAS, CUTLER PASS

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary ED. NOTE: Before we begin our regularly scheduled column, THE PLANET needs to weigh in on yet more odd doings by our Right Honorable Good Friends on the city council, who Tuesday night looked overwhelmed and overmatched in the confusion that followed the 7-3-1 vote on borrowing […]

April 9, 2014 31 Comments

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FREE MOVIE, ‘THE HAUNTING,’ and YOU’RE INVITED … PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION: PLANET SHARES IMAGES SENT IN TO THE FORTRESS … or … EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014) — First, for all you movie buffs, tonight at 5:30 p.m., K-111, on the campus of Berkshire Community College, Prof. Valenti shall be screening The Haunting. The 1963 classic, directed by Robert Wise, is being shown as part of ENG 102, […]

April 8, 2014 35 Comments

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