The Dirty Bird endorses Business as Usual in Pittsfield in 2021

October 30, 2021

Re: The Dirty Bird endorses Business as Usual in Pittsfield in 2021

I read the Dirty Bird's (Berkshire Eagle) endorsements of the City Council candidates, and they predictably endorsed all of Mayor Linda Tyer's establishment rubber stamp candidates.  The Dirty Bird wouldn't want to have opposing views in Pittsfield politics.  That would be like a Democracy instead of Pittsfield politics' China-like one political party system of rubber stamp government or someone like "JON MELLE" faces retribution and is forever thrown into the proverbial Siberia.  It is a good thing to know that my native hometown of Pittsfield Massachusetts has not changed in 2021.  How could I have expected anything different but the sarcastic tagline "Business as usual"?  Pittsfield is in the proverbial ditch and it has been at rock bottom for decades on end.  Upscale museums and art galleries in London, England, NYC and L.A. have art exhibits with the title: "Pittsfield: A City in Decay".  Pittsfield may as well be on a different Planet or on one of the moons in our Solar System.  The Berkshire Museum in 2018 sold tens of millions of dollars in donated historic artwork - including 2 donated Norman Rockwell paintings by the historic late artist himself - that was protested globally.  Pittsfield has 2 toxic waste dumps that people protested throughout Massachusetts.  GE wants to put a 3rd toxic waste dump inside of a watershed in Lee Massachusetts that a majority of the people don't want, but like Pittsfield, the disconnected ruling elites in Pittsfield down to Sheffield don't care about the people they supposedly represent.  Pittsfield has seen decades of population and job loss - a shrinking tax base, while Mayor Linda Tyer and her majority rubber stamp City Council have passed record high municipal budgets, fees, public debts and other liabilities that won't be paid off in our lifetimes - the WORSE in municipal economics and public finance.  Pittsfield has Level 5 - or the WORST - inner city public schools in the state, while Mayor Linda Tyer and the School Committee defend their indefensible failing school district.  Pittsfield is one of the most economically unequal metro areas in the state and nation, and Pittsfield has a growing underclass and homelessness crisis.  Where are the dynamic and vibrant living wage jobs, Mayor Linda Tyer and her Dirty Bird endorsed City Councilors?  Answer: Pittsfield's revitalization is where Jimmy Ruberto's Rolodex is: At the rock bottom of Silver Lake along with GE's cancer causing industrial chemicals called PCBs that have caused thousands of local residents to suffer from and die over the decades.  Downtown Pittsfield is called "Social Services Alley" and the area around North Street is called "The Ring of Poverty".  Mayor Linda Tyer lives in her millionaires only gated community going west past Berkshire Community College within a few feet of the Hancock border.  There are two Pittsfields within Pittsfield.  The elitist Pittsfield is the one the Dirty Bird endorses where Mayor Linda Tyer spews out her propaganda that the daily rag prints and endorses.  The real Pittsfield is the one I am writing about in protest of the Dirty Bird's endorsements of "Business as usual" where Pittsfield sits in the proverbial ditch.

Jonathan Alan Melle

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October 31, 2021

The Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) Editors only want Mayor Linda Tyer to have a rubber stamp City Council and School Committee without conscience and Democracy so that Pittsfield politics will continue to operate as "Business as usual".  It has been that way in my native hometown of Pittsfield Massachusetts all of my life of over 46 years.  Pittsfield politics is totally DISCONNECTED from the people who live in Pittsfield.  The City Government and School District in Pittsfield may as well be in China, Russia or on another Planet or Moon in our Solar System because it certainly ain't in the USA where the Government is supposed to serve the People for Democracy!

Jonathan A. Melle

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October 29, 2021

Pittsfield has a huge underclass population, including homeless families and individuals. Anyone with the means to move out of Pittsfield chooses to live in a safe community, but the poor residents don’t have a choice and are stuck there. I grew up in Pittsfield, and it was one of my biggest fears that I would end up in or near North Street’s Social Service Alley and the Ring of Poverty that surrounds North Street. Thankfully, my wish to not be stuck in inner city Pittsfield has come true, and I now live in a nice community in Amherst, New Hampshire. I feel that Pittsfield makes money off of its Level 5 inner city public schools, social services, and oversized Berkshire County Jail, all of which I have long called Perverse Incentives. Pittsfield didn’t have to end up stuck in the proverbial ditch, but Pittsfield politics is totally disconnected from the majority of people who live in Pittsfield Massachusetts. It is all a show by political actors Godfather Jimmy Ruberto of Naples Florida, Gated Community Linda Tyer, Amherst (Massachusetts) resident Chrome Dome Adam Hinds, Trippy Country Buffet, who sent her children to Lenox Public Schools, and Paul “Marx”, who only serves his politically connected Socialist/Communist brothers and sisters.

Jonathan A. Melle

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October 31, 2021

Ward 4 always decides the citywide vote, along with middle class and upper class Ward 4, of course.  There is no opposition in Wards 3, 5, & 7.  Wards 1, 2, & 6 have opposition.  Mayor Linda Tyer's term doesn't end until the end of 2023 so she is not up for reelection in 2021.  The School Committee needs new members because of Pittsfield's indefensible Level 5 inner city public schools.  I hope that all of the challengers win their elections in Pittsfield politics, even Sara Hathaway.  I dislike that the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) endorsed all of Mayor Linda Tyer's rubber stamp incumbent and establishment candidates.  Despite Pittsfield politics being so weird that it is like it is on another Planet or Moon in our Solar System, I believe that there still needs to be opposing viewpoints in Pittsfield politics.  I listen to all sides within reason in politics.  I dislike how divided our country has become lately.  Politicians are supposed to find common ground around their agenda for government to work for the people.  Mayor Linda Tyer and her rubber stamp municipal elected officials need to work with opposing viewpoints because we live in a Democracy.  Pittsfield politics needs to do away with its provincial factions and use of retribution against the ruling elite's opposition.  The reason why voter turnout will probably be less than 20% of registered voters on November 2nd, 2021 in Pittsfield Massachusetts is because the fix is always in with Pittsfield politics where voters know all too well that it is always "Business as usual" in City Hall.

Jonathan A. Melle

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November 1, 2021

It is nuts that homeless people poop on North Street.  It is nuts that over 80 Pittsfield residents have died of Covid-19.  It is nuts that Pittsfield's inner city public schools are rated Level 5 by the state in Boston.  It is nuts that state and local Pittsfield politicians, such as Mayor Linda Tyer living in her elitist gated community, are totally DISCONNECTED from the people who live in Pittsfield.  It is nuts that Pittsfield's municipal budget spending always increases by 5% every fiscal year and that Mayor Linda Tyer has passed several record high city budgets, fees, public debts and other liabilities that will never be paid off in our lifetimes, along with Matt Kerwood's multimillion dollar Slush Funds that belong in the pockets of Pittsfield taxpayers.  It is nuts that PEDA is a 23-year-old mostly vacant and polluted failure with millions of dollars in liabilities that nobody in City Hall has yet to explain how PEDA's huge debts/liabilities will be paid off.  It is nuts that Pittsfield Massachusetts always ranks in the top 10 communities in the state for violent crime, according to the FBI.  It is nuts that Mayor Linda Tyer's Vibrant and Dynamic Propaganda is always printed by the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) newspaper.  I could go on, but Ann Kronick, who is the wife of Ward 2 candidate Charles Ivar Kronick, is far from nuts for expressing her opposing views in Pittsfield politics, which is supposed to be a Democracy that serves the people instead of only Linda Tyer and her rubber stamp cronies.

Jonathan A. Melle

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November 3, 2021

I agree with blogger Dan Valenti's analysis of Pittsfield politics.  I am happy that Pittsfield voters didn't listen to the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) Editors and they voted in a few new faces on the City Council and School Committee.  It is sad that Pittsfield's voter turnout was predictably around 20%.  What is the point of voting in a city that is so corrupt and led by state and local politicians who are totally DISCONNECTED from the people and taxpayers who live in Pittsfield?  Mayor Linda Tyer should promise to work with the new elected officials and listen to their opposing viewpoints without using retribution.  I wish to thank Yuki Cohen for representing the people of Pittsfield, and let us remember that we are all human and we all have made mistakes in our lives.  I am rooting for Mayor Linda Tyer, the new/old City Councilors, and the new/old School Committee members in the 2022/2023 term.  I love to follow Pittsfield politics and I hope they will be able to work together for an agenda that will best serve the people and taxpayers of my native hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Jonathan A. Melle

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November 4, 2021

Hello Patrick Fennell,

Smitty Pignatelli wrote op-eds supporting GE's plan to put a third Berkshire County GE toxic waste dump inside of the watershed in Lee Massachusetts.  Now, Smitty Pignatelli is going around touting his effort to equip all first responders with Narcan to fight the deadly opioid pandemic.  Which is it?  Does Smitty Pignatelli support public health or not?  I had dinner with my dad tonight, and I told my dad that over the past 4 years, Smitty Pignatelli voted for and/or collected 10 legislative pay raises in Boston.  My dad was surprised, but I told my dad that for over 4 months and counting, Beacon Hill lawmakers have been sitting on $10 billion in cash.  My dad asked me what Boston will do with all of that cash?  I responded to my dad by saying that they will probably give Smitty Pignatelli another 10 legislative pay raises over the next couple of years.  My dad and Smitty Pignatelli served together for two years (1997 - 1998) on the Berkshire County Commission.  Since then, Smitty Pignatelli has turned into Darth Vader!

Best wishes,

Jonathan Melle

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November 9, 2021

Hello Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) Editors,

While I agree with your editorial about Mayor Linda Tyer possibly breaking state open meeting and ethics laws by shutting out the public from her spending of over $40 million in Biden Bucks over the next 5 years, and while I also agree with your past editorials about the Berkshire legislative delegation to Boston being wrong for voting against Sunshine Law legislative rules reform measures, especially one Lenox State Representative Smitty Pignatelli (aka Shitty) who has voted against these transparency for nearly 2 decades now, I must ask you, Dirty Bird Editors, why you supported the closed door and secretive agreement by Pittsfield leaders, and other Berkshire County towns, between the corrupt EPA and the heavily indebted GE, which just announced it is being split up into three companies, that has made no financial commitment to an estimated one billion dollar cleanup of the polluted Housatonic River that will last an estimated 15 years and puts a third Berkshire County GE toxic waste dump inside of the watershed in the town of Lee that a majority of the local residents of Lee and Lenoxdale does not want in and near their town(s)?  Why is it O.K. for Pittsfield leaders to agree to the corrupt EPA and heavily indebted 3 split up GE companies' secret agreement, but it is not O.K. for Pittsfield leaders to secretly spend over $40 million in Biden Bucks over the next 5 years?  Would it be O.K. for me to steal merchandise from Wal Mart, but not O.K for me to steal merchandise from Target?

Please publish my letter, despite your China or Russia-like media blackout of my letters to your newspaper; thank you.

Jonathan A. Melle

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Our Opinion: "Pittsfield's ARPA advisory council should be more transparent"

The Berkshire Eagle, Editorial, November 9, 2021

Pittsfield has some important choices ahead for how to spend more than $40 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds. City leaders have sought to prime the pump for critical discussion on these important decisions with community forums, surveys, preliminary pitches from the mayor’s office and the formation of an American Rescue Plan Act Advisory Council.

In the recent city elections, oversight of ARPA spending was a frequent topic. At least one City Council candidate — Karen Kalinowsky, who won an at-large seat — questioned why the ARPA Advisory Council’s meetings are not open to the public, arguing that the public is shut out from observing and questioning city leaders who will ostensibly have an outsized influence on how these millions of dollars are spent.

We agree with this critique. Earlier this year, we praised Mayor Linda Tyer’s pronouncements about prioritizing open and robust community engagement on ARPA spending, including her plans for an advisory council. While we still think the advisory council is a great idea to give critical community voices a space to flag potential uses for these public funds, its openness and robustness of community engagement is certainly limited by retreating behind closed doors to do so.

As it stands now, there are not even notices on the city’s calendar so that these community stakeholders’ neighbors might be able to bend their ears before or after one of these opaque meetings.

The mayor has defended holding the advisory council meetings out of the public eye by saying this “allows them to be honest and forthright with us about what they’re seeing, without being worried that they’re being watched and questioned,” adding “It’s really important to me that space is honored in a way that builds trust.”

The people of Pittsfield, though, deserve this to be handled in a way that builds trust with them as well. The intent of this panel is to inform official decisions on how to spend the public’s money — a big chunk of it, in this case. An outcome that the mayor and other leaders should be keen on avoiding is the inevitable hard feelings and division a month or a year or three years after the money is spent if residents continue to wonder why the necessary debate and discussion was not more transparent. Further, even if this ad-hoc committee meeting privately to discuss public spending decisions does not violate the letter of state open meeting laws, it certainly chafes against their spirit.

How Pittsfield spends ARPA money will not be decided by referendum, nor should it be. But the leaders who have the responsibility of shaping and making those decisions should do so while welcoming public oversight, not shunning it.

In the spirit of civic advocacy and official accountability, we always believe that being as transparent as reasonably possible is always the best policy.

That remains true for Pittsfield’s ARPA Advisory Council, which should be meeting publicly.

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November 13, 2021

That is true.  Mayor Linda Tyer's annual 5% municipal budget spending hike is business as usual in Pittsfield politics going back decades.  The only problem I have with it now - at the next City Council meeting on 11/23 - is that Mayor Linda Tyer is literally sitting on tens of millions of dollars in Biden Bucks along with Matt Kerwood's excessive multimillion dollar slush funds.  I asked my parents if Mayor Linda Tyer should be living in a millionaires only gated community, and they agreed with me that it sends an elitist message to the people and taxpayers of Pittsfield Massachusetts.  I read that Mayor Linda Tyer even drives a Lexus luxury automobile around Pittsfield.  She won the proverbial lottery by marrying her third husband, multimillionaire CPA Barry Clairmont - three times was a charm for the Lovely Linda!  The irony is that Pittsfield's inner city public schools are still rated Level 5 by the state, every year the FBI ranks Pittsfield as one of the top 10 cities in Massachusetts for violent crime, PEDA is a 23-year-old heavily indebted vacant polluted failure, there are little to no living wage jobs for the average working class family in Pittsfield but plenty of lottery tickets (which is really a voluntary state tax on the poor and financially illiterate), nearly 80% of Pittsfield voters don't bother to vote anymore in local elections, and Mayor Linda Tyer is (possibly illegally) shutting out the public from seeing her administration's spending of Pittsfield's Biden Bucks over the next 5 years.  While Linda Tyer is rich and powerful, Pittsfield is still in the proverbial ditch with Pittsfield politics always leading the way down!

Jonathan A. Melle

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November 15, 2021

It is totally indefensible that Pittsfield's inner city public schools are rated Level 5 by the state in Boston.  Another fact is that over 650 students per academic year choice out of Pittsfield Public Schools to neighboring public school districts.  Yet another fact is that many Pittsfield Public School teachers either accept teaching jobs in neighboring public school districts or retire if they are eligible to do so.  Mayor Linda Tyer and the Pittsfield School Committee are complete failures when it comes to public education in Pittsfield Massachusetts!  Only the 23-year-old polluted PEDA debacle is worse off than the Pittsfield Public School District.  Beacon Hill lawmakers systemically underfund public education in Massachusetts.  Shitty, Trippy Country Buffet, Paul "Marx", the former NA Mayor and Chrome Dome are scheduled to begin their 7-week-long taxpayer-funded vacation from Thursday, November 18th, 2021 to Tuesday, January 4th, 2022.  Pittsfield's students work harder than their vacationing politicians in Boston.

Jonathan A. Melle

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November 17, 2021

Level 5 Pittsfield public schools, the Hess Forest on Tyler Street, Homeless people pooping on North Street, which is sarcastically called Social Services Alley, the 23-year-old mostly vacant and polluted PEDA debacle with millions of dollars in unfunded liabilities, Pittsfield is always in the top 10 for violent crime every year in Massachusetts, according to the FBI, a shrinking population and decades of lost living wage jobs, City Hall's record setting municipal spending, taxes, fees, public debts and other liabilities that will never be paid off in our lifetimes, the Lovely Linda Tyer living in her millionaires-only gated community and driving her Lexus luxury car around Pittsfield Massachusetts, Trippy Country Buffet writing op-eds from Boston to Pittsfield wanting to raise state taxes, Chrome Dome Adam Hinds living out of his Berkshire State Senate district in his $690,000 home in Amherst Massachusetts, PAC Man Richie Neal only representing corporate K Street lobbyist firms that have nothing to do with his large Western Massachusetts legislative district, and Pittsfield is one of the most economically unequal metro areas in the state and nation.  Did I miss anything here?

Jonathan A. Melle

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November 17, 2021

Hello Patrick Fennell,

I agree with you about part-time low income workers being more productive than the do nothing career politicians on Beacon Hill in Boston.  The fact that Massachusetts state lawmakers are beginning their 7-week-long taxpayer-funded holiday vacation today (17-Nov-2021) clearly shows how little so-called "work" that they do on behalf of the people and taxpayers who mostly receive DISSERVICES from them.

The Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) had yet another editorial about Beacon Hill being inaccessible to the public - this time it was about the Boston Statehouse being the only Statehouse on the continent that is still closed to the public.  The Dirty Bird published past editorials criticizing Beacon Hill's House and Senate rules that are secretive and shut out the public from the sausage making, especially Lenox State Representative Smitty Pignatelli's nearly 2 decades of voting against Sunshine Laws. The Dirty Bird also published an editorial criticizing Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer for shutting out the public from her municipal administration's spending of well over $40 million in Biden Bucks.  I agree with all of the Dirty Bird's editorials in support of Sunshine Laws in government.

The only criticism I have of the Dirty Bird's editorials for transparency with reasonable limits in city and state government is that the Dirty Bird wrote editorials supporting the secretive deal between the corrupt EPA and heavily indebted GE, which will be split into three spinoff companies in 2023 and 2024, that shut out the public from the closed doors negotiations that promises to cleanup the polluted Housatonic River and put a toxic waste dump inside of the watershed in Lee Massachusetts, which is the dumbest proposal I have ever read about in my lifetime of 46 years.  Why does the Dirty Bird believe that both Mayor Linda Tyer and Beacon Hill lawmakers alike should be transparent with reasonable limits, but it was O.K. for these same local, state and federal elected officials and the heavily indebted GE, which has made no financial commitment to back up its estimated one billion dollar proposed cleanup project, to all negotiate behind closed doors with the corrupt EPA for this proposed cleanup project that will take 15 years to complete once it gets started after decades of ongoing litigation end?

Lastly, the government is supposed to find common ground and come together to work on an agenda that best serves the public and taxpayers.  The government is not supposed to be only fighting with each other for money and power, shutting out the public from the sausage making, and using retribution against those who oppose their views and public record.

Best wishes,

Jonathan Melle

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November 23, 2021

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

Tonight (Tuesday, 23-November-2021) is the Thanksgiving Eve night that will continue to give Pittsfield politics A BAD NAME!  Despite Matt Kerwood's multimillion-dollar Slush Funds and Mayor Linda Tyer's tens of millions of dollars in Biden Bucks, they are going to ask the City Council to raise the municipal tax rate by the predictable 5 percent spending increase that has been used for decades-on-end in Pittsfield politics.  It is NOT even rational anymore!  Mayor Linda Tyer and Matt Kerwood have more KAPANSKI KASH tonight than any Mayor and Financial Manager has had in the history of Pittsfield politics, yet they are still requesting to raise the municipal tax rate by 5 percent.  What a way for Pittsfield politics to kick off the holiday season!  Pittsfield politics is rolling in the dough, while many Pittsfield families and small businesses are struggling to stay financially afloat, but it will be "Business as Usual" in Pittsfield Massachusetts' City Hall tonight.  If I was a resident of Pittsfield, I would be standing before the Mayor, the Lovely Linda, Matt Kerwood, and the City Council telling them that they are worse than Scrooge and the Grinch for raising the municipal tax rate by 5 percent with all of the many millions of dollars in cash they are sitting on.  I hope someone out there will tell Pittsfield politics that tonight they earned their BAD REPUTATION!

Jonathan A. Melle

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November 23, 2021

I am not surprised by Matt Kerwood and Mayor Linda Tyer successfully persuaded the majority rubberstamp City Council to raise the municipal tax rate by the predictable 5 percent margin tonight (Tuesday, 23-November-2021) and using $1.5 million instead of $2.5 million in "Free Cash" to offset the tax hike on Pittsfield taxpayers.  It is always "Business as usual" in Pittsfield politics.  Matt Kerwood and Mayor Linda Tyer are sitting on tens of millions of dollars in Biden Bucks and Slush Funds, but it is not even rational anymore in Pittsfield politics.  Mayor Linda Tyer and CPA Barry Clairmont are multimillionaires who live an elitist Gated Community within feet of the Hancock border where they park their Lexus luxury cars at night, Matt Kerwood is a career Public Payroll Patriot who shuffles millions of dollars around city accounts to build his excessive Slush Funds, the City Council are mostly politically-connected hacks who are in the Lovely Linda's proverbial pocket, and the School Committee are glorified defenders of Pittsfield's indefensible Level 5 public schools.  Trippy Country Buffet went from working for Godfather Jimmy Ruberto to working for Boston's State House Dictators.  Chrome Dome Adam Hinds lives in a $690,000 home in Amherst, Massachusetts, which is NOT in his Berkshire-based State Senate legislative district.  PAC Man Richie Neal only represents K Street lobbyist firms, especially from the insurance industry.  Maryland Ed Markey is still promising to save the world from global warming with all of his hot air speeches.  Elizabeth Warren is always promising to fight for Main Street, but Wall Street is still winning.  Joe Biden is in Nantucket this Thanksgiving holiday long weekend, which is as far away from Pittsfield as one can be while still vacationing in Massachusetts.  Joke: Perhaps Joe Biden is the Man from Nantucket with a....

Jonathan A. Melle

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November 27, 2021

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

The letter, below, to the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) says that Pittsfield politics is doing nothing to help the city's homeless population.  I have an idea.  Use the Lovely Linda and Barry Clairmont's million-dollar home in Pittsfield's gated community west of Berkshire Community College within feet of the Hancock border as a homeless shelter.

The November 23rd, 2021 Pittsfield City Council raised the municipal tax rate by the predictable 5% margin, as it has increased city and school district spending by 5% every year for decades on end as the city's tax base always shrinks with population loss, the loss of thousands of living wage jobs over the past 50 years, attrition from the older generations going in the afterlife (if such a fairy tale actually exists), and Pittsfield's huge underclass with Pittsfield being one of the most economically unequal metro areas in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the nation.

I have an idea on how to reduce Pittsfield politics' always predictable tax and spending hikes.  Sell of the Lovely Linda's million-dollar home and property, sell the Lovely Linda's Lexus luxury car, and donate the millions of dollars in savings she and her multimillion-dollar CPA husband Barry Clairmont hold and use it all to lower municipal taxes and spending in Pittsfield.

If Pittsfield needs even more money to help the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family, withdraw the many millions of dollars in Matt Kerwood's Slush Funds and return the funds to all of the proverbial Kapanskis who have been systemically screwed over again and again over the decades by Pittsfield politics.

Pittsfield politics could use some of the Lovely Linda's tens of millions of dollars in Biden Bucks to help the city's homeless population.  But we will never know because the Lovely Linda has (possibly illegally) shut out the public from how she will spend her Biden Bucks funds.  To Hell with the state's Open Meeting Law and the state's Ethics Laws!  The Lovely Linda is the wealthy and powerful Queen of Pittsfield politics and royalty doesn't have to comply with the law or serve the people who must never question their administration.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Homeless need help in Pittsfield"

The Berkshire Eagle, November 27, 2021

To the editor: I read in The Berkshire Eagle a summary of the Pittsfield City Council meeting which took place Nov. 23, and again no mention of what is being done to help the homeless.

Another winter with not enough shelters for the needy people. Please do something to help the homeless in Pittsfield.

Barbara A. Bizzi, Pittsfield

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November 27, 2021

Hello Patrick Fennell,

K Street Lobbyist Firms run Capitol Hill.  In fact, both Obamacare and Trump's single largest tax cut bill in U.S. history were mostly written by K Street lobbyists.  81-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is worth over 1/2-billion-dollars.  She must have did well working in the Swamp over all of those decades she enriched herself at the public trough.  Hunter Biden allegedly money laundered many millions of foreign dollars from adversarial countries including China, Russia and Ukraine, but New York State is charging Donald Trump's businesses over around $900,000 in allegedly unpaid state taxes while Hunter Biden goes uncharged.  Joe Biden spent nearly 50 years in the Swamp, yet he is worth tens of millions of dollars and he is currently vacationing in a billionaire's compound in Nantucket, Massachusetts this Thanksgiving 2021 holiday weekend.

Donald Trump had Nazis (or the alt-right) work for his campaigns and administration, and he is spreading big lies about the 2020 presidential election being stolen from him by the Democratic Party Officials without producing any real proof.  Donald Trump sounds like a Nazi propagandist, and all of his post-White House actions are really strategies to keep his name in the media so he can have legitimacy in the 2022 midterm elections and a probable run for U.S. President in 2024.  Donald Trump's biggest 2021 legacy is the huge amounts of money he is raising for his MAGA Republican Party faction going into the 2022 midterm elections.  If Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican Party donors used a fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars they are raising for 2022 and 2024 to help the underclass, then we would have a lot more healthy and warm poor people throughout the USA this Fall of 2021 and upcoming Winter of 2021/2022.

Beacon Hill lawmakers were called out by the Editors of the Boston Globe who recently wrote that they are an EPIC FAILURE for leaving billions of Biden Bucks and state surplus dollars in limbo when they recently left Boston for their 7-week-long taxpayer-funded vacation that doesn't end until January 5th, 2022.  The Swamp returns next week and will work for a few weeks prior to Christmas 2021.  The Swamp has to pass bills to lift the federal debt ceiling and keep the federal government running.  It should be an easy proverbial layup, but the Swamp only cares about who gets their greedy and corrupt hands on more money and power from Wall Street and K Street so that they will get reelected for decades-on-end.

In school, I was taught that in a democracy, different political parties are supposed to come together every year to produce a PUBLIC AGENDA that serves the common good for the people and taxpayers whom the ruling elites serve in elected office.  If your politician fails to produce said PUBLIC AGENDA, then the news media and voters are supposed to vote your politician out of elected office at the next election.  I was taught that we are a nation of laws instead of men, and that when a politician is greedy and corrupt, then the news media and voters are supposed to vote said politician out of elected office - sometimes with legal consequences against the disgraced politician.  I was taught that what is special about the USA is that our democratic institutions ensure that every American Citizen has the equal opportunity to have Social Mobility and achieve the American Dream for themselves their loved ones.  I was taught that the reason why the USA has a solid Middle Class and a few wealthy capitalists that pay taxes is so that the government is able to invest in all of the American People for living wage jobs and financial security, affordable and quality healthcare insurance, affordable and quality housing, well performing public schools and universities, and safe and secure streets where everybody is protected by the rule of law.

I guess that all of those lofty ideals I was taught in school decades ago in my 46-year-old life are not being practiced by career politicians such as Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer, State Representatives Smitty Pignatelli (aka Shitty), Trippy Country Buffet, Paul Mark (aka Paul Marxism), John Barrett (aka the Mayor), State Senator Adam Hinds (aka Chrome Dome), K Street's PAC Man Richie Neal, Maryland Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren, Governor Charlie Baker (aka Faker), Prez Joe Biden (aka (Xiden), and the like.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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November 30, 2021

Hello Mark Tully & Charles Kronick,

I agree with Mark Tully's letter to the Editor of the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) regarding Mayor Linda Tyer's bizarre and out-of-touch statement that Pittsfield politics' always predictable 5% municipal spending increase correlates with the added market value of residential homes.  Mayor Linda Tyer lives in a millionaires-only Gated Community in far west Pittsfield past Berkshire Community College where she and her wealthy CPA husband Barry Clairmont both park their Lexus luxury cars at night.  At Pittsfield City Hall, Mayor Linda Tyer is sitting on the biggest amount of cash in the history of Pittsfield politics.  She is sitting on well over $20 million in Biden Bucks, as well as many millions of Slush Fund dollars via Matt Kerwood's Creative Accounting Schemes.

The proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family in Pittsfield Massachusetts always pays for higher municipal taxes, fees, public debts and other liabilities, and in return for their hard-earned money they get shafted with Level 5 inner city public schools, Pittsfield always being in the top 10 for violent crime in Massachusetts according to the FBI's annual report, a 23-year-old mostly vacant and very polluted PEDA debacle that has many millions of dollars in growing unfunded liabilities, a distressed local economy with little to no living wage jobs for the average underclass and working class Pittsfield families, Pittsfield being one of the most economically unequal metro areas in the Commonwealth and nation, a state and local ruling elite group of insider political hacks who are totally disconnected from the people who they supposedly serve in government, a dangerous downtown that is sarcastically called "Social Services Alley" with "the Ring of Poverty" of poor neighborhoods that surround North Street, 50 years of losses in population and living wage jobs - a shrinking tax base - while the government has grown more and more expensive for the local taxpayers over the years/decades, and so on.  I call that a very bad deal from Beacon Hill backbencher Berkshire state lawmakers and Pittsfield politicians!

In closing, when someone such as Mark Tully asks the age-old question, "Why?", Mayor Linda Tyer and her mostly rubber-stamp City Councilors always continue on with "Business as usual" in Pittsfield politics.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Despite mayor's dismissal, Pittsfield homeowners will still feel tax pinch"

The Berkshire Eagle, November 30, 2021

To the editor: There were many absurd statements made during Tuesday’s City Council debate on whether to use additional “free cash” to lower the tax burden. ("Tyer's tax rate greenlit as Pittsfield council rejects using additional $1 million in free cash to reduce property tax bills," Eagle, Nov. 23.)

I think the most absurd statement of the night, however, was by Mayor Linda Tyer. Mayor Tyer decided to educate the City Council on the benefits of the increase in home values such as adding equity, building borrowing power and personal wealth.

Mayor Tyer then stated, “For the average single-family home in Pittsfield, the increase in value equals $18,172 and I suggest that’s a decent value proposition for only $196 in new taxes.”

What does Mayor Tyer mean by that statement? Should I be grateful to the city for overvaluing my home and charging me $196 more? Does Mayor Tyer think a bank will appraise my home based on one year's sales data and lend me $18,172 to help me pay my taxes?

Last year, we saw a 9 percent spike in single-family home sale prices due to demand driven by a pandemic and a limited supply of housing. This is not a trend. It is a spike and prices will adjust down. Will Mayor Tyer return the $196 when prices fall? I think not.

Mayor Tyer’s statement reminds me of Marie Antoinette’s alleged statement to the peasants during the bread famine: “Let them eat cake.”

Mark Tully, Pittsfield

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Letter: "Pittsfield mayor's tax comments are off-base"

The Berkshire Eagle, December 2, 2021

To the editor: I don't know if Linda Tyer is a Democrat or a Republican, but she sure sounds like a Trump Republican when at a recent City Council meeting she states that we should not be concerned with our new real estate tax hike, as our home values will increase substantially as well as our personal wealth. ("Tyer's tax rate greenlit as Pittsfield council rejects using additional $1 million in free cash to reduce property tax bills," Eagle, Nov. 23.)

Really? Voodoo economics for sure. Wake up, mayor.

Vic Ostellino, Pittsfield

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December 7, 2021

I nominate my pen pal Patrick Fennell for the Orbit award.  I like him because he tells off the Berkshire County area state and local politicians as a voice for the proverbial Kapanskis.  I always enjoy reading his political emails and letters to the editor, too.  50 years of worsening economic inequality, living wage job loss, population loss and political corruption in Massachusetts politics, and the beautiful Berkshires always get more of the same business as usual.  Thank you, Patrick Fennell for your political advocacy for the little guy.

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Springside mountain bike plan presentation brings more concerns"

The Berkshire Eagle, December 7, 2021

To the editor: After watching the NEMBA Pittsfield Bike Park advocates present their power point about their pump track design to the Pittsfield Park Commission last night, I was simply appalled at the fundamental lack of environmental ethics or conscience (in the words of the great conservationist Aldo Leopold) that these people displayed to the people of Pittsfield and Berkshire County. ("Pittsfield's Parks Commission saw plans for a mountain bike course in Springside Park. It's worried that the project will be too popular," Eagle, Nov. 16.)

Not only did these mountain bike presenters unabashedly show how they would transform Springside Park into the Pittsfield Mountain Bike Park (a clear violation of the park deed and a change of use under Article 97 of the state constitution), but they totally ignored the environmentally costly effects that hundreds of trail trashing and trail shredding mountain bikers would do to the Springside Park biodiversity, ecology, natural green spaces, wetl

ands and trails of Pittsfield’s largest urban park.

This 2.3-acre atrocity in the woods would consist of 98,000 square feet, including 23,000 square feet of asphalt, 12 prefabricated features including pump track, ladder drops, jumps, an encircling split-rail fence, dual slalom course, skills development zone, gravel walks and an enlarged parking spot for more than 22 cars with overflow parking allocated at the Springside House to allow hundreds of more mountain bikers to invade the rest of Springside Park regardless of delicate ecosystems, the Vin Hebert Arboretum, vernal pools or upland meadows and forests. Over 70,868 square feet of total green space would be taken from Springside Park including the children’s playground and old ballfield.

The adjacent federally protected wetland (calcareous fen) next to the old ballfield would be impacted, despite the dubious and ineffective precautions of construction of turbid water discharge and erosion controls under the city storm water permit.

Victor C. Capelli, Ulster Park, N.Y.

The writer is a retired ecologist and was the resident naturalist at Springside Park from 1991 to 1996.

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December 7, 2021

I cannot believe how much municipal taxes, fees, public debts and other liabilities have increased in Pittsfield politics over the past several decades.  This has occurred while Pittsfield has lost so many of its living wage jobs and population, which means a shrinking tax base.  It is the WORST of both worlds!  I won't "Blame Linda" for 35 years of failed public management in Pittsfield because it is not rational to do so.  But the fact remains that Mayor Linda Tyer passed record high municipal budgets, oversees Level 5 inner city public schools, and is possibly illegally shutting out the public from her spending of tens of millions of dollars in Biden Bucks, which may violate the state's Open Meeting Law and Ethics Laws.  Godfather Jimmy Ruberto - of Naples Florida - and his Rolodex that belongs at the bottom of Silver Lake are the rock bottom political figure and symbol of Pittsfield politics sad history of failed leadership.  Beacon Hill only does DISSERVICES to Pittsfield and all of the other Gateway Cities.  The Swamp only fights with each other for power and money from Wall Street via K Street Lobbyist Firms.  Pittsfield never had a chance in local, state and federal government given how broken and inequitable the political system has become over the past couple of decades.  Everyone is out for themselves, while there are no longer leaders who care about the common good and the people the government is supposed to represent.  The Elites have done fabulously well during the Covid pandemic, while the rest of us feel lucky to have survived it.  I hope 2022 will not be "Business as usual" in Pittsfield politics and beyond, but I won't be holding my breath!

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Pot tax revenue can help residents in other ways"

The Berkshire Eagle, December 8, 2021

To the editor: Cannabis shops are sprouting in Pittsfield like mushrooms after a heavy rain.

Dalton Avenue is the new Rodeo Drive of pot.

The real estate market is really hot, especially in southern Berkshire where tenants are being hastily evicted by owners anxious to cash in. ("Finding an apartment in Great Barrington always has been a challenge. The pandemic made it worse," Eagle, Dec. 1).

Yet our taxes might be going up. Ward 3 councilor Nick Caccamo gave me information regarding the three buckets of Pittsfield expenditures that the local cannabis tax revenue goes into. Is there a way the cannabis tax buckets can be rearranged to help the citizens of Pittsfield with their real estate taxes so that they may remain in their homes and maintain them?

Jeanne Bresnehan, Pittsfield

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December 9, 2021

On Pittsfield politics, Mayor Linda Tyer is sitting on tens of millions of dollars in Biden Bucks and Matt Kerwood's Slush Funds.  Why did she raise municipal spending by the always, always, always,....predictable 5 percent margin when she is flush with more cash than any Mayor in the sad history of corrupt Pittsfield politics' failed state and local leadership?  Why is she possibly illegally shutting out the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski out of the city's spending of its Biden Bucks?  What happened to the state's Open Meeting Law and Ethics Laws?  Why doesn't someone write to the state Attorney General's Office about Mayor Linda Tyer's possibly illegal actions?  To be clear, Mayor Linda Tyer's tax and spending ways are possibly illegal and NOT even rational anymore!

On Beacon Hill politics, the state Legislature is still on its 7-week-long taxpayer-funded vacation until January 5th, 2022.  They just passed their Biden Bucks and state surplus spending bill in informal legislative session, but they are still sitting on billions of additional state cash that should belong in the pockets of the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family.  Smitty Pignatelli is still writing his lofty worded op-eds, but we all know that his real public record in Boston is anything but lofty.  Chrome Dome Adam Hinds is racking up endorsements for his campaign for Lieutenant Governor, but what does that useless position actually do for the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts?  To be clear, the Berkshire legislative delegation - Chrome Dome, Shitty, Trippy Country Buffet, Paul Marxism, and the career Mayor John Barrett III - are useless backbenchers in Boston, which only does DISSERVICES to the beautiful Berkshires and beyond.

On the Swamp, Donald Trump signed the single largest federal tax cut in U.S. history, and he was a big deficit spender whereby he racked up between $7 trillion to $8 trillion in four years of combined federal budget deficits.  Then Joe Biden spent a whopping $6 trillion federal dollars in his first 100 days in the Oval Office, which was on top of the multitrillion-dollar federal budget, and he signed and may still sign the largest federal spending bill(s) in U.S. history.

The U.S. national debt is now over $29 trillion.  Like I have explained many times before, all the Swamp does is transfer trillions of federal dollars from the Federal Reserve to Capitol Hill to Wall Street to Foreign Banks and back and forth again and again, which means that the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski never sees any of it in terms of economic, financial and income gains for the past 50 years.  To put it simply, the rich always get richer, while the rest of us either tread water and hopefully save a few dollars or we fall in our country's ever-increasing underclass.  Most of the trillions of federal dollars only exist on institutional computer screens, but it is also causing a three decade high in U.S. inflation which is worse than any federal tax increase on the masses.

Like Mayor Linda Tyer's tax and spending in Pittsfield politics, and Beacon Hill's vacationing Salons still sitting on billions in additional state cash, the Swamp's running of the printing presses like Napoleon did over two Centuries ago is NOT rational.

The 2022 midterm election will see Democratic Party losses and Republican Party gains in the Swamp.  Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are tanking in the polls, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi being worth over $500 million as a career politician does not go over well with voters.

MAGA Trumpism (or MAGA Hitler Nazism) and the Utopian Green New Deal are both downright scary.  Whatever happened to the President and U.S. Congress standing for the rule of law while managing scarce public resources for the efficient and equitable economic and financial benefit of the American People - Invest in People - who have the equal opportunity to live the American Dream of a middle-class life for themselves and their family?

In closing, I wish that extremist politicians on the right and left would stop their nonsense about "Making America Great Again" or selling us Hot Air with their Utopian Green New Deal propaganda and start governing again with real leadership whereby the Government serves We the People.

Jonathan Alan Melle

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December 10, 2021

Like everyone else, I would need security guards walking around inner-city Pittsfield, especially after hours.  During and after my dad was a Berkshire County Commissioner (1997 - mid-2000), most of my enemies were from Pittsfield politics to Beacon Hill, especially one four-foot-tall illegal double dipper in Pittsfield/Boston who was in bed with the big banks and insurance companies from 1999 to 2006, and who is now heavily invested in the marijuana market since March of 2017 that stinks up abutting neighborhoods behind his Dalton Avenue pot growing operation with dead-skunk odor air.  Pittsfield is not vibrant and dynamic for many of the people and neighborhoods that the Lovely Linda neglects.  But what does Mayor Linda Tyer care - after all she lives in a mansion in a millionaires-only gated community west of Berkshire Community College within a few feet of the Hancock border where she and her wealthy CPA husband Barry Clairmont both park their luxury Lexus cars at night.   In fact, Linda Tyer perfectly symbolizes everything that is unfair and wrong with Pittsfield politics in the 21st Century, along with Jimmy Ruberto's rusted-out Rolodex that rightfully sits at the rock bottom of Silver Lake.  The ruling elites making out like bandits happens everywhere, but Pittsfield politics' Queen Linda Tyer has done it in SPADES!  I predict she will continue to keep her spending of the tens of millions of Biden Bucks a secret from the taxpayers, direct Matt Kerwood to add additional millions of dollars to his excessive multimillion-dollar Slush Funds, raise municipal spending by the always predictable 5 percent per fiscal year (along with fee hikes, and financially unsustainable increases in the city's public debts and other liabilities), oversee the indefensible Level 5 inner city public schools, oversee the failed 23-year-old mostly vacant and very polluted PEDA park with millions of dollars in unfunded liabilities, call North Street "a work in progress" while the homeless shit on the street of "Social Services Alley" and small business owners complain in futility, and dish out retribution against her detractors so she her administration won't be questioned by the taxpaying public.  What a frickin' nightmare Pittsfield has become in 2021 going into 2022!  When I was a young man decades ago, I hoped and prayed I wouldn't end up in inner-city Pittsfield, and now that I am in my mid-40s I am grateful that I was able to move far away from my nightmarish existence in Pittsfield to a nice community in Southern New Hampshire.  In closing, if the Lovely Linda is the head-side of the coin, then Jon Melle is the tail-side of the coin in Pittsfield Massachusetts - and heads always wins for the Elites even when the coin is called tails!  Jon Melle will NOT be walking the streets of Pittsfield by Jon Melle's choice ever again in Jon Melle's limited time on Earth.

JON MELLE

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December 12, 2021

Hello Alan Chartock,

When I lived in the beautiful Berkshires many years ago, people knew me and they said hello to me when I visited Great Barrington because I would go to political meetings there with my dad when he served as a Berkshire County Commissioner (1997 - mid-2000) before Beacon Hill lawmakers (Nuciforo & Daniel Bosley) abolished Berkshire County Government effective mid-2000.  I found Great Barrington to be a nice community full of good people back then, and I am sure Great Barrington is still a great place for people to live, work, play/enjoy and visit today.

Affordable housing is the foundation of giving people and families a chance to succeed in life.  Without affordable housing, a community or region loses its working class and becomes severely economically unequal.  As a lifelong student of Socio-Economics, I always wondered what happened to the government investing in the people, which is a community and region's most valuable resource.  The pursuit of the Almighty Dollar only goes so far before it causes a community to lose its working class and middle-class population, which is what happened in Pittsfield Massachusetts over the past 35-plus years and counting into the future.

You, Alan Chartock, have long written about the dangers of Oligarchies in politics.  If one wants to stop a few ruling elites from running the show in their community and region, then vote for your local government to invest in people by subsidizing affordable housing for the working class and middle-class population so that they will have a real voice at City or Town Hall and with their career politicians in Boston and the Swamp.

Berkshire County is a case study in "The Iron Rule of Oligarchy" whereby PAC Man Richie Neal has been in the Swamp for nearly 34 years, Smitty Pignatelli has been in Boston for nearly 20 years, Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer lives in a mansion in a millionaires-only Gated Community in far west Pittsfield that is within feet of the Hancock border, career politician John Barrett III still runs North Adams, Dan Bosley and Peter Larkin still make a lot of money as GREEDY Beacon Hill registered lobbyists, Nuciforo runs his stinky multimillion-dollar marijuana business, and so on.  It has long fascinated me how the Oligarchs in the Berkshires are able to shutout the people from state and local government for their own personal enrichment at the public trough while the people who live there struggle to find a roof over their heads.

It is NOT Rocket Science to rebuild the Middle Class.  The Ruling Elite should subsidize affordable housing, public education and job training, public health and health insurance, public safety, support companies who pay employees a living wage, provide disability and retirement plans for workers' old age, and help everyone who lives in the community to have a life with financial security and stability so the people may in turn invest their personal funds back into the community by owning homes, shopping at small businesses, paying taxes, and the like.  For the past 50 years, the middle class has diminished, while the underclass has increased to excessively high numbers in the USA where Social Mobility and the American Dream have become distant memories for millions of American Citizens.

I like the Town of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and I hope that the people and local voters there will subsidize affordable housing for the working people and families who wish to live there.

Best wishes, 

Jonathan A. Melle

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I PUBLIUS: "Great Barrington’s short-term rental debate"

By Alan Chartock, op-ed column in The Berkshire Edge, December 11, 2021

OK, so let’s talk about the short-term rental situation. I think I get it. A lot of people like to visit Great Barrington. It’s relatively close to both New York and Boston. But like a lot of other places where there simply isn’t enough affordable housing, our town doesn’t have enough space for people who want to live here as full-time renters.

As a result, short-term rentals have become an anathema to many town residents. Some of the thinking is as follows. If people weren’t doing something like Airbnb, there would be more housing stock for long-term renters. These are the people who work here but can’t find a place to live in town and have to commute from places such as Pittsfield. With housing prices going through the roof, we’ve just got to have more rental availability.

So, there is going to be a vote at the town meeting. Should we adopt a plan which sort of splits the baby? Some people who live here just want to rent out rooms in their houses to earn a little extra income. Some of the folks who are opposed to short-term rentals are jealous, some are just unhappy. Some really believe that short-term rentals are bad for their neighborhoods. What we don’t want is for out-of-towners to buy property, then set up short-term rentals and act as absentee landlords.

We also have to consider the people who may not be renting out rooms in their homes or outbuildings right now, but might want to in the future. Would they really raise their hands at the town meeting and possibly vote against their own future interests?

As readers of this column know, I am a huge Leigh Davis fan. I know that our excellent selectperson is trying to work something out in the way of a compromise that can get the votes of our townspeople. It won’t be easy. Under her plan, the Chartocks, who are blessed with an outbuilding that we use as an Airbnb, will be fine. Since we are at the stage in our lives where we have enough to live on, we do it because we find that we genuinely like the folks who rent from us, mainly during the summer months. When our family comes to visit, we want to keep the small outbuilding available. Many of our neighbors who are looking for extra space when their families come to town become our clients. We love that.

None of us really knows what the future will bring. Someone might fear that, at some point, they might need the money the’d get from renting a space in their home, so they’d be hard pressed to vote for a plan that would curtail that potential income. The Leigh Davis plan is certainly sensible. Out-of-towners will not be permitted to buy a house simply to rent it out short-term. If you want to use the home you live in to make a few extra dollars, you will be allowed to do that. That sounds like a fine compromise.

This sort of plan is being proposed in many other places in the country. In New Orleans, where my son Jonas owns a house, some neighborhoods are off limits and short-term rentals are not permitted. I’m fascinated to see what happens when the vote on the Davis plan comes up. There are a lot more people who rent out short-term than you might believe. I predict this group will turn out for the election, big time. That’s why I will probably vote for the plan. But it will be a divisive issue that may turn neighbor against neighbor. I would hate to see that happen and, as I have suggested above, we can live with the results. In the meantime, my congratulations to Leigh Davis for trying to thread the needle.

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December 12, 2021

Hello Patrick Fennell,

At the close of December 10, 2021, business day, Friday's closing of the U.S. Stock Market saw record high numbers in the indices.  How did that happen?  The answer is that the Federal Reserve always transfers trillions of dollars to the Swamp which then transfers trillions of dollars to Wall Street which transfers hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign banks in Europe and Asia, and the huge sum of Federal Reserve Notes bounce around this elitist rectangle over and over again year in and year out.  What is the biggest problem with the federal financial system?  It leaves out the people who rely on low to moderate incomes both in the USA and in Europe and Asia.  The world has trillions of people in terms of global population, and trillions of people around the world are living in poverty.  The underclass is beyond excessive both at home and abroad.

In 2008 and 2009, the Swamp spent trillions of dollars bailing out Wall Street, and the Swamp spent hundreds of billions of dollars bailing out foreign banks in Europe and Asia, after the financial elites in Wall Street, Europe and Asia treated institutional investing like a drunken party at a casino that caused the 2007 - 2009 global financial crisis with their losing casino-like bets.  What happened?  The Swamp rewarded Wall Street and foreign banks with the American People's hard-earned tax dollars.  However, if I, Jon Melle, went to a casino and lost my shirt there, the Swamp would not bail me, Jon Melle, out because I, Jon Melle, am not part of the financial elites on Wall Street and/or foreign banks.

In 2021, we witnessed a K-shaped economic recovery whereby the Financial and Ruling Elites made trillions of dollars in profits, while the rest of us hit rock bottom.  Inflation hasn't been this high since 1982, which is 39 years ago.  Inflation is worse than any federal tax on the middle class, working-class and underclass, which is most of the U.S. population.  Joe Biden has and is trying to pass the most expensive 2021 federal spending bill(s) in U.S. history.  The federal government has spent well over $10 trillion federal tax dollars in 2021 alone, which is unheard of.  However, PAC Man Richie Neal, who is the Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, has not raised the needed federal revenue to pay for the trillions of federal dollars in Biden Bucks.  PAC Man Richie Neal (D-Insurance Companies) only represents K Street lobbyist firms in Washington, D.C., which mostly do the bidding of Wall Street institutional investors.

PAC Man Richie Neal has no business representing mostly rural Western Massachusetts in the Swamp, but he has been there for nearly 34 years and counting.  But what difference does it make, because Beacon Hill only does DISSERVICES to Western Massachusetts and beyond.  I have received countless political emails saying that Beacon Hill lawmakers systemically underfund local aid and state administered public education aid, while giving politically connected mostly Boston area businesses $17.8 billion per fiscal year in state tax breaks.  To be honest, I do not know who is worse, PAC Man Richie Neal or the Berkshire legislative delegation to Boston: "Chrome Dome" Adam Hinds, "Shitty" Smitty Pignatelli, "Trippy Country Buffet" Tricia Farley Bouvier, "Paul Marxism" Paul Mark, and "the career Mayor" John Barrett III.  The one thing I do know is that none of them really represent the people who live in the beautiful Berkshires and points east!

Smitty Pignatelli always writes his lofty worded op-eds in Western Massachusetts newspapers, but then he goes to Boston and votes for the top-down State House leaders who always shaft the people and taxpayers of Western Massachusetts.  I always get annoyed when I read Smitty Pignatelli's phony op-eds because he is two faced as all Hell.  Perhaps Smitty Pignatelli is self-deluded with his leadership from Berkshire County to Boston?  If Smitty Pignatelli really believed his lofty sounding words, then why does he mostly vote in lockstep with Speaker Ronny Mariano and company in Boston?  It is like saying 2 + 2 = 5, and then Smitty Pignatelli writing his disingenuous op-eds about how wonderful Smitty Pignatelli's lofty words sound.  Moreover, Smitty Pignatelli writes about how post-industrial Berkshire County has lost thousands of living wage jobs and tens of thousands of people to population loss over the past 50 years without taking into account that he has been in elected office in Boston since 2003, or for the past almost 19 years and counting forward.  Smitty Pignatelli's op-eds point out that the people in Berkshire County live in an economically unequal distressed regional economy without Smitty Pignatelli ever looking at himself in the proverbial mirror to reflect on his own failed leadership in state and local government.

Given everything I have written about the Swamp, Beacon Hill, and career politicians such as Smitty Pignatelli who have all enriched themselves at the public trough, I don't believe that Great Barrington subsidizing affordable housing for the local working-class families is undoable.  After all, the government wastes public tax dollars everywhere, but somehow the Ruling Elites always win no matter what happens in the economy.  The Almighty Dollar is important, but it also has its limits.  The working-class people and families of Great Barrington and beyond should be invested in like everyone else in our society.  When the working-class has access to affordable housing, they in turn put their hard-earned dollars right back into the local economy in Great Barrington and beyond.  I want everyone out there to have a chance to have the equal opportunity to succeed in the economy and live a rewarding life for themselves and their family, but the Financial and Ruling Elites will never allow it to happen because they only want money and powerful for themselves so that they can sit on their fat asses for decades in government and Wall Street.

Best wishes,

Jonathan Melle

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December 12, 2021

Hello Patrick Fennell,

I meant to write that there are billions of people living in the world and that there are billions of people living in poverty around the world.  I didn't mean to write trillions of people, but rather, I meant to write billions of people.

I have a Master of Public Administration degree from UMass Amherst from May of 1999, and I have read a lot about the role of public management in government over the years.  The key to being a good public manager is using limited or even constrained public resources, including money, to invest in the people of the community, region, state and country you serve in government.  The reason why a good public manager invests public resources in the people is because the people are the most valuable resource to the community, region, state and country.  The people are the ones who pay taxes, shop at local and regional small businesses, invest in their homes and property, invest in their families and neighborhoods, send their children to well-performing public schools, work with public safety officials for safe streets, and so on.

My theory as to why the government stopped investing in the people, but instead put most of its public resources towards supply-side economic or "Reaganomics" that always favor the wealthy elites is because the government is racist and greedy as all Hell.  The government has been shafting the people for around 50 years now, which is after LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act into law in the mid-1960s.  Once black people, other minorities, women and the like had equal legal protections in government, business and the workplace, the government abandoned its 1950s era "White Flight" suburban American Dream programs, and pivoted towards ensuring most of the economic, financial and income gains were mostly made by the top 1 percent of American households, which are wealthy and mostly white.  To be clear, the government no longer cared if a white family or a black family fell into the underclass, which is also called multigenerational poverty.

The U.S. Government's number one non-farm export to the world is arms sales of military weapons that have boosted Wall Street and the Military Industrial Complex - which emits more greenhouse gas pollution than 140 countries combined - whereby millions upon millions of innocent people have been killed in endless wars and proxy wars.  In the 1990s, when the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia's economy tanked, the U.S. Government under U.S. President Bill Clinton took most of Russia's global market share in arms sales of military weaponry.  The Stock Market boomed, Bill Clinton bragged about high economic growth, and he was elected to two terms in the Oral Orifice (Oval Office), and the federal government had low to no federal budget deficits for the first time in many years.  But the message the U.S. Government sent to Russia and the world was not one of Peace on Earth, but rather U.S. Superpower status with a booming Stock Market and high national economic growth.  Here we are in 2021 going into 2022, and the U.S. Government's foreign relations with Russia and China are looking very ugly, Joe Biden called Putin a "Killer" and is worried about Russia invading Ukraine, Joe Biden threatened World War 3 with China over its aggression in Taiwan, and the U.S. Government and China's Government are fighting each other over Superpower military, economic and financial status on the world stage.

In closing, what is missing in politics is that the government is NOT investing in the people, but rather, it is still favoring the super-wealthy, Wall Street and foreign banks in Europe and Asia, growing the underclass with an ever-shrinking middle class, selling billions of dollars per year in military arms to the world, and having ugly foreign relations with "Killer" Putin and President Joe Biden threatening China with World War 3.  WHY?  I hope 2022 will be a much better year than 2021, but it is NOT likely!

Jonathan A. Melle

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December 12, 2021

Hello Patrick Fennell,

Joe Biden should no longer be the sitting U.S. President after he called Putin a "Killer" and now he has to deal with Russia's possible invasion of Ukraine, threatened a third world war with China over its military aggression with Taiwan, withdrew the U.S. Military from Afghanistan and let the Taliban reclaim the long war-torn country with billions of dollars in U.S. cash, billions of dollars in U.S. Military weapons and the like, and put up to 14 million human lives there at risk of mass starvation and death this upcoming Winter of 2021/2022.  Hunter Biden is an alleged money launderer with his past business dealings with China, Russia and Ukraine.  Joe Biden's critics call them the Biden Crime Family because they are all very wealthy without a rational and legal explanation of their monetary riches.  Joe Biden campaigned as a Uniter (yet he called Putin a "Killer") and a Man of the People, but he is neither as U.S. President.  Joe Biden is spending the U.S. Treasury into oblivion.  Joe Biden spent $6 trillion dollars in his first 100 days in the White House.  Joe Biden's 2021 federal spending bill(s) is/are the most expensive spending bill(s) in U.S. history.  Even the Democratic Party slim control of U.S. Congress is telling the Biden administration to limit his historic and unheard-of federal spending.  U.S. inflation is at a 39 year high, and the cost borne by U.S. consumers is worse than any federal tax that Biden could have passed to pay for his federal spending binge.  What is worse is that Joe Biden killed tens of thousands of energy-related American jobs with his so-called Green New Deal environmental policies.  Joe Biden's Climate Change bureaucrat is billionaire John Forbes Kerry, who never practiced what he now preaches to the American People and the world about Climate Change.  The Swamp is so wealthy and out-of-touch with the American People that they are still pushing for Biden's multitrillion-dollar Social Spending bill that will be funded through borrowing and money printed out of thin air, which is reminiscent of when Napoleon ran the printing presses in France over two Centuries ago.  Like you always point out, the Biden Bucks never reach those who are most in need of the stimulus and social services dollars.  Where do the Biden Bucks end up?  I would like to know who got the well over $10 trillion in Biden Bucks in 2021.  We all know where a lot of public funds go: From the Federal Reserve Bank to the Swamp to Wall Street (via K Street Lobbyist Firms) to Foreign Banks in Europe and Asia, which means little to none of it ever goes to the American People who are and will be paying for this financial shell game that only benefits the Financial Elites and Ruling Elites no matter what happens in the economy.  Joe Biden has been in the Swamp for nearly 50 years, and he has been running for U.S. President for a little over 33 years of that time.  What has Joe Biden accomplished in all of that time?  The same goes for billionaire John Forbes Kerry.  Biden and Kerry are only full of HOT AIR like Maryland Ed Markey and company!

As for the U.S. Government's Military Industrial Complex and greedy arms sales to the world, it is causing a lot of deaths and suffering around the world.  The Pentagon emits more greenhouse gas pollution than 140 countries combined, yet Joe Biden and John Kerry are spewing their HOT AIR about the Green New Deal while killing tens of thousands of energy-related American jobs and napping/speaking in Glasgow Scotland about the dangers of Global Warming.  If the U.S. Government stopped being one of the top greenhouse gas polluters in the world, then we would all begin to take Biden and Kerry a lot more seriously about their so-called Green New Deal.  If you combined China, the USA, and Russia's greenhouse gas pollution, you would find that it accounts for well over 50 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.  The Military Industrial Complexes of China, the USA and Russia equal a huge chunk of global warming emissions.  Yet, what we are all witnessing right now is a military arms race and buildup of historic proportions as "Killer" Putin is planning to invade Ukraine and the Chinese government is planning to invade Taiwan.  The MSM criticizes West Virginia U.S. Senator Joe Manchin for his state's coal plants, but China burns a lot more coal than West Virginia.  But what does China do that Joe Manchin doesn't?  The answer is that China invests billions of dollars into the MSM, which may slant the cable news network's coverage of China's authoritarian politics and real environmental public record.

Sarcasm: Perhaps the Chinese Government can hire Smitty Pignatelli to write his lofty worded phony op-eds for them in the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) and other Western Massachusetts newspaper that print Smitty's propaganda pieces about Boston, which we all really know does nothing but DISSERVICES to the people and taxpayers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Smitty and Maryland Ed Markey can appear together on the news saying that China stands for the so-called Green New Deal, and that if we implement all of their authoritarian public policies, then we will live in a Utopian Society where Unicorns walk in a golden field among Pigs with Wings that Fly to meet Santa Claus and his reindeer on Christmas Eve.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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December 12, 2021

I am selling Level 5 public schools in Pittsfield.  I am selling a failed 23-year-old PEDA so-called business park that is mostly vacant and still very polluted with GE's industrial chemicals called PCBs.  I am selling North Street's main attraction: Social Services Alley.  I am selling the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski on recurringly funding Matt Kerwood's multimillion-dollar excessive Slush Funds.  I am selling "Vibrant and Dynamic" Pittsfield always being in the top 10 cities in Massachusetts for Violent Crime year in and year out, according to the FBI.  I am selling Pittsfield being exhibited in Gregory Crewdson's large photos as "A City in Decay" at upscale art galleries and museums in London England, NYC and L.A.  I am selling a China-like one political (Democratic) Party Oligarchy in state and local government that has ran Pittsfield's long distressed economy into the proverbial ditch.  I am selling an out-of-touch Mayor called the Lovely Linda who lives in a mansion in a millionaire's-only elitist Gated Community within a few feet of the Hancock border.  I am selling Nuciforo's pot complex emitting dead skunk-like odors into neighborhoods abutting his Dalton Avenue marijuana growing operation.  I am selling record high municipal taxes, fees, public debts and other liabilities with always predictable municipal spending increases of 5 percent year in and year out while Mayor Linda Tyer sits on tens of millions of dollars in Biden Bucks that she ordered the public shut out of.  I am selling Pittsfield's State Senator called Chrome Dome Adam Hinds living in his $690,000 home in Amherst Massachusetts, which is well outside of his state legislative district.  I am selling Trippy County Buffet fighting Boston's Social Justice fights, while Pittsfield is in a decades-long downward spiral.  I am selling Jimmy Ruberto's Rolodex that sits at the bottom of Silver Lake.  I am selling PAC Man Richie Neal (D-Insurance Companies) only representing K Street Lobbyist Firms in Washington, D.C.  What else can I sell on Dan Valenti's awesome blog named "Planet Valenti"?

Jonathan A. Melle

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December 15, 2021

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

Whoever Flogging Molly is, which only you and Flogging Molly know who he or she is, should be denounced for calling me "psycho Melle".  I have every right to comment about Pittsfield politics, which is my and your native hometown, which is where my dad was a politician, and which is totally corrupt just like Beacon Hill politics, and Flogging Molly's mean-spirited insults won't stop me from exercising my right to free speech.

I posted the following reply to Flogging Molly's blog post against me:

"You picking on my mental illness and me being a disabled Veteran showed me the horrible person you really are.  I have NO respect for you, while people - including in Pittsfield - still respect me.  I even believe that Mayor Linda Tyer would denounce your hurtful words against me!"

Happy Holidays,

Jonathan A. Melle

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December 16, 2021

I don't care what you believe, Flogging Molly.  Also, I am not a John Rambo type person, but I am a disabled Veteran.  I served our great country honorably in the U.S. Army.  I am very thankful that our great country honors me as a Veteran.  For your information, Flogging Molly, I supported (not that it mattered, of course) the Lovely Linda in 2015 and 2019 for Mayor of Pittsfield.  But now, unfortunately, the power went to her head.  She should not be shutting the public out of her administration's spending of the tens of millions in Biden Bucks.  Her actions as Mayor may even be illegal because of the State's Open Meeting Law and the State's "Ethics" Laws.  Mayor Linda Tyer took an Oath of Office to uphold the law.  If she is possibly breaking the law by secretly meeting with her cronies to spend the tens of millions of dollars in Biden Bucks, then she is NOT upholding her Oath of Office to comply with the law.  I also disagree with her and her cronies mistreatment of Chris Connell and arrogant attitude against opposing viewpoints because it is nothing more than retribution.  Pittsfield politics should stop using retribution to stifle dissent because democracy is built on dissent.  When Linda Tyer started out as Mayor, she did not live in a mansion in a millionaires'-only Gated Community, but rather, she was a working class administrative professional woman who followed in Jimmy Ruberto's footsteps of investing in downtown Pittsfield's cultural and arts venues, which (Sarcasm): rival Paris, France, London, England, NYC and L.A.  By this point at the end of 2021, it is clear that the Ruberto Renaissance in downtown Pittsfield did NOT revitalize Pittsfield's decades-long distressed and very economically unequal local economy.  Moreover, Pittsfield has become very expensive for the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family, while their children go to Level 5 public schools in Pittsfield if they don't choice out to neighboring public school districts.  Kiss my ass, Flogging Molly!

Jonathan A. Melle

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December 19, 2021

Love Pittsfield's propaganda website and the Lovely Linda presents Pittsfield Massachusetts as the place for "Donut Wars", vacant lots and blight, PEDA's mostly vacant and polluted so-called business park, Pot growing dead skunk-like odors bothering neighborhoods abutting Dalton Avenue, state lottery scratch tickets and nip plastic bottles littering inner city Pittsfield's streets, Level 5 inner city public schools, North Street sarcastically called "Social Services Alley" with "The Ring of Poverty" inner city neighborhoods that surround North Street, high rates of teen pregnancies and welfare caseloads, severe economic inequality with a large underclass (multigenerational poverty) due to over 3 decades of Pittsfield distressed economy and out-of-touch Pittsfield politicians, excessively high municipal taxes, fees, public debts and other liabilities while Mayor Linda Tyer sits on tens of millions of dollars in city cash that the public is (possibly illegally) shutout from knowing how the people/taxpayers' money will be used despite the state's Open Meeting Law and "Ethics" Laws, Pittsfield always being in the top 10 cities for violent crime in Massachusetts year in and year out, according to the FBI,  a State Senator also known as Chrome Dome [Adam Hinds] who lives outside of his Berkshire-based legislative district in a $690,000 recently purchased home in Amherst (Massachusetts), a Congressman also known as PAC Man [Richie Neal] who only represents K Street lobbyist firms, especially Insurance Companies, a U.S. Senator who lives in Maryland [Ed Markey] who promised Massachusetts voters in 2020 that he will save the world from global warming with his Utopian Green New Deal HOT AIR, and last but not least, a Pittsfield State Representative [Tricia Farley Bouvier] also known as Trippy Country Buffet who got upset when the Old Country Buffet closed its doors in Pittsfield, but was a big promoter of the Berkshire Museum's 2018 auctioning off of 2 Norman Rockwell donated paintings along with other valuable pieces of historic artwork for tens of millions of dollars that probably is partially unaccounted for over 3 years later.  Don't you just Love Pittsfield and the Lovely Linda?  It must be nice for the Lovely Linda and her wealthy CPA husband Barry Clairmont to live in their mansion in their millionaires-only Gated Community within a few feet of the Hancock border.  Linda Tyer is about as out-of-touch as Pittsfield's former Mayor Jimmy Ruberto who lives in a Naples Florida with a Summer Condo in upscale Lenox.  I wonder what will happen first in my lifetime: A woman U.S. President or Pittsfield politicians who will someday actually represent the people and taxpayers of Pittsfield Massachusetts?  As Ben Downing says in his campaign ads for Governor of Massachusetts, "There are many Pittsfields out there".  The only question I have for all of the Pittsfields out there in post-industrial Massachusetts and beyond is WHY?  Doesn't anyone in business and government give a damn about all of the Pittsfields out there other than Ben Downing, who is raising his family in East Boston?  In closing, Beacon Hill Lobbyist Peter Larkin, who represented Pittsfield many years ago in Boston, is the perfect example of why there are many Pittsfields out there.  It is because Peter Larkin has made a lot of his greedy lobbyist dollars selling out Pittsfield for decades.

Jonathan A. Melle

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December 20, 2021

Pittsfield politics municipal elected officials' inauguration will be at Berkshire Community College - not far from the Lovely Linda's mansion in her elitist Gated Community - on Monday, January 3rd, 2022.  Mayor Linda Tyer will be giving her annual State of the City address then, too.  She will highlight her administration's 2021 "highlights" - yeah right - and her administration's wish list for 2022.  I hope she would let the people and taxpayers of Pittsfield Massachusetts know what she will be doing with her tens of millions of dollars in city cash, but it is all supposed to be a big secret per her Mayoral order.  I hope she won't say that she will continue to raise municipal taxes and fees to record high levels while she is hoarding an unprecedented amount of Kapanski Ka$h, but Pittsfield politics never changes no matter who is the mayor going back decades.

Pittsfield mayor talks key appointments, governmental shakeups, and COVID concerns heading into 2022 | WAMC

https://www.wamc.org/news/2021-12-20/pittsfield-mayor-talks-key-appointments-governmental-shakeups-and-covid-concerns-heading-into-2022

Mayor Linda Tyer's 2021 LOW-lights: Over 80 Pittsfield residents dead from Covid-19 mostly from its Nursing Home debacle last winter of 2020/2021, Level 5 inner city public schools with over 650 students per academic year who choice out of city schools to neighboring public school districts, mostly vacant and polluted PEDA's ongoing failures and millions of dollars in growing public debts, homeless people shitting on North Street and living in city parks, chronic shootings and violent crime in "The Ring of Poverty" that surrounds North Street's "Social Services Alley", another record setting fiscal year 2022 municipal budget with its always predictable 5% increase in municipal spending, and Pittsfield's distressed economy with severe economic inequality where around 80% of Pittsfield's voters don't bother to vote anymore because Pittsfield politics is always totally corrupt.

Jonathan A. Melle

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December 22, 2021

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

The Lovely Linda is allegedly: (a) hiring new Pittsfield Public School staff at hourly rates below the current (Massachusetts) state minimum wage of ($13.50/hour), (b) giving her city administration raises of 9-12 percent while (falsely) telling the Pittsfield public school staff that none the district's $29.9 Million in federal and state aid can be used to adjust and increase our salaries, and (c) refusing to acknowledge how much the Pittsfield Public School staffs' families are suffering because they cannot see it from the neighborhoods where they live!  (The Lovely Linda lives in a mansion in a millionaires-only gated community within a few feet of the Hancock border where she and her wealthy CPA husband Barry Clairmont park their Lexus luxury cars at night).  In the past, Mayor Linda Tyer said that it was due to a lack of funding, but that is NOT the case anymore.  Mayor Linda Tyer is sitting on tens of millions of dollars in cash.  The Pittsfield Public School staff state that they are being exploited and ignored by the Mayor Linda Tyer municipal administration that leads Pittsfield politics.

Please read President of Pittsfield Federation of School Employees Sandi Amburn's letter to the Editor of iBerkshires.com

Letter: Pittsfield Public Schools: Opportunity for Change / iBerkshires.com - The Berkshires online guide to events, news and Berkshire County community information.

https://www.iberkshires.com/story/66813/Letter-Pittsfield-Public-Schools-Opportunity-for-Change.html

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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December 23, 2021

Re: Open letter to blogger Dan Valenti

Congratulations to Chris Connell [for winning Planet Valenti's Orbit award].  His one decade in Pittsfield politics was dedicated to the taxpayers who have been paying for excessively record high municipal budgets that always increase by 5 percent year and year out for decades.  The ruling elites in Pittsfield politics have no regard for the personal finances of its local taxpayers.  In fact, I have long written that Pittsfield politics uses "Perverse Incentives" and "Creative Accounting" - Matt Kerwood's cooking the books specialty - to shakedown federal, state and local taxpayers for as much public dollars City Hall and the Level 5 Pittsfield Public School District can get its greedy hands on.  The lower Pittsfield goes in its never-ending downward spiral equals the more Social Services and public education public dollars City Hall receives from the Swamp and Beacon Hill.  Matt Kerwood then creatively shuffles Pittsfield's multiple revenue sources around various city accounts to build his excessive multimillion-dollar Slush Funds.  At the end of 2021, Mayor Linda Tyer is sitting on more public cash than any Mayor of Pittsfield in the sad history of corrupt Pittsfield politics.  There are new stories about homeless people and families begging for money and living in city parks even in the cold of Winter, but Hell would freeze over before Mayor Linda Tyer would use her record amount of cash and Kufflink's Slush Funds to help these needy Pittsfield citizens.  Of course, government funds hardly ever go to those who need it the most, and Pittsfield politics is Exhibit A in the ruling elites only taking care of themselves, while the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family struggle to make ends meet.  Linda Tyer is Exhibit A- in the ruling elites profiting of off government because she lives in a mansion in a millionaires-only Gated Community within a few feet of the Hancock border and drives her Lexus luxury car to City Hall every "workday" morning she goes to City Hall to screw over the proverbial Kapanskis who unfortunately are withering away in Pittsfield.

Chuck Garivaltis is a Good Man and is an old school figure in Pittsfield politics.  I am sorry that Chuck lived to see Pittsfield go from a working city to a welfare city ran by the Good Old Boys, Special Interest Groups, the Suits, the Big 3 public unions, and the like.  When Chuck was a young man, downtown Pittsfield had nice stores and restaurants instead of being sarcastically called "Social Services Alley" by day and "The Shooting Gallery" after hours, as well as "The place to avoid" 24/7.  Unlike Chuck, the current ruling elites who run Pittsfield politics are all totally disconnected from the people and taxpayers they are supposed to represent in state and local government.  I get upset when politically connected Big Wheels in Pittsfield politics such as Cliff Nilan says, "No one cares anymore".  That is not what government is supposed to be about Cliffy & company!  Government officials are supposed to be connected with the people they serve in public office, which means the government is supposed to care about the people and taxpayers.  While my dad likes Cliffy, and Cliffy has always treated me well when I was a child and then a young man in Pittsfield decades ago, I have gotten frustrated with Cliffy's leadership in Pittsfield politics, including his vote earlier this week to allow the bike pump track in Springside Park.  Like Chuck, Cliffy is a good man, and I wish both Chuck and Cliffy well.

Lastly, the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family has no voice in the Pittsfield political machine ran by the China-like one political (Democratic) party insider group of career political hacks.  Instead of Pittsfield politics investing in the people and taxpayers of Pittsfield, City Hall only wants their money for diminishing and at times substandard public services.  When the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski speaks out about Pittsfield politics, they only receive retribution from City Hall and sometimes even Beacon Hill.  To illustrate, Mayor Linda Tyer ordered the proverbial Kapanskis be shut out from participating and following her administration's spending of her tens of millions of Biden Bucks, which may be illegal due to the state's Open Meeting Law and "Ethics" Laws, but what does she care.  Wouldn't Mayor Linda Tyer want to have the proverbial Kapankis as teammates with her financial windfall from Joe Biden and the Swamp?  Mayor Linda Tyer allowed the power to go to her head instead of working with and for the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family who made Pittsfield special many decades ago.

Jonathan A. Melle

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Christmas Day, December 25, 2021

A Christmastime shout out to Mark & Lisa Tully for their realistic advocacy and analysis of municipal finances in Pittsfield politics, which goes unheard by City Hall and Beacon Hill's career political hacks, but it makes "cents" to me.

A Christmastime shout out to Merry & Bright for speaking out about Mayor Linda Tyer's out-of-touch leadership in Pittsfield politics.  I cannot wait until Merry & Bright writes about Mayor Linda Tyer's State of the City address at Berkshire Community College on January 3rd, 2022.  I also cannot wait to read blogger Dan Valenti's writings about it.  "Vibrant & Dynamic & Love Pittsfield...." propaganda nonsense, while Pittsfield goes lower and lower into its downward spiral.

As for me - Jon Melle - I have followed Pittsfield politics for decades of my 46-year-old life.  I also read about Beacon Hill politics, too.  Both are totally corrupt and very secretive.  Like the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski, Jon Melle wasn't treated well by Pittsfield politics and Boston during my young adult years during and after my father was a Berkshire County Commissioner (1997 - mid-2000).

I am happy I moved to Southern NH many years ago, but I still get the Boston news stations on my television programming.  The most frustrating things for me to watch are Maryland Ed Markey always saying he will save the world with his Utopian Green New Deal propaganda, and Elizabeth Warren blaming Wall Street and Big Banks for our country's economic inequalities while at the same time supporting and promoting Joe Biden in the White House.  Joe Biden received more money from Wall Street and the Big Banks than anybody else in the Swamp in 2020.  Even Springfield's PAC Man Richie Neal is interviewed by Boston's news stations, and we all know that he only represents K Street lobbyist firms, especially Insurance Companies, in the Swamp.

Merry Christmas!

Jon Melle

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"A 2021 Pittsfield politics Christmas parody"

By a Planet Valenti blog poster

12 drivers speeding

11 councilors taxing

10 landlords gouging

9 houseless camping

8 meter maids ticketing

7 pump tracks pumping

6 plowed in plungers

5 ROUNDABOUTS!

4 charter bombs

3 pheasant way

2 turkeys killed

And a guy in the lot of Cumbies!

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December 26, 2021

I wonder who will be named the Orbit hero of Pittsfield politics in 2022?  Also, Mayor Linda Tyer is preparing her State of the City address at Berkshire Community College on January 3rd.  I wonder what her list of accomplishments in 2021 will be - yeah right.  Also, Trippy Country Buffet and Chrome Dome will be going back to Beacon Hill on January 5th.  I wonder how their 7-week-long taxpayer-funded vacation was?  Also, the Swamp spent well over $10 trillion federal dollars in 2021.  I wonder where all of the Swamp's money really went to in 2021.  I wonder how much money the Swamp will spend in 2022.  Also, will Putin invade Ukraine in 2022?  Will China invade Taiwan in 2022?  Will Iran develop nuclear weapons in 2022?  Also, how many more mutation variants of Covid-19 will there be in 2022?  Will Maryland Ed Markey make good on his outrageous promise to Massachusetts voters to save the world from Global Warming with his Green New Deal tagline in 2022? Will Joe Biden have a big 80-year-old birthday bash in 2022?  Will the Republican Party stop with their MAGA (or Nazi) Trumpism nonsense in 2022?  Will the Swamp stop its deficit spending federal budgeting in 2022?  Will Smitty Pignatelli ever stop writing his disingenuous lofty-worded op-eds in Western Massachusetts' newspapers in 2022?  Will PAC Man Richie Neal finally get it over with and move to K Street in 2022?  Will Elizabeth Warren move to Main Street in 2022?  Will Berkshire Roots stop its dead skunk-like odor pollution on Dalton Avenue in 2022?  Will Beacon Hill get around to spending the rest of its billions of dollars in state cash in 2022?  Will Big Tech be broken up in 2022?  Will the federal minimum wage be raised from $7.25/hour to a living wage in 2022?  Will the Swamp and the rest of the ruling elites vote to earn $7.25/hour in 2022 until the federal minimum wage is raised to a living wage?  My prediction for 2022 is that it will probably be business as usual in Pittsfield politics, Beacon Hill, the Swamp, and elsewhere, which is good news for the financial, corporate and ruling elites, but more bad news for the rest of us.

Jonathan A. Melle

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December 28, 2021

I am saddened that Ben Downing ended his campaign for Governor of Massachusetts.  I would have loved to see a fellow native of Pittsfield Massachusetts serve as Governor of the Commonwealth.  I agreed with many of his political views on Massachusetts state and local government.  Pittsfield - like many communities and regions of Massachusetts - has been systemically screwed over by Beacon Hill for decades.  I live near Fitchburg and Lowell, and they are receiving the same DISSERVICES from Boston as Pittsfield and the like.  Ben Downing wanted Boston to equitably fund and represent Pittsfield, Fitchburg and Lowell and the like on Beacon Hill.  In Pittsfield, Trippy Country Buffet proudly says she is fighting Boston's Social Justice causes, but what about Pittsfield's distressed economy and Level 5 public schools?  Chrome Dome Adam Hinds doesn't even live in Pittsfield, but rather, he and his new family live in a $690,000 home in Amherst, Massachusetts, which is well outside of his Berkshire-based State Senate legislative district.  His would be successor, Paul Marxism, only represents the politically connected and powerful interests in Boston.  Ben Downing didn't do much better than Trippy Country Buffet, Chrome Dome and Paul Marxism during his one decade as a Pittsfield State Senator, but his short-lived campaign for Governor of Massachusetts made many good points about how unfair Boston is to the rest of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, especially areas like Pittsfield where thousands of its young adults had to move away from the beautiful Berkshires to find living wage jobs to support themselves and their families for many decades and counting.

Jonathan A. Melle

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December 28, 2021

Hello Patrick Fennell,

Happy New Year 2022 to you, too.  Thank you for replying to my political email about Ben Downing dropping out of the 2022 race for Governor of Massachusetts.  

You are probably right that Ben Downing's one decade as a Berkshire-based State Senator to Boston was a bust for the people and taxpayers of his large Western Massachusetts legislative district.  Like most of the "All in the Family" Pittsfield politicians, Ben Downing came from a very political family.  His Uncle, Jack Downing, who is NOT a Veteran, makes a 6-figure salary running homeless shelters in Western Massachusetts for disabled Veterans, and he gives political hacks like lobbyist Peter J. Larkin tens of thousands of dollars per year instead of feeding and housing our disabled Veteran brothers and sisters who served our country in the U.S. Armed Forces.

I get upset when I think about the Downing family in Pittsfield politics, especially how Jack Downing exploits homeless and hungry Veterans in Northampton and Pittsfield for his own politics and profit.  I get upset when I read about the "All in the Family" incestuous-like group of political hacks who have been elected to state and local office in Pittsfield politics for generations, but then only serve themselves at the public trough while putting Pittsfield and the beautiful Berkshires into the proverbial ditch.  To be honest, it stinks worse than Nuciforo's Dalton Avenue pot growing dead skunk odor-like stench that abutting neighborhoods complain about to Mayor Linda Tyer to no avail because Nuciforo comes from the ultimate "All in the Family" Pittsfield politics establishment clan.  If it was me, Jon Melle, instead of "Luciforo" then....you know what would happen....

It is shameful that charities had to take care of the poor for Christmas, while the state is sitting on billions of dollars in cash that should belong to the state and local taxpayers of Massachusetts.  Beacon Hill lawmakers are still on their 7-week-long taxpayer-funded vacation until January 5th, 2022.  I agree with you that the Berkshire legislative delegation to Boston are a bunch of useless backbenchers who do nothing but DISSERVICES to the people and taxpayers of Western Massachusetts.  While I agreed with Ben Downing's campaign messages in his short-lived run for Governor of Massachusetts, which was that Boston is screwing over places like Pittsfield by systemically underfunding state aid and public education funding, I concede that he probably would have been a terrible governor.  I wonder who the last good governor of the Commonwealth was?  Maybe Governor John Winthrop in the 17th Century.  Just don't ask the Native American tribes whose land was stolen from them back then!

Best wishes,

Jonathan Melle

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December 29, 2021

The Lovely Linda is still blocking my political emails.  I guess Jon Melle isn't good enough for her millionaires-only Gated Communities clique.  Maybe if Jon Melle won the Powerball jackpot or opened a pot business on Dalton Avenue that sent dead skunk-like odors to upset people in abutting neighborhoods, then Jon Melle would be in the Mayor's favor.  I am not worthy to send my political emails to the Lovely Linda Tyer.

Jon Melle

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December 31, 2021

Carmen Massimiano, deceased, was part of a homosexual deviant ring of Good Old Boy Pittsfield politicians that allegedly included Cliff Nilan, Angelo Stracuzzi, Gerry Downing, deceased, and Dan Ford, both of whom wrongfully prosecuted Bernie Baran in the 1980s by illegally withholding exculpatory evidence for decades, and other so-called "Pillars of the Community", who railroaded Bernard Baran, deceased, and anyone else who stood in their way.  I read on blogs and heard about boys who grew up to be men who were driven to suicide by Carmen and his Pittsfield politics Good Old Boys network.  Just feel fortunate you weren't a child in the 1960s/1970s when Carmen was a camp counselor under Jim Mooney at the Boys Club camp in Richmond, Massachusetts.  Those poor boys of old who now would be in their 60s and possibly early-70s.  The Berkshire Eagle reported that Carmen molested a 7-year-old boy in the early-1970s in the Pittsfield Boys Club on Melville Street.  Angelo Stracuzzi was arrested and convicted for molesting underage teenage boys in Maine many years ago now, and Cliff Nilan got into trouble for being his neglectful Probation Officer, but he got to keep his Chief's job in Pittsfield Superior Court.  If one thinks that the Ghislaine Maxwell arrest and recent conviction portends to Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, the U.K.'s Prince Andrew, and others, then Carmen Massimiano's sordid reputation is the tip of the proverbial iceberg in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.  If there is a place called Hell, then Carmen is burning in Hell.

Jonathan A. Melle

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December 31, 2021

So will any more victims come forward?

They have in rumors and in blogs and in the nearly 12 year old Eagle news article.

I’ve heard some of this too. Are you sure about all mentioned here?

Yes.  Pittsfield politics was overrun by the Good Old Boys club for generations, and Carmen Massimiano, deceased, dominated it for decades.  The Good Old Boys' domination of Pittsfield politics was a nightmare for Bernard Baran, deceased, who was railroaded by the ruthless ring ran by Carmen, Cliff, Angelo, Gerry and Dan, and others.  It was a nightmare for anyone who stood in their way running the show in a corrupt community that they ran into the proverbial ditch.  My dad and I went through it with the Nuciforo network for many years; and believe me when I tell you that Carmen was involved in the persecution of my political family decades ago.  Carmen himself even told me so many years ago now.  It still bothers me to this day that in 2003, Jimmy Ruberto ran for Mayor of Pittsfield against then Mayor Sara Hathaway and he said on the radio that he wanted to do away with the Good Old Boys club that unfairly dominated Pittsfield politics.  While Sara Hathaway warned us that Jimmy Ruberto was a conman and bald-faced liar, Pittsfield voters believed Jimmy Ruberto's lies.  During the eight years that Jimmy Ruberto served as Mayor of Pittsfield, he and Carmen worked hand-in-hand, and in early-2008, Jimmy Ruberto even had Nuciforo swear him into his third mayoral term.  I felt like I was a total dupe for believing Jimmy Ruberto would be a well-meaning Mayor of Pittsfield.  Looking back at Jimmy Ruberto's mayoral tenure, his Ruberto renaissance failed to revitalize Pittsfield's decades-long distressed economy; Pittsfield's worst economic losses occurred during that time period, but to be fair, 2008 was the worst economic recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s.  However, the second worst recession since the Great Depression occurred in 2002 when Sara Hathaway started her first year as Mayor of Pittsfield, and in 2003, then candidate for Mayor of Pittsfield Jimmy Ruberto showed no mercy towards her for it.  I still lived in the beautiful Berkshires back then, and I remember that in 2003, then Massachusetts Governor Willard Mitt Romney made the deepest cuts in state aid and public education funding to Pittsfield and the rest of the Commonwealth to balance the state budget.  All these years later in 2021 going into 2022, Beacon Hill never fully made-up Romney's deep budget cuts to municipalities and public-school districts.

So, the logical question is how did Jimmy Ruberto become so powerful in Pittsfield politics?  The answer is that he was part of the Good Old Boys club that dominated Pittsfield politics for generations and ruined anyone's life who stood in their way.  Mayor Linda Tyer is part of Godfather Jimmy Ruberto's political machine, and like the rest of the Good Old Boys, she gets away with dominating Pittsfield politics by dishing out retribution to anyone who stands in her way.  Lastly, my brother responds to me that every area has political insiders who are all about their own power, but I reply to him that while he is probably right, Pittsfield has it in SPADES!

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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Mayor Linda Tyer's State of the City address at Berkshire Community College on Monday, January 3rd, 2022 - Sarcasm:  I am the elitist Mayor of Pittsfield politics who lives in a mansion in a millionaires' only Gated Community, and when I am at work, I proudly sit on tens of millions of dollars in Biden Bucks plus Kufflink's excessive Slush Funds, but the people are not worthy of knowing how my administration will spend the city's financial windfall, over-the-top reserves and "Free Cash" - never mind that I may be illegally violating the State's Open Meeting Law and "Ethics" Laws.  I drive a Lexus to City Hall, while the economically distressed North Street business district is also known as "Social Services Alley" (and toilet) and the neighborhoods that abut dangerous downtown Pittsfield are also known as "The Ring of Poverty".  I have passed the largest city budgets in the history of corrupt Pittsfield politics, and in return, the unworthy people get to send their children to Pittsfield's inner-city Level 5 public schools.  On public safety, Pittsfield always ranks in the top 10 cities in Massachusetts for violent crime, according to the FBI's yearly reports.  Between Pittsfield's failing public school system and Pittsfield's systemic violent crime, I like to call Pittsfield a "Vibrant and Dynamic" community.  Then there is the 23-year-old debacle called PEDA, which has millions of dollars in unfunded liabilities that only grow larger, while the mostly vacant and very polluted post-industrial land will never attract a Fortune 500 corporation.  On Nuciforo's Berkshire Roots pot growing buildings on Dalton Avenue, I don't care that the abutting neighborhoods complain about the dead skunk-like pot odor the people have to smell because I like the pot revenues that I get to spend on needless bicycle paths and plungers that get plowed over after it snows.  On Beacon Hill, Trippy Country Buffet is Boston's progressive champion, but I hope you watched out for her wrath when the Old Country Buffet suddenly closed its doors.  Chrome Dome Adam Hinds bought a $690,000 home in Amherst, Massachusetts last year of 2021, but soon enough, Paul Marxism will be the next useless Berkshire-based State Senator next year of 2023.  In the Swamp, PAC Man Richie Neal is too busy representing K Street Corporate Lobbyist Firms to be of any use to Pittsfield.  Maryland Ed Markey is still spewing his HOT AIR that he will save the world with his Utopian Green New Deal that would bankrupt our already bankrupt country.  Elizabeth Warren blames everything on Wall Street and the Big Banks, yet she supported Joe Biden for U.S. President in 2020, despite Joe Biden receiving the most money in the Swamp from Wall Street and Big Banks in 2020.  In other words, the Swamp is full of greedy, lying and corrupt politicians who only spew HOT AIR while living in homes that are even more upscale than my swanky mansion within a few feet of the Hancock border.  After the 2022 Pittsfield City Council and School Committee are sworn in, I invite you all for a skinny dip in Silver Lake because when it is not glowing in the dark, it doesn't fully freeze all winter.  In closing, I am honored to serve as the Mayor of Pittsfield politics so I can continue with "Business as usual" that has put Pittsfield into the proverbial ditch.

Jonathan A. Melle

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Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer delivers her State of the City address on Monday at Berkshire Community College's Boland Theater. credit: Ben Garver - The Berkshire Eagle.

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Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer delivers her State of the City address on Monday at Berkshire Community College's Boland Theater. During the course of the speech, Tyer asked the audience to stand and applaud the city's frontline workers for their ongoing efforts during the pandemic. credit: Ben Garver - The Berkshire Eagle.

"'Promise and possibility': Mayor Linda Tyer lays out vision for Pittsfield's future in 2022 State of the City address"

By Meg Britton-Mehlisch, The Berkshire Eagle, January 3, 2021

PITTSFIELD — Mayor Linda Tyer said that the city is poised to take advantage of the "promise and possibility" of 2022 even as the coronavirus pandemic nears the two-year mark and continues to upend city life and business. 

Key to the promise of 2022 are a spate of long-developing economic and infrastructure projects, including the construction of $10 million Holiday Inn on South Street, the city's first batch of American Rescue Plan-funded projects and work on city schools.

"The trials and tribulations of COVD-19 have made us stronger than ever," Tyer said. "Pittsfield has a renewed fighting spirit that is shaped by strong partnerships, willing collaborations, teamwork and sheer determination."

The mayor delivered her annual State of the City address Monday morning to a crowd of residents, city department heads and the newly sworn-in members of the City Council and School Committee at an event at Berkshire Community College's Boland Theater. 

Reflecting on the last year, the mayor said the devastation and uncertainty of the pandemic was mixed with the blessing of nearly $41 million in federal coronavirus relief money and the strengthening of relationships with regional and state representatives. 

Here are some of the key themes the mayor touched on in her State of the City address:

Economic development

The construction of a $10 million, 77-room Holiday Inn Express will begin this year, according to the mayor. The project, set for the former site of the Comfort Inn at 1055 South St., was conceptualized in 2014 and proposed to the City Council in 2020. Construction was supposed to begin this year but was delayed by the pandemic.

The Holiday Inn Express is being developed by Somnath LLC, a venture of Mauer and Dilip Desai whose families own the Best Western Plus on West Street.

The announcement that the city has reached an agreement to buy the former Hess Station on Tyler Street and will demolition the old building and return the lot to green space was met by applause from the audience at the address.

The mayor said the city will also begin site improvements on Site 9, the 16-acre space in William Stanley Business Park. The improvements are being covered by an $880,000 Mass Development Site Readiness grant the city received in March.

Coronavirus

Tyer said that looking back on the last inauguration event in 2020, "we had no idea of the utter devastation and hardship that was come in the weeks and months, and sadly now years to come."

Over the last year, the city has experienced four intense waves of coronavirus cases, with Pittsfield's 14-day average daily case rate per 100,000 people peaking at 99.9 on Dec. 31. On the first day of the new year, the average daily case rate increased to 106.1 cases per 100,000 people.

The mayor highlighted the continued "extraordinary teamwork" of the Berkshire Vaccine Collaborative, the countywide project which has vaccinated thousands of residents over the last year and has plans for more vaccine clinics in the coming weeks.

Tyer added that along with the continued push to vaccinate residents, the city has begun distributing a batch of 11,000 at-home coronavirus test kits from the state. The Pittsfield Health Department has distributed 5,000 kits provided to 17 community organizations like Berkshire Habitat for Humanity and the Berkshire Athenaeum. The organizations are distributing the free kits to residents. 

ARPA

Tyer reviewed the projects she's selected as the first recipients of some of the nearly $41 million in American Rescue Plan Act money given to Pittsfield.

The mayor said the city will fund a portion of the YMCA renovation that will help expand the facility's child care program, a major renovation of the Ashley Reservoir that is a key part of the city's drinking water infrastructure, air quality improvements to the Pittsfield fire stations, upgrades to the sidewalks in the Morningside and West Side neighborhoods and close the funding gap for the Fenn Street homeless shelter planned for the First United Methodist Church.

Also on the list of allocations is an additional $1 million to continue the At Home in Pittsfield program — a program Tyer called a "signature initiative" of her administration. The housing program provides grants to residents who wouldn't typically qualify for financing for exterior repairs and was originally given $500,000 from the Economic Development Fund.

Public safety

In the 2021 State of the City address, Tyer said that creating a "new police station which will serve the needs of a modern law enforcement agency" was her "top priority for public safety." 

In this year's address, Tyer said progress to that goal has been "been slow and somewhat painful" but that she remains committed to "building a new police station" as well as a training tower for the Pittsfield Fire Department.

"We know for sure is that the current police station has long outlived its usefulness and with each passing day that facility becomes more and more deteriorated and unsafe," Tyer said. 

The mayor said that fast-growing mold has sprung up in the building, damaging equipment and supplies following recent flooding.

Schools

The mayor said that as the pandemic continues through a third school year, her and the School Committee's "No. 1 priority is to do all that we can to keep our schools open so that our students are engaged in learning, enjoying extracurricular activities, and strengthening their social emotional well-being."

Students and staff returned to work at Pittsfield Public Schools on Monday after coronavirus cases shot up over the holiday break. District officials distributed hundreds of tests to district employees over the weekend to allow staff to test themselves before returning to the schools.

As of Monday afternoon, the district reported 95 active coronavirus cases within the school community — 55 student cases and 40 staff cases. The case count Monday was almost double the 47 cases reported Sunday.

Tyer said that in the next year the city will use local ARPA money to build a new heating and ventilation system at Pittsfield High School and Reid Middle School. That project follows the announcement that a master planning project with a focus on Crosby, Conte and Morningside elementary schools has been earmarked to receive $200,000 from the state's ARPA money.

The mayor said along with the work to come on school buildings this year, she and Superintendent Joseph Curtis will work together to hire the first city and schools chief diversity officers following the creation of the positions last year.

Meg Britton-Mehlisch can be reached at mbritton@berkshireeagle.com or 413-496-6149.

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January 3, 2022

The Lovely Linda's Pittsfield politics priorities in 2022:

ARPA

Mayor Linda Tyer said her administration will be spending nearly $41 million in federal coronavirus relief money. The city will fund a portion of the YMCA renovation that will help expand the facility's childcare program, a major renovation of the Ashley Reservoir that is a key part of the city's drinking water infrastructure, air quality improvements to the Pittsfield fire stations, upgrades to the sidewalks in the Morningside and West Side neighborhoods and close the funding gap for the Fenn Street homeless shelter planned for the First United Methodist Church. Also, her administration will spend an additional $1 million to continue the At Home in Pittsfield program to fund exterior home repairs for low-income Pittsfield homeowners. Also, the city will use local ARPA money in 2022 to build a new heating and ventilation system at Pittsfield High School and Reid Middle School. That project follows the announcement that a master planning project with a focus on Crosby, Conte and Morningside elementary schools has been earmarked to receive $200,000 from the state's ARPA money.

Economic development

The city will buy the former Hess Station on Tyler Street to fight blight. Also, the city will use a state grant to make site improvements on Site 9, which is a 16-acre space in PEDA.

Coronavirus

The city and Berkshire region are fighting the 2-year-old Covid-19 pandemic. The city has begun distributing a batch of 11,000 at-home coronavirus test kits from the state.  Mayor Linda Tyer wants to keep Pittsfield public schools open.

Public safety

Mayor Linda Tyer wants to build a new police station, as well as a training tower for the Pittsfield Fire Department. She said that fast-growing mold has sprung up in the police station building, damaging equipment and supplies following recent flooding.

City Government & Public Education

Mayor Linda Tyer will hire the first city and schools chief diversity officers in 2022.

Source: "'Promise and possibility': Mayor Linda Tyer lays out vision for Pittsfield's future in 2022 State of the City address", By Meg Britton-Mehlisch, The Berkshire Eagle, January 3, 2022.

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January 4, 2022

On the Lovely Linda, I agree with her political views about Human Rights, caring about poor neighborhoods, and having a positive post-GE vision for Pittsfield.  I disagree with her living in a mansion in a Gated Community and driving a Lexus luxury car while serving as Mayor of an economically distressed and very unequal community.  I disagree with her having Matt Kerwood manage Pittsfield's municipal finances, especially Kufflink's excessive Slush Funds with her record high municipal budgets.  I disagree with her giving out-of-town millionaires millions of dollars in Kapanski Ka$h.  I disagree with her possibly illegally shutting out the public from her administration's spending of the nearly $41 million in Biden Bucks.  I disagree with her allowing Nuciforo's Berkshire Roots polluting abutting neighborhoods behind his Dalton Avenue pot growing buildings with dead skunk-like pot odors.  I disagree with her on Pittsfield's violent crime problem.  I disagree with her on Pittsfield's indefensible Level 5 inner city public schools.  I disagree with her on being out-of-touch with anyone who is not part of her provincial political faction founded by Godfather Jimmy Ruberto - the King of the notorious Good Old Boys - that dishes out retribution to rule by fear and strong-arm tactics.  I disagree with her on the 23-year-old PEDA debacle that only accumulates millions of dollars in growing unfunded liabilities, while most of the so-called business park land sits vacant and is still very polluted with industrial chemicals called PCBs.  She should call out PEDA as the failure that it always has been, and then shut it down and then sue GE to remediate the post-industrial wasteland.  For the record, I must state that Mayor Linda Tyer inherited all of Pittsfield politics' problems that welcomed her to the corner office in early-2016.

On Joe Biden, he campaigned against Donald Trump as a uniter of a divided country, but it proved to only be a false tagline.  Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden gets a free pass by the MSM, while Donald Trump and his oldest children face scrutiny.  Joe Biden spent well over $10 trillion federal dollars in 2021, but hardly any of it went to help the people who are most in need.  Joe Biden's debacle in Afghanistan led to a humanitarian crisis whereby over one million children there will tragically die of preventable causes during the Winter of 2021/2022, and an estimated 14 million people and Peoples there will tragically die of preventable causes during the Winter of 2021/2022.  Joe Biden called Putin a "KILLER" and he threatened China with World War 3 over its military aggression in Taiwan.  Between the debacle in Afghanistan and Biden calling Putin a "KILLER" and threatening Russia with World War 3 if they invade Ukraine and Biden threatening China with World War 3 if they invade Taiwan, Joe Biden may end up leading human history in the most deaths of innocent people and Peoples if he makes good on his threats.  Did Joe Biden forget that he voted for Bush 2's invasion of Iraq nearly 2 decades ago?  What is the difference between Joe Biden voting for the US Government to invade Iraq and take over most of their second largest oil reserves in the world versus Russia threatening to invade Ukraine and China threatening to invade Taiwan?  Is Joe Biden a "KILLER" like Putin?  Joe Biden's hypocritical and hostile words and threats of World War 3 against Russia and China did not help his Democratic Party's Utopian Green New Deal propaganda that the world rolled its collective eyes at in Glasgow Scotland in 2021.  In the 2022 midterm elections, Joe Biden will see a "Red Wave" whereby the Republican Party will win control of both chambers of the U.S. Congress.  In 2023 to 2024, there will be total gridlock with a lot of HOT AIR in the Swamp.

Jonathan A. Melle

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January 5, 2022

What are Pittsfield's proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski paying for in Pittsfield politics?:

* Level 5 inner city public schools

* Pittsfield always being in the top 10 cities in Massachusetts for violent crime, according to the FBI

* North Street sarcastically called "Social Services Alley"

* The neighborhoods that surround North Street sarcastically called "The Ring of Poverty"

* Record high municipal budgets that always increase municipal spending by 5 percent per fiscal year going back decades

* Record high municipal fees

* Tens of millions of dollars in municipal debts and hundreds of millions of dollars in other municipal liabilities

* The 23-year-old PEDA debacle with millions of dollars in growing liabilities

* Beacon Hill systemically underfunding Pittsfield's city government and failing public school district

* The Swamp spending trillions of federal dollars that never seems to help out the post-industrial American Rust Belt, including post-GE Pittsfield

* An aging public infrastructure, 50 years of population loss, 50 years of losses of living wage jobs, and severe economic inequality in a distressed economy with the sitting Mayor, Linda Tyer, living in a mansion in a millionaires-only Gated Community within a few feet of the Hancock border

* The Good Old Boys and former WHEN Ladies who only enriched themselves and their cronies at the public trough

* Matt Kerwood's Creative Accounting schemes and municipal financial shell games

In conclusion, the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski should just get it over with and sign their financial lives over to the Lovely Linda for lousy municipal services and Level 5 inner city public schools.

Jonathan A. Melle

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January 12, 2022

My dad told me that Kenny Warren was a Berkshire County Commissioner (like my dad was) and a former Ward 1 City Councilor.  Kenny Warren is a good man and he will be an independent voice in Pittsfield politics.  I followed Charles Kronick's campaign for Ward 2.  Like Kenny Warren, Charles Kronick will be a common-sense City Councilor who is looking out for the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family.  Ward 3 Kevin Sherman cares about Pittsfield, and his maternal side of the family is from the Del Gallo clan.  He is a former President of the Pittsfield City Council, and he will bring institutional knowledge to city government.  I don't know much about Ward 4 Jim Conant, but I hope he will be an independent voice who advocates for city residents and taxpayers like his 2021 Orbit winning predecessor Chris Connell.  At Large City Councilor Karen Kalinowsky has spoken out about Mayor Linda Tyer's administration, including when she ran for Mayor of Pittsfield against her back in 2019.  Karen is a retired Pittsfield Police Officer who will advocate for the people and taxpayers instead of only the vested and special interests who always line their bottomless pockets with Kapanski Ka$h.  The big TEST for the new and returning Pittsfield politicians will be when the Lovely Linda proposes her predictable record high fiscal year 2023 municipal budget that always increases municipal spending by 5 percent every fiscal year since the mid-1980s when MVP Larry Bird was winning NBA championships for the Boston Celtics.  Will Kenny Warren, Charles Kronick, Kevin Sherman, Jim Conant and Karen Kalinowsky go along with "Business as usual in Pittsfield politics" or will the new and returning City Councilors say enough is enough to the sitting Mayor who lives in a mansion in her millionaires-only Gated Community within a few feet of the Hancock border where she parks her Lexus luxury car at night?  If I had the good fortune of being a new Pittsfield City Councilor I would ask Mayor Linda Tyer about the tens of millions of dollars in cash she is sitting on, and then ask her if predictable Pittsfield politics is even rational anymore when it comes to its "Business as usual" record high municipal budgets and spending, huge municipal debts and other liabilities that total in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and the state and local ruling elite being so out-of-touch with the actual people who live and pay taxes for Pittsfield's Level 5 public schools, unsafe streets full of violent crime, a dangerous downtown sarcastically called "Social Services Alley", the PEDA debacle with millions of dollars in growing liabilities, a decades-long distressed local economy with severe economic inequality, 50 years of population loss and the loss of thousands of living wage jobs, and so on?  I hope that my native hometown of Pittsfield Massachusetts will change for the better someday, but I am not holding my breath for it to happen in my lifetime.

Jonathan A. Melle

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January 12, 2022

Hello blogger Dan Valenti, I respect you and your blog about Pittsfield politics and beyond.  I agree with you writing for the benefit of the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski who are a decent family that systemically gets shafted by City Hall, Beacon Hill and the Swamp year in and year out.  I agree with you that Pittsfield politics is way over the top expensive with the WORST results: Level 5 public schools, always being in the FBI's top 10 cities for violent crime in Massachusetts, the PEDA debacle with millions of dollars in growing liabilities, severe economic inequality with a lot of poverty around "Social Services Alley", and so on.  Here is where we have differences of opinion about Pittsfield politics: (a) Mayor Linda Tyer inherited all of it, but unfortunately she has continued with "Business as usual", which is NOT rational but very bureaucratic; (b) The state and local ruling elite only does DISSERVICES to the people and taxpayers while they live in their upper middle-class homes (or in the Lovely Linda's case her Gated Community mansion) and make 6-figure-plus incomes with public bennies; (c) the Berkshire state legislative delegation are useless backbenchers whose votes in Boston are mostly for the top-down legislative dictators there so that Shitty, Marx, Trippy, the career Mayor, and Chrome Dome all enrich themselves at the public trough; and finally (d) Pittsfield politics is ALWAYS totally predictable with the way the city government operates going back generations, and hoping the new Pittsfield City Council will change things for the better in "the Pitts" is similar to me hoping that I will win the Powerball and Mega Millions lottery jackpots.  Best wishes, Jon Melle

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January 14, 2022

That is fine by me.  My dad loved Pittsfield back in the old days.  But it is no longer the same Pittsfield that my mom and dad grew up in the 1950s and 1960s.  I wasn't born until 1975, and the Pittsfield I know is a dystopian community with violent crime, poverty, failing public schools, corrupt state and local politicians, and so on.  Could it get any worse for Pittsfield in the 2020s?  Don't you know that large photos of Pittsfield Massachusetts have been displayed in upscale art galleries and museums in London, NYC, and L.A. as "A City in Decay"?  I understand that in my father's youth, Pittsfield was a working-class city with small businesses, restaurants, nice homes, and the like.  My dad will turn 78-years-old this Summer of 2022, which means his 21st birthday was back in 1965, which is a very long time ago now.  I really don't give a shit if blog posters pick on me for being a disabled Veteran, but I wonder what it would like for me if I earned New Hampshire's absurd $7.25 per hour minimum wage at a thankless service job.  I guess I would then move back to my native hometown of Pittsfield Massachusetts and shit on North Street's Social Services Alley like the other homeless residents there.  I could wave to Mayor Linda Tyer when she drives by me in her Lexus.  As for blogger Dan Valenti's attack against D.A. Andrea Harrington, until he produces more than a few negative opinions of her, then he and the rest of you are full of HOT AIR in the cold of mid-January of 2022.

Jonathan A. Melle

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January 15, 2022

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

You are a good friend of my family, and we all care about our struggling City of Pittsfield Massachusetts.  We all know that Pittsfield politics is totally predictable, and that the same corrupt group of provincial political insiders, including Nuciforo, are always pulling the same shit year in and year out for their own power and money.  Pittsfield politicians use to approach me many years ago and say negative words about you, including that you live in upscale Stockbridge.  I listen to all sides, but I have always respected your advocacy of the forgotten "little guys" named the proverbial "Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski" who pay for the shit show in City Hall and Beacon Hill.

Did it ever occur to you and your blog readers/posters, who still write/post about my painful past with "the pot king" Nuciforo, that I am also a little guy who got shit on by Pittsfield politics many years ago now?  It is frustrating for me to read about Pittsfield politics as a middle-aged man living in a neighboring state in a town only a one-hour drive to Boston that it is still "Business as usual" in Pittsfield/Boston.  I talk to my dad, Bob, about Pittsfield/Boston, and my dad served on the Pittsfield School Committee in the 1970s, and he said that Pittsfield's Level 5 public schools were not that way 40 to 50 years ago.

My dad told me that he also read that Beacon Hill lawmakers took a 7-week-long vacation, which has been apparently extended by another 2 weeks.  My dad, Bob, was a Berkshire County Commissioner (1997 - mid-2000), and I went to a state legislative hearing with him in Boston during the Spring of 1999 whereby he told Beacon Hill lawmakers that Boston's "Big Dig" public work project's recurring billion-dollar cost overruns could pay for Berkshire County government's $2.5 million annual budget for 5,000 years.  Then State Representative Marty Walsh scolded my dad and I, and he exclaimed that the "Big Dig" is an engineering marvel.  Marty Walsh went on to serve as the Mayor of Boston, and now he works for Syracuse Joe Biden as his U.S. Secretary of Labor in the Swamp.  It has been rumored that Marty Walsh is eyeing a 2022 run for Governor of Massachusetts.  I still joke with my dad, Bob, that Marty Walsh telling us that Boston's "Big Dig" an engineering marvel was absurd given that it leaks millions of gallons of dirty water every single day, that innocent people were tragically killed inside of the tunnels, that it cost state taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, and that it is predicted to last only 50 years and will eventually submerge into the Atlantic Ocean.  Perhaps Marty Walsh and Syracuse Joe Biden deserve each other in the Swamp!

In Pittsfield, I am upset that our native hometown is always in the top 10 for violent crime in Massachusetts every year, according to the FBI's annual reports; that Pittsfield's public schools are failing with no improvement in sight; that North Street has become known as "Social Services Alley" instead of a business district; that Pittsfield is very economically unequal with Mayor Linda Tyer living in a mansion in a millionaires' only gated community within a few feet of the Hancock border where she and her wealthy CPA husband Barry Clairmont park their Lexus luxury cars at night; that Pittsfield uses its failing public schools and Social Services Alley downtown as a "Perverse Incentives" means to rake in millions in federal and state cash that it really uses for sources of municipal revenue instead of teaching children in well performing public schools and helping people and neighborhoods out of generations of poverty; that Matt Kerwood uses Creative Accounting schemes whereby he shuffles public dollars around various municipal accounts to build his excessive multimillion-dollar Slush Funds that should belong in the pockets of local taxpayers; that Mayor Linda Tyer (possibly illegally) shutout the public from her administration's secretive spending of over $41 million Biden Buck$, despite the state's Open Meeting Law and "Ethics" Laws; that the PEDA debacle is turning 24-years-old this upcoming Summer of 2022 with its millions of dollars in growing liabilities; that Pittsfield's municipal budget always increases its spending by 5 percent per fiscal year, that Pittsfield's public debts and other liabilities total in the hundreds of millions of dollars, all with a shrinking middle class tax base going back 50 years; that Nuciforo's Berkshire Roots pot growing factories on Dalton Avenue are allowed to stink up abutting residential neighborhoods with dead skunk-like odors while Nuciforo is cashing in on his multimillion dollar marijuana business; that Pittsfield's citizens have been so beaten down by the ruling elite for generations that around 80 percent of the people there don't even bother to vote anymore; that Pittsfield's ruling elite practices retribution to rule by fear and strong-arm tactics, and they get away with it because the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) is in on it all; that the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) blacklists people such as myself from publishing letters and op-eds in its third-rate rag; and so on.

Anyway, that is how I feel about it all.  I understand that you and some of your blog readers are looking out for me in the beautiful Berkshires, and it warms my heart that you still care about me and my family.  I care about you and those supportive blog readers, too.  I do work on my mental health and my life in the here and now and moving forward in my life.  

Best wishes,

Jon Melle

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January 15, 2022

JON

As has been advised several time, PLEASE keep posts to one a day.

Also, as a good friend, I would advise that you try to put your past behind you. Stay in the now. Go forward with optimism and hope. Where you need to, forgive. Where you can’t, forget as best you can and move on and up.

Stay well, okay?

Cordially,

DAN

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January 22, 2022

Hello Patrick Fennell,

Maryland Ed Markey announced his newly proposed legislation to expand federal funding for LIHEAP, and he used the poor households in Berkshire County as an example of poor families in Massachusetts who are in critical need of the additional federal funds with Mayor Linda Tyer, Trippy Country Buffet and Paul Marxism singing his praises on the Zoom call.  Maryland Markey said that the cost of heat this winter has increased by as much as 34 percent over last year. In the middle of Winter, Maryland Markey's bill named the Heating and Cooling Relief Act is still in the early stages of the legislative process.

Do you think that Maryland Markey's HOT AIR about the Green New Deal along with Joe Biden and billionaire John Forbes Kerry killing thousands of energy jobs in 2021 is part of what caused the financially disadvantaged households to have to pay as much as 34 percent more to heat their homes this Winter as opposed to last Winter?  Do you think that Maryland Markey understands that high energy costs in Berkshire County and other rural areas of the Northeast is part of what led to so many manufacturing industries to shutter their factories and mills over the years?  Do you think that it is a little late in the game this Winter for Maryland Markey to tout his newly proposed bill that probably won't pass until Winter is over?

Maryland Markey has been in the Swamp for decades, and now in 2022 he is finally addressing rising energy costs that he, along with Joe Biden and billionaire John Forbes Kerry, are partly responsible for over the past year.  What took Maryland Markey so long?  Maryland Markey should build a pipeline that connects all of his HOT AIR speeches in the Swamp and his upscale suburban home in Maryland to Massachusetts to finally solve the energy crisis in the Northeast, but all of his HOT AIR would lead to even more Global Warming.

I still cannot believe that Maryland Markey promised Massachusetts voters in 2020 that he will save the world from Global Warming with his Green New Deal propaganda.  What a Whopper!  Maryland Markey should retire and a photograph of him should be placed upside down in the Swamp Hall of Shame.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

"Sen. Markey pitches bill to increase home heating aid, pointing to a critical need in Berkshire County"

By Scott Stafford, The Berkshire Eagle, January 21, 2022

PITTSFIELD — With energy costs soaring and temperatures plunging, the need for heating assistance this year is more acute than usual.

Yet only 16 percent of households eligible for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) are actually served, according to Sen. Edward Markey, who called the program a “critical lifeline” that helps roughly 160,000 Massachusetts residents “keep the heat on.”

“This January, it is very cold and it looks like it’s going to be cold for an extended period of time,” Markey said Friday. “For too long we’ve had insufficient funding levels, outreach challenges and other barriers that have often prevented the program from reaching everyone who needs it.”

Markey (D-Mass.) conducted a Zoom tour of Massachusetts towns on Friday to discuss legislation he has introduced to expand LIHEAP in an attempt to fund energy assistance for all who need it. The bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York.

Known as the Heating and Cooling Relief Act, the bill would increase annual funding for LIHEAP to $40 billion and expand eligibility so no household pays more than 3 percent of its annual income on energy costs, and shrink the barriers to administering and applying for LIHEAP.

It would also protect consumers by ensuring that eligible households cannot be shutoff or pay late fees, can have their utility debt cleared, and that utility companies set up discounted payment plans to support consumers. The bill is in the early stages of the legislative process.

Friday’s virtual tour included a visit with Berkshire officials to discuss the need for heating assistance with local state legislators and folks involved directly with issuing LIHEAP funds to local applicants.

In attendance were Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer, state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield, state Rep. Paul Mark, D-Peru, and Deborah Leonczyk, executive director of Berkshire Community Action Council, the agency that administers the LIHEAP program locally, as well as support staff from BCAC that help administer the program.

Markey underscored the need in Massachusetts, where residents owed $675 million in unpaid electric and gas bills at the end of 2021. In addition, 425,000 households are more than 90 days overdue on heating bills.

On top of all that, Markey noted, the cost of heat this winter has increased by as much as 34 percent over last year.

“We are teetering over a financial cliff that is forcing already vulnerable households to make the impossible decision of whether to put food on the table, cover rent or keep the heat on this winter,” he said.

The bill would also increase funding for weatherization through LIHEAP, and establish a new grant for states and localities to help reduce energy burdens for LIHEAP-eligible households and promote renewable energy usage.

“Wow,” Farley-Bouvier said. “This is a bold move.

“It gets cold here and many of our neighbors simply can’t afford the cost of something as simple as heat. We have policies locally, statewide and federally, that indeed make people go into poverty and keep them in poverty,” she said. “Going into debt to pay their heating bills doesn’t make any sense. That keeps them in poverty. We have to change the way we look at that and that’s what this bill does.”

Tyer referred to the situation as “the tyranny of the moment.”

“Going without heat in the Berkshires is just not an option,” added Mark.

For this winter, the federal government has released 90 percent of the LIHEAP allocation of $120.4 million to Massachusetts, with the remaining funds set for release later in the heating season.

Last year, Massachusetts received a one-time payment in American Rescue Plan Act of $187 million for LIHEAP in addition to the regular fiscal year 2021 allocation of $134.1 million.

There was $60 million unspent at the end of the last heating season from the ARPA fund and $14.6 in LIHEAP funds statewide. States have two years to spend LIHEAP funding, and ARPA funds need to be spent by September 2022, making more than $200 million available for this heating season.

LIHEAP money helps with the cost of oil, natural gas, propane, coal, pellets, wood, electric and kerosene. BCAC received $6.6 million in LIHEAP funding for Berkshire County this winter.

To qualify, annual income for a household with one person cannot exceed $40,951. For a family of four, household income could not exceed $78,751. Last year more than 8,000 families were helped by LIHEAP funding. That number is expected to increase this winter.

Depending on household income, LIHEAP can provide up to $1,030 in fuel assistance for those whose income is lower on the scale. For those at the top of the scale, the amount of aid would be $618 for the winter. Those living in rent subsidized housing would receive less.

But, as pointed out by Leonczyk, there are too many working families in the Berkshires whose income levels are too high to qualify for aid, and yet still can’t afford to heat their homes unless they sacrifice buying food or medication.

“The Heating and Cooling Relief act would end energy poverty in the US by providing that no family would spend more than 3 percent of their family’s budget on home energy and would provide states with the flexibility to weatherize up to 1 million homes per year,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association, in a prepared statement. “The net result will be an end to the stubbornly high utility arrears and shut-offs that low income families have been struggling with for many years.”

Scott Stafford can be reached at sstafford@berkshireeagle.com or 413-281-4622.

Scott Stafford has been a reporter, photographer, and editor at a variety of publications, including the Dallas Morning News and The Berkshire Eagle.

For more information or to learn how to apply for LIHEAP heating assistance funding, call 866-216-6200 or visit bcacinc.org.

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"Applications open soon for Pittsfield's ARPA money, starting a new chapter in city's relationship with the program"

Meg Britton-Mehlisch, The Berkshire Eagle, January 23, 2022

PITTSFIELD — Mayor Linda Tyer is set to start a new chapter in the city’s use of federal coronavirus relief money as she invites community organizations to submit their applications for almost $13 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds.

The media alert for the event, scheduled for Monday morning, is simple: “Mayor Linda Tyer to deliver an announcement on the City of Pittsfield’s Invitation for Proposals for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.” But the application process is a bit more momentous.

For the last six months, the city has been in gathering information as it comes to the ARPA money, with public input occurring in a community survey, four public forums, the creation of the mayor’s advisory council and in stakeholder sessions late last month.

Now community organizations and the general public will have the opportunity to take a more active role in the process by submitting their ideas and requests for how the federal money will be used over the next few years.

Tyer made an appearance on Commonwealth Magazine’s the Codcast last week and told host Bruce Mohl that the city will have a kind of two-pronged approach to applications.

One will be the application available in the invitation to apply for project proposals that focus on either childhood development and youth intervention; mental health and substance use disorders; disabled, elderly and veteran services; community-based initiatives or cultural organizations.

The other application type is a concept application. Tyer said on the Codcast podcast that this application will be for “if there is somebody in the community who isn’t sure and doesn’t have a fully baked idea they can submit a concept application and our goal is to see how can we create collaboration.”

City officials have already announced how they plan to spend at least $7.35 million of the first ARPA installment of $20.3 million at the their disposal. The applications being discussed Monday will help an evaluation committee decide how to spend the remaining $12.95 million from the first disbursement of federal money.

The application process comes at an interesting point in the course of the ARPA program. On Jan. 31, [2022], Pittsfield will be required to submit a quarterly project and expenditure report to the Treasury Department.

In this report, the city will be required to document any ARPA money it spent between March 3 [2021] and December 31 [2021] of last year, a list and description of the projects the money was used on, the project status and the demographic data for the people served by the project. This report promises to be the most detailed look at how and where Pittsfield ARPA’s money is going in the first months of the federal program.

Heads-up

The agenda for Tuesday’s City Council meeting is rather short, filled mostly with requests for the council to accept grant money to the city’s public safety departments. But one agenda item may peak residents’ interests.

Free cash and its sustainable use was a major point of discussion in November as the City Council set the property tax rate. Now free cash is back on a city council agenda, this time as part of a request from the Pittsfield Municipal Airport.

Airport officials are asking the council to approve the use $162,400 from the city’s free cash to remove trees around the airport that the Federal Aviation Administration has deemed as safety hazards for planes in approach to the runways.

In a letter to the council about the request, airport manager Dan Shearer said that the airport will be pursuing a reimbursement for the cost of the work from an FAA grant, but the city will have to foot the bill first.

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January 23, 2022

Pittsfield politics in the news:

Mayor Linda Tyer is holding a public event on Monday morning, January 24th, 2022, to announce the City of Pittsfield's Invitation for Proposals for "Biden Buck$" funding.  Community Organizations are invited to submit applications to her administration to receive $12.95 million in "Biden Buck$" funds, including for Veteran Services (Just Joking: I am a Veteran, Lovely Linda).  The Pittsfield City Council will meet on Tuesday, January 25th, 2022, and they will vote on approving $162,400, which may be reimbursed by a FAA grant, from the city's FREE CASH to remove "safety hazard" trees around the airport.

Credit: Meg Britton-Mehlisch, The Berkshire Eagle, January 23, 2022.

Matt Kerwood updated the Pittsfield City Council's FINANCE Committee about the city's monetary stance a little over halfway through fiscal year 2022.  Kufflinks reported that the hotels, motels and meals taxes are back to pre-pandemic levels.  Kufflinks reported that the city collected 85% of its estimated marijuana tax.  Kufflinks reminded Pittsfield taxpayers that their third quarter municipal tax bills are due on February 1st, 2022.

Credit: Pittsfield Hospitality Taxes Rebound From Fiscal Year 2021 / iBerkshires.com

Sarcasm: If you are a Pittsfield taxpayer, please sign your financial lives over to Mayor Linda Tyer and Kufflinks Kerwood because they know how to spend your hard-earned money in the name of Pittsfield politics!  Get ready for Mayor Linda Tyer's fiscal year 2023 municipal budget proposal this Spring of 2022.  The Lovely Linda and Kufflinks Kerwood love to spend your Kapan$ki Ka$h.

Jonathan A. Melle

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"Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer elected president of Massachusetts Mayors' Association"

By Amanda Burke, The Berkshire Eagle, January 26, 2022

PITTSFIELD — Mayor Linda Tyer has been elected by the membership of the Massachusetts Mayors' Association to serve as that body's leader, her office announced. 

“I am deeply honored to be chosen for this position by my peers and I look forward to continuing my work with them and with the MMA in this new leadership position,” Tyer said in a news release.

The advocacy group's Executive Director Geoff Beckwith said Tyer is "a remarkable leader in her community and across the Commonwealth."

“She is a forceful and effective advocate on behalf of local officials and taxpayers in all communities, as mayors and local leaders promote a robust partnership with the state in our common work to make Massachusetts stronger and more prosperous," he said. 

The Massachusetts Mayors’ Association, established in 1945, provides opportunities for mayors to network and share ideas, pursue educational opportunities, meet with state leaders and subject-matter experts, and participate in the advocacy work of the MMA, according to its website. There are 47 mayors representing Massachusetts cities.

Tyer is a former Pittsfield city councilor and clerk who was first elected mayor in 2015. Now in her second four-year term, Tyer has also served as a Massachusetts Mayors' Association's vice president and on its Executive Committee and Municipal and Regional Administration Policy Committee.

She will serve a one-year term at the helm of the organization, her office said in the news release, as well as on the board of directors. Mayor Tyer will also serve on the Local Government Advisory Commission.

Tyer, who was appointed during a virtual meeting on Jan. 21, said mayors statewide are "are facing common challenges and are united on an agenda for growth and advancement.”

"We are committed to working with Gov. Baker and the legislature to forge a partnership between the state and our cities and towns, so we can create a vibrant future for every community throughout Massachusetts," she said. 

https://www.mma.org/members/mayors/

related link: https://www.iberkshires.com/story/67078/Mayor-Tyer-Elected-President-of-Mass-Mayors-Association.html

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January 29, 2022

Mayor Linda Tyer is correct that Baker's budget lowballed local aid during the 40-year-high record inflation plus rising municipal costs during the pandemic.  Baker's lowballed proposed local aid 2.7% increase is really a big cut in local aid when one factors in inflation and rising municipal costs in fiscal year 2023 that begins on July 1, 2022.  A true increase in local aid would be an at least 3% increase on top of the 40-year-high inflation and rising municipal costs during the pandemic.  Mayor Linda Tyer knows what she is talking about, which shows that she is a good municipal leader.  Governor Charlie Baker on the other hand.... thumbs down!

Jonathan A. Melle

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January 30, 2022

Hello Patrick Fennell,

I agree with you that the federal, state and local government should all practice limited governance with our hard-earned tax dollars.

My point about Mayor Linda Tyer's comment on Governor Charlie Baker's 2.7% so-called increase (really a big cut) in local aid in his fiscal year 2023 state budget proposal was that she understood that it was a lowball financial figure, and that if Baker really wanted to increase local aid then he would have factored in the 40-year-high inflation numbers as well as the rising costs municipalities such as Pittsfield are facing during the ongoing pandemic, and then after all of that, Baker's proposed increase in local aid would have been realistic instead of only a financial shell game.  Mayor Linda Tyer is one smart cookie!

I agree with you that the federal government, especially Joe Biden (as well as Donald Trump), is racist as Hell.  Our country's underclass runs counter to the American dream whereby anybody is able to achieve social mobility and a middle class or above life for themselves and their family.  Too many minorities and women, as well as white men, have no social mobility due to the systemic greed and racism that the federal government, especially Joe Biden, has done to the American people for generations of growing economic inequality.  I still say that in this day and age of technology, voting laws and rights should be a no brainer, but partisan politics is standing in the way of progress.  In closing, both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are failures in the Swamp, as well as in Boston and beyond.

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Distressed at the state of Berkshire Carousel"

The Berkshire Eagle, February 4, 2022

To the editor: I am yet another citizen who is very distressed by the possible move out of Pittsfield of the beautiful Berkshire Carousel. ("Inside the collapse of the Berkshire Carousel dream. Why it stopped turning and what may come next," Eagle, Jan. 29.)

One of my favorite memories was going to ride with my sister and her grandson. Grammy stayed outside and Cal rode his favorite horse while I held on. He was so proud to wave to Grammy and show her what a big boy he was.

I’m sure so many others had the same experience as we did many times. So what’s more important to this city? Higher taxes, losing businesses on North Street due to bike lanes, losing a classic carousel created with love by many of its own citizens or making us sad to see the demise of this once wonderful city. I’ll never understand.

Sue Albertazzi, Pittsfield

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February 6, 2022

I am not a Marxist, Socialist, Communitarian, and/or the like, but I still do NOT understand why homelessness, joblessness, poor zip codes with violent crime, Level 5 public schools and severe economic inequality (where an elitist Mayor - Linda Tyer - of Pittsfield lives in a mansion valued at over $800,000 in a gated community within a few feet from the Hancock border where she parks her Lexus luxury car at night), poverty, classism, and so on is allowed, while racism, sexism, religious extremism and intolerance, political extremism and intolerance, disability status and mental illness mistreatment, and so on is rightfully not allowed.  Only in our country where Wall Street, K Street, the Swamp and the rest of the Ruling Elites have all of the money and power do we allow people to be economically and financially insecure to the point of freezing to death on the streets.  What happened to the War on Poverty five to six decades ago?  What happened to helping the underclass by the Haves investing in the Have Nots for a healthy middle class with financially secure American families?  We have been and still are in a K-shaped economic recovery whereby the Elites have made millions, billions and even trillions of dollars over the past 2 years, while the American people have either cut even and were fortunate enough to be able to save a few Trump and then Biden Buck$ or we have fallen behind.  Teachers, Firefighters, Police Officers, and other median income professionals cannot afford to live in the expensive zip code neighborhoods/communities they work in.  Working families can no longer afford to own a home in a nice neighborhood/zip code.  Our career politicians are only interested in money and power so they will be reelected for life.  Top K Street lobbyist firms reported record earnings in 2021.  U.S. inflation is at a 40 year high, which is the worst would-be tax on the poor and middle class.  The U.S. national debt crossed the $30 trillion mark on February 1st, 2022 - 6 days ago.  The federal government is spending tens of trillions of federal dollars per year (printed out of thin air), but none of it goes to the people who need it the most, including Veterans and fixed-income Senior Citizens who are facing expensive medical insurance and rising prescription drugs costs.  U.S. President Joe Biden wants to spend trillions of federal dollars on Social Services programs, but whatever happened to politicians supporting companies and small business that provide living wage jobs to American workers?  In closing, I strongly believe that discrimination is wrong and EVIL, but I also believe that poverty and the loss of Social Mobility for everyone to be able to achieve a middle class or higher life for themselves and their families in the U.S.A. is wrong and EVIL.

Jonathan A. Melle

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February 7, 2022

Hello Patrick Fennell,

The Ruling Elites are failures!  The politicians are doing DISSERVICES against the American People.  All of the economic and financial gains are going to the ELITES on Wall Street, K Street, the Swamp and other state and local coffers.  Joe Biden spent well over $10 trillion in his first year in the White House, but none of the money went to the American People who need the federal money the most.  Joe Biden still bills himself as the boy from hard scrabble Scranton, Pennsylvania, but he really took in more money from Wall Street and K Street than Donald Trump in 2020.  On Beacon Hill, Governor Charlie Baker and the do-nothing state lawmakers in Boston are still sitting on billions of dollars in state government cash.  Why?  Meanwhile, the American People are paying for 40-year high U.S. inflation to survive in a very economically unequal economy.   To be clear, all of the economic and financial benefits are for the elites, while all of the costs are borne by the American People.  Once again, the Ruling Elites are failures!

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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February 7, 2022

Hello Charles Kronick,

If I lived in my native hometown of Pittsfield Massachusetts, I would speak at open mic and sarcastically say that I, Jon Melle, hereby sign my financial life away to Linda Tyer and her rubber stamp City Councilors and Level 5 School Committee members.  I will also sign away the financial lives of my past and present loved ones who live or have lived in Pittsfield so that the city can retroactively tax them from the Stone Age through February 8th, 2022.  I will also sign away the financial lives of my present and future loved ones because I know that Pittsfield politics is a black hole that sucks in every tax dollar in the Universe.  I would close by saying that the people, voters and taxpayers in Pittsfield have been so beaten down over the generations that Mayor Linda Tyer is second only to God when it comes to ruling Pittsfield's greedy municipal government.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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February 8, 2022

Why is Pittsfield politics, under the out-of-touch leadership of Mayor Linda Tyer since 2016 through February 8th, 2022, and counting into the future, always raising municipal taxes (and fees and debts/liabilities) to record high levels?  She is sitting on tens of millions of dollars in city cash, including over $41 million in Biden Buck$ and millions more in Kufflink$' $lu$h Fund$ (that should belong in the pockets of the proverbial Kapanski family).  The lousy returns on taxpayer dollars in Pittsfield Massachusetts are Level 5 inner city public schools, over 650 students opting to go to neighboring public school districts, the city always being in the top 10 cities throughout Massachusetts for violent crime, according to the FBI's annual reports, a downtown that is sarcastically called "Social Services Alley" with dozens of empty storefronts on North Street, and the inner-city neighborhoods that surround North Street are sarcastically called "The Ring of Poverty", the nearly 23-year-old polluted PEDA debacle that has millions of dollars in ever growing liabilities, neighborhoods behind Pittsfield's pot king's Berkshire Roots who wake up every morning to Nuciforo's dead skunk-like pot odors from his marijuana growing buildings, Allendale Elementary School abutting Hill 78 and a nearby second capped toxic waste dump both full of GE's industrial chemicals called PCBs. which have caused cancer, learning disabilities and other illnesses in thousands of local residents over the decades, and a city government ran by a failed Mayor of Pittsfield - Godfather Jimmy Ruberto - who calls the shots from Naples, Florida.  In closing, I recommend that if Author Dan Valenti writes a dystopian novel about a post-industrial and corrupt city government, he could call his book "Pittsfield politics: The Worst municipal government in the 21st Century"!

Jonathan A. Melle

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February 11, 2022

My opinion of the 8-February-2022 Pittsfield politics City Council meeting is that (a) systemic discrimination in the city government and public school district should have a public manager who ensures equal opportunity whereby everyone is treated both fairly and safely, and (b) Pittsfield's taxes (and fees and debts/liabilities) are excessively high for an economically distressed area with severe economic inequality.  I also wish to add that Mayor Linda Tyer has always stood for human rights and civil rights since I first saw and listened to her in 2003 when she was running for Ward 3 City Councilor back when I lived in Pittsfield.  I believe that Linda Tyer is sincere in her commitment to rooting out systemic discrimination in Pittsfield.  As for people being "a white male", I believe that City Councilor Earl Persip should not have said that towards fellow City Councilor Charles Kronick.  The reason is that white males sometimes unfairly experience reverse discrimination and labeling from minorities and/or women.  We are all supposed to be equal, and human rights and civil rights are the same for both Earl Persip and Charles Kronick.  All Peoples and people should ally themselves to each other's just causes for equality.  Men and Women should work together for equal rights just as much as black males such as Earl Persip and white males such as Charles Kronick should work together for equality.  In closing, Pittsfield Massachusetts is one of the most economically unequal areas in the state and nation, and ALL INEQUALITY should end through the government and the like investing in the people who live in Pittsfield instead of fighting each other for money and power.

Jonathan A. Melle

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February 11, 2022

Hello Dan, In the first time in about 20 years, Pittsfield and Berkshire County will have a working Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS).  I remember when you wrote that the last working CEDS was when Sara Hathaway was Mayor from 2002 - 2003.  It is indefensible that there was an about 20-year gap.  Now, let us see if CEDS will bring real economic development (i.e., Investing in working class families to be able and willing to work in full-time living wage jobs) in Pittsfield and Berkshire County.  Good job Mayor Linda Tyer and other Berkshire community leaders!

https://www.iberkshires.com/story/67178/Berkshire-Regional-Planning-Commission-Gets-Economic-Development-District-Designation.html

Berkshire Regional Planning Commission Gets Economic Development District Designation / iBerkshires.com

Jon Melle

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February 11, 2022

Yes. &, please don't forget that the neighborhoods who live behind Nuciforo's pot growing buildings on Dalton Avenue wake up each & every morning to his dead skunk-like pot growing odors with no help from Mayor Linda Tyer & company because Pittsfield's pot king is a Good Old Boy.  Pittsfield politics = PCBs abutting an elementary school & dead skunk-like pot growing odors stinking up neighborhoods in return for homeowners' municipal tax dollars.  Thumbs down!

Jonathan A. Melle

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February 11, 2022

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

A city such as Pittsfield and a region such as Berkshire County needs to start investing in the people who live there instead of electing the "business as usual" political hacks who serve their corrupt political masters in Boston and beyond.  Mayor Linda Tyer has it right when she says that she works to invest in the people who live in Pittsfield.  But where was Jimmy Ruberto (2004 - 2011), Dan Bianchi (2012-2015), and even Linda Tyer from 2016 - 2021 on CEDS?  The people who live in a community (and county and state) are the ones who work, shop, pay taxes, invest in their families and personal properties, send their children to public schools, and pass on their lifelong investments to the next generations.  The Ruling Elites are DISCONNECTED from the people they serve in government.  Career politicians are only interested in money and power so they can sit on their fat asses (and do nothing: see Trippy Country Buffet's past decade - 2011 to 2021 - on Beacon Hill) in elected office for several decades before they retire and collect their public pensions and perks on top of becoming greedy registered lobbyists or predatory marijuana businessmen.  In closing, I believe Mayor Linda Tyer means well in her commitment to invest in the people she serves in City Hall; at least she says things that I support in government.

Jonathan A. Melle

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February 11, 2022

Hello Patrick Fennell,

If Massachusetts' state government and beyond are going to continue to break financial records on predatory lotteries and casinos, alcohol and tobacco sales, marijuana dispensaries, strip clubs and adult erotica stores, and possibly in the future Red Light Districts where adults could legally purchase sex workers for sex, then the state should be educating the people who consume these predatory products and services that the financially illiterate, addicted, young adults, mentally ill, sexual deviants and those who don't understand the difference between sexual fantasy and healthy sexual relationships, and so on, are the ones who are being exploited for the Ruling Elites and their corporate donors' record profits.

The government should NOT be about K Street's top corporate lobbyist firms bragging about their record earnings in 2021 in the Swamp.  It should NOT be about the Military Industrial Complex and the U.S. Government's number one non-farm export being arms sales to the World, which has humanitarian crises around the globe (Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and elsewhere).  It should NOT be about voluntary regressive taxation via the lottery and casinos, booze and cigs, pot products, jerkoff magazines and videos, strippers receiving big bills for naked lap dances on the proverbial Hunter Bidens who fathered a child with a stripper lady half of his age and tried and failed to weasel his way out of paying for it, and dudes receiving Happy Endings or more from sexually exploited sex workers.

I don't know how the Swamp became one of the wealthiest (and unequal) regions of our country.  I don't know how Beacon Hill became a proverbial brothel.  I don't understand why politicians are all about money and power, while the most vulnerable people among us are unfairly being exploited for the Ruling Elites' record profits.

I give up!  I am going to enjoy Super Bowl Sunday with my 77-year-old father and our three dogs.

Jonathan Melle

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February 12, 2022

Sarcasm: I thought that Bill Clinton (along with Bill Gates and the UK's Prince Andrew and an estimated 212 other rich and powerful men) allegedly gave preference to 14-year-old innocent virgin girls on Jeffrey Epstein's pedo-island.  FACT: Bill Clinton has 26 flight log entries on Jeffrey Epstein's private jet.  But only Ghislaine Maxwell has been charged, indicted and convicted in a biased federal trial by jury, while the aforementioned men all walk free.  I would say that is discrimination!

Jonathan A. Melle

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February 13, 2022

I listen to all sides in politics and government within reason, such as me always denouncing Communists or Nazis.  I believe the Republican Party has a lot of merit, such as limited government, law and order, national defense, pro-business free market economics, and so on.  I believe the Democratic Party also has a lot of merit, such as progressive taxation (sans K Street's PAC Man Richie Neal, D-Insurance Companies), supporting public education and social service and social insurance programs, standing for inclusivity in politics and government, and so on.

I agree with blogger Dan Valenti that Massachusetts is a one political (Dem.) Party state, and Pittsfield/Berkshire County shows it in spades to the detriment of the people and taxpayers who live in Western Massachusetts.  The one whopper missing is that some politicians say they are Democrats to get elected and stay with the in-crowd, but they are nothing of the kind, such as former Pittsfield State Representative and current longtime greedy registered lobbyist Peter Larkin's pro-GE and socially conservative public record.  Living in the 2 political party state of New Hampshire, I see the opposite side of it with some Republican Party politicians who do the same because they want to be where the money and power is in Concord, NH, and beyond.  My friend and Republican politician Joe Kelly Levasseur once told me that some Republican politicians in NH started by working for Democrats on Beacon Hill.

Lastly, the thing that bothers me the most about Pittsfield politics is that Mayor Linda Tyer and Kufflink$ Kerwood are raising municipal taxes (and fees and debts/liabilities) to record high levels on the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family, who are receiving substandard public services in return for their hard-earned municipal tax dollars.  Pittsfield = Level 5 inner city public schools, always being in the 10 ten cities in Massachusetts for violent crime every year for decades, a dangerous downtown with dozens of empty storefronts called "Social Services Alley" and the distressed neighborhoods that surround North Street called "The Ring of Poverty", severe economic inequality with Linda Tyer and CPA Barry Clairmont living in a mansion valued at over $800,000 in a Gated Community within a few feet of the Hancock border, a polluted and heavily indebted nearly 24-year-old PEDA debacle, and a corrupt state and local government derided by the people and taxpayers as always being "Business as usual".

Jonathan A. Melle

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February 16, 2022

Mary Jane & Joe Kapanski's elected government officials:

* Joe Biden: 40-year high U.S. inflation, spent well over $10 trillion federal dollars in his first year in the Oval Office, killed thousands of American energy jobs, called Putin a "KILLER", threatened China with WW3 for threatening to invade Taiwan, and his bad boy son Hunter Biden ran an alleged money laundering business that brought home many millions of dollars from Russia and China.

* Kamala Harris: Called Joe Biden a racist on national television, but she is now his loyal Veep.

* Ed Markey: Lives in a wealthy suburb in Chevy Chase Maryland, but won reelection in 2020 by telling Massachusetts voters he is going to save the world with his would be $100 trillion Green New Deal propaganda that the world's youth roll their eyes at.

* Elizabeth Warren: Says she is a fighter for Main Street, but she supports Joe Biden who took in more money from Wall Street and K Street than any other candidate in 2020.    

* PAC Man Richie Neal: Rakes in millions of dollars from K Street corporate lobbyist firms, especially insurance companies.

* Governor Charlie Baker: Took no responsibility for the Covid-19 debacles at the Holyoke and Chelsea Soldier's Homes that tragically took over 80 Veterans' lives. If he had any decency, he would have apologized to the families for his administration's mismanagement of the state's Soldier's Homes.

* Chrome Dome Adam Hinds: Lives in a $690,000 home in Amherst, Massachusetts.  I thought Jo Comerford represented Amherst, Massachusetts in the State Senate!

* Trippy Country Buffet: Accomplished nothing in her first decade in Boston, but she is going bananas for the vote on her bill this week to give undocumented immigrants Massachusetts driver's licenses.

* Smitty Pignatelli (Shitty Pigpen): Writes the loftiest op-eds in the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle), but his nearly 20-year public record in Boston is anything but lofty.

* Paul Marxism: Votes for his political masters' wishes and always supports his politically connected unions in Boston.

* The career Mayor John Barrett III: Made being a career politician into a fine art that will someday be an art exhibit at MASS MoCA.

* The Lovely Linda Tyer (Jimmy Ruberto): Continues Pittsfield politics' "Business as usual" of raising municipal taxes (and fees and debts/liabilities) to record high levels that is crushing the city's shrinking working class, shuts out the public from her administration's secretive spending of over $41 million in Biden Buck$, did nothing during the 2018 Berkshire Museum's controversial selling of tens of millions of dollars in donated historic artwork, including two paintings from Norman Rockwell, called North Street a work in progress, and lives in an $800,000 mansion in a Gated Community within feet of the Hancock border.

* The Pittsfield City Council: Infighting, tax hikers, rubber stampers, a few dissenters, and a lot of retribution.

* The Pittsfield School Committee: Level 5 inner city schools, Hill 78's capped PCBs abutting Allendale Elementary School, over 650 students per academic year opting out to neighboring public school districts, Dr. Bill Cameron's incredible academic and professional background that gives the city's public school district a glimmer of hope for the future.

Jonathan A. Melle

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February 17, 2022

Pittsfield has Level 5 inner-city public schools.  Pittsfield, similar to many distressed and economically unequal cities, is systemically underfunded by state lawmakers in Boston.  Remember that it is the state government that administers federal funding for public education, but Beacon Hill lawmakers love to play financial shell games with their federal funds.  Over 650 Pittsfield children opt out of Pittsfield public schools every academic year, which costs Pittsfield millions of dollars in lost state education dollars.  The state teacher's union is very powerful in Pittsfield, and a lot of the public-school funding goes to teachers' contracts.  There is no correlation between public school funding and academic results, which means that politics is more important than educating Pittsfield's public-school students.  Pittsfield, similar to many distressed and economically unequal cities, is known for its high teen pregnancy rates and welfare caseloads.  Girls as young as 14 have babies in Pittsfield.  Today's modern families are dysfunctional with many broken homes with parents' who are mentally ill and/or abusing alcohol and/or drugs.  Domestic violence and/or poverty negatively impact many poor families' children's ability to perform well in public schools.  Many children never have a fair shot at attaining an adequate or above public education.  In Pittsfield, Allendale Elementary School abuts Hill 78, which is a capped toxic waste dump filled with GE's industrial chemicals called PCBs, which not only cause cancer, but they also cause LEARNING DISABILITIES in children.  That is INSANE!  In terms of municipal finance, Pittsfield Public Schools bring in around $30 million per year from state administered federal funds.  Most of that money doesn't really go to educating Pittsfield's youth, but rather it is really a CASH COW for Pittsfield politics.  In closing, Pittsfield's failing public schools are really a failure on many levels of government and politics whereby none of the career politicians care about the most vulnerable people in our society: The disadvantaged youth.

Jonathan A. Melle

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February 18, 2022

What about all of the white power (trash) hate and terrorist groups throughout the U.S.A.?  Why are they engaging in cultural conflicts and violence in the year of 2022?

There are 3 kinds of conflict/violence:

1 - Interpersonal conflicts/violence: Verbal and/or Physical Assaults

2- Structural conflicts/violence: Homelessness, Joblessness, Poverty

3 - Cultural conflicts/violence (Divide & Conquer): People(s) and/or groups believe they are superior to People(s) and/or groups they deem inferior to them.

The first two kinds of conflict/violence can be stopped, but the third one cannot be stopped because humankind is full of ignorant human beings who act with conflict/violence against their fellow human beings.

The point historic men such as Jesus Christ, Gandi, MLK, and even Malcolm X all made was that instead of engaging in conflict/violence, we should be practicing the Golden Rule to achieve peace and justice for ALL.

Divide & Conquer tactics have been used by empires for thousands of years of human history.  When a Conqueror gets People(s) and/or groups into conflict/violence whereby they fight each other for power, then the Conqueror always wins the war instead of the battles his or her subjects are fighting each other over.  During MLK's Civil Rights political movement in the 1950s and the 1960s, MLK understood that if he used cultural conflicts/violence, he would have lost his Dream for racial equality in the U.S.A.

Lastly, it was easier for someone such as Hitler to have blamed the Jewish People for Germany's defeat in WWI so that he could deploy his cultural conflicts/violence to attain dictatorial powers than if he led by uniting all of the people and Peoples of Germany for peace and prosperity.  Please STOP blaming Linda Tyer, Andrea Harrington, the proverbial Jon Melle, and the black people for Pittsfield's socioeconomic problems.  Instead, please work with all of these people and groups to bring back hope for a bright future for Pittsfield.

Jon Melle

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I respect you and your honorable military service, which I am thankful for. Just for the record, I am saddened by Pittsfield’s violent crime and distressed and very economically unequal economy. I denounce cultural conflict and violence. Instead of blaming progressive women politicians, the proverbial Jon Melle, and black people, I hope that we will all work together for a bright future. There is nothing we can do about the past but learn from our mistakes. Pittsfield still has hope for the future!

Jon Melle

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February 19, 2022

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

The letter by the young woman, Elsa Letteron, explains that the struggles young adults are experiencing in Berkshire County is hurting the region's quality of life.  I will be 47 years old this upcoming Summer of 2022, but once upon a time, like you, I was a young man living in the beautiful Berkshires.  Back then, there were little to no living wage jobs in Western Massachusetts and the surrounding area.  Unless you were from a politically connected Good Old Boys' family, you felt fortunate to make between $10 to $15 per hour back then.  Even then, you had to either kiss the dirty behinds of the incestuous-like G.O.B.s or stay silent in the face of their corrupt control of the region's state and local government and distressed and very unequal economy.  To be clear, the same group of provincial insiders always won, while the rest of the local residents had to pound sand.

What ever happened to politicians and community leaders seeing promising young adults and investing their limited resources into them instead of strong-arming them for their own provincial power grabs?  The Ruling Elites in Berkshire County are totally DISCONNECTED from the people who live there.  When I was a young man, people would tell me that it is the same everywhere.  Cliff Nilan would say to me that no one cares anymore.  I disagree with that provincial mentality.  I believe that politicians need to start connecting with their constituents again by investing in the people they represent so that young adults are able and willing to work in full time living wage jobs, have access to affordable housing, and be able to live a life with personal financial security.  If politicians cannot do so, then they should step down from their elected positions in government.  But that is not how "The Real World" works, of course, which means that the Elites who have money and power always win, while the rest of us have to pound sand.

I was born in 1975, which is around the time the American Middle Class stopped growing after WW2.  For the duration of my life so far, the super wealthy compounded their wealth to super high levels, while the working class got crushed by big government and big business supply side economics and inequitable financial shell games.  The American Underclass has grown larger and larger every year of my life so far.  If I had to paint a picture of the American Dream, I would put the Elites on top of the clouds, the working class in a ditch, and the underclass at the edge of a cliff (Nilan).

I never married and/or had children, but I could only imagine what it would be like for me, my would-be wife and my would-be children living in a state of economic and financial distress.  I imagine I would try to stay financially afloat, trying to keep my would-be wife from divorcing me in my 40s, and trying to invest my time and money in my would-be children because no one else (other than my would-be wife) would do so.  If that didn't work, I would have to live the rest of my life in the underclass trying to pay off all of my debts or declare personal bankruptcy to survive.  Today's modern families are behind the proverbial 8-ball!  It should NOT be that way, especially in the U.S.A.

Lastly, I wonder how young adults from places such as the beautiful Berkshires are able to afford to move to places such as Boston, NYC or Washington, D.C.  The cost of living in Boston is higher than NYC or Washington, D.C., which both cost a lot of money to live there.  Where I live in Amherst, NH, I understand that working class adults live in cities such as Fitchburg or Lowell, Massachusetts, because Boston costs too much money for them to live in even though there are high paying jobs there.  The Berkshires are fortunate that they are not far from Boston and New York City, but more should be done for the young adults who live in Berkshire County.

Best wishes,

Jon Melle

 

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Elsa Letteron: "Dearth of young people negatively impacts Berkshires"

By Elsa Letteron, op-ed, The Berkshire Eagle, February 19, 2022

Where are all the young people? The lack of young adults in Berkshire County is clear to anyone and it’s not getting any better.

After high school, students go to college or move to bigger cities like Boston, New York and Washington, leaving only some who stay in the Berkshires. The ones who stay behind often live with their parents or move in with other friends and students who stayed behind. Besides these token few, not many other young adults live in the Berkshires. Why is that?

The main reason is the cost of living here. The median cost of a house in the Berkshires is $359,000. The average 24-year-old makes $29,814.28 a year, this breaks down to making $14.33 an hour and is not enough to be able to afford even a 480-square-foot cabin, its sale price listed at $99,500 in rural Becket.

Tourists and people with above average wages are moving here. They tend to be older and buy up houses and apartment buildings and turn them into single-family homes. This cuts out the option of apartment living for younger adults who can’t afford an entire house.

The most common store hours for a local business in downtown Great Barrington are from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a few staying open later on certain days. This cuts out activity options for young adults and local teenagers who usually don’t get out of school until 3 p.m. or work until around 5 p.m.. Restaurants are open a bit later, yet no one can afford to go out every night, and it’s not a reliable way to get your social battery filled. Most restaurants close by 9 p.m. anyway. Teenagers and young adults are thus likely to just stay home.

As a high-school senior at Monument Mountain, I search endlessly — and unsuccessfully — for activities to do past 5 p.m. Pittsfield and other locales farther north offer a few more options, but I don’t feel at home there and often don’t want to make the 25-minute drive just for some entertainment. I’m left with the option of going home and hopefully having friends over or driving around, which gets boring pretty quickly.

The Berkshires need change. We need to do something about the issues at hand rather than just knowing they’re there and wishing it were better.

The Berkshires are getting older — at least the population is. If we don’t try to cater to younger people, then they’re going to stop coming and the high schoolers that are here are going to leave as soon as they get the chance.

We need young people. They offer fresh opinions and keep our towns exciting. Without them, we’ll get stagnant and become the retirement town we’re already on our way to creating.

Elsa Letteron is a member of Monument Mountain Regional High School’s Class of 2022.

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February 20, 2022

You forgot a few things about Pittsfield politics!  1 political (Dem.) party ran by an incestuous-like group of provincial insiders.  It is "play ball" or face retribution.  It is more about money, power and politics than it is about roads, public safety, public education, etc.  If you are not part of all of these corrupt things, then you are only in the way.  Please remember that I, Jon Melle, experienced all of it many years ago when my dad served as a Berkshire County Commissioner (1997 - mid-2000).  Communicating with the hacks who run the show in Pittsfield politics is like looking into the Sun: blinding and painful!

Jonathan A. Melle

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February 22, 2022

The British Consulate in Boston plans to meet with Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer later this year of 2022 to talk to her about economic development organizations to understand prosperity in postindustrial towns.  What will the Lovely Linda say to him about Pittsfield's distressed and severely economically unequal economy?  I wonder.

Massachusetts Gateway Cities teach UK about prosperity (Viewpoint) - masslive.com

https://www.masslive.com/opinion/2022/02/massachusetts-gateway-cities-teach-uk-about-prosperity-viewpoint.html

Jonathan A. Melle

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"Two hours of debate, four charter objections and no decisions from Pittsfield City Council for residents on water and sewer rates"

By Meg Britton-Mehlisch, The Berkshire Eagle, February 22, 2022

PITTSFIELD — The rate for water and sewer services for Pittsfield residents will remain in flux for at least another two weeks after City Council members and city department heads spent an evening at loggerheads over proposed rate increases.

The two hour discussion was halted by a chain of charter objections — a move councilors can invoke under the city's charter to halt a vote on an issue.

The objections held up any further discussion or a vote on a revised set of rate increases for city water and sewer rates. City officials came to the meeting Tuesday night prepared to propose a 10 percent increase to water rates and a 12 percent increase to sewer rates this fiscal year and next fiscal year to stave off what they called a "structural problem" in the way the city pays for its water infrastructure.

The rates represented a slight decrease from the initial proposal of a 12 percent water rate and 15 percent sewer rate increase. 

Ward 2 Councilor Charles Kronick issued the first charter objection, arguing that Finance Director Matt Kerwood and Commissioner of Public Services and Utilities Ricardo Morales had not given him or other councilors the detailed level of data he requested over the course of the meeting. Kronick requested line-item level data of the water and sewer projects and enterprise funds, a request that Kerwood said he could provided at a later date — but not without notice off the top of his head.

With the first gauntlet thrown down, At Large Councilor Earl Persip III, Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Maffuccio and At Large Councilor Karen Kalinowsky called for charter objections —  essentially ceremonial acts to the delay discussion of the other associated rate setting requests on the meeting agenda to the March 8 meeting.

Over the course of the discussion, councilors kept Kerwood and Morales on their feet — in an almost constant dance back and forth to the podium — with questions over every inch of the city's drinking and waste water system. 

Questions initially focused on the accounting for major improvements to the city's wastewater treatment facility. The project — which was undertaken in 2019 to meet the regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency — was cited by city officials as one of the major factors necessitating rate increases this year. 

Councilors asked whether there was any way to shave additional costs off the $74 million in a way to lower the impact to residents this year. 

"We have done and continue to do everything we that can to make sure that, the wastewater treatment plant specifically, that we take every opportunity to reduce the amount of debt associated with that project," Kerwood said, noting a zero interest loan and principal forgiveness package was estimated to save the city $20 million over 30 years.

"We worked for that," Kerwood said. "We strive for that. ... We respect and appreciate the rate payers and tax payers as much as you do."

Kalinowsky took aim at the city's intermunicipal agreements with surrounding towns to provide water services. Morales and Kerwood told the councilor that approximately $1.2 million in water and sewer bills comes from users from outside of the city while residents pay about $12.8 million in water and sewer bills each year. 

The department heads agreed with Kalinowsky that the agreements were outdated and being revised with neighboring towns.

Ward 1 Councilor Ken Warren, Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Maffuccio and Kalinowsky called on the city to be creative with the city's $40.6 million in American Rescue Plan coronavirus funds and find a way to fund the accounts that cover water and sewer projects, materials and personnel without more money from residents.

"The city was able to recoup $2-point-something million in lost revenue, they were able to recoup their funds out of the $40 million," Maffuccio said referencing the city's ARPA allocation. "Who's going to help the citizens of Pittsfield recoup?"

"This is unsympathetic," Maffuccio added. "We're all trying to recover and get back on our feet. Have a little compassion for people."

Several city councilors said that they were sympathetic to the situation facing all residents due to the pandemic economy, but that delaying a hard vote now would not fix the ever growing needs of the water and sewer funds and make bills down the road even harder to afford for everyone. 

"We're all here to represent the residents and these are the residents' bills" Persip said. "We provide services, we provide clean water and a place to flush your toilet. We're just trying to pay for those."

"There's no luxuries here — no luxuries at the waste water treatment plant."

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February 24, 2022

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

Just when one thinks that Pittsfield politics couldn't get any worse, City Hall finds new ways to screw with municipal tax and fee payers.  Please read the letter to the Editor of the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle), below my name.  Someone should tell Pittsfield's Queen, Mayor Linda Tyer, and her bureaucracy, that they are supposed to serve the people and taxpayers of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, not the other way around.

I get so upset when I read about our native hometown of Pittsfield for the following reasons:

* A provincial group of political insiders who dishes out retribution against the people and taxpayers to rule Pittsfield by fear

* The 2000 Consent Decree that left Pittsfield polluted and indebted with millions of dollars in growing liabilities with almost 24-year-old the PEDA debacle, as well as Hill 78 that abuts Allendale Elementary School

* The Pittsfield Public School District and School Committee's failing Level 5 inner city schools with no improvement because public education is really about federal money and local politics in Pittsfield

* Pittsfield's excessively high municipal finances whereby the public is deliberately shutout from knowing about Matt Kerwood's Creative Accounting (Cook the Books) schemes and Mayor Linda Tyer's spending of $41 million in Biden Buck$

* Godfather Jimmy Ruberto calling the shots in Pittsfield from Naples Florida

* Nuciforo's pot growing buildings on Dalton Avenue that stink up abutting residential neighborhoods with his dead skunk-like pot odors with no action taken by City Hall

* Pittsfield always being in the top 10 cities in Massachusetts for Violent Crime each and every year for decades, according to the FBI

* Pittsfield's dangerous downtown being sarcastically called "Social Services Alley" and the neighborhoods that surround North Street sarcastically called "The Ring of Poverty"

* Economic Development in Pittsfield really means high teen pregnancy rates, high welfare caseloads, part-time minimum wage jobs with lousy or no benefits, decades of losses of thousands of living wage jobs and population loss, homeless people shitting on North Street and living in city parks, and so on

* Pittsfield's distressed economy and severe economic inequality with Mayor Linda Tyer living in a mansion valued at over $800,000 in a Gated Community within a few feet of the Hancock border where she and her millionaire CPA husband park their Lexus luxury cars at night

* Pittsfield's state representatives and state senator doing nothing on Beacon Hill but writing op-eds for state tax hikes on struggling working-class families

* The Berkshire Museum's 2018 sales of historic artwork, including two paintings donated by Norman Rockwell himself, for tens of millions of dollars, which was led by Jimmy "Renaissance" Ruberto

* PAC Man Richie Neal only representing K Street corporate lobbyist firms, especially insurance companies, which has nothing to do with his large geographical Western Massachusetts Congressional District

* The Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) favoring the Good Old Boys one political (Dem.) party that led to Pittsfield's downward spiral with no bottom

Best wishes,

Jon Melle

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PITTSFIELD POLITICS: Matt Kerwood Strikes Again!

LETTER: PITTSFIELD'S ADDITIONAL TAX ON 'SNOWBIRDS' IS DISAPPOINTING

The Berkshire Eagle, February 24, 2022

To the editor: My husband and I received a form from the city of Pittsfield yesterday.

The form requires a listing of every one of the items we have in our condo in the Clock Tower in Pittsfield. The form asks for lists of small appliances and small electronics, tools and equipment, furniture and accessories, and personal effects, to include all jewelry, china, glassware, linens, bedding and all other personal effects.

We called the Assessor's Office to ask why this had never been required before and were told that this is a tax levied on only those people who have a second home in Pittsfield. When did someone come up with this punishment for us? We pay our property taxes on schedule every quarter. We live in the Berkshires only five months a year, but heavily support all the arts, museums, theaters and some politicians with donations. We also eat in the restaurants, and shop for all those things needed for a stay in Pittsfield.

For seven months of the year, we do not use the services that the city provides to its residents. Yet we find ourselves singled out for a tax of 6 percent of the assessed value of every item in our home. We have owned property in Lee and Pittsfield since 2003, and have spent July and August at Oak N' Spruce resort for years prior to that. To be singled out for such a selective tax is disappointing and erodes our pride in the state of Massachusetts and the city of Pittsfield.

It would seem that this tax underlines a basic dislike of "snowbird" that we have never experienced before. It is upsetting to us to the point of considering the sale of our property in Pittsfield.

Milton Lestz, Coral Springs, Fla.

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February 24, 2022

Letter: "The only real solution to Pittsfield pothole problem"

The Berkshire Eagle, February 24, 2022

To the editor: Every spring, The Eagle prints pictures of crews filling potholes and explains how they form. ("Pittsfield's highway department fills more than 1,000 potholes in one day, barely putting a dent in one of the worst winters for city's roads," Eagle, Feb. 11.)

And the past several winters, we enter “pothole season” earlier and earlier. It is presented as a fact of life, as certain as sunrise and sunset. Except it isn’t. While the freeze-thaw cycle may tear the roads apart where there are cracks and gaps, the real culprit is political. Each year, no one wants to bite the bullet and rebuild the amount of street mileage necessary to ensure that the streets remain relatively intact long enough not to break up on a wholesale level. A mill and pave probably lasts 10 years. On streets with little traffic, maybe things last longer.

Fourth Street from East Street to Fenn Street was last done in 2008. That is 15 years ago, and it has been a moonscape for about three years. East Street from Park Square to Fourth Street was last done in 2003. Nineteen years is a long time, and folks have been breaking front-end parts for seven or eight years at a minimum each late winter and spring season. Holmes Road was done probably 15 to 16 years ago has been coming apart in some spots for about five years.

There is a pattern here. In order to rebuild 280 miles of street that Pittsfield has and keep the main streets done every 10 years and side streets maybe every 15, you need to rebuild 25 or so miles each year to do the entire city. That costs money. Patching potholes is a Sisyphean task. A few years ago, the former DPW chief put together a plan — and was ridiculed. Now we are further behind.

We have a ton of ARPA money. There are a lot of needs out there. But roads are used by everyone daily, so we need to catch up, because if we don’t, the day will come that all 280 miles will need to be rebuilt all at once. We are close to being there. Bad roads are a quality-of-life and economic development issue. If you drive through a town that looks like Basra, who wants to invest where it looks like there is no end to the needs?

Only the mayor can make this decision — and we should all urge her to do so.

Dave Pill, Pittsfield

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February 25, 2022

Trivia Friday

Who am I?

I mail out municipal tax forms to second homeowners who live as full-time residents in far off places like Florida for over 6-months a year with second homes in Pittsfield Massachusetts asking them to inventory all of their furniture, china, gold and silver and other jewelry, appliances, and the like, so I can tax them for every cent I can squeeze out of them under the direction of Mayor Linda Tyer.

I play Creative Accounting (Cook the Books) games whereby I shuffle public funds around various municipal accounts to build my multimillion-dollar $lu$h Fund$, but the downside is Level 5 failing public schools, understaffed public safety personnel, deferred maintenance of city roads and other infrastructure, and so on.

I advised Mayor Linda Tyer to shutout the public from her administration’s spending of over $41 million in Biden Buck$.

I continue Pittsfield politics’ decades-long tradition of raising yearly municipal spending by 5 percent, adding double digit percentage fee increases, and deferring well over $100 million municipal debts and hundreds of millions in other municipal liabilities into decades into the future.

I like to wear a bowtie and my critics call me Kufflinks. I have come to symbolize everything that is wrong with Pittsfield politics’ municipal financial management, but I am a provincial political insider who is untouchable, so I get to pull the same shit and get paid a 6-figure with public benefits municipal salary to do so.

Mayor Linda Tyer’s millionaire CPA husband Barry Clairmont praises my so-called financial genius, but Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski dread their quarterly municipal tax invoices and excessive municipal fees.

I like all of the marijuana revenue that flows into my municipal coffers, but it won’t stop me from soaking Pittsfield’s tax and fee payers for every dollar I can take from them.

I have served on the Pittsfield City Councilor, and I was a Town Manager for upper class Richmond, which is where former multimillionaire Governor Deval Patrick lives in his mansion on Sweet P Farm.

I have also been called “Little Eddie Munster”. I despise blogger Dan Valenti for always calling me out about my failed legacy as a provincial big fish Local Yokel in provincial Pittsfield Massachusetts.

Answer: Matt Kerwood.

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Letter: "Litter is out of control in Pittsfield"

The Berkshire Eagle, February 26, 2022

To the Editor:

Recently I walked in Pittsfield from Big Y to 24 Park Street and back along a different route.

Our streets our absolutely filthy - absolutely, disgustingly filthy.  As a lifelong resident, I am totally ashamed.

Bob Kerwood,

Pittsfield

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March 4, 2022

True dat, BUT Pittsfield was always in the top 10 cities in Massachusetts for VIOLENT CRIME well before the lovely ladies [Mayor Linda Tyer, Pittsfield State Representative Tricia Farley Bouvier, and Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington] ran the shit show in Pittsfield politics with Sherwood Guernsey operating behind the proverbial curtain in the wonderful land of Oz.  Things only got worse for Pittsfield as the years and decades pass us by, but what would you expect, regardless of the out-of-touch ruling elites who live in an $800,000 mansion in a Gated Community [Mayor Linda Tyer], in an upscale Naples Florida condo unit [former Mayor Jimmy Ruberto], in a $690,000 home in Amherst, Massachusetts ["Pittsfield" State Senator Adam Hinds], in a Pot Kingdom [former "Pittsfield" State Senator Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior], in K Street's sleazy corporate lobbyist firms [U.S. Representative Richie Neal aka "PAC Man"], in a wealthy Chevy Chase, Maryland suburb [U.S. Senator Ed Markey], and so on?  The people and taxpayers who live in Pittsfield have no real political representation, which has been the case in Pittsfield politics for generations of "All in the Family" corrupt provincial insiders who sold the city out time and time again for their own gain.  GE Lobbyist Peter Larkin will sell you a parcel of the PEDA debacle if you want to find it out for yourself.

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Pittsfield's pothole problems run deeper"

The Berkshire Eagle, March 5, 2022

To the editor: I read with interest The Eagle's editorial on Pittsfield's potholes. ("Our Opinion: Pittsfield must prioritize a sustainable solution to pothole problems," Eagle, March 4.)

Potholes are not the real problems but are related to the lack of expertise in the planning and procedures used in the preparations of the bidding process for the actual resurfacing of our roads. I can show you roads that were resurfaced two to five years ago and are all ready besieged by sizable potholes.

This is obviously the result of bad decisions by a poorly informed and educated administration.

Vic Ostellino, Pittsfield

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March 6, 2022

How many years/decades have we heard the endless number of useless Pittsfield politicians campaign on the issue of violent crime, drugs and gangs in Berkshire County?  In 2003, Jimmy Ruberto said he would fight crime in Pittsfield.  How did that work out?  In 2022, Attorney Robert Sullivan is doing the same as the Godfather of Pittsfield who lives in Naples Florida.  To Attorney Robert Sullivan: I say BULLSHIT!  If Sullivan wins the Berkshire County District Attorney's Office and serves there from 2023 - 2026, I would bet the proverbial farm that the FBI will report annually that Pittsfield and North Adams will still be in the top 10 cities for violent crime per population in Massachusetts, just as it has done for many years/decades now, including before 2019, which was the year when Andrea Harrington assumed the elected office of Berkshire County District Attorney.  I am so tired of blogger Dan Valenti and many of his blog posters blaming Andrea Harrington's progressive politics for Pittsfield's decades of decay.  Andrea Harrington has served as Berkshire County D.A. in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2 months and nearly 1 week so far in 2022.  To blame Andrea Harrington for Pittsfield's decades of decay is NOT even rational given the facts about Pittsfield's long history of violent crime.

Pittsfield Massachusetts is an economically distressed post-industrial city with severe economic inequality whereby the one political (Democratic) party state and local provincial ruling elites are totally DISCONNECTED from the proverbial household and/or small businesses of the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski.  Pittsfield's population has diminished in numbers for decades.  Pittsfield's living wage jobs for the average working-class family are about as real as Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and an honest career politician.  In fact, Pittsfield and Berkshire County have lost well over ten thousand living wage jobs since the post-WW2 era.  Pittsfield has Level 5 public schools.  Pittsfield's downtown is sarcastically called "Social Services Alley", and the underclass and working poor neighborhoods that surround North Street are sarcastically called "The Ring of Poverty".  Large photos of post-industrial Pittsfield have been exhibited in upscale art galleries and museums in London, England, U.K., NYC, and L.A. as "A City in Decay".  In closing, I ask how realistic is Attorney Robert Sullivan being about fighting violent crime in Pittsfield?  We all know that he is full of SHIT, SHIT, and even more SHIT!

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Will Springside Park remain public or become a private park?"

The Berkshire Eagle, March 8, 2022

To the editor: Within an hour, you can walk through 50 species of natural woods, relic forest, relic New England field/forest interface, upland New England Field succession complete with herb, forb and tree pioneer species, a migratory bird "funnel," wetlands, vernal pools and springs, from which Springside Park gets its name.

Edaphic soil and plant communities, micro-niches and habitats are home to animals and plants seen nowhere else in the city or the region. Vincent J. Hebert Arboretum at Springside Park is dedicated to the Millers' gift to Pittsfield: "That the City of Pittsfield ... maintain [Springside] as a public park forever … for the use and the enjoyment of the public as is usual with lands of this character" (from the 1910 deed).

Berkshire Mountain Bike Training Series has taken large sections of Springside Park for their sole use with a huge forest track near Doyle Field, wood chip jumps occupying the main road of the park and huge jumps near Garland Avenue. ("With a mountain bike course OK'd, Pittsfield city staff and bike group get to work on the finer details," Eagle, Dec. 28, 2021.) All trails are being used by this aggressive, dangerous sport, leaving ruts, exposed tree roots and rocks, making trails difficult for passive users. Who can get out of the way fast enough with a mountain bike going at top speed?

Their proposed three-acre, industry-funded bike skills track in the middle of Springside with additional space for parking and infrastructure (toilets, water/sewer line, a 20-foot-high metal fence with steel gates) will have eight different constructions including asphalt pump track, skills course, flow zone, dual slalom racetrack and picnic area further privatizing our public park for their use.

The presence of mountain bikes could lead to use by e-bikes, dirt bikes, ATVs and even motorcycles. Do you want Springside safe for the 44,000 residents of Pittsfield to enjoy, or do you want it privatized with industry money by New England Mountain Bike Association for dangerous sports?

It is up to you to tell your public servants whether you want an arboretum, a library of trees and nature classroom — a top priority of the city's master plan for Springside Park, or for Springside to become a mountain bike park. Give your Pittsfield and Massachusetts representatives a call and tell them what you want.

Elizabeth Kulas, Pittsfield

The writer is president of Hebert Arboretum at Springside Park.

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"Pittsfield City Council approves water and sewer rate increase in split vote. Here's how much residents will pay"

By Meg Britton-Mehlisch, The Berkshire Eagle, March 8, 2022

PITTSFIELD — Rates for water and sewer services will increase 10 percent and 12 percent, respectively, this year and the next, following a split 6-4 City Council vote Tuesday evening.

For a typical two-bedroom home in Pittsfield without a water meter, the increase in rates will mean an additional $77.20 in water and sewer fees over last year’s bill according to city calculations.

For the average metered home in Pittsfield — which consumes about 220 gallons per day — the rate changes will mean an additional $64.69 in water and sewer bills.

The vote ends a multi-week debate over how to respond to what city officials call a “structural problem” in the funding of water and sewer services. Councilors and department heads alike have chalked the double-digit increases this year to prior councils’ decisions to keep rates low or frozen all together in the face of increasing capital costs.

While city officials said personnel and supply costs are a factor in the rates this year, the biggest drain on the city’s water and sewer enterprise funds and the reason for the rate increases is a $74 million renovation of city’s wastewater treatment plant — a project approved four years ago to meet Environmental Protection Agency requirements.

City officials say that water and sewer rates have to rise over the next two years to cover major and much needed projects to the city’s water systems. City councilors say those increases are unaffordable for their residents.

At Large Councilor Karen Kalinowsky, Ward 1 Councilor Ken Warren, Ward 2 Councilor Charles Kronick and Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Maffuccio were steadfast in their opposition to rate increases through the four rate-setting votes during the evening.

The councilors took turns asking for “compassion” from their colleagues and proposing alternative ways to pay off the renovation project or shelter residents from the impact of the increases.

Kalinowsky, who has submitted a petition to have the city consider a water meter program for low-income residents, asked why residents and councilors were being asked today to foot a bill for a financial situation years in the making.

“They knew back in 2019 that these rates were going to go up,” Kalinowsky said, referencing a water and sewer rate study from the time that showed that rates would need to increase by double-digit percentages every year to keep up with the infrastructure costs even before the pandemic.

In a last-ditch attempt to avoid rate increases this year for water and sewer services, Ward 2 Councilor Charles Kronick proposed using $1 million in ARPA funds for several years to halt rate increases. Mayor Linda Tyer rejected the plan saying she didn't "think it was the best solution."

“We have a higher population of elderly people and this is going to affect them,” Kalinowsky said. “You guys are not making the hard decision, you’re making the easy decision.”

Kronick, who halted the discussion of rates last month by issuing a charter objection, said he took the time between the meetings to do a line-by-line review of the city’s water and sewer budgets.

He asked his colleagues to join him in a no vote in order to ask Mayor Linda Tyer to consider his solution: take $1 million from the city’s $40 million in American Rescue Plan funds to halt rate increases for the next year.

“What happens when we no longer have a million dollars to put towards it to put towards water and sewer rates?” Tyer said in response to Kronick’s proposal. “What happens is that it just prolongs the impact to the ratepayers.”

Tyer said that the city’s proposal “offers a phased approach that eases the cost and burden of funding the operations of water and sewer.”

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March 9, 2022

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

Predictable Pittsfield politics raises it municipal taxes, fees, budgets, public debts and other liabilities, to record high levels as each year passes by.  This year of 2022, Mayor Linda Tyer is literally sitting on tens of millions of dollars in city cash, including her administration's Biden Buck$ and Matt Kerwood's $lu$h Fund$.  No Mayor in the sad history of Pittsfield politics ever sat on so much city cash as the Lovely Linda.  But because Pittsfield politics is always totally predictable, Mayor Linda Tyer and her 6 rubber stamp City Councilors just voted to increase water and sewer rates by double digits.  If I were in Mayor Linda Tyer's shoes, I would ask Trippy Country Buffet and Chrome Dome Adam Hinds to tap into Beacon Hill's billions of dollars in state government surplus cash to fund the city's enterprise fund during a time of 40-year high U.S. inflation.  Pittsfield politics is ridiculous because they charge Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski top dollar for Level 5 municipal and public-school services.

Best wishes,

Jonathan Melle

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March 9, 2022

Hello Patrick Fennell,

Both political parties suck balls!  Trump added nearly $8 trillion to the U.S. national debt in his 4 years in the White House with the Republicans passing his single largest federal tax cut bill in U.S. history.  Joe Biden's excessive federal spending of well over $10 trillion in his first year in the White House contributed to the 40-year high U.S. inflation we common citizens are all paying for.  The Swamp is mostly run by K Street corporate lobbyist firms legally bribing already very wealthy career politicians - Members of U.S. Congress - with many millions of special interest dollars.  Top K Street corporate lobbyist firms even bragged about their record greedy lobbyist firms' earnings in 2021 due to the glut of Biden Buck$ in the Swamp.

Pittsfield Massachusetts has been economically distressed and very economically unequal for many decades now.  The state and local ruling elites live in economic prosperity, while most of the citizens who live there pay record high taxes and fees for lousy public services and Level 5 public schools.  When someone such as Jon Melle or Patrick Fennell writes to these career politicians, we are either blocked or we never receive a response from them.  Beacon Hill is still sitting on billions of dollars in state surplus cash, while Mayor Linda Tyer just passed double-digit fee increases on city water and sewer services on local homeowners and so on, despite her administration having more city cash - tens of millions of dollars in city cash - than any time in the sad history of Pittsfield politics.  It doesn't even make sense anymore, but the one thing that always rings true is that government and politics - especially in Pittsfield politics - is always very predictable: Business as usual!

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Dan Fox Drive feels more like a Swiss cheese road"

The Berkshire Eagle, March 9, 2022

To the editor: Taking what I thought would be a shortcut to west Pittsfield, I chose to travel over Dan Fox Drive on Saturday.

Well, my mistake. It was like driving over a slab of Swiss cheese, as I had to slow to a crawl to avoid potholes and drive like a crazy person all over the road while dodging oncoming cars forced to do exactly the same thing.

Would Pittsfield pay for any damages incurred? Absolutely not, as I’ve been hearing around the loop.

Avoid this road if you value life, limb and vehicle.

Christine Jordan, Lenox

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March 11, 2022

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

I found an online news article that explains that the increase in violent crime in Pittsfield Massachusetts rose about three times higher than the national increase from 2019 to 2020; the overall violent crime rate in Pittsfield is higher than the national rate.  Pittsfield rank #45 out of 50 in the nation for its year-to-year increase in violent crime.

Violent Crime Rose in the Pittsfield, MA Area in 2020 | State | homenewshere.com

homenewshere.com/news/state/article_0ae81049-ce5d-592b-96c7-7b10a21f56b1.html

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March 13, 2022

It was another Done Deal in predictable Pittsfield politics.  The proverbial Kapanski family will pay double digit water and sewer rate hikes for PCBs-tainted water and a toxic Housatonic River.  Next up, Mayor Linda Tyer's Spring municipal and public school district budget proposal this upcoming Spring.  Pittsfield charges the proverbial Kapanski family top dollar, and in return they get Level 5 public schools, understaffed public safety departments, violent crime, potholes, and Kufflink's excessive $lu$h Fund$.  It is the worst of both worlds for Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski with Pittsfield politics.  Along with the Lovely Linda's administration sitting on tens of millions of dollars in cash, Beacon Hill's career politicians are sitting on billions of dollars in cash.  Why don't the state and local career politicians use the government's cash to fund these kinds of infrastructure projects?  Lastly, I wish to congratulate the four Pittsfield City Councilors who questioned Mayor Linda Tyer's double digit rate hikes during 40-year high U.S. inflation that is forcing low to moderate income city taxpayers to choose between paying City Hall versus paying their own bills.

Jonathan A. Melle

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March 14, 2022

Mostly wealthy Ward 4 decides every citywide election in Pittsfield politics going back many years.  Ward 4 always has the highest voter turnout.  If you want to run for Mayor, At Large City Councilor, School Committee, Pittsfield State Representative, then tell the middle class and higher voters in Ward 4 what they want to hear.  Chris Connell, who represented Ward 4 in City Hall, surprised me and others by fighting for the entire city's taxpayers.  Now it is back to "Business as usual" in Pittsfield politics with Conant.

Also, I strongly disagree with Mayor Linda Tyer and her chief bureaucrat Matt Kerwood's secretive financial management of municipal taxpayer funds.  It is obvious to me that they shuffle municipal dollars around various city accounts to spend public funds how the Tyer administration sees fit instead of complying with state administered federal funds and the votes of the Pittsfield City Council and Pittsfield School Committee.  That is NOT democracy, but rather, it is called CREATIVE ACCOUNTING to play financial shell games that disregard the struggling Pittsfield taxpayers!

Jonathan A. Melle

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"OSHA cites ‘serious’ workplace health exposures at Pittsfield trash-burning plant"

By Larry Parnass, The Berkshire Eagle, March 14, 2022

PITTSFIELD — Workers at a Pittsfield waste-to-energy facility risked breathing in smoke containing arsenic, cadmium and lead, the federal government says, a finding that confirms other accounts of hazards at the bankrupt plant.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has ordered Community Eco Power LLC, of Pittsfield, to respond by April 4 to violations it lodged Feb. 15 against the Hubbard Avenue plant, when it imposed $26,107 in penalties.

Community Eco Power of Pittsfield is contesting $26,107 in penalties lodged by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which cited unauthorized releases of arsenic, cadmium and lead.

The company, which filed for bankruptcy protection in June [2021], is contesting the fines. At the same time, correspondence shows it to be in talks with the state Department of Environmental Protection related to environmental problems, according to records in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Two former plant employees tell The Eagle that after Community Eco Power bought the facility in 2019, its top managers repeatedly failed to properly maintain the plant and protect workers and the surrounding area from hazardous releases. The plant uses trash as fuel to generate electricity and steam, both of which it sells.

“It’s the most toxic environment I’ve ever experienced,” one of the workers said. “It’s unhealthy. It’s hard enough to work there with the temperatures.”

The workers say they were required to sign nondisclosure agreements and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The state DEP installed monitors on a plant building after receiving video evidence of improper smoke releases July 9, 2021. Videos obtained by The Eagle show smoke billowing from a structure on the plant’s grounds on the east side of Hubbard Avenue, about 300 feet from a Wendy’s restaurant. The plumes rise from a building, not smokestacks.

The former employees said the releases captured on video appear to have resulted from a failure to properly remove what is known as “fly ash” from the plant's combustion system. That ash resembles brown sand and is a byproduct of waste-to-energy production. It normally is removed and taken to a landfill after it cools enough to allow it to be moved to containers.

In this case, the workers say it is believed that the ash was moved before it had cooled properly during a shutdown, leading a container bag to burn as the ash was pushed through a vacuum process, leading to releases into the atmosphere.

“They were spewing that up in the air, like, 60 feet,” a worker said. A report to the DEP led the agency to deploy an emergency response team, according to one of the workers.

“The management was totally negligent,” the worker said. “This is all due to poor management.”

“You’re blowing [out] cadmium and lead,” the other worker said.

On Sunday, The Eagle emailed Richard Fish, the plant’s president and CEO, as well as its environmental manager, seeking comment on the company’s handling of environmental issues. No response was received.

The DEP later collected air samples on a roof at the plant near bay doors and vents, had them analyzed, then turned over the results to OSHA. Last month, the agency issued eight violations it ranked as “serious.” In addition to citing workplace exposure to lead, cadmium and inorganic arsenic, the agency faulted Eco Power for not properly communicating with workers about hazards.

Separately, the DEP placed monitors along a fence at the edge of plant’s property, to assess any wider release of toxic substances in the “ambient air” of the neighborhood, according to Eva V. Tor, deputy regional director with the DEP’s Bureau of Air & Waste.

In a January email to the Berkshire Environmental Action Team, Tor said the releases detected by the DEP in October and November, well after the July incident captured on video, were “fugitive emissions” from what she characterized as leaks “that the facility has been attempting to repair.”

The emissions are deemed “fugitive” because all gases resulting from combustion are supposed to be routed through air-pollution equipment, according to people familiar with the process, and up the facility’s stack.

That is required by the plant’s DEP permit, which calls for pollutants to be captured and for gases going up the stack to be monitored in accordance with its permit. As of October, stack emissions were in compliance, Tor said in her January email.

Maintenance work at the plant included repairs to seals and gaps in the incineration system, as well as patches to ducts carrying flue gas.

Outside help

Filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court reviewed by The Eagle show that the company sought permission to hire Deltaway Energy International of California to help it confront emissions problems. Peter M. Kendrigan, the company’s president, said in a letter filed with the court that this firm would help Eco Power resolve issues with the DEP "for the mitigation of smoke."

In her January email to BEAT, Tor said that the plant had made progress in reducing fugitive emissions. The highest emissions were detected in October.

Jane Winn, BEAT’s executive director, said she has not yet obtained findings from the DEP’s air sampling along the company’s fence.

“It’s going into the air. They bloody well should be concerned,” she said, referring to the DEP's decision to test at the edge of the property. “Lead is a problem at any level. If the lead was in the air, it was bound to have fallen on the ground. None of that was supposed to be there.”

In the short term, breathing high levels of cadmium can produce flulike symptoms and damage lungs, an OSHA health warning states.

Inhalation of inorganic arsenic can cause lung cancer and is a skin irritant, according to OSHA. The agency calls lead “a potent, systemic poison.” DEP monitoring Oct. 16 and Nov. 5, 11 and 18 also found releases of mercury, chromium, cobalt, nickel, selenium and manganese.

The state Department of Environmental Protection created this table listing what was found to be in air samples it took in October and November on the roof of a building at Community Eco Power LLC in Pittsfield.

Winn said that tests should be conducted to determine the extent of pollution of the 500 Hubbard Ave. property, ahead of a proposed sale to Casella Waste Management of Massachusetts. “That needs to be addressed before anyone else uses the site,” Winn said, “to see what the levels of contamination are. This site needs to be remediated.”

The DEP is represented in the bankruptcy proceeding by the Attorney General’s Office. That oversight is meant “to ensure that the facility comes into compliance and that fugitive emissions will cease,” according to Tor. She said the DEP will continue to evaluate whether the plant is complying with air quality standards.

As recently reported, Eco Power is seeking bankruptcy court approval to sell the property to Casella for $1 million. The buyer would decommission the waste-to-energy plant and use the site as a transfer station that would ship waste to distant landfills. The plant's permit allows it to burn 84,000 tons of trash a year, which translates to about 240 tons a day. Only about one-fifth of that fuel has come from Eco Power's contract with the city of Pittsfield. The rest is trucked in from other sources.

Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer met late last week with city officials to discuss the pending sale and its impact on how the city disposes of its waste. At the time of the bankruptcy filing, Tyer was told the company was seeking only to restructure its debt, not leave the business.

In 2016, the plant's former owner, Covanta Energy Corp., said it would close in 2017 because of high maintenance costs. The city agreed to steer $562,000 in Pittsfield Economic Development Authority money to the facility for updates, staving off that closing. Covanta sold the plant to Eco Power in 2019.

In August, Pittsfield reached a new three-year agreement with Eco Power, then two months into its bankruptcy proceeding. Tyer said the agreement included a provision requiring Eco Power to give the city one year's notice if its service was to end.

“And now here we are,” Tyer said as a possible shutdown nears, a move that is expected to increase the city's trash-disposal costs. “Facilities of this type are a thing of the past. From an environmental standpoint, this is better in the long run.”

Larry Parnass can be reached at lparnass@berkshireeagle.com and 413-588-8341.

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March 15, 2022

Pittsfield residents don't dare speak out about predictable Pittsfield politics because they would be the victim(s) of RETRIBUTION.  I painfully experienced it many years ago 8 months prior to, during and many years after my father was a Berkshire County Commission (1997 - mid-2000), starting when I was 20 years old in the Spring of 1996. Pittsfield/Berkshires/Massachusetts is a China-like one political party city/state whereby the state and local corrupt career politicians get to rule for decades and sometimes for life in their respective political fiefdoms throughout the Commonwealth.  My brother tells me that it is the case everywhere, but I respond by saying that he is right, but Pittsfield politics has it in SPADES.  Pittsfield politics charges its taxpayers top dollar for Level 5 public schools, violent crime-ridden streets, substandard city services, and "Business as usual".  The Mayor, Linda Tyer, lives in a mansion valued at over $800,000 in a millionaires-only gated community within a few feet of the Hancock border, while the people she serves pound sand because they know that they cannot communicate with her without either losing all of their dignity and kissing her dirty behind or being on her RETRIBUTION list.  Ergo, most people AVOID City Hall like the plague!

Jonathan A. Melle

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March 15, 2022

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

I cannot argue the facts you presented in your ongoing blog postings always criticizing Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington's public record, but you, too, cannot argue the facts about Pittsfield Massachusetts' many years of always being in the top 10 cities for violent crime by population in Massachusetts, according to the yearly reports by the FBI.  Andrea Harrington has been in elected office for 3 years, 2 months, and 15 days so far, but Pittsfield's violent crime-ridden streets have been reported for decades prior to 2019.  Your ongoing criticisms of Andrea Harrington are one-sided, which is something you would point out about any other journalist/blogger.  I believe that you and some of your blog readers/posters dislike her progressive politics and restorative justice approach to law enforcement.  The Berkshire County District Attorney 2022 election will feature lively campaigns and a lot of money, but I doubt that Pittsfield's ranking of being number 45 in the entire U.S.A. for violent crime will improve from 2023 to 2026, no matter who is elected to the seat.  Pittsfield has gone down the tubes.  Upscale art galleries and museums in London, NYC, and L.A. have featured exhibits of large photos of Pittsfield Massachusetts as "A City in Decay".  Pittsfield has failing Level 5 public schools.  Pittsfield is always shafted on many levels by Boston.  Pittsfield politics' Mayor Linda Tyer and her chief bureaucrat Matt Kerwood's secretive municipal financial management with Creative Accounting (Cook the Books) has thousands of local people wanting a forensic audit to protect the city taxpayers from alleged financial fraud.  You may be right, in part, that Andrea Harrington is failing in her job, but she is only one of many Pittsfield area politicians who have failed the people of Pittsfield/Berkshires for generations.  Lastly, given Pittsfield being in the proverbial ditch, does anyone really believe that Andrea Harrington would have been able to lower the city and county's violent crime rate in only a little over 3 years-time?

Best wishes,

Jon Melle

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March 18, 2022

Governor Charlie Baker says that Beacon Hill lawmakers are sitting on Billions of dollars in state government surplus cash and Biden Buck$.  In Pittsfield politics, Mayor Linda Tyer is sitting on tens of millions of dollars in $lu$h Fund$ and Biden Buck$.  YET, YET, YET, Mayor Linda Tyer and 6 rubber stampers on the City Council recently voted to hike the city's water and sewer fees by double digits.  It is NOT even rational anymore!  The WORST is YET, YET, YET, to come: Mayor Linda Tyer's fiscal year 2023 municipal budget proposal in the Spring of 2022, which will cause even more financial pain for the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family!

Jonathan A. Melle

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March 20, 2022

What exactly did Helen Moon do in Pittsfield politics to be honored this Sunday, March 20th, 2022, at 4pm?  She served for 4 years (2018 - 2021) on the Pittsfield City Council representing Ward 1.  She worked for Berkshire D.A. Andrea Harrington, but they had a falling out.  She works as a Nurse for BHS.  She volunteers with local progressive organizations.  Kenny Warren succeeded her as the Ward 1 City Councilor in 2022.  It sounds to me like she is a young woman nearing middle age who is part of the in crowd in state and local politics.  But is being popular with the politically connected career politicians necessarily a good thing?  Not always.

I like it when Citizens defend ALL of the People from career politicians and the corrupt government when the system mostly does DISSERVICES against the public good.  I like it when career politicians will take both praises and criticisms from the people and taxpayers they represent in government instead of blocking political emails like Trippy Country Buffet, Shitty Pigpen and Paul Marxism do to me.  What I like the most is when a Citizen and/or Politicians speaks his or her conscience instead of being a rubber stamp for the powerful and the Almighty Dollar.

I have not always practice what I am writing about in politics because I feel that I need to survive first, and that standing up to career politicians has threatened my survival at times during my life of nearly 47 years (this Summer of 2022).  I wish I could be a political leader with lofty ideals and actions, but I have been, and I am still unable to live up to my ideals in politics and government.  I don't want to be a career politician who only cares about money and power for several decades of my adult life.  I don't want to play that game at the expense of the people and taxpayers who I would have to lie to and do DISSERVICES against so I could enrich myself and my campaign donors at the public trough.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons why Helen Moon stepped down from her post she held for 4 years in Pittsfield politics.  The progressives in Massachusetts want to recognize her time in public life.  Helen Moon may go back into politics in the future for her progressive ideals instead of wanting to feed her ego with status, money and power.  I am not as strong as Helen Moon.  I have ideals, but I also have ambition, which keeps me happy to only be a Citizen who writes and blogs to defend the people and taxpayers.

Jonathan A. Melle

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"Common lacks common sense"

The Berkshire Eagle, Letter, March 19, 2022

To the editor: Pittsfield has lost all common sense.

Bringing back Third Thursdays is great, but clearly not at the Common Park. ("Third Thursday is back, but at a new location — The Common," Eagle, March 16.) There is no way to to offer all that entertainment that stretched the entire length of North Street to South Street in a park. So just pack us all in like sardines amid a pandemic that is clearly not over, just so that we can give one or two bicyclists a right to a bike lane.

We’re sure to lose a lot of the entertainment due to size alone — no room to space it out or for the people. Good job, Pittsfield, for another one of your no-common-sense ideas, turning us into a can of sardines.

Pam Gavin, Pittsfield

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March 22, 2022

My theory about Pittsfield politics 35-yearlong race to the bottom with no bottom is that City Hall wants all of the teen pregnancies/welfare caseloads and social services agencies and non-profits and Level 5 public schools and "Kapanski Ka$h" tax dollars it can get its greedy hands on from the federal, state (administered), and local taxpayers.  I call my Pittsfield politics theory, "Perverse Incentives", which makes the state and local one political (Dem.) party's vested interest groups money, while leaving the people and taxpayers in the proverbial ditch.  To illustrate, when I - Jon Melle (I turn 47 this Summer of 2022) - lived in Pittsfield as a young man two decades ago, I felt that I had better odds at winning the state lottery jackpot than finding a full-time living wage job there.  Those were horrible odds!  My odds of winning the state lottery jackpot were slim, while my odds of finding a living wage job there were none.  Meanwhile, the career politicians and their backers whom I mostly despised all enriched themselves at the public trough, while I - Jon Melle - pounded sand.

I believe that the Ruling Elites from Boston to Pittsfield mockingly laugh at the common people and taxpayers who live in distressed rust belt cities such as Pittsfield because the corrupt career politicians get to use their regressive taxation schemes, such as the state lottery and high per capita municipal property taxes and fees, on the powerless and unknowing residents to give the people and taxpayers who live there substandard public services, Level 5 public schools, the nearly 24-year-old polluted PEDA debacle with millions of dollars in growing debts/liabilities, countless potholes on crumbling roads, violent crime three times higher than the state and national average, political corruption, and severe economic inequality with Mayor Linda Tyer living in a mansion valued at over $800,000 where she parks her Lexus luxury car at night in Pittsfield's elitist millionaires-only Gated Community that is only a few feet from the Hancock border.

Lastly, I am happy to read that Michael Lavery of Becket will be running against 20-year Beacon Hill corrupt career politician State Representative Smitty Pignatelli of Lenox, as well as Paula Kingsbury-Evans of North Adams will be running against the nearly 40-year career politician State Representative John Barrett III of North Adams.  I hope that a would-be candidate from Pittsfield will run against "the do nothing for one-decade political hack" State Representative Tricia Farley Bouvier of Pittsfield, as well as a Berkshire County area would-be candidate - NOT Nuciforo! - will run for State Senator against Paul Mark of Peru.  I pity the would-be candidate who opposes PAC Man Richie Neal, who has been in the Swamp for 34 years, after the homophobic smear campaign that the mean-spirited Boston-based state Democratic Party used to defeat Alex Morse in 2020.

Jonathan A. Melle

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March 24, 2022

Why on Earth would Pittsfield politics' School Committee increase its district budget by over 7.5% when Pittsfield public schools are rated among the worst performing public school districts in the state by Boston at Level 5?  Pittsfield politics municipal and school district keeps increasing local taxes by 5% or higher each and every fiscal year, and in return the people and taxpayers receive substandard public services from City Hall.  It would be like me charging you for gold but selling you fool's gold instead.  It would be like me charging you over $800,000 for Mayor Linda Tyer's mansion in her elitist Gated Community but selling you a room at the Pittsfield YMCA.  Pittsfield politics is nothing more than a bunch of disreputable used car salesmen charging consumers top dollar for lemons.  Pittsfield politics is the biggest scam out there short of outright theft.  Who the Hell do Mayor Linda Tyer, Peter Marchetti, Bill Cameron, and company think they are by always pulling this shit on the people and taxpayers who live in Pittsfield?  If I am a public entity, business, and so on, and I take your money, then I better be honest and give you a good and/or service deserving of your money, or else I am nothing more than a career politician or the someone similar to a career politician screwing you over to feather my own nest egg.  I hope that there is a horrible place in Hell for career politicians and other scam artists!

Jonathan A. Melle

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March 31, 2022

Pittsfield politics is foul on many levels, including GE's PCBs pollution and ongoing public health crisis, Level 5 public schools, excessively high local taxes, fees, debts/liabilities, slush funds, Biden Buck$, and creative accounting (cook the books) schemes, violent crime, and so on.  But now I read that Great Barrington is as foul as Pittsfield politics.  Peter Most's published letter states that G.B.'s Housatonic's water is contaminated without direct proper disclosures to local residents of Flag Rock Village, and over the past five years, Flag Rock Village has faced serious allegations concerning residents’ mold-related health issues.  Moreover, Great Barrington honors its native son and registered Communist W.E.B. DuBois, who openly praised two Communist Dictators who killed many millions more innocent people and Peoples than Hitler - I am not minimizing Hitler's atrocities, including in the tragic Holocaust.  Just because W.E.B. DuBois was a famous black man does not make him worthy of Great Barrington honoring him.  Human Rights and Civil Rights are for ALL people and Peoples, not just the black people and Peoples who W.E.B. DuBois advocated for.  But I guess it is only fair to say that we honor our white Founding Fathers who mostly owned Slaves and stood for other WRONGS in their historic time.  History is very difficult to reconcile with our democratic ideals.  While we should not and cannot revise/change the past, we can do something about the here and now, Pittsfield politics and Great Barrington, but nothing is ever done except "Business as usual".

Jonathan Melle

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Letter: "Something is rotten in Housatonic"

The Berkshire Eagle, March 31, 2022

To the editor: As an observer of local news and with apologies to Charles Dickens, Great Barrington is a "Tale of Two Cities."

There is the best of water, and there is the worst of water. In January, the Department of Environmental Protection determined that Housatonic Water Works delivered water exceeding maximum contaminant level. In March, DEP sent HWW a notice of noncompliance for, among other things, failing to provide the public with notice of the MCL violation.

It isn’t only the water that is foul. A petition to Gov. Charlie Baker currently being circulated reports “a disastrous public health crisis” and states that “nearly 50 percent of every dollar goes into the pocket of the two private owners” of HWW, one of whom is Jim Mercer and the other owner being Housatonic resident Fred Mercer who I am told, interestingly, has a well on his property. I cannot attest to the accuracy of the petition, but having seen pictures of HWW water, there is plainly something quite rotten in Housatonic.

Mr. Mercer also chairs the Great Barrington Housing Authority. Not only did HWW fail to provide notice as legally required to HWW ratepayers. Under Mr. Mercer’s leadership, GBHA did not provide direct notice of noncompliant water to the residents of Housatonic’s Flag Rock Village. Massachusetts law requires notice to ratepayers, and decency requires GBHA directly notify its residents.

Now we come to today, in what should be the final straw for Mr. Mercer as chair of GBHA. In the second lawsuit brought against GBHA concerning Flag Rock Village in the last five years, there are very serious allegations concerning residents’ mold-related health issues. ("Mold issues continue to plague Housatonic's Flag Rock Village housing complex," Eagle, March 27.) GBHA has been nothing but persistent in failing to resolve issues at Flag Rock Village, just as HWW has been persistent in its failure to resolve issues plaguing Housatonic water.

Although the Select Board cannot sever Mr. Mercer from his ownership of HWW, the Select Board is authorized by Massachusetts General Law Chapter 121B Section 6 to sever Mr. Mercer from his position overseeing GBHA. Knowing that the Select Board time and again has shown great concern for public health, one must ask, is there anything more the Select Board needs to know to exercise this authority? I am asking for the 725 or so Housatonic residents and all of the residents of Flag Rock Village.

Peter J. Most, Great Barrington

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April 5, 2022

Pittsfield politics' Ward 2 Charles Ivar Kronick makes valid points based in facts.  The economically distressed area of Pittsfield that he represents in City Hall has the poorest neighborhoods in the city.  It has the worst violent crime rate in the city.  It has the largest welfare and disability caseloads in the city.  It has the most deferred maintenance in Pittsfield, and so on.  Meanwhile, a majority of Pittsfield politicians live in middle or upper-class areas in Pittsfield and beyond, such as Chrome Dome Adam Hinds living in a $690,000 home in Amherst, Mass., Linda Tyer living in an over $800,000 mansion in Pittsfield's only Gated Community within a few feet of the Hancock border, Jimmy Ruberto living in wealthy Naples Florida and Summering in upper class Lenox, PAC Man Richie Neal living off of K Street's corporate lobbyist firms' largesse, Ed Markey living in Chevy Chase Maryland, and so on.  The point I am making is that a majority of the Ruling Elites are totally disconnected from the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski of Pittsfield.  What is worse is that I believe that Beacon Hill's systemic underfunding of state aid to Pittsfield and its myriad of regressive taxation schemes such as the state lottery leads me to think that the corrupt career politicians are really laughing at and mocking the financially illiterate and uneducated people and taxpayers of cities such as Pittsfield with its Level 5 public schools.  When Trippy Country Buffet and Chrome Dome recently proclaimed their open support for the biggest single tax increase - the so-called Fair Share Amendment surtax on Massachusetts millionaires - in the over 400-year history of Massachusetts, most people/taxpayers don't realize that Beacon Hill's public record does not support the disingenuous politically-motivated progressive taxation referendum, as Beacon Hill gives away $17.8 billion per fiscal year in state tax breaks to their politically connected big businesses, along with all of Massachusetts' multibillion dollar per year regressive taxation schemes.

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Ward 2 deserves much better from PIttsfield Road Work Program"

The Berkshire Eagle, April 7, 2022

To the editor: I recently met with five unhappy Pittsfield residents who demand to know when the city will restore their road that no longer can handle plows, directs water 10 feet onto their properties and is wrecking their vehicles.

These residents have been assured for three years and counting by the mayor’s office that their street is on the repair list for the last three years. This story is not unique for Ward 2. I write on behalf of the residents of Ward 2 to object to the 2022 Roadwork Program. ("Pittsfield: City releases spring paving list," Eagle, March 25.) In February, each city councilor was solicited by the Department of Public Works to submit seven roads each for repaving. My list included Morningside and Precinct 2B neighborhoods. Further, I met with Commissioner Ricardo Morales in February, and he specifically identified roads in Ward 2 that would be repaved, of which several matched my request.

I greet with surprise, therefore, that Ward 2 receives a scant 3 percent of the city’s proposed Chapter 90-funded resurfacing. The median allotment is 13 percent. This median percentage is the middle share and is close to what most wards received. Wards 1 and 7 receive approximately 11 percent; Wards 3, 4 and 6 each get roughly 15 percent; and Ward 5 receives 30 percent. So, what relief shall Ward 2 residents expect for their neighborhood streets? Nothing. Smith Street is 140 feet and connects Burbank to Tyler. I bet you didn’t even know it exists. It is a minor road barely used with no homes, and it needs no repair. The Woodlawn section runs along the GE wasteland ending at Tyler. The East Street section from Fourth Street to Park Square services countywide traffic. There’s not one dime to be found for our neighborhoods.

Is this how the mayor’s office conducts business with her constituents: broken promises and empty assurances? For Morningside and those economically disadvantaged residents, she first levies an unnecessary hike on water and sewer and now this? I submit to Pittsfield at large: Ward 2 deserves its fair portion of the tax-driven services, and no one in this city should tolerate a spending plan that gives even the appearance of mistreatment.

I made my argument to you, and I call upon the at-large councilors and the mayor to intervene and correct the 2022 Roadwork Program.

Charles Kronick, Pittsfield

The writer represents Ward 2 on the Pittsfield City Council.

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Letter: "It's a shame Lantern is going out"

The Berkshire Eagle, April 6, 2022

To the editor: We were saddened to hear about the imminent closing of the Lantern Restaurant ("The Lantern in Pittsfield is closing at the end of April," Eagle, April 4.)

We were more saddened when the city of Pittsfield imposed excruciating requirements on the "Old Lantern" when owned by the Pappas Family. These mandates forced the sale of the restaurant rather than complying with them. Compliance would have jacked their overhead through the roof, making them unattractive price-wise.

The Pappas family ran the Lantern safely for many, many years without a hint of danger. The flame-broiled burgers and delicious salads were spectacular. It was hard to walk or drive by the "Old Lantern" without being drawn inside by the "magnetic exhaust" floating in the air at the corner of Linden and North. Going forward, we hope that the city can work with restaurants like the "Old Lantern" without forcing them to shut down. We lost a jewel back then, and we don't need to lose any more.

Geoff and Linda Diehl, Pittsfield

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April 12, 2022

I will be interested to read your (Charles Ivar Kronick's) thoughts after Mayor Linda Tyer proposes the fiscal year 2023 municipal operating budget later this Spring.  The public school district is asking for a 7.5% increase in spending.  The thing that gets me is that the Linda Tyer administration is sitting on tens of millions of dollars in city cash, while Beacon Hill is sitting on billions of dollars in state cash.  Like Linda, Beacon Hill lawmakers will present their fiscal year 2023 state budget proposal(s) later this Spring of 2022.  With all of the surplus state and local cash, why are the career politicians from Pittsfield to Boston raising taxes, fees, debts/other liabilities, such as the double-digit retroactive water and sewer fees on Pittsfield's residents and small businesses?  The other thing that gets me is that Pittsfield charges taxpayers top dollar for Level 5 public schools, dangerous downtown streets with violent crime, the nearly 24-year-old PEDA debacle with millions of dollars in growing liabilities, poorly maintained roads, and so on. Lastly, Mayor Linda Tyer's unequal distribution of the state's Chapter 90 funds for city roads will make matters worse for drivers hitting potholes in Pittsfield.

Jonathan A. Melle

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April 12, 2022

Pittsfield politics FACTS:

* Pittsfield is always in the top 10 cities for violent crime by population in Massachusetts every year, according to the FBI, which doesn't attract small business investment

* Pittsfield's failing Level 5 public schools are the WORST in the state, which doesn't attract middle class families

* Polluted PEDA will turn 24-years-old this Summer of 2022 and the debacle has millions of dollars in always increasing debts/liabilities, which doesn't attract Fortune 500 companies - even Wal Mart

* Pittsfield taxpayers pay record high municipal taxes and fees for substandard public services and failing public schools - what a rip-off! No wonder why Pittsfield has lost thousands of people to population loss, as well as thousands of living wage jobs, over the past 50 years.

* Mayor Linda Tyer is sitting on tens of millions of dollars in city cash from her Biden Bucks and Kufflink's Slush Funds, but she is still raising municipal taxes and fees to record high levels, which Ward 2 City Councilor Charles Ivar Kronick pointed out in his letter about the Mayor shafting his mostly poor, inner-city, post industrial, distressed Ward out of its equitable share of the state's Chapter 90 road funding

* Mostly middle class and wealthy Ward 4 decides the outcome of every citywide state and local election, which means the other 6 Ward don't really matter to City Hall's powerbrokers, especially on election day

* Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer lives in a mansion valued at over $800,000 in an elitist Gated Community within a few feet from the Hancock border, and she takes her marching orders from Pittsfield's failed former Mayor also known as Godfather Jimmy Ruberto who lives in wealthy Naples Florida, which is totally disconnected from Pittsfield's distressed economy

* Pittsfield State Representative Trippy Country Buffet has been in Boston for a little over one decade now, and she has accomplished nothing there since the Autumn of 2011

* Pittsfield's lame duck State Senator Chrome Dome Adam Hinds lives in a $690,000 home in Amherst, Massachusetts which is represented by State Senator Jo Comerford

* PAC Man Richie Neal only represents wealthy K Street corporate lobbyist firms in Washington, D.C., Ed Markey lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and Elizabeth Warren hasn't yet delivered for Main Street (and she never will)

Jon Melle

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April 20, 2022

Hello, Honorable Mayor Linda Tyer,

New Hampshire's largest city by population is Manchester, where I lived in for 4 years of my adult life from early-2005 to early-2009, and I still visit Manchester when I go to the VA Medical Center there.  Manchester has a 24/7 mental health crisis de-escalation and support service called the Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT).  It is modeled after the Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets (CAHOOTS) in Oregon.  CAHOOTS workers are deployed by the city’s dispatch center when an individual reporting a mental health crisis contacts 911.  I copied and pasted the letter to the Editor of the New Hampshire Union Leader that addresses Manchester's MCRT and Oregon's CAHOOTS programs.  I hope that this information will assist your municipal administration's police reforms efforts after the PPD's deadly use of force shooting of a mentally ill young man who experiencing an emergency crisis.

Best wishes,

Jon Melle

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Letter: "Manchester must revisit its crisis response team"

The New Hampshire Union Leader, April 20, 2022

To the Editor: Manchester’s Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT) was established in 2017 as a 24/7 mental health crisis de-escalation and support service. In its first four years of operation, the MCRT fielded more than 25,000 calls in greater Manchester. Despite its successes, the MCRT’s lack of integration within the city’s emergency response network, narrow purview, and temporary funding status limit its ability to best serve the community.

To solidify its important role, we must revamp MCRT to closely resemble the program upon which it was modeled: Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets (CAHOOTS) in Oregon. Three ways to do so are:

Integration: CAHOOTS workers are deployed by the city’s dispatch center when an individual reporting a mental health crisis contacts 911. By integrating the MCRT into Manchester’s emergency response network, these professionals can support Manchester police officers more effectively.

Purview: CAHOOTS workers support law enforcement on a broader range of non-violent situations, including drug- and alcohol-related incidents in addition to mental health crises. The MCRT’s purview should be similarly expanded to best leverage the expertise of its service members.

Funding: MCRT is funded through a state grant set to expire, while CAHOOTS is funded by the city of Eugene. By funding MCRT at the local level, this program can perform its important role in Manchester for years to come.

With a reliable funding schedule, expanded purview, and permanent role in the city’s crisis response network, the MCRT will be best positioned to serve the greater Manchester community.

Nathan Pucci

Hanover, New Hampshire

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Letter: "Pittsfield PD should have dashboard and body cameras"

The Berkshire Eagle, April 26, 2022

To the editor: I have put together a petition to have the Pittsfield Police equipped with body cameras and car dashboard cameras, which they currently do not use.

The petition has 105 signatures. The signatures were gathered at a “Justice for Miguel” demonstration in Pittsfield. ("Family, friends and supporters march and rally for Miguel Estrella in Pittsfield. They want answers and reform after his fatal shooting by Pittsfield police," Eagle, April 10.)

Video footage assists in the preservation of the truth. It neither favors the citizen interacting with the police nor the police officers themselves — it neutrally captures what actually occurred.

It is expected that the item will be placed on the Pittsfield City Council agenda for April 26 at 6 p.m. Those members of the public who wish to speak must arrive before 6 and sign in at the podium in the front, or they might not be able to speak. We will have a gathering at 5:30 p.m. in front of City Hall beforehand before going up to speak. Proponents of body cameras and dashboard cameras for police officers are expected to attend.

Unlike what we constantly see in the media across the nation, the shootings of Pittsfield citizens Miguel Estrella and Daniel Gillis were not caught on body cameras. Pittsfield Police have neither body cameras nor dashboard cameras. There is only a distant video footage of the shooting of Mr. Gillis and none of Mr. Estrella. This is not acceptable. Police body cameras can both inculpate and exculpate police officers — its beauty is that it preserves the truth when there are competing accounts of a shooting. It only aids the citizen or the police officer if truth is on their side.

If we as a society will be using deadly force upon our citizens with mental health issues, the least we can do is to record the incident so that there is a complete, accurate record of what has occurred.

Justice Brandeis said “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” He was spot on.

Rinaldo Del Gallo III, Pittsfield

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April 28, 2022

Police should NOT be shooting and killing people in distress with mental illness.  The PPD's report was a CYA document to shield the city government from insurance claims and lawsuits.  Mayor Linda Tyer and the Pittsfield City Council did not include police dash and/or body cameras in their forthcoming fiscal year 2023 municipal operating budget proposal.  The same reason as above, to CYA and shield the city from insurance claims and lawsuits.  Please learn to think financially, the fictional/proverbial Mary Jane & Joe Kapanski!

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Wahconah grandstand issues should have been dealt with earlier"

The Berkshire Eagle, April 29, 2022

To the editor: I find the management of Pittsfield's resources totally inept.

How could the leaders of the city not know before this past weekend that one of our tourist draws and historic places is in disrepair? ("The Wahconah Park grandstand is structurally unsafe and will be closed for the 2022 season," Eagle, April 20.) 

Here we are coming into the sports and tourist season, and now the leadership says: Oops, sorry, the grandstand is too dangerous and closed for the season.

I say clean house and get responsible leadership that values our past while also securing our future.

Gary Strout, Lenox

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April 29, 2022

The PPD report was a CYA document to shield the city from insurance claims/liabilities, as well as from lawsuits for the deadly use of force police shooting of a young man with mental illness in distress.  The PPD only interviewed themselves with no other documentation.  Please read this news article:

Coalition for 'just' investment in Pittsfield criticizes police shooting report | WBUR News

Jonathan A. Melle

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"Pittsfield councilors echo call for DA's independent report on police shooting of Miguel Estrella. 'We need a hard look,' one says"

By Amanda Burke, The Berkshire Eagle, April 30, 2022

PITTSFIELD — "We need a hard look," one councilor said. "There is no excuse for the senseless killing of an innocent man," added another.

In the wake of an internal report into the March 25 fatal police shooting of Miguel Estrella, Pittsfield city councilors are speaking out. Like Estrella's family and friends, they too await the findings of the Berkshire District Attorney's office, which is conducting a criminal probe. 

When asked for their views by The Eagle, several councilors called for more discussion about implementing use of body-worn cameras by police, as well as bolstering mental health services in the city. 

Calling Estrella's death incredibly tragic, Ward 3 Councilor Kevin Sherman said his "heart breaks for [Estrella's] family, friends, and co-workers who love and care for him."

"As a community, we’ll need to recognize the factors that went into this tragedy as well as others. What appears evident is that our mental health services are not to scale given the amount of diagnosis and addictions in Pittsfield and Berkshire County," Sherman said in an email. "This needs to be addressed on a local, state, and federal level. We need a hard look at our socio-economic impact on these mental conditions and how to support all community members proactively."

Sherman called for discussion about the "value" and "challenges" of body-worn cameras for Pittsfield police officers.

Family of Estrella attended last week's City Council meeting, when a citizen's petition calling for body-worn cameras was delivered. Corey Johnson took direct aim at the council during the April 26 public comment period. 

“This City Council has been behaving like a filthy rich, wine drunk parent funding a negligent, seemingly incompetent bully which is the Pittsfield Police Department,” Johnson said. 

Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren said that as a councilor, he has nothing to do with sorting through what actually happened that night, but he can "initiate and participate in potential solutions" to the many issues raised by the fatal police shooting. 

Pittsfield police released a four-page preliminary report the day after that City Council meeting. The report concluded that Officer Nicholas Sondrini complied "with all relevant department policies, training guidelines, statutory requirements, and use of force guidelines" when he shot Estrella, whom police said was perceived as a "deadly threat" as he came at an officer “at a fast pace” with a raised knife.

Sondrini fired twice into Estrella’s chest after police say efforts to stop him with less-lethal means failed, and after the officers backed 120 feet away from Estrella, into Onota Street traffic.

Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey said Estrella's death, as a result of officers following established protocols, shows that those protocols need changing. 

"Even if they were in compliance, there is no excuse for the senseless killing of an innocent man," Kavey said. "I look forward to hearing from our Chief during our budget hearings on how his department will be updating said policies, so nothing like this happens in our community ever again. I also look forward to hearing how they will update their training guidelines to ensure that their officers are properly equipped to de-escalate a situation without the use of extreme force." 

The police department's preliminary report said Estrella did not meet the criteria of a “person in crisis” during the first of two calls to his Onota Street apartment building the evening of March 25. The department did not believe it had grounds to seek an involuntary commitment of Estrella after the initial 911 call for help.

The day after the fatal shooting, the Berkshire District Attorney's office said that 911 callers had "alerted dispatch that Estrella had a history of mental illness, was cutting himself and was currently located outside of the apartment building" on Onota Street. Police said in the force report released this week that Estrella was not "engaging in any self-harming behavior" when officers responded to the initial call for help, and that an injury he had was sustained earlier in the day. 

Kavey and At-Large Councilor Earl Persip III called for more mental health professions to be on hand to respond to mental health calls, either within the police department, or potentially housed within a newly created department.

A co-responder had ended a work shift just minutes before the first of two police responses to Estrella's address. Chief Michael Wynn has said that given the circumstances of the second call, it is uncertain whether a mental health co-responder could have arrived in time to help.

Still, Persip said the council may need to act to ensure help is available.

"We hold the purse strings," he said, calling for there to be a mental health professional available to respond 24/7. 

Persip said he wanted to wait for the DA's office to complete its "independent" investigation before commenting on the shooting itself, saying he did not know whether the details contained in this week's force report were accurate. He noted that the report represents the police department investigating itself.

"I think it's important for us to move forward and concentrate on getting people the help they actually need when they have mental illness or a mental episode," Persip said. 

At-Large Councilor Pete White said more "community input" on police body-worn and dash cameras is needed. More resources ought to be committed, he said, to local mental health agencies that receive state funding to work in the area of crisis intervention. 

"I feel sorry for everyone involved," he said in an email. "I offered my condolences to Miguel Estrella’s loved ones after our council meeting Tuesday night. I want to see the report from the District Attorney’s Office when it is finished. We need respectful community discussions to move forward."

Sherman, the Ward 3 councilor, said steps need to be taken to to protect citizens as well as public safety officers. "To prevent all parties from being in this situation to begin with," he said.  

"It’s a sobering tragedy on all levels that no one woke up on March 25 expecting or planning," he added. "We owe it to all involved to work together to find answers as one community."

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Letter: "Pittsfield can look to other cities to improve crisis response policies"

The Berkshire Eagle, May 7, 2022

To the editor: The NAACP Berkshire County Branch believes that change cannot wait.

Our communities of color continue to experience trauma as a result of law enforcement officers' actions and the inaction of our elected leaders. Pittsfield lacks in adequate, appropriate, racially and culturally responsive mental health services. And elected officials and providers have stated they recognize these gaps in care.

Currently, access to crisis counseling and response is limited to an unknown crisis 800 number or the overutilized emergency room at Berkshire Medical Center. It is irresponsible and dangerous to allow these circumstances to persist. Pittsfield, its City Council, state delegation and mayor [Linda Tyer] have relied solely on the Pittsfield Police Department as the only answer to crisis response and public safety. But they don’t need to be.

There are many alternative-to-LEO organizations responding to nonviolent emergency calls every day in this country. One of the best examples is in Eugene, Ore., with CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets). They are a mobile crisis intervention program staffed by White Bird Clinic personnel using Eugene city vehicles. CAHOOTS provides support for Eugene Police Department personnel by taking on many of the social service-type calls for service, including crisis counseling. Personnel often provide initial contact and transport for people who are intoxicated, mentally ill or disoriented, as well as transport for necessary nonemergency medical care. The CAHOOTS have been providing service for more than 30 years.

Even closer to home, municipalities like Boston and Lynn and our neighbors in Northampton and Amherst are heeding the call for equity by recently establishing independent, alternative-to-LEO response units and new city departments. Mobile crisis response teams serve our neighbors. Our current co-responder program in Pittsfield does not.

The NAACP Berkshire County Branch asks that the elected officials of Pittsfield, including the City Council, state delegation and mayor: 1. Support the ACES bill (H.2519). 2. Ensure any state funding earmarked for crisis response in Pittsfield is devoted to an independent (from the Pittsfield Police Department), peer- and practitioner-led  mobile crisis unit. 3. Commit to a process of assessing current PPD functions, undertaken by those with lived experience that are representative of the diversity of Pittsfield; that said advisory commission will be tasked with researching nonviolent crisis response best practices and models; and authorized to recommend for adoption a new city department appropriate to the circumstances of Pittsfield.

Dennis Powell, Pittsfield

The writer is president of the NAACP Berkshire County Branch.

related link: https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2019/09/portland-aims-to-dispatch-better-first-responders-for-homelessness-calls.html 

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May 9, 2022

Re: Mayor Linda Tyer's public testimony in Boston belies her actions in Pittsfield politics

Mayor Linda Tyer's highlighted testimony at the Boston State House today (Monday, May 9th, 2022, as reported by Matthew Medsger in the Boston Herald): Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer said her city [Pittsfield] has shovel ready projects just waiting for the money to move along. [Please tell us what the shovel ready projects are, Mayor Linda Tyer].  “The FORWARD act has the potential to transform my city and all of your communities, please pass the FORWARD act,” she said. [Please tell us how the FORWARD act will transform distressed Pittsfield into anything other than the nightmare Pittsfield has become in 2022, Mayor Linda Tyer].  The bill sets aside $750 million for clean energy projects, $970 million downtown revitalization, sends $300 million to the unemployment fund, and $270 million in affordable housing affiliated programs and grants.

My thoughts on Mayor Linda Tyer's testimony to state lawmakers are that she herself is not allowing any public input and oversight from Pittsfield residents with her municipal administration's secretive spending of her administration's over $41 million in "Biden Bucks", yet she is providing her own testimony to the corrupt career state lawmakers in Boston to spend $2.3 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act.  What a double standard!

Why doesn't Mayor Linda Tyer ever practice what she preaches in Pittsfield politics and beyond?  Her failed public record includes Pittsfield's Level 5 public school district, Pittsfield always being in the top 10 cities by population in Massachusetts for violent crime each and every year, municipal budgets with the second highest commercial tax rate in the state, recurring record high municipal taxes, fees, debts and other liabilities, the mostly vacant and totally polluted almost 24-year-old PEDA debacle with millions of dollars in always growing financial debts and other liabilities, her administration sitting on tens of millions of dollars in "Biden Bucks" plus Matt Kerwood's excessive multimillion dollar slush funds, her reputation as being inaccessible to the people who live in Pittsfield, her and her multimillionaire CPA third husband Barry Clairmont living in a mansion in an elitist Gated Community within a few feet of the Hancock border in a distressed city with severe economic inequality, and so on.

Also, Beacon Hill should NOT still be sitting on billions of dollars in state surplus cash plus billions of dollars in "Biden Bucks".  Both Mayor Linda Tyer and state lawmakers should have had their respective 5-year "Biden Bucks" spending plans in place nearly one year ago.  But instead of using the huge sums of public dollars in an open and transparent way, both Pittsfield politics and Boston politics allows all of the public dollars to still sit around do little to nothing so that they can promise to put wings on pigs so that they can fly instead of using the public dollars to invest in the people, families and communities who need the public dollars the most.

Jonathan A. Melle

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May 10, 2022

Sarcasm: I thought Pittsfield's distressed downtown rivaled Paris, France, London, U.K., NYC, and L.A.  I didn't know that downtown Pittsfield's former business district of the long ago 1950s & 1960s post-WW2 era is really part of Gregory Crewdson's large photos in his art exhibits in London, NYC & L.A. called: "Pittsfield: A City in Decay".  Postindustrial Pittsfield's politicians have been and are still full of more HOT AIR than the corrupt career politicians in the Swamp touting their MAGA crap and Green New Deal nonsense.  If it possible for Matt Kerwood to harness all of the HOT AIR, he would be able to more efficiently burn a hole in the fictional/proverbial Mary Jane & Joe Kapanski's purse strings.  How about that Rolodex, Jimmy Ruberto?  How about that Vibrant and Dynamic tagline, Linda Tyer?  If Pittsfield politics is a metaphor of our country's future, then we are all screwed.  In closing, Beacon Hill lawmakers should commission a Pittsfield scratch ticket to symbolize the plight of state and local politics in Massachusetts.

Jonathan A. Melle

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May 10, 2022

Hello Patrick Fennell,

I hope that the corrupt career politicians who ran Pittsfield into the proverbial ditch will all have their proverbial photos on display in the would-be Pittsfield politics Hall of Shame.  PITTSFIELD: Level 5 public schools, always being in the top 10 cities by population for violent crime in Massachusetts each and every year going back decades, North Street sarcastically called "Social Services Alley" and the distressed inner-city neighborhoods that surround North Street are sarcastically called "The Ring of Poverty", teen pregnancies doubling the statewide average and high welfare and disability caseloads, PPD shooting to death young men with histories of severe mental illness while justifying their deadly uses of force by interviewing only themselves with no other evidence such as 911 calls and/or witness statements to CYA against insurance claims/liabilities and lawsuits, severe economic inequality due to little to no living wage jobs, multigenerational interrelated Good Old Boys (& Girls)'s incestuous-like families running the provincial show through insider politics that dishes out retribution against anyone who stands up to them, GE's con pseudo so-called cleanup of their industrial chemical toxic waste pollution through useless caps and leaky landfills, the PEDA debacle that will be 24 years old this Summer of 2022 with its millions of dollars in ever growing debts and other liabilities, Matt Kerwood's Creative Accounting schemes and record high municipal spending in return for substandard public services, Mayor Linda Tyer sitting on tens of millions of Biden Bucks and Kufflink's excessive Slush Funds while shutting out the public from input and oversight of her city cash, Nuciforo's pot growing buildings on Dalton Avenue stinking up abutting neighborhoods with skunk-like odor smells with no help from Mayor Linda Tyer while she happily takes their hard-earned tax dollars, Trippy Country Buffet doing nothing in Boston for a little over one decade, Chrome Dome Adam Hinds leaving Pittsfield for Amherst (MA) after marrying a wealthy woman who is a professor at the prestigious Amherst College, which is a sister school to the prestigious Williams College, PAC Man Richie Neal only representing K Street corporate lobbyist firms, which bragged about their record earnings in the Swamp in 2021, Governor Charlie Baker never apologizing to the families of dozens upon dozens of Veterans who were killed by Covid-19 and systemic failed state government management in the Holyoke and Chelsea Soldiers Homes because he has no decency, and the list goes on and on.  I hope that Pittsfield will never happen again, but Pittsfield's downward spiral has no bottom so Pittsfield will probably go from bad to worse over the 2020s' decade.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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May 12, 2022

Hello Patrick Fennell,

Federal formula-based aid is administered by the state government.  The excessively expensive state government levies state taxes to complement federal aid to fund the fiscal year state budget.  Mayor Linda Tyer's municipal administration receives state administered federal/state aid to fund parts of the municipal services and the public school district fiscal year budget in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.  The largest piece of state administered federal aid that Mayor Linda Tyer's administration receives is for the Pittsfield public school district.  In a perfect world free of corrupt career politicians in the Swamp and Boston, Mayor Linda Tyer's administration would receive fully funded state administered federal/state aid.  The problem Mayor Linda Tyer faces is that the Swamp doesn't fully fund its federal aid to the state government, compounded by the state government in Boston not using the federal and state aid to fully fund her administration's municipal services and public school district.  The Swamp puts a majority of its discretionary federal budget to fund the Pentagon, which made Speaker Nancy Pelosi's stock portfolio worth an estimated $1 billion.  K Street corporate lobbyist firms recorded record earnings in 2021.  Wall Street recently hit record stock indices numbers.  The Ruling Elite in the Swamp are all fabulously wealthy by legally enriching themselves at the public trough.  On Beacon Hill, the corrupt career politicians give away a little less than $18 billion in state tax breaks each and every fiscal year to the Boston area big businesses who donate to the state lawmakers' respective campaign coffers; the fiscal year 2023 state budget is estimated at $50 billion, which means that an estimated 35.5-percent of the state budget goes towards special interest state tax breaks to Boston area big businesses.  The problem for mostly rural Western Massachusetts and other regions of the Commonwealth and beyond is that Wall Street, K Street, the Pentagon, Boston area big businesses, and so on, have nothing to do with the people and taxpayers who live there.  Joe Biden took in more Wall Street and K Street campaign contributions than anyone running for elected office in 2020.  Elizabeth Warren happily supported Biden, despite her disingenuous claims that she is fighting for Main Street.  Ed Markey lives in the wealthy Swamp suburb of Chevy Chase, Maryland, where he spews his HOT AIR about the Democrat's Green New Deal nonsense.  PAC Man Richie Neal takes in millions of dollars per year from K Street corporate lobbyist firms.  Chrome Dome Adam Hinds left Pittsfield after he married a wealthy woman who lives in Amherst (MA) where she is a college professor at Amherst College.  Trippy Country Buffet sent her children to the Lenox Public School District, while she represents Pittsfield by doing nothing for a little over one decade in Boston.  Nuciforo had to step down from the Massachusetts State Senate in 2006 for his alleged illegal double dipping with Boston area big banks and insurance companies while he chaired the State Senate Finance Committee back then, which was reported by The Boston Globe in early-2007.  Nuciforo then used his political connections to start his multimillion-dollar marijuana business empire a little over 5 years ago in March of 2017, which the Boston Globe wrote news articles and editorials about.  Nuciforo never had any problem using his political connections in Pittsfield and Boston to allegedly illegally double dip and then co-found Berkshire Roots, which is the largest marijuana growing business in Western Massachusetts with a dispensary on Dalton Avenue in Pittsfield and a second dispensary in East Boston.  These are the corrupt career politicians in Pittsfield to Boston who Mayor Linda Tyer has to deal with to run Pittsfield politics; none of them care about Pittsfield.  Mayor Linda Tyer is currently leading 47 Massachusetts Mayors to advocate for Boston to equitably fund and distribute state administered federal/state aid to municipalities and public-school districts instead of Boston always playing their corrupt financial shell games.  I honestly believe that Mayor Linda Tyer understands public management and financial policy, and that she is nobody's fool when it comes to running a municipality.  Also, I believe that the Swamp and Beacon Hill are mocking elected officials such as Mayor Linda Tyer, who knows what is going on while others remain ignorantly unaware, with their institutional political corruption and corrupt financial shell games that systemically underfund the City of Pittsfield and its Level 5 public school district.  I was impressed by Mayor Linda Tyer when she openly called out Governor Charlie Baker for lowballing state aid.  Lastly, with the state lottery bragging about its record earnings at the end of fiscal year 2021 (June 30, 2021), the billion-dollar marijuana industry, casino gambling taking off, excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco, and so on, I believe that Beacon Hill is laughing at the poorly educated, financial illiterate, addicted, unaware people and taxpayers who are (voluntarily) paying regressive state taxes without understanding what is going on in state government so that all of the corrupt and greedy elites in Boston can further enrich themselves at the public trough while doing DISSERVICES to the people and taxpayers who live in Massachusetts.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Brien Center's crisis response team more than 'an unknown 800 number'"

The Berkshire Eagle, May 14, 2022

To the editor: I’m writing in response to a recent letter ("Letter: Pittsfield can look to other cities to improve crisis response policies," Eagle, May 7) that contained disappointing inaccuracies.

It read: “Currently, access to crisis counseling and response is limited to an unknown crisis 800 number or the over utilized emergency room at Berkshire Medical Center.”

In fact, the Brien Center has provided around-the-clock crisis interventions throughout Berkshire County for more than 40 years. Launched in 1980, the Crisis Team was organized to assess and stabilize people experiencing a mental health crisis and keep them out of the hospital. All these years later, a call to the Brien Center’s emergency hotline (800-252-0227) will activate a member of our Crisis Team, who will meet people in their homes, schools or wherever an intervention can be provided with the least disruption to their lives.

The team includes 18 full-time staff, 6 part-time staff, and 15 per-diem workers. All of them are highly-skilled and compassionate clinicians who are trained to help individuals who are sometimes experiencing the worst moments of their lives.

In 2020, the Brien Center Crisis Team responded to 3,888 behavioral health emergencies throughout the Berkshires. Of that number, 762 of the interventions were for children in crisis. In 2021, we provided 3,737 interventions for adults and children. So far this year, our team has responded to 1,136 calls for emergency help.

When requested by local or state police, a Brien Center clinician accompanies an officer as a co-responder on calls with a behavioral health component. This began in Pittsfield in 2016 and has since expanded across the Berkshires. In 2021, one of our clinicians joined an officer on 81 calls.

By far, the greatest threat to crisis intervention is a shortage of trained clinicians and other positions. This is a serious and well-documented workforce issue that agencies like ours are facing all over the country. We are doing all we can, extending our resources and staff as far as possible, to address this serious need. We hope that a new state budget will include higher reimbursements for the care we deliver, spurring higher salaries to attract and retain qualified staff.

In the meantime, crisis care in Berkshire County is far from “an unknown 800 number.” It is a vital and essential service that saves lives every day. 

Rebecca Phelps-Smith, Pittsfield

The writer is a clinical social worker and director of Acute Care Services at The Brien Center.

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May 15, 2022

Beacon Hill lawmakers are still sitting on billions upon billions of surplus state government cash plus a couple of billion dollars in "Biden Bucks".  Mayor Linda Tyer is sitting on many millions of dollars in "Kufflink's" Creative Accounting Slush Funds plus tens of millions of dollars in "Biden Bucks", both of which are cloaked in secrecy by her municipal administration that gives predictable Pittsfield politics its well-deserved bad reputation.  Despite the huge Slush Funds from Boston to Pittsfield, Beacon Hill proposed a close to $50 billion fiscal year 2023 state budget that begins on July 1st, 2022, and Mayor Linda Tyer proposed a $188,589,144 municipal operating budget that begins on July 1st, 2022.

What does the fictional/proverbial Mary Jane & Joe Kapanski's hard-earned tax dollars get them from Beacon Hill and Pittsfield politics?  They get unsafe streets ran by marginalized individuals and violent criminals alike, Level 5 public schools ran by an excessively bureaucratic and very expensive public school district, streets full of potholes that rival the Moon's craters, litter everywhere, Chrome Dome living in Amherst (MA) with his wealthy Amherst College professor wife, Trippy Country Buffet doing nothing in Boston for a little over one decade, the lovely Linda Tyer living in a millionaire's mansion in her elitist Gated Community within a few feet of the Hancock border, a mostly rubber stamp City Council, a School Committee that rewards academic failure, the soon to be 24-year-old mostly vacant and very polluted PEDA debacle with millions of dollars in always growing larger debts and other liabilities, Nuciforo's pot growing buildings on Dalton Avenue that stink up abutting neighborhoods with skunk-like odor smells, a dangerous downtown that is full of dozens of empty storefronts that is sarcastically called "Social Services Alley" by day and "The Shooting Gallery" after hours with the distressed neighborhoods that surround North Street sarcastically called "The Ring of Poverty", and the greedy special interest mostly out-of-town millionaire businessmen receiving millions of dollars in tax breaks, while low to moderate mostly fixed income households hope to save up enough money to get the Hell out of Dodge before they pass away, which is their second best option in Pittsfield.

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Get ready for e-scooter injuries, the new epidemic in orthopedics"

The Berkshire Eagle, May 17, 2022

To the editor: With the advent of the Bird e-scooters in Pittsfield, available to anyone with a license, a few cents and a cellphone, I hope that Berkshire Medical Center's emergency room is ready for the traumatic brain injuries coming down the road.

The rentals don't include helmets, and I've seen plenty of people having a blast, laughing and zipping along next to traffic, some riding double and no one wearing a helmet. But they aren't toys: E-scooters are one of the most dangerous vehicles on the road; with double the head injuries of cyclists, the injury rate is comparable to motorcycle riders. This includes the pedestrians who are struck by scooters.

The title of a 2021 medical article says it all: "Electric Scooter-Related Injuries: A New Epidemic in Orthopedics." Richmond, Va., has a longer history of Bird scooters, and thriving legal practices dedicated to defending scooter accident victims. How is this a good thing for Pittsfield?

Sarah Gardner, Williamstown

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"Why is my Pittsfield water and sewer bill suddenly so high?"

By Lindsey Hollenbaugh, The Berkshire Eagle, May 17, 2022

PITTSFIELD — City residents who opened their most recent water and sewer bill were, well, shocked.

"I got my water and sewer bill today. What?!" one southeast Pittsfield resident posted on the Nextdoor App. More than 100 commenters chimed in with similar sentiments.

Pittsfield homeowners are footing the bill for what city officials call a “structural problem” in the funding of water and sewer services. In early March, City Council voted in a split 6-4 decision to raise rates for water and sewer services by 10 percent and 12 percent, respectively, this year and the next.

That means, for a typical two-bathroom home in Pittsfield without a water meter, the increase in rates will mean an additional $77.20 in water and sewer fees over last year’s bill, according to city calculations.

For the average metered home in Pittsfield — which consumes about 220 gallons per day — the rate changes will mean an additional $64.69 in water and sewer bills.

The vote was originally reported on by Eagle reporter Meg Britton-Mehlisch in March, but the rate hike seemed to hit many residents by surprise, causing many to take to social media to complain about the increase.

Residents who call Pittsfield's Department of Public Works customer service line are met with a recorded voicemail, which includes this information: "Water and sewer rates have increased retroactive to January 2022."

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"Mayor Tyer has put forth a $198 million budget for FY23. Pittsfield City Council wants more for mental health supports."

By Meg Britton-Mehlisch, The Berkshire Eagle, May 18, 2022

PITTSFIELD — Mayor Linda Tyer’s administration has proposed a $198 million budget — a 4.8 percent increase over this fiscal year’s budget.

The proposed fiscal 2023 budget, which was presented to the City Council on Tuesday night, would direct nearly $100 million to the municipal operating budget, $72 million to the Pittsfield Public Schools budget, $16 million to the city’s water and sewer enterprise budgets and $10 million to other expenses.

To cover these expenses, the administration is planning to raise $101.5 million in property taxes next fiscal year, a $6.9 million increase — or 7.3 percent — over the taxes raised this year.

That money, along with close to $66 million in state aid and about $16 million from sewer and water bills, would be the primary funding sources for the city’s budget. The budget also calls for a free cash disbursement of $750,000 as a way to help reduce the tax rate.

The council gave preliminary approval to spending in nine departments: the mayor’s office; City Council; City Clerk; human resources; diversity, equity and inclusion; Pittsfield Municipal Airport; health; city solicitor’s office; and the police department.

Here’s what you need to know about the first night of the budget discussions:

Seeking more support for mental health

In response to the recent death of Miguel Estrella, the 22-year-old Pittsfield man killed by city police officers responding to reports Estrella was having a mental health emergency, community support has united around more robust programming and resources for mental health care.

In response, the Tyer administration is seeking a new $75,000 line item to fund the hiring of a licensed social worker. This position is distinctly separate from the existing co-responder program which is funded through the Pittsfield Police Department in a contract with the Brien Center.

Local attorney Rinaldo Del Gallo, who submitted the petition for body cameras to the City Council Tuesay, said "clearly body cameras are not a fix all or panacea," but argued that adding the technology to the police department would go a long way to "preserving truth."

“Our community continues to feel the impact of an inadequate mental health care network,” Tyer said. “Our goal is not to create direct mental health care or to provide clinical services, it is to help the city be more proactive in decisions around how we network with our partners in the behavioral health field.”

This new position would direct the city in strengthening relationships with the existing private providers, explore new response models including positions outside of the police department, and directing larger mental health care policies.

Councilor Charles Kronick proposed reducing the budget for the position because, as he put it, a licensed social worker has “a master’s degree and that’s all they’ve got — that’s not a lot.” Kronick felt that the position should be paid an “entry-level salary” of $45,000. He also argued that the city had identified a solution without identifying a problem.

That amendment was resoundingly rejected by the other councilors who argued that they would be lucky to hire someone for a job of this importance and magnitude at the $75,000 rate.

“I think there’s many of us that feel [that this plan], it’s not far enough,” Council President Peter Marchetti said. “We have a plan on the table and it’s time for us to take action.”

The council then turned its attention to the police department, which increased its budget request by over $400,000 this year to $11.9 million.

The department is hoping to staff a new digital evidence detective unit, purchase additional equipment for its off-road enforcement team and gather an internal team to achieve accreditation from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission.

The budget did not include a funding increase for additional co-responders, which the department pays for through a contract with the Brien Center. The department currently budgets $85,000 for two correspondents who each work about 30 hours a week — sometimes on overlapping shifts.

Chief Michael Wynn said that he didn’t initially increase the funding for the contract “because the Brien Center can’t find co-responders and [the money] would get transferred and unspent.”

“I have no issue with this budget except for not increasing this funding,” Councilor Earl Persip III said.

The council voted unanimously to make a recommendation to the mayor that up to $250,000 of the grant funds that goes to the Police Department each year be directed toward hiring more co-responder clinicians. The entire council also voted to preliminarily accept the rest of the department’s budget.

Staff salaries are up

The budget includes the typical rundown of increasing employment, training and benefits costs. Though even the typical expenses are up this year.

Non-union managers and department heads will receive a 7.5 percent salary increase thanks to a provision in the city code that ties these annual salary changes to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index for urban consumers. In January, the index — which is used as a cost of living indicator — hit 7.5 percent, the highest that index has sat in more than 40 years.

“After some careful deliberation, we came to believe that what is contained in the city code carries the same legal weight as the provisions that are contained in our collective bargaining agreements,” Tyer told the council by way of explaining increases to about 50 employee salaries this year.

The mayor said she plans to return to the council in the near future with an amendment to that section of city code to set “parameters” to what size increases the city will meet.

Targeting ‘sacred cow’

Councilor Kronick was by far the most prolific amendment-maker to the proposed budget.

He tried to reduce the Department of Human Resources budget for employee training and education to a third of its proposed size. He also took aim at almost every aspect of the budget for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

One amendment Kronick proposed was eliminating the $10,000 the office had allocated for contractual services. Chief Diversity Officer Michael Obasohan explained that the money on that line item would be used to hire people who could lead staff training.

“There are some things around training that I can do, but I think that if I was to go out and contract a person or individual that specialized in a specific field that also has lived experience, the impact is greater with that training,” he said.

Obasohan explained he used department money to hire a company to lead a training next week on LGBTQI+ awareness and education, mentioning that city employees asked specifically for help with inclusive language particularly around pronouns.

“People want to know how to talk to someone else — are you a he, she or her?” Kronick said. “Maybe it’s just an opinion — but I don’t think it’s just an opinion, I think this is common sense sort of thing — You know what you are because you were told that when you were born.”

Kronick went on to say his feelings about trans people were rooted in “a religious principle of mine,” to which Councilor Dina Lampiasi responded Kronick’s religious principles “have no place here.”

“I think what we’re talking about here is spending money on things that you can research on the side,” he added.

Kronick said that his focus on making cuts to the DEI office was because “we are in a recession; we have to reduce.” He called the office a “sacred cow” and didn’t make a similar amount of budget amendments on any other department’s proposals.

None of Kronick’s motions or amendments to any part of the budget passed.

What comes next

Under the city charter, the City Council has 45 days to adopt a budget after a proposed budget is submitted. That means the council has until June 24 to adopt a budget or the mayor’s proposed budget will go into effect as is.

Over the coming weeks, the council will discuss the remaining 21 spending areas. The next meeting will be at 6 p.m. May 26 [2022] in the City Council chambers.

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May 18, 2022

Hello journalist Meg Britton-Mehlisch,

I have followed predictable Pittsfield politics for decades; I will turn 47-years-old this upcoming Summer of 2022.  You wrote that Mayor Linda Tyer's proposed fiscal year 2023 municipal budget has "a 4.8 percent increase over this fiscal year’s budget".  I have observed that Pittsfield politics always increases its yearly municipal spending by 5 percent.  I request that you please ask Matt Kerwood why it is always a 5 percent hike?  Also, please ask Matt Kerwood how many millions of municipal dollars are in his secretive Slush Fund accounts?  Also, how many millions of "Biden Bucks" ARPA dollars are left in the city's coffers?  Combine the Slush Fund and Biden Bucks financial figures, and then ask Matt Kerwood why he is raising municipal spending by 5 percent beginning on July 1st, 2022, which is less than 1.5-months from now?  Also, what is the total municipal public debt financial figure?  What is the estimated OPEB public debt financial figure?  What is Matt Kerwood's financial plan to payoff Pittsfield politics' hundreds of millions of dollars in municipal public debts and other liabilities?  Does he even have a plan in place?  If not, why not?  What is the ratio of Pittsfield's municipal public debts and other liabilities per population, and per household?  How do Pittsfield politics' finances compare to other municipalities similar in size and demographics to Pittsfield?  If Matt Kerwood cannot and/or does not furnish this financial data to you, then he should resign and finally get himself a private sector job and join the ranks of struggling working-class taxpayers!

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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"Pittsfield city councilors gave an initial thumbs up to next year's school budget. Here's where that money goes and what comes next"

By Meg Britton-Mehlisch, The Berkshire Eagle, June 2, 2022

Superintendent Joseph Curtis presents the Pittsfield school district's budget request for more than $72 million to the City Council on Thursday night. The council gave the plan its preliminary approval on a 9-2 vote.

PITTSFIELD — During its final night of budget hearings, the City Council on Thursday voted 9-2 to give preliminary approval to the Pittsfield school district’s budget request for $72.4 million.

The school district budget makes up about 38 percent of the city’s overall operating budget for fiscal 2023, which also received a preliminary approval by the council on Thursday night in a 8-3 vote.

Over the course of four budget hearings, the council has recommended that Mayor Linda Tyer increase her initial budget proposal of $188.1 million to allocate another $1,000 for the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, $50,000 for the city’s building inspectors and $65,000 for building maintenance to city schools.

A final vote on the budget will be held during the council’s next regular meeting on June 14.

District officials told the council that driving their budget’s $5.08 million increase — or 7.6 percent increase — over last year’s budget was a substantial pay increase for many district employees.

Kristen Behnke, the assistant superintendent for business and finance, said that because of increases in state funding, the district would be asking taxpayers to cover only $492,336 — about 0.73 percent of that increase.

For years, teachers and support staff who have left the district have cited pay rates lower than in neighboring districts. Councilors pushed the district, particularly during the last year’s budget process, to close the pay gap between Pittsfield and its neighbors.

This year, Pittsfield Public School Committee Chair Bill Cameron told the council that the district has made an important step in that direction.

The Pittsfield School Committee approved its fiscal 2023 operating budget in a vote of 6-0 Wednesday night. The budget allocates most of its $73 million to staff salaries, rising transportation and material costs and a program to end the student athletic fee.

“We can’t yet afford to pay what Mount Greylock and Lenox pay their staff but we are moving in that direction,” Cameron said. “If we are to keep and recruit the best, if we’re to lessen our decades-long role of serving as a Triple-A farm team for other districts, then we must pay significantly more than we have to date.”

Superintendent Joseph Curtis told the council that 92 percent of the increase in the district’s budget — about $4.7 million — has been allocated to contractual obligations with employees.

When asked by Councilor Earl Persip III how long it would take to match the pay of districts like Lenox or Mount Greylock, Curtis said it was like something that would happen over the next three or four negotiations with school unions.

In February, the district negotiated a new contract with the United Educators of Pittsfield, a union that represents more than 500 educators in the district.

Melissa Campbell, the UEP president and a Herberg Middle School teacher, spoke in support of the district’s budget.

“It’s imperative that Pittsfield Public Schools is offering competitive salaries and a safe and positive work environment,” Campbell said. “Please consider the enormous amount of work that went into creating an agreement that benefits all of Pittsfield by supporting the education of our students.”

While the budget package has the support of the teachers union, no member of the Pittsfield Federal of School Employees — the union representing paraprofessionals, bus drivers and attendants, cafeteria workers, custodians, and educational secretaries — came forward to voice their opinion on the budget.

PFSE and district representatives continue to work through mediation over an impasse on the contract between union members and the district. Over recent months, members of the union have asked district officials to put more towards support staff salaries which many members have called below a living wage.

Curtis said he was confident that the district’s budget would cover any settlement with PFSE, but he held off on saying how much the district had set aside for those employees specifically.

Councilor Karen Kalinowsky, who along with Councilor Anthony Maffuccio voted against the district’s budget, said while she supported increases for teachers and support staff, she felt there were too many administrators with sizable salaries in the district.

“I don’t think our taxpayers can keep affording this [a $5.08 million budget increase],” Kalinowsky said. “I still think you’re top heavy.”

The district’s budget would reduce the number of elementary teachers throughout the district by eight positions, the number of elementary specialist teachers by two positions and the number of teachers at PHS by three. Curtis has said that this would be done by leaving positions open from retirements and staff departures and not through layoffs.

Along with these staffing changes, the district is planning to add a high school librarian, a teacher and two paraprofessional for another pre-K classroom, an English Learner teacher at Egremont Elementary, a substantially separate teacher at Crosby Elementary, two inclusion special education teachers at Stearns Elementary and two teachers at Taconic High School.

Kalinowsky also spoke against the district’s decision to end a $125 per student sports fee next year. District officials said they planned to cover the fee from their own budget rather than having families pay for student participation in sports in an effort to make the district sports programs more accessible.

Kalinowsky said the families she’d spoken with had no problem covering the fee and pointed out that the district already had a policy of waiving the fee for students who identified that the money was a barrier to playing sports.

Curtis said that while some students were good at advocating for themselves or their families, the district didn’t want to put the onus on a student to reveal their financial status to participate in sports.

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June 3, 2022

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

What are your thoughts on Pittsfield politics' passing a $5.08 million budget increase for its Level 5 public school district?  The Pittsfield public school district's budget will be over $72 million - 38% of the city's operating budget, not including the millions of dollars hidden in the city side - 62% of the city's operating budget - of Mayor Linda Tyer's over $188.1 million record setting fiscal year 2023 municipal budget.

My thoughts about predictable Pittsfield politics' unsustainable municipal budgets are that if not for Matt Kerwood's Creative Accounting, Pittsfield would be financially insolvent.  Pittsfield politics has hundreds of millions of dollars in public debts and OPEB liabilities that will never be paid off in our lifetimes.  If I ran my personal finances like "Kufflinks" runs Pittsfield's municipal finances, I would have 4 mortgages, one dozen credit cards with tens of thousands of dollars each in unsecured debt, 2 new car loans, and a personal budget of over $1 million for myself on my moderate income as a single middle-aged man.

What are the fictional/proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski paying for in Pittsfield politics?  The answers are substandard municipal services, unsafe inner-city streets with very high violent crime, Level 5 public schools, and "Business as usual" state and local political corruption by a one political (Democratic) Party group of provincial insider hacks.  Pittsfield politics is always the worst of both worlds!

Bill Cameron is an amazing academic scholar.  He was my college professor many years ago.  My fellow college students back then all said that he was one of the most accomplished college professors we had.  He was a public school district Superintendent, too.  Bill Cameron knows what he is doing as Chair of the Pittsfield School Committee.  However, I don't understand what he is doing by increasing the public-school district's budget by 7.6 percent.  Pittsfield's school enrollment numbers are trending downward, state and local taxpayers are dealing with 41-year high U.S. inflation, and the public-school administration is earning way too much in public pay plus perks.

Pittsfield politics does not operate in economic reality.  Economists are forecasting a brutal economic recession in 2023.  What is Mayor Linda Tyer going to do if Pittsfield's tax revenues decrease during the predicted recession?  She cannot take all of Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski's hard-earned dollars!

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Glad to be able to ride Tamarack Road safely"

The Berkshire Eagle, May 31, 2022

To the editor: What a breeze. One can now drive on Tamarack Road safely — no fear of blown-out tires, no more zigzagging around the potholes hoping oncoming cars see you or you are not rear-ended because you stopped.

Thank you Pittsfield, albeit long overdue.

Wendy Mackey, Richmond

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June 11, 2022

Hello Chuck [Garivaltis],

Please go to the Open Mic at Tuesday (6/14)'s Pittsfield City Council meeting and tell them to please vote down Mayor Linda Tyer's proposed municipal operating budget.  What are Pittsfield taxpayers getting in return for their local tax dollars?  Level 5 public schools, violent crime on the streets, substandard city services, state and local political corruption, the PEDA debacle, and so on.  Please tell the Ruling Elites who run Pittsfield politics that they have no understanding and sympathy for ordinary taxpayers, and that they cannot take much more from your fixed income budget.  You would be the hero you have always been over the generations you have contributed to Pittsfield.  Your heart was and is always in the right place, Chuck!  Thank you for everything over the years.

Best regards,

Jon Melle

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June 12, 2022

Why would anybody in their right mind want to pay a little less than $200 million dollars for Mayor Linda Tyer & company's proposed fiscal year 2023 municipal budget that funds Pittsfield's Level 5 public schools, shooting gallery streets full of violent crime, drugs, prostitution, gangs, and homeless people shitting on North Street, which is sarcastically called "Social Services Alley" with somewhere around 2 dozen empty storefronts and a Juvenile Courthouse that is surrounded by the sarcastically called Ring of Poverty distressed inner city neighborhoods, the out-of-touch Mayor Linda Tyer living in her third husband multimillionaire CPA Barry Clairmont's mansion in Pittsfield's only elitist Gated Community where they park their Lexus luxury cars at night, Matt Kerwood's cooked books that are a case study in Creative Accounting, systemic state and local political corruption, a community full of distressed people and bedraggled taxpayers who are so beaten down by the Good Old Boys & Girls that they avoid City Hall like the plague, the 24-year-old heavily indebted PEDA debacle, and 50 years of diminishing population caused by 50 years of living wage job loss compounded by yearly municipal spending that always and predictably increases by 5 percent without fail?  I hope that there will be public advocate citizens at Open Mic at the Pittsfield City Council meeting on Tuesday night, 6/14/2022, who will call out Mayor Linda Tyer, her municipal administration and her group of rubber stamp City Councilors, and the public advocates will say that this will be the absolute WORST event in the sad history of Pittsfield politics if/when the City Council votes to pass the mayor's proposed budget!

Jonathan A. Melle

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"Charter objections sink budget vote, save ban on nip bottles at Pittsfield city council meeting"

By Josh Landes, WAMC Northeast Public Radio, June 15, 2022

The Pittsfield, Massachusetts city council had its share of drama Tuesday night [14-June-2022] when a parliamentary move by a councilor effectively reset weeks of budget negotiations via charter objection.

Ward 2 councilor Charles Kronick embraced the nuclear option while considering the almost $189 million proposed fiscal year 2023 budget — much to the chagrin of council president Peter Marchetti and a visibly upset at-large councilor Earl Persip.

“On the motion to approve, is there any debate or discussion?” asked Marchetti.

“Mister President, I make a charter objection on behalf of Ward 2,” said Kronick.

“Excuse me?" asked Marchetti.

“Charter objection on behalf of Ward 2,” repeated Kronick.

“OK," said Marchetti. "And before you do so, councilor, let me make you aware that if you charter object, we cannot take up this budget until the June 26th meeting. And the 45 days in the charter will have passed and the mayor will have her original budget without the increases that we put forward. Is that what you really want to do?”

“Yes, it is,” responded Kronick.

“OK. Charter objection," said Marchetti. "On to item number nine, please. The mayor just got a budget.”

“You’ve got to be joking,” said Persip.

The Ward 2 representative [City Councilor Charles Ivar Kronick], elected in November [2021], is a conservative and an outspoken critic of government spending.

Under council rules, Kronick’s decision to push the question down the road reverses all of the council’s proposed amendments to Mayor Linda Tyer’s budget. That includes a vote that the city’s police department use $250,000 of its yearly grant funding to hire more mental health clinician co-responders — a hot topic after 22-year-old Pittsfielder Miguel Estrella was shot to death by city police in March [2022].

An exasperated Marchetti offered the definition of the charter objection to council members after Kronick’s invocation of the rule.

“On the first occasion that the question or an adoption of a measure is put to the city council, if a single city council present objects to taking the vote, the vote shall be postponed into the next meeting of the city council, whether regular or special,” read Marchetti.

Ward 1 councilor Kenny Warren offered a suggestion to possibly work around the 45-day window that allows the amendments to expire, finding support from Ward 7’s Anthony Maffuccio.

“My understanding is it takes two to require it to go to the next meeting," said Warren. "You can call a special meeting in between.”

“Then I can attempt-“ started Marchetti.

“I’ll second it then,” said Maffuccio.

Well, now you have two," said Marchetti. "You brought it up, now we have two.”

“Jesus,” sighed Maffuccio.

Persip would have his own opportunity to use a charter objection later in the meeting in an effort to keep a petition calling for a ban on nip alcohol bottles in Pittsfield alive.

“I support not sending this off because if it's not somewhere, that means the bottle ban failed," he said. "And that doesn't put any pressure on the state to fix the problem of the deposit. The deposit is the issue. These things aren't recyclable. There's no deposit. People throw these out the window and there's not five cents attached to them. Usually, most people wouldn't throw them out the window or someone would pick them up. That's why we need to keep this on the table, off to the green commission. Who knows when they'll meet in the first place. I ask you all this, what was being done before this petition came up? Zilch, nothing. If this goes away, nothing happens.”

Fellow at-large councilor Pete White disagreed, saying he had faith in the goodwill of the alcohol industry to remedy the nip bottle situation without government intervention.

“At least one of the business owners talked about doing a raffle where people could bring in nips and a raffle would be done," he said. "They'd be willing to participate in cleanups, they would be willing to put additional trash dispensers out in front of their stores. One of the distributors is coming up with a new thing just for nips, I believe, or at least a dispenser that other things can be thrown into so we're not seeing as much trash.”

After Persip’s motion to refer the petition to the green commission failed, he used the charter objection to block a move to file it, much to the consternation of Marchetti.

“On the motion to place on file is there any debate or discussion," said the council president.

“Charter objection," said Persip.

“Oh, my ass,” whispered Marchetti.

“We all can do it!" said Persip.

“It was better than what was going to come out of my mouth,” laughed Marchetti.

The city council also unanimously approved the creation of an Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

“It’s tool that we would, that the city would then have to be able to create affordable housing. Typically, affordable housing projects are funded a small amount with Community Development Block Grant funds is an option. But again, there's not a lot of funds there in that whole budget to do a large-scale project, and they're typically funded through the state or CPA funding," said Director of Community Development Justine Dodds. “This would give the trust the ability to have people who are experts on affordable housing that can look at these projects and determine and if they're feasible, how much, what the affordability should be, there's technical issues around that, that this would give us some more ability. It also would give us the ability to create sort of a land trust, take properties, create down payment assistance programs, rental assistance programs, all things that we currently do not have.”

The council also heard scathing criticism of city public health director Andy Cambi over his efforts to keep Pittsfield updated on the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I appreciate you doing this once a month. But when we're having an outbreak like we had, I would appreciate you telling us we're having an outbreak instead of us reading it in the New York Times and having to ask you about it. So just in the future, when we have an outbreak, please update us on it since we're no longer doing this every week," said Ward 5 councilor Patrick Kavey. “When I had asked you about our outbreak and you weren't sure what was happening, I would appreciate if you would keep an eye on it and just let us know before we read it in the front page of a newspaper.”

The body also voted to recognize June 16th as World Electrohypersensitivity Day.

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June 16, 2022

I second Dave Bubriski's praise.  Job well done, Charles Ivar Kronick!  Predictable Pittsfield politics always increases municipal spending by 5 percent every fiscal year going back over 3.5 decades.  Pittsfield always increases its municipal taxes, fees, public debts and other liabilities by millions of dollars every fiscal year, which Mayor Linda Tyer and her multimillionaire CPA husband Barry Clairmont know full well is financially unsustainable even with Matt "Kufflinks" Kerwood's secretive Creative Accounting and Slush Fund practices.  We are heading into the Federal Reserve's hiking interest rates and Joe Biden's 4-decade high U.S. inflation induced recession in 2023 that will pummel the fictional/proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family's personal finances.  Pittsfield should pass the fiscal year 2023 municipal budget that reflects the dire economic and financial hardships that the people, families, small businesses, and taxpayers are facing in 2022 and will be facing in 2023.  Lastly, where are Chrome Dome Adam Hinds and Trippy Country Buffet on Beacon Hill lawmakers sitting on a little less than $7 billion is surplus state government cash plus $2.3 billion in "Biden Bucks"?  Shouldn't Chrome Dome & Country Buffet be working to increase state aid to Pittsfield and beyond instead of Boston still sitting on around $9 billion in state cash?

Baker: Tax revenue collections put Rainy Day Fund to an all-time high | National News | kpvi.com

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Pittsfield's main roadways deserve better care"

The Berkshire Eagle, June 18, 2022

To the editor: What's up with the main arteries of Pittsfield?

East Street, upper North Street and outer East Street are in deplorable condition! Many years of just patching some potholes have left these streets all washboards to say the least. For many years these streets have been neglected.

The ongoing work on Tyler Street and North Street has left residents in a mess. I will not drive North Street because of the chaos that is there. I see that the roundabout on Tyler Street is too narrow. And no banking of curbs to allow for wide vehicles to pass through — an engineering nightmare.

Our residents deserve better. It seems to me that highly trafficked streets should get the more attention.

Charles Daniel Kenyon, Pittsfield

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"Why did two Pittsfield City Councilors make a move that shut down the council's budget debate?"

By Greta Jochem, The Berkshire Eagle, June 20, 2022

PITTSFIELD ⁠— After multiple meetings and hours of City Council debate over the budget, one move shut it all down. A week later, it's still not clear why.

Councilor Charles Kronick invoked a charter objection — a tool that prevents the council from discussing or voting on an item until its next meeting — amid a discussion on the budget on June 14.

By the time the council meets again in late June, their window to act on the budget will have expired and Mayor Linda Tyer's proposed $198 million budget for the coming fiscal year that begins in July will automatically go into effect without changes the council voted on.

Why call a charter objection? Kronick did not make himself available after multiple requests for an interview about why he objected.

At the meeting last week, Kronick did not offer much explanation.

"Mr. President I make a charter objection on behalf of Ward 2,” he said.

Some councilors let out groans and one councilor walked out of the meeting in frustration — calling the move "irresponsible" — while many councilors agreed after the meeting that Kronick, who is serving his first term, did not fully understand what he was doing. But Kronick's objection did get some support. Councilor Anthony Maffuccio, who represents Ward 7, seconded the objection.

His reason is "quite clear," he told The Eagle on Friday. "I do not support the budget at all this year, in its entirety."

"I didn’t support any of the money they moved around or added to the budget. When you don't support something, it's easy to second a charter objection. I think it's irresponsible spending at this time," he said. With inflation, a "looming recession," and pandemic recovery, "I think it's too rich for our blood."

Though he wants to see a reduced budget, Maffuccio didn't think motions to cut it would pass. “It's pointless with this council," he said. "I'm just tired of the rubber stamp the mayor has."

Kronick attempted to cut the Department of Human Resources budget for employee training and education by two-thirds. He also tried to cut the new office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion budget, calling it a "sacred cow" and making a transphobic remark. Those reductions did not pass.

Before Kronick's charter objection, councilors approved budget changes, including voting to give an additional $1,000 to the Retired Senior Volunteer Program and have the Police Department use $250,000 in grant funding each year to hire more co-responder clinicians. Those will now be negated when Tyer's initially proposed budget becomes finalized by default on Friday.

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June 23, 2022

The Sheriff sits in his no show plum sinecure made for a politically connected Democrat to cash in on his $200,000 public pay plus perks per year.  Alf Barbalunga already makes 6-figures as a Chief Probation Officer.  If Alf wins the 2022 Sheriff election, he will get a public pay plus perks raise, but if he loses to Sheriff Tom Bowler, Alf will go back to his 6-figure post in the court system.  Either way, Alf wins.  If Sheriff Tom Bowler wins a 3rd six-year term, he gets to go back to his no show plum sinecure, but if Bowler loses, he gets to cash in on his 6-figure public pension plus perks that rivals an adult winning the state lottery jackpot.  Either way, Bowler wins.  This year's Sheriff primary election is really about two politically connected 6-figure public pay plus perks Pittsfield politicians wanting more money and power for themselves.  The Pittsfield jail is a warehouse of hundreds of Pittsfield's over 1,000 gang members plus the Berkshires' troubled mentally ill substance abusers and the like.  Give me a break about all of Alf and Tom's respective campaign propaganda and criticisms of each other.  If I still lived in my native hometown, I would vote for Alf, along with D.A. Andrea Harrington, who I call the A Team.

On another subject, Peter Marchetti is giving voters information on how they can recall and oust Ward 2 City Councilor Charles Ivar Kronick.  Peter Marchetti, who is a homosexual man, is offended by Kronick's public remarks about the homosexual and trans people.  Kronick said he is focused on Mayor Linda Tyer's always predictable 5% budget and spending increase without concern for the looming recession in 2023.  Mayor Linda Tyer called Councilors Kronick and Tony Maffuccio's objection to her budget "Reckless".  She did not address Kronick and Maffuccio's concerns that people, families, small businesses, tax and fee payers, and so on, are unable to afford her $200 million fiscal year 2023 municipal budget.  Why would she?  After all, she is the first Mayor of Pittsfield who lives in a mansion in the city's only Gated Community with her multimillionaire CPA third husband Barry Clairmont where the first couple park their Lexus luxury cars at night within a few feet of the Hancock border.  In closing, Mayor Linda Tyer should be the Mayor of Beverly Hills, California instead of the distressed and economically unequal City of Pittsfield, Massachusetts!

Jonathan A. Melle

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June 24, 2022

Mayor Linda Tyer's radio interview on the uptick in shootings in the dangerous inner-city Pittsfield [...where over 1,000 gang members reside]:

Mayor Tyer: PPD Will Have Help Combating Uptick In Shootings (live959.com)

"We have an immediate crisis" .... "it's a dangerous situation...for everyone in the neighborhoods where they [the shooters] are occupying space, it's dangerous".

- Mayor Linda Tyer

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"Delayed but not deterred, Pittsfield City Council passes $188 million operating budget"

By Meg Britton-Mehlisch, The Berkshire Eagle, June 28, 2022

PITTSFIELD — The City Council returned Tuesday night to the work of setting a budget for the upcoming 2023 fiscal year after a charter objection at the previous meeting stopped the council’s deliberation over the city’s spending priorities in its tracks.

Councilors voted 7-4 in favor of a $188.8 million operating budget. The budget represents a series of amendments made by councilors to Mayor Linda Tyer’s originally proposed budget — with another $1,000 for the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, $50,000 for the city’s building inspectors and $65,000 for building maintenance. The vote put an end to what Mayor Linda Tyer summed up last week as “a bit of manufactured chaos.”

That “chaos” came when councilors Charles Kronick and Anthony Maffuccio decided to charter object to the budget vote during the June 14 meeting. The dual objections forced the council to table the vote and further discussion on the budget until Tuesday’s meeting.

Between the objection and Tuesday’s meeting, the $188.5 million operating budget proposed by Tyer went into effect — having passed outside a 45-day window established in city rules and state law for the council to act on the budget.

Kronick came down from his seat on the council to the podium Tuesday night to give further explanation of his objection.

He said he refused to apologize for “calling a charter objection in the name of Ward 2 … fighting for the city employees’ pension and saving money for all the citizens who are facing historic inflation.”

The councilor said that his objections were on purely financial grounds, intending to get the city to cover only the services that residents truly need and cutting any other expenses he framed as financial bloat.

One area Kronick listed as among those he’d cut was the amount of funding for the city’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the salary of the new Chief Diversity Officer Michael Obasohan.

When discussing that point, Kronick diverged from his financial argument. He doubled down on his earlier critique of the office’s pronoun training for city employees, saying that the training violated his “Judeo-Christian” beliefs on gender identity. He went a step further to say that negative responses to his beliefs were examples of “anti-Semitism.”

“Preaching pronoun training discriminates against the Judeo-Christian faithful,” Kronick said.

At least one Ward 2 resident appeared at the meeting’s open microphone to voice their support for their city representative. Ward 2 resident Alex Blumin called Kronick a “perfect city councilor [for] Ward 2.”

A budget by default? 'Irresponsible' move by a Pittsfield city councilor negates all revisions

“He does a very good job for residents of Ward 2 and he definitely was right to use charter objection and city council rule,” Blumin said. He then turned to the media representatives at the meeting to say “Write that we support our councilor completely.”

The Ward 2 councilor went on to lead the discussion on the budget with a question on the legality of the council’s vote Tuesday night. He argued that since the 45-day mark had passed the council should no longer be able to take a straight vote on the budget, but instead should be left to vote on additional appropriations if they were presented by the mayor.

“It looks to me that you’ve just come up with a neat little trick here to swap the new budget with the old budget,” Kronick said, speaking to City Solicitor Stephen Pagnotta. “I don’t think you’re on legal ground here.”

“What is before you would in effect request the mayor to increase the existing budget to the budget that is being proposed and is before you,” Pagnotta said.

Council President Peter Marchetti told Kronick that the legality of the vote had been verified by both Pagnotta and Finance Director Matthew Kerwood in conversations with the state’s Department of Revenue.

“If we pass this budget and the mayor agrees to sign it then it is nothing more than an amendment to the mayor’s budget,” Marchetti said. “If she’s willing to sign it, then it’s a legal budget.”

Tyer agreed to sign off on the budget passed by the council during a press conference last week.

Kronick was joined by councilors Ken Warren, Karen Kalinowsky, and Maffuccio in objecting to the budget, with the group saying that spending in the next year would have an unbearable impact on residents already stretched thin by the pandemic economy.

“We’re not being fiscally responsible with this budget,” Kalinowsky said. “We are not putting money where it needs to be and where the economy is going, I just can’t agree to this budget.”

Kalinowsky and Warren pushed the Tyer administration to spend more of the nearly $41 million in American Rescue Plan Act money towards revenue replacement and a proposed water meter program for low income and senior residents.

Maffuccio’s critiques to the budget were that the administration’s funding priorities were out of whack with resident’s experience, a claim that councilors Kevin Sherman, Pete White and Earl Persip III contested.

“We have significant issues in the city, no doubt about it,” Sherman said. “We have neighborhoods that are broken and we have issues with public safety, no doubt about it.”

“We put things in this budget to address those,” Sherman concluded.

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"Hoping defend himself, Kronick takes to the stand during Pittsfield City Council meeting open mic"

By Josh Landes, WAMC Northeast Public Radio, June 29, 2022

At Tuesday night’s Pittsfield, Massachusetts city council meeting, Ward 2 councilor Charles Kronick used the open mic segment of the meeting to respond to widespread criticism directed toward him in recent weeks over a number of issues.

During budget hearings this spring, Kronick said that as a religious principle, he believes people are the gender they were assigned at birth, provoking backlash from community members and city leaders. Resident Tonya Frazier described him as “very blind and ignorant to the city’s problems” at the May 24th city council meeting.

“You said it was common sense that people know what they are because they are born that way, and that is against your religious beliefs," said Frazier. "You insulted so many members of this community by saying such a biased statement.”

Just weeks into his first term, Kronick made waves in February by attempting to halt a rudimentary appointment vote on the city’s first Chief Diversity Officer, Michael Obasohan — who became the first Black city councilor in North Adams history in 2021.

“You tried to cut his budget, and were so scattered on what your motion even was because you feel so intimidated by a Black man making more money than you do,” said Frazier.

During a closed door press conference last week, Mayor Linda Tyer spoke out on Kronick’s remarks in the context of his ongoing opposition to funding the city’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

“It simply proves the reason and the need for the city's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion," said Tyer. "We are still fighting against those racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic attitudes. And yes, sometimes people of that mindset get elected to office. And it just proves why we need to do this work and why I am committed to it, so much so that we created the office and hired a director so that we can be, so that we can not be that.”

The briefing by Tyer and Council President Peter Marchetti was in response to another source of criticism toward Kronick: his decision to use a charter objection at the first council meeting of June to hinder the passing of the amended 2023 budget ahead of the new fiscal year July 1st.

Tyer and Marchetti also took questions about what it would take to recall Kronick at the press conference.

All of this preceded Kronick’s attempt at self-defense Tuesday. Given the councilor’s allegations that he has been mistreated by the press, WAMC is airing his remarks in full to allow listeners to hear his explanation.

“I’m going to start out saying I have been singled out over the last several months, and before I even ran for office, before I got on the ticket for this office," said Kronick. "And depriving 4,000 people a road maintenance money and refusing to address petitions for disabled residents of Ward 2 among many other examples come out to hit me and, I, responding, I’m bringing right up to here. The reason, the last meeting, Councilor Lampiasi stifling me because I mentioned my religious views. And the President Marchetti angrily, and I say wrongly, accuses me of debasing people because I was bold enough to argue to protect the public employees’ pensions. And not to mention, in concert, I do suspect, with Mayor Tyer promoting my recall, and calling me in a slanderous fashion, though I don't believe you mean it, feel that way, transphobic and homophobic. I thought, why did I mentioned religion in response to the pronoun training? It was spontaneous, but punishing pronoun training discriminates against Judaic and the Christian faithful. We are now told to lie about the biological gender that, violating the Ninth Commandment. We’re further they're told to deny our beliefs that God created man and woman and set our moral compass on mankind's teaching though and not on the Almighty's and that violates the Second and Third Commandments. I recently witnessed modeling of gender identity language to the first graders and older at Morningside Elementary School. And that's regular, that's an ongoing thing. So now the faithful have to teach their children in to violate the Fifth Commandment of the, of the Testaments, and honor the schools and their peers above the parents. The other key reason I mentioned my faith, singling me out in the past, and now they're calling me racist, greedy, transphobic, homophobic, and promoting my recall, seems to prove that I mentioned my religion because I was reacting to a very familiar opponent, the opponent, causing, in the past, 6 million murdered Jews, and then talking about anti-Semitism, but really, I'm talking about religious anti-Semitism, which is full display, not necessarily deliberate, but it's there in the city government, in the press. And the hatred these days I bring to your attention is a very subtle thing, and it hides itself in contemporary trends.”

At this point, Marchetti told Kronick to wrap up his remarks as he had exceeded the 3-minute limit afforded to the meeting’s open mic participants.

“In conclusion, I'm going to say no, I am not going to apologize by calling a charter objection in the name of Ward 2, and no, I do not apologize for fighting for the city employees’ pensions and saving money for all these citizens who are facing historic inflation," said Kronick. "And I do not certainly apologize for insisting that the majority interest on this city council-“

“Councilor, I need you to wrap it up,” said Marchetti.

“-with the minority interests who represent thousands of citizens instead of screwing those people over, and I swore an oath – I’m done – to the people who elected me and I will uphold my oath," continued Kronick. "So may God help me and guide me and the city council.”

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"Pittsfield announces second and final $2.9 million round of ARPA funding for community projects"

By Josh Landes, WAMC Northeast Public Radio, June 29, 2022

The mayor of Pittsfield, Massachusetts announced the second and final round of American Rescue Plan Act funding disbursements for community-proposed projects Wednesday.

During the first round of funding, 18 individual grants accounted for almost $6 million in ARPA funding. The city received around $40 million in total from the federal COVID-19 relief legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden in March 2021. Mayor Linda Tyer held a press conference about the distribution of $2.9 million in ARPA money to 19 recipients at city hall.

“When Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act, it emphasized the importance of investing in post pandemic recovery, especially for people who had been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic," said the mayor. "Even in our community forums, we heard over and over again that there are Pittsfield residents of all ages who were negatively affected by COVID-19. So in this way, Congress and the community are aligned in their mission.”

Tyer said that the largest single disbursement – $600,000 – will go to 18 Degrees Early Education Family Care.

“This is for the addition of family liaisons to the Early Education and Care team to ensure that Pittsfield families and children receive in class and at home support to remote to promote positive and adaptive development and behaviors,” she explained.

The next largest chunk, $400,000, went to the Brien Center.

“As a provider of community based behavioral health care, these funds will enhance the utilization of their Fenn Street campus, implement a new electronic health record system to improve the delivery of mental health care services, and implement a transportation program for Pittsfield residents,” said Tyer.

$350,000 was directed to the Pittsfield Economic Revitalization Corporation.

“To expand PERC’s technical assistance grants that are provided to small businesses for post pandemic economic recovery and to implement a new program in partnership with Downtown Pittsfield Inc. for assisting downtown businesses also with post pandemic economic recovery,” said the mayor.

$245,000 went to the Berkshire Dream Center.

“To support the care and assistance needed for the under resourced residents of Morningside neighborhood by helping the Berkshire Dream Center to replace its roof and related repairs,” explained Tyer.

The Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority secured $240,000.

“This funding is to support healthy community relationships through the expansion of the Family School Dispute Resolution program which includes mediation, restorative justice, and conflict resolution,” said the mayor.

Berkshire Theatre Group took home $220,000.

“To create a new three-year job training program by connecting Pittsfield High School students with skilled professionals in a variety of theater careers,” said Tyer.

$160,000 went to Solider On, the private nonprofit that works to end homelessness for veterans.

“To address delayed care caused by the pandemic by funding a nurse navigator to assist veterans in developing personal wellness action plans and expanding access to health care resources and services,” Tyer said.

Another $160,000 disbursement went to Mass Audubon.

“For Morningside school students to participate in a free, four week summer camp at Canoe Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary,” explained the mayor.

Child Care Of The Berkshires received $125,000.

“For the renovation of the Norman Rockwell Early Childhood Center to create healthy post pandemic spaces for daycare programming, and developmental screening for Pittsfield children,” said Tyer.

The Gladys Allen Brigham Community Center got $100,000.

“For capital improvements to the center's summer camp, so that children experience enhanced outdoor activities, social services, and life skills development,” said Tyer.

Other groups that received funding include Berkshire County Arc, the Pediatric Development Center, the Berkshire Civic Ballet, the Berkshire Center for Justice, and more.

You can find the full list here:

• 18 Degrees Early Education Family Care: $600,000 – for the addition of Family Liaisons to the Early Education and Care team to ensure that Pittsfield families and children receive in-class and at-home support to promote positive and adaptive development and behaviors.

• Berkshire Center for Justice: $50,000 – to expand pro bono legal services in response to the significant increase in hardships caused by the pandemic related to employability and housing.

• Berkshire Civic Ballet: $51,920 – to promote the health and well-being of Pittsfield children through movement and dance class scholarships.

• Berkshire Community College: $70,000 – for BCC’s partnership with Lever’s summer Berkshire Internship program to provide Pittsfield students with access to paid internships at Pittsfield businesses.

• Berkshire County Arc: $50,000 – to establish a day center in the Westside to help people with disabilities gain independent living skills, including job training.

• Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority: $240,000 – to support healthy community relationships through the expansion of the Family/School Dispute Resolution Program including mediation, restorative justice, and conflict resolution

• Berkshire Dream Center: $245,000 – to support the care and assistance needed for the under-resourced Morningside residents by helping the Berkshire Dream Center to replace its roof and related repairs.

• Berkshire Music School: $20,000 – to support the renovations needed to create post-pandemic safe air quality in rehearsal and performance spaces used by music students of all ages.

• Berkshire Nursing Families: $10,000 – for the post-COVID re-opening and expansion of lactation and parenting support programs for Pittsfield mothers and babies.

• Berkshire Theatre Group: $220,000 – to create a new three-year job training program by connecting Pittsfield high school students with skilled professionals in a variety of theater careers.

• Brien Center: $400,000 – as a provider of community based behavioral health care, these funds will enhance the utilization of their Fenn Street Campus, implement a new electronic

health records system to improve the delivery of mental health care services, and implement a transportation program for Pittsfield clients.

• Child Care of the Berkshires: $125,000 – for the renovation of the Norman Rockwell Early Childhood Center to create healthy post-pandemic spaces for day care programming and developmental screenings for Pittsfield children.

• Community Legal Aid: $30,000 – to address increased need for legal aid caused by the pandemic by expanding Pittsfield residents’ access to free legal services related to housing and employment.

• Gladys Allen Brigham Community Center: $100,000 – for capital improvements to the center’s summer camp so that children experience enhanced outdoor activities, social services, and life skills development.

• Jacob’s Pillow: $30,000 – to fund dance experiences for Pittsfield Public School students, establish a Pittsfield-based dance residency program, and provide community-based dance workshops in Pittsfield.

• Mass Audubon: $160,000 – for Morningside school students to participate in a free, four-week summer camp at Canoe Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary.

• Pediatric Development Center: $65,000 – for the creation of an outdoor therapy space for Pittsfield children to enhance their growth in motor skills and social development.

• Pittsfield Economic Revitalization Corporation (PERC): $350,000 – to expand PERC’s technical assistance grants to small businesses and to develop a new program in partnership with Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. for assisting downtown businesses with post-pandemic economic recovery.

• Soldier On: $160,000 – to address delayed care caused by the pandemic by funding a nurse navigator to assist veterans in developing personal Wellness Action Plans and expanding access to health care resources and services.

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June 30, 2022

Sarcasm: Pittsfield politics, Beacon Hill, & the Swamp ALL know how to spend your money better than you.  Not sarcasm: When the American Revolutionary War began, the taxpayers of old were paying 2 weeks of their yearly income to the British Crown.  July 4th, 2022, is 246 years from the first Independence Day in 1776, and the taxpayers pay a whole lot more than 2 weeks of our income to Gated Community Linda Tyer, Trippy Country Buffet & Chrome Dome Adam Hinds, and PAC Man Richie Neal, Maryland Markey, and Elizabeth Warren NOT of Main Street U.S.A.  We didn't have any political representation 246 years ago, and the taxpayers were actually better off for it than we are today with all of the corrupt career politicians in City Hall, under Boston's Golden Dome, and in the Swamp's corridors of MONEY and POWER!

Jonathan A. Melle

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July 2, 2022

The letter in the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) today written by Pittsfield resident Hannah Provencher makes the important points that low to moderate income residents are unable to pay for Mayor Linda Tyer's "Pickleball" budget that just went into effect on July 1st, 2022.  The Mayor and the 7 rubber stamp City Councilors who voted for her "Pickleball" budget do not understand that inflation is at a 41-year high, the city has a large Senior Citizen population, as well as a high poverty rate, and that a recession is being predicted in 2023.  The letter writer is requesting the Mayor and the 7 City Councilors amend - lower - the "Pickleball" budget, but predictable Pittsfield politics always increases its yearly municipal budgets and spending by 5 percent going back 37 years.

I wish to add that Pittsfield taxpayers and beyond are paying top dollar for Level 5 public schools and substandard public services.  To illustrate, it would be like one paying to live in Mayor Linda Tyer and her multimillionaire CPA husband Barry Clairmont's mansion in their elitist Gated Community within a few feet of the Hancock border, but instead being they are given a room at the downtown Pittsfield's YMCA.  Pittsfield is one of the most economically unequal metro areas in the state (of Massachusetts) and the nation, and Mayor Linda Tyer's public financial management and high society lifestyle perfectly illustrates Pittsfield severe inequality!

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Worrying thoughts on Piittsfield's budget"

The Berkshire Eagle, July 2, 2022

To the editor: It was with deep concern for the future of Pittsfield that I followed its recently completed budgetary process. ("Delayed but not deterred, Pittsfield City Council passes $188 million operating budget," Eagle, June 28.)

With no disrespect intended, I remain uncertain that our elected officials fully comprehend the impact of ever-escalating taxes and fees. The most recent federal census revealed that 20 percent of Pittsfield residents are 65 or older. Of that number, 7 percent fall below the poverty threshold. Across all age groups, those who live in poverty more than doubled to 15 percent. Given an 8 percent rate of inflation, $5-per-gallon gasoline and a looming recession, those figures are certain to increase.

Pittsfield faces fiscal challenges ahead, with major expenditures for a new police station and water plant upgrades on the horizon. In addition, operational and design flaws with the $74 million improvements made at the wastewater plant might require additional outlays to correct. As a retired city employee, I can recall a similar period of economic uncertainty that resulted in a five-year delay before we received a new contract, and the layoff of three valued co-workers.

Many of us desire things beyond our ability to pay for them. It’s too late to amend the approved budget. However, as additional appropriations are requested in the year ahead, I would urge city officials to consider what Pittsfield residents have been compelled to do. Tighten your belts and live within your means.

Hannah Provencher, Pittsfield

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July 18, 2022

Pittsfield politics was fortunate to have the Lovely Linda Tyer as its Mayor for the following reasons: (a) She is nobody's fool.  She knows what she is doing and what the corrupt big shots in Boston are doing for and against Pittsfield.  Unlike all of the past failed Mayors of Pittsfield, the Lovely Linda understands what is going on in terms of state and local public management. (b) She stands for Human Rights and Democracy in a time of extremist politics.  I have followed the Lovely Linda's political career for 2 decades now, and she was always an idealist in government, which is a double edge sword when dealing with all of the weasels out there.  (c) She cares about the poor people and distressed neighborhoods that have been neglected by City Hall for generations.  (d) She made an effort to stabilize the city's long troubled municipal finances, despite all of the secrecy in her public spending on substandard city services and Pittsfield's Level 5 public school district.  (e) She believed in Pittsfield at a time when most people threw in the proverbial towel and gave up on the city's decay that has been exhibited over the years in upscale art galleries and museums in London, U.K., NYC and L.A.  (f) She knows all about Pittsfield's socioeconomic issues and problems, despite her shying away from commenting on them by her saying she is unaware of the situation(s).  (g) She bettered herself in her adult life in Pittsfield, which is an almost impossible feat for anyone who doesn't inherit a large amount of money or win the state lottery jackpot.  (h) She knows her time in Pittsfield politics is coming to an end soon, which may be the best thing to ever happen to her in her lifetime.  (i) She will receive a near 6-figure public pension plus perks for the rest of her life, which sounds like a wonderful retirement.  (j) She will be able to leave Pittsfield behind her in the near future like so many thousands of people and families have done over the past 50 years.  Thank you, Lovely Linda Tyer, for your 20-plus year career in Pittsfield politics!  Good luck to you in your retirement.

Jonathan A. Melle

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July 27, 2022

I have studied predictable Pittsfield politics for decades of my 47-year-old life.  I understand that blogger Dan Valenti's knowledge of Pittsfield politics is much greater than my own.  Basically, the same group of one political (Democratic) party provincial state and local insiders pull the same crap year after year.  Municipal spending always increases by 5% every fiscal year.  Municipal debts/other liabilities total in the hundreds of millions of dollars.  Public financial management in Pittsfield is secretive, and the books always get cooked.  Over the past 50 years, Pittsfield's tax base has greatly diminished due to the loss of thousands of living wage jobs and population, but Mayor Linda Tyer and her failed predecessors continue to charge taxpayers top dollar for Level 5 public schools and substandard municipal services.  The people and taxpayers have no real voice in City Hall because everything is always a done deal behind closed doors.  When one speaks out, they face retribution.  Less than 1 in 5 eligible Pittsfield voters vote in local elections, and mostly wealthy Ward 4 always decides the winner of every citywide election, which means that the other six Wards don't really matter in citywide elections.  Inner-city Pittsfield is very dangerous with very high levels of violent crime.  Mayor Linda Tyer called the ongoing shootings there "an immediate crisis".  In closing, the Ruling Elites do NOT really represent the people who live in Pittsfield because Mayor Linda Tyer and a majority of the City Council Members and School Committee Members are all totally disconnected from the issues the community is trying to deal with while everything in Pittsfield always goes from bad to worse on so many levels that it would take many books to write about it all.

Jonathan A. Melle

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July 27, 2022

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

Charles Kronick alleges that he has been the target of anti-Semitism on the Pittsfield City Council.  But Pittsfield City Council President Peter Marchetti denies Kronick's allegations.  Charles Kronick is accused of making transphobic comments; never mind the homophobic smear campaign the Boston state Democratic Party used against Alex Morse in 2 years ago when he challenged K Street's PAC Man Richie Neal in the 2020 primary election.  Charles Kronick dissented about the issue of the city's diversity officer.  Charles Kronick dissented about the fiscal year 2023 "Pickleball" budget.  Charles Kronick raised questions when he referenced the Holocaust during his open mic speech.  WAMC journalist Josh Landes calls Charles Kronick Pittsfield's most controversial civic leader.  Charles Kronick has been the target of criticisms from the news media in Berkshire County, specifically by the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) and iBerkshires.com.  Charles Kronick says that he has been singled out, especially by Peter Marchetti.

What do you, blogger Dan Valenti, make of all of this?  I am interested in reading your written thoughts on your blog: PlanetValenti.com.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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July 28, 2022

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

I am actually sad to read about the Mayor, Linda Tyer, and especially Pittsfield City Council President Peter Marchetti's ongoing political attacks against Ward 2 City Councilor Charles Ivar Kronick.  I am also very sad that Kronick believes that he has been the victim of anti-Semitism during his brief time serving the public on the City Council, which Peter Marchetti denies.  I am unsure about all of the attention on Kronick's open mic comments referencing the Holocaust.  I don't see systemic racism and violence happening in Pittsfield politics, but rather, I believe that Kronick has faced harassment and retribution from the local political establishment and news media, especially by the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) and iBerkshires.com.

We live in a free country, which means that Kronick has an absolute right to exercise his state and federal Constitutional Rights and Civil Liberties in government.  So did then City Councilor Chris Connell, who also faced adversity for openly questioning the Tyer administration's policies.  The City Council is supposed to be a check and balance to the Mayoral administration.  Instead, Mayor Linda Tyer seems to want a rubber stamp legislative branch that never questions her administration's policies.  Mayor Linda Tyer should welcome Sunshine rules and open dissent, but instead, she and Peter Marchetti chose to openly criticize Kronick for expressing his political views that differ from their municipal agenda.

I have written my political views to Mayor Linda Tyer about her public record whereby I have told her that while I support her lofty political views, which are very similar to my own, I also disagree with some of her executive decisions in Pittsfield politics.  At times, she has blocked my political emails to her, but at other times, she did not do so.  I wish that Pittsfield was more democratic and open to the people and taxpayers who the Ruling Elites in City Hall work for.  I understand all too well that it is not the case.  In closing, I wish everyone involved in this ongoing dramatic situation well in their lives.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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August 2, 2022

Please take the time to read this online news story about the forthcoming report by Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington on the Pittsfield Police Department's (PPD) deadly use of force against a mentally ill Pittsfield young man named Miguel Estrella on March 25th, 2022, who the Pittsfield Police Department stated retroactively that technically he was not a "person in crisis". Chief Michael Wynn will be asked to comment on the D.A.'s forthcoming report, especially about his "person in crisis" denial in the PPD report. D.A. Andrea Harrington's forthcoming report will make big waves of controversy in Pittsfield and beyond once again. Many people believe that the PPD murdered Miguel Estrella, and that there should be criminal charges and legal liability against the city in order to bring about positive changes so that this tragic incident will not happen again.

https://www.wamc.org/news/2022-08-01/berkshire-das-report-on-march-25-pittsfield-police-killing-expected-any-day

Berkshire DA’s report on March 25 Pittsfield police killing expected any day | WAMC

Jonathan A. Melle

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August 23, 2022

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

I will keep my letter to you brief.  Dave Pill's letter, below, points out that Pittsfield's violent crime is increasing, despite Linda Tyer's 7-year-old promises to lower it.  Why is Mayor Linda Tyer passing record high municipal budgets for Level 5 public schools and substandard public services?  Reply requested, please, on your blog.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "I see inaction on Pittsfield's problems"

The Berkshire Eagle, August 23, 2022

To the editor: Seven years ago, Pittsfield was suffering through a particularly violent summer: a mass shooting off Linden Street, a young man murdered in broad daylight on Tyler Street and various other shootings in the city.

The city was in a mayoral election year, and the then-candidate Linda Tyer blamed much of the violence on then-incumbent Mayor Dan Bianchi. In an Eagle op-ed, Tyer said she had a plan, and that was why we should elect her as mayor.

Fast-forward to 2022. The shootings have pretty much continued nonstop. In fact, they are more frequent. They are now so common that they no longer make the front page of this newspaper unless they result in death. It seems like both the shooters and the victims are getting more reckless and younger. Oh, and we also have a district attorney now that doesn’t seem to prosecute very vigorously. In fact, she doesn’t seem to believe in police, otherwise she’d call them as witnesses in major crimes (like murder) in order to try and secure convictions in those few cases she does prosecute.

After eight years, I haven’t seen any decrease in violence. I haven’t seen the police given the manpower we need in order to make any inroads. But I also do not hear Mayor Tyer speaking out. It’s crickets from the corner office. Seven years ago, there was a plan and answers; today, we talk about everything but the violence and how we will control it. Blight — same thing. A house down here and a house down there, and 10 more blighted properties to replace them.

Aggressive panhandling, a million quality-of-life issues and none gets dealt with. It seems like every department gets put into stand-down mode to let whatever bad things happen so we don’t offend anyone. Draw people into the parks for Shakespeare, and the hoodlums from the neighborhood harass and threaten the performers during practice, and nothing gets done. Another neighborhood sinking into the list of places you cannot walk through.

I believe if you have a goal, you make a plan and work the plan. The goal will be reached. If the plan was to just drive out the good folks so that we know where all the bad folks are, it seems like the past six-plus years have been a resounding success.

Dave Pill, Pittsfield

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September 2, 2022

The Pittsfield Police Advisory Board had a mass resignation because Mayor Linda Tyer's administration's legal counsel ruled that the board would not be able to review the PPD's internal investigation in its deadly use of force against the intoxicated and self-harming young man with a knife whose name was Miguel Estrella who had a well-known history of mental illness.  While I do not disagree with the city and Berkshire County D.A. Andrea Harrington's affirming reports that the deadly use of force was justified, I strongly disagree with the PPD's finding that on the night of the incident that took the young man's life, that Miguel Estrella was not a person in distress under the law.  To me, that is like saying the 2 + 2 = 5 or that Pigs have Wings and Fly around Unicorns in Fields full of Toys made by Santa's Elves before Christmas.  How on Earth could Mayor Linda Tyer and D.A. Andrea Harrington rationally affirm the PPD's report that Miguel Estrella was not a person in distress under the law on the night of his death at the hands of the Pittsfield Police Department?  I am disappointed in both of the women politicians: Mayor Linda Tyer & D.A. Andrea Harrington.

The plum post of Berkshire County Sheriff is nothing more than a no-show position for a politically connected Democratic insider hack.  That is why Carmen Massimiano sat on his fat ass for 30 years.  That is why Dan Bosley wanted to sit on his fat ass as a would-be Sheriff in order for him to have doubled his state pension.  That is why Tom Bowler is sitting on his fat ass.  That is why Alf Barbalunga wants to sit on his fat ass, too.  Nobody wants to end up in the county jail no matter who you are.  The no-show Sheriffs' lack of oversight of inmates' deaths is due to the fact that they all sit on their fat asses and collect their huge public pay plus perks for doing nothing for many years until they get to collect their huge public pension plus perks.

Jonathan A. Melle

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September 15, 2022

Sarcasm: I did an online search of the Lovely Linda's new tagline called "Love Pittsfield".  This is what I found.  GE's two postindustrial toxic waste dumps that are called leaky landfills, including one that abuts an elementary school that is full of children.  Could GE's capped PCBs and the other possible capped industrial chemicals have anything to do with Pittsfield's Level 5 public schools?  Decades of population loss and decades of lost living wage jobs that is blamed on the late Jack Welch, who left Pittsfield well over 40 years ago and then made Pittsfield into GE's dump decades later in return for the Good Old Boys receiving 30 pieces of silver.  Predictable Pittsfield politics always screwing over the fictional Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski.  Decades of excessively high state and local taxes.  Overpriced Level 5 public schools.  Matt Kerwood's "Creative Accounting" scams and slush funds.  A dangerous downtown - with daily shootings by the over 1,000 gang members who call Pittsfield home - that is also known as "Social Services Alley" and the inner-city neighborhoods that surround North Street's empty storefronts called "The Ring of Poverty".  A growing underclass and homeless population.  Mayor Linda Tyer living in a mansion in an elitist Gated Community with her third and richest husband yet: multimillionaire CPA Barry Clairmont, who says that he patrols inner-city Pittsfield at 3am.  Marijuana odors stinking up residential neighborhoods with no action taken by City Hall.  Backbencher useless State Representatives who do nothing in Boston in return for 6-figure public pay plus perks.  PAC Man Richie Neal always cashing in at K Street's corporate lobbyist firms.  Maryland Markey spewing his HOT AIR in the Swamp about the Democrats' Green New Deal propaganda while he openly supports GE's plan to put a toxic waste dump that is also known as a leaky landfill inside of a watershed in the polluted Housatonic River in Lee.  Elizabeth Warren doing nothing for Main Street USA, while she strongly supports the sitting U.S. President who took in more campaign donation cash from Wall Street in 2020 than any politician in U.S. history.  Joe Biden charging the Kapanski family 41-year high U.S. inflation so he can eat more cake.  The Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle)'s fourth rate yellow journalism that says all of this failed leadership is progress.

Jonathan A. Melle

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September 30, 2022

Predictable Pittsfield politics is at its most predictable when it comes to the Mayor and City Councilors always increasing the municipal and Level 5 public school district's annual spending by 5 percent going back 40 years, which was the beginning of the flawed Proposition 2.5 law.  Mayor Linda Tyer's municipal budgets since fiscal year 2017 through fiscal year 2023 have been excessive, at times record setting, and a hardship on the fictional Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski, and next year, 2023, it is predicted that there will be a brutal economic recession that will rival 2008 and 2002.  In comes Matt Kerwood, who Cooks the Books with his Creative Public Accounting schemes, to make sure that Mayor Linda Tyer will be able to continue to increase Pittsfield's yearly spending by 5 percent during the 2023 mayoral election year.  Pittsfield politics always plays financial shell games to hide its excessively high-cost annual budgets and huge public debts and other liabilities that will never be paid for in our lifetimes.  Pittsfield is really insolvent!  Proposition 2.5 is a joke!  Matt Kerwood will make Proposition 2.5 his punchline, but the Kapanski family and small business owners won't be laughing.

Pittsfielders use open mic to discuss homelessness policies, police oversight at city council meeting | WAMC

Jonathan A. Melle

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October 2, 2022

What difference does it make if Matt Kerwood (illegally) runs every financial board in Pittsfield?  Pittsfield politics is the most predictable thing in the world if not the Universe when it comes to the city's decades of excessive spending on top of its huge debts/liabilities that will never be paid off in our lifetimes.  Matt Kerwood has continued to overtax the fictional Mary Jane & Joe Kapanski family and the small business they shop at in Pittsfield.  Mayor Linda Tyer calls Pittsfield politics Vibrant and Dynamic, but we all know that the Kapanskis pay high taxes in return for Level 5 public schools and inner-city streets that are full of violent crime and home to the over 1,000 gang members who call Pittsfield home.  Matt Kerwood is known for his multimillion-dollar Slush Fund$, his Kufflinks and Hair Plugs, and his CPA, which stands for Creative Public Accountant.  In about 6 months from now, there will be a brutal economic recession.  Matt Kerwood will Cook the Books (again) so that Pittsfield politics can continue to spend money like the winner of a large Powerball lottery jackpot.  When Mayor Linda Tyer proposes her would-be final municipal budget next Spring of 2023, Matt Kerwood will say to Ward 2 City Councilor Charles Ivar Kronick, "What recession?  This is Pittsfield and I am like the Easter Bunny with an unlimited amount of Easter eggs!"

Jonathan A. Melle

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October 4, 2022

Sarcasm: I asked Mayor Linda Tyer and Matt Kerwood if they would pay a large sum of their money for Level 5 public schools and inner-city streets plagued by violent crime.  They replied by saying that is their legacy in Pittsfield politics.  I then asked them why they continue to support the 24-year-old PEDA debacle with its millions of dollars in always increasing debts and liabilities.  They replied that it pales in comparison to Pittsfield's hundreds of millions of dollars in municipal debts and other liabilities.  Lastly, I asked them why they dislike differing viewpoints from Ward 2 City Councilor Charles Ivar Kronick and other taxpaying activists.  They told me that Pittsfield politics should be run by the same provincial group of out-of-touch top-down insiders so that "Business as usual" will ensure that grassroots democracy will always be suppressed, and the fictional Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family will always be conditioned to always bend over and take it while "Rome burns".  I thought I was in an episode of "The Twilight Zone", but then I remembered that I grew up in Pittsfield, and that Pittsfield politics will never change for the better, but I also feel sorry for the people who live in Naples, Florida and beyond right now - and not just because Pittsfield's Godfather Jimmy Ruberto is a full-time resident of the Sunshine State.

Jonathan A. Melle

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