BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY AUG. 9, 2021) — Now that the Pittsfield Conservation Commission has correctly decided to review the proposed cement/asphalt monstrosity called a mountain bike pump track, it’s time to examine other aspects of this impending project. You may wonder why THE PLANET has expended so […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY [ED. NOTE: For a few hours this afternoon, Friday, our techies took our main server down for updates and an “oil change.” We share this for those who wondered about not being able to log on during that time.] (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION AUG. 6-8, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY Second in a Two-Part Series (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY AUG. 4, 2021) — THE PLANET hopes y’all realize now that Linda Tyer is no longer Tyertown. Sure, she still holds the formal title. She still has her name on the corner-office door. She still brings down her […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY First of a Two-Part Series (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY AUG. 2, 2021) — THE PLANET begins today’s column with these two nuggets : The first is from the website mylife.com: Deanna Ruffer’s birthday is 07/27/1954 and is 67 years old. Previous to Deanna’s current city of Pittsfield, […]
PLANET VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 28, 2021) — We thought today to give everyone a break from reading, seriousness, and all that up-tight stuff. Instead, THE PLANET shares some random photos. In honor of Modeste Mussorgsky, Maurice Ravel, and the late, great Dr. Mort Wayne, we call it […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, JULY 28, 2021) — The best Olympics ever was conducted last year. Yeah, there wasn’t one. The games have become an excuse for nationalism and sponsor’s cash. This year, officials in Tokyo, Japan, decided to push ahead with the faux games. In what THE […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JULY 26, 2021) — On THE PLANET today, War. There has never been … there can never be … a “just war.” The closest humanity can come to that mythic and proverbial creation is when a lesser evil must oppose a greater one, World […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JULY 23-5, 2021) — THE PLANET has good and bad news. Good news: We actually saw bikers on North Street downtown. Bad news: Not one was using the “vibrant, dynamic” bike lanes. Our random sampling underscores what we know to be true: […]
PLANET VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 21, 2021) — Linda Tyer has checked out of the Hotel California. No one knows for sure where she’s been or is — Colorado? El Dorado, Bag-o-Doritos, gated mansion? Doesn’t matter. What matters is that Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski live under the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JULY 19, 2021) — THE PLANET‘s clock says it’s time to clean out the tickle file, which happens when the funny bone fronts the eye tooth. Fictive — A good friend reminded us recently to be a “keeper of the flame,” a reference to […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JULY 16-8, 2021) — Did the city of Pittsfield deliberately set up the paperwork for the soon-to-be-desecrated — oops, we mean “dedicated” — bike pump track in such a way that it could perform an end-around on state open bidding laws? […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 14, 2021) — THE PLANET spent part of the pleasantly soggy Tuesday tramping through Springside Park. We did it to get a first-hand appreciation for the size of the proposed mountain bike development being pushed there by a tiny handful of backers […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JULY 12, 2021) — Like dividends on a hot stock, the Bike Mafia story keeps giving. New information keeps surfacing from the depths. It is up to THE PLANET to give it light, because Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, no other local media will […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JULY 9-11, 2021) — Point 1: Alison McGee, Ms. Walking Conflict of Interest, must resign. Question 1: Was Jim McGrath blackmailed into supporting the Bike Mafia’s plans to rip up Mother Nature at Springside Park? Question 2: Does the Parks Commission […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 7, 2021) — Phylicia Rashad, Bill Cosby’s TV wife from years back, whacked the hornet’s nest with a bludgeon when she defended a court ruling that freed the comedian from a Pennsylvania prison, where he was serving a 3- to 10-year sentence […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JULY 5, 2021) — THE PLANET‘s expose’ of the Bike Mafia’s plans to destroy Springside Park is a story with legs, as they say in the business. It has morphed from the specifics of a particular project into a myth of why ordinary […]
