BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION AUG. 21-3, 2020) — As is THE PLANET‘s custom, we do not comment extensively on a presidential campaign until the conventions are over and we’re into October, “the cruelest month” for its chance of turning tides and launching surprise. We pretend […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY AUG. 19, 2020) — Money comes, money goes. That’s the insight provided by ServiceNet’s Jay Sachetti in NOT explaining why the homeless were kicked out of SJHS and left to rot in Springside Park. Funny that neither mayor Linda Tyer nor community development […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY AUG. 17, 2020) — THE PLANET‘s Right Honorable Good Friends on the current Ocean’s 11 offer an eclectic mix of competence, incompetence, and the Admiral Stockdale’s “Who am I? Why am I here?” Competence? Two-and-a-half out of 11. That’s an average of .227. […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION AUG. 14-6, 2020) — Time to clear out the notebook. THE PLANET GETS A HICKEY — We heard from our Right Honorable Good Friend Tom Hickey. The former council president and Gerry Doyle mentor took issue with Wednesday’s column. He writes: […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY AUG. 12, 2020) — “Doyle vents ire on Valenti show.” So read the headline and story over six columns in a face a tad shy of Second Coming type. Date: Dec. 19, 2001. Mayor Doyle’s two-term tenure as mayor had less than three […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY AUG. 10, 2020) — THE PLANET begins with a bulletin. We received word from a reliable source just as we went to press Sunday night that former mayor Gerry Doyle has died. We had not other details. Stay tuned. Now on with the regular […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION AUG. 7-9, 2020) — The tragedy of dumping scores of homeless people into the waste bin of Springside Park, once the gem of Pittsfield’s fabulous parks system, serves as an allegory on the demise of the parks over the past generation […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY AUG. 5, 2020) — There they were, the Photo-Op Phonies, rushing in Monday to “help” the homeless at Springside Park. The Profiles-in-Courage included state sen. Adam Hinds, carrying a quart of spoiled milk; congressman Joe Kennedy III with two quarts of motor oil; […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY AUG. 3, 2020) — Jenn Smith’s feature in the Berkshire Eagle about homelessness in Springside Park had this revealing snippet: ServiceNet, according to the mayor’s office, now will be collecting any unclaimed items at the pavilion tables at the end of each day. The […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JULY 31-AUG.2, 2020) — On Wednesday THE PLANET published a ServiceNet contract with the city of Pittsfield. It covered the previous fiscal year, FY20. ServiceNet’s $222,000+ CEO Susan Stubbs signed on Oct. 3, 2019, mayor Linda Tyer on Oct. 24. The pact […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 29, 2020) — The yield of our followup on the firing of Helen Moon, late of D.A. Andrea Harrington’s office, can best be described as the holdings of a sprung bear trap entombed in Al Gore’s lock box and hidden in a […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY ADD 1, 11:50 a.m., 7/27/20 — We begin with some late-breaking news. A well-placed and reliable source tells THE PLANET that Helen moon has been fired by district attorney Andrea Harrington. Our sources says it was for due cause — insubordination. We won’t have any other details […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JULY 24-6, 2020) — The homeless crisis in Pittsfield only gets worse, with no sign of abating. The latest came after the Community Development Board shirked its responsibility, running away from a vote that would decide if a homeless shelter should […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 22, 2020) — As THE PLANET and THE PLANET alone continues to dig underneath the puff stories put out by ServiceNet and the mayor’s office with respect to the ouster of an unknown number of homeless people from the St. Joseph’s High […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JULY 20, 2020) — In The Weekend Edition, THE PLANET picked up the story of the sudden ouster of up to 80 homeless people from the former St. Joseph’s High School building on Maplewood Avenue in downtown Pittsfield. ServiceNet’s alarming move was done […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JULY 17-9, 2020) — Anyone who has had reason to place personal safety in jeopardy by venturing into the shooting gallery known as downtown Pittsfield knows about the “armies of the road” who have taken control of the city. They eat […]
