Topic: Incompetence in Pittsfield city government.
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posted by G.M.Heller at Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
About Me
- Name: G.M.Heller
- Location: Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., United States
Hailed by Berkshire cognoscenti as that "crank on the grassy knoll".
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NEWS ARTICLE:
Residency need debated
A subcommittee votes in favor of allowing the Building Commissioner to live outside Pittsfield.
By Tony Dobrowolski, Berkshire Eagle Staff
The Berkshire Eagle
Monday, May 14, 2007
PITTSFIELD — Despite concerns about public safety, officials recently recommended the City Council vote to drop the requirement that the Building Commissioner live within the city of Pittsfield.
Mayor James M. Ruberto told the board that it was time to "relax the standard" to give the City Council the opportunity to vote for building commissioner nominees "like you do for so many other positions under the present charter."
The recently retired William Thornton was known as Pittsfield's "acting" Building Inspector for the last 10 years because he lived in Lenox.
3-2 vote to eliminate requirement
The ordinance and rules subcommittee voted 3-2 in favor of the proposal to eliminate the residency requirement.
Ward 7 Councilor Anthony V. Maffuccio opposed the measure, suggesting it would be better to have the Building Commissioner living in Pittsfield if a disaster occurred.
"I believe, as I said two years ago, you're putting public safety at risk," Maffuccio said. "You need to have these individuals close."
Ward 5 Councilor Jonathan N. Lothrop said if the Building Commissioner's salary were increased, Pittsfield could attract a good candidate that lives within the city.
Referring to Thornton's living situation, Councilor at large Gerald M. Lee he would be in favor of a measure that would determine how far from Pittsfield the Building Commissioner should live.
"I don't want someone living in another time zone," Lee said. "But if you live in Lenox or Dalton, you're still part of the Pittsfield community.
"If you can't hire a building inspector, have people come back on a part-time basis," he said.
Referring to the situation in the School Department where neither the superintendent nor assistant superintendent are full-time city residents, Lee said: "I don't want to become like the School Department where there's a complete disconnect from the community."
Maffuccio said that living in Dalton or Lenox is not the same as living in Pittsfield, and that he had already spoken to Ruberto about increasing the Building Commissioner's yearly compensation.
Ruberto said if the council was interested in having him look at increasing the salaries for public safety employees that he would be happy to do so, but said that would affect the city's salary scale and take "a considerable amount of money."
"We can't isolate one job and say we have to raise the level of that job because we have to fill it," Ruberto said.
In other business, the subcommittee voted 3-2 in favor of rezoning three parcels off of Gamwell Avenue from light industrial to residential.
The property consists of three vacant parcels that are situated behind residences on Gamwell and Velma avenues and the Housatonic Railroad tracks that cross under South Street. All of the surrounding land is zoned residential. The proposal, which has been before various boards the past month, was originally brought forward by Gamwell Avenue resident Walter Doerle who had circulated a citizens' petition.
Ruberto, who lives near Gamwell Avenue, spoke in favor of the rezoning, saying as "a resident of the neighborhood", he hoped the council would approve the measure to maintain "the integrity of the neighborhood."
Ward 2 Councilor Louis A. Costi referred to the rezoning as "unwise" saying all it would accomplish would be to take developable land "off of the tax rolls."
"No one's going to build a house next to a railroad siding," Costi said.
Also in opposition was Joel F. Cooper, the president of Filkins Transportation Co. of Pittsfield, who said he had signed a purchase-and-sales agreement with the Valley Mill Corp. in December to purchase some of the land. If the council approves the rezoning, Filkins said he could move to New York's Rensselaer County the business that he planned to build on the site.
Ordinance and rules also approved a measure that would amend a City Council rule to allow the public health and safety subcommittee, in conjunction with the Board of Health and several state and federal agencies, to conduct bi-annual updates of monitoring activity associated with Hill 78, a PCB-contaminated waste dump behind the Allendale Elementary School.
All three proposals were referred with favorable recommendations to the City Council for consideration.
School merger details wanted
Officials hope for no lingering questions from an upcoming study on consolidating Pittsfield and Taconic.
By Tony Dobrowolski, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Thursday, May 31, 2007
PITTSFIELD — School Committee members want all issues surrounding a possible consolidation of Pittsfield and Taconic high schools resolved once an initial examination of the idea is completed in January.
"What I want out of this is no questions unanswered," said School Committee member Daniel C. Elias.
Elias's comment followed a presentation by Lee Dore from Dore & Whittier Architects Inc., the firm that school and city officials selected two months ago to examine consolidating the city's two high schools.
Harkening back to the lengthy debate over privatizing the city's school bus fleet several years ago, Elias said: "I want a finality to this so that we can move forward in whichever way we may choose."
Once Dore conducts an information-gathering process, Dore & Whittier will present a written report that the city can use as a "jumping-off point for options," Dore said.
"We think we can wrap all of this up by the end of January," Dore added.
Dore said he'd like to get a "handle" on the "expectation and ideas" that the School Committee had regarding the consolidation study.
"We kind of look at this as a blank slate," he said.
Dore told the School Committee on Tuesday the firm plans to bring in a team of architects and engineers to study the two existing high school buildings, perform a structural analysis, examine existing utility issues and work with the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative on sustainable design issues to make the buildings more energy efficient.
The firm will also look at possible environmental impacts on the two properties, and examine the surrounding neighborhoods to see the context that each school is located. Dore & Whittier will also assess the air and water quality in each building; and examine spatial requirements, especially classroom size and the proximity of academic departments to each other; and building code issues.
"We will look at the existing condition of the buildings and come up with a menu of things that need improving from an architectural standpoint," Dore said.
A capacity for the expansion of each building will also be examined.
"Can you build on the top of the school? We don't know. We will be analyzing that," he added.
The firm will also examine enrollment projections to see "what's going to happen over the next 10 years," Dore said.
"We'd like to visit the schools, hopefully before the end of the (school) year," he added.
Once Dore & Whittier finishes examining all of these issues, it will try and determine how much the entire consolidation project would cost the city. He said the firm would try to assess the "total cost," not just the "total construction costs" because such a project would involve a number of "soft costs."
"We try and give you a soup-to-nuts budget so that you can analyze them against each other," Dore said.
He said Whittier & Dore also plans to keep both the Massachusetts School Building Association and the public informed with the ongoing process, by holding neighborhood and community meetings.
Earlier, board members Angel D. Ramirez Jr. and Dorothy J. van den Honert said the effect of consolidation on students' educational opportunities should be given more weight than architectural and structural considerations.
"Unless you can show that there is a significant educational advantage to consolidation, I don't think it's going to work here," van den Honert said. "It's got to really be worth the money in this town if it's going to fly."
"Our top priority is what is the educational plan going to look like regardless of what the building or buildings look like?" said School Committee Chairwoman Kathleen A. Amuso.
Dore, the director of marketing and project manager for Dore & Whittier's office in South Burlington, Vt. (the firm also has an office in Newburyport), outlined the company's plans for a "high school consolidation study" at a Tuesday night special School Committee meeting scheduled specifically for that purpose.
"We all want to be on the same page with the consolidation study from day one," Business Manager Sally Douglas said, explaining why Dore & Whittier had been asked to appear before the board.
RE: An ode to Rinaldo Del Gallo III
Dear Rinaldo Del Gallo III, Berkshire Bloggers, News Media, Politicians, & the People:
Pittsfield Politics is the politics of persecution, not grassroots democracy.
I had dinner this past Thursday evening with my 97 year old maternal grandmother, along with my parents and brother and his lovely family. I thought of the vicious rumor that Denis E. Guyer's conduit, Peter Marchetti, spread about me that my Grandma asked me to leave her Pittsfield home in the early Spring of 2004. My grandmother's maiden name is Marchetti, and the corrupted Pittsfield City Councilor is her great nephew. Talking to my elderly grandmother made me feel proud of myself because prior to parting ways with her, I saved her life by ensuring she go to the local hospital after the doctor's office called and apprised me that she had a diabetic blood sugar count of over 600, and a normal blood sugar count would be between the numbers of 60 - 120. At 97 years of age, my grandmother looks better than ever in recent years. Due to my help of my elderly grandmother, she is still living and proud of herself for her savvy sale of her Pittsfield home. She loves living in Rhode Island with her son/my uncle George. While I like New Hampshire, In only a good way, I envy my grandmother for living in Rhode Island because it is such a beautiful state to live in!
My grandmother and I talked about my paternal grandmother who passed away in North Adams this past March 16, 2007 at 81 years of age from diabetes. Like my maternal grandmother, I wish I still lived in the Berkshires so I would have been able to save my paternal grandmother's life. I lived with my paternal grandmother in North Adams from July 1, 1997 through August 31, 1998 during my semester breaks while attending graduate school at U Mass. My paternal grandmother and I would play Parcheesi and watch TV together. She helped me through a family crisis, and the wounds of family conflict have healed due to my paternal grandmother's grace.
Then my grandmother asked me about my 83 year old elderly lady political friend in Pittsfield. I told her that she is doing well, too. Later this past Thursday evening, the night of a Blue Moon, I called my elderly lady political friend to say hello and tell her about my grandmother. After talking for a while, and being updated about different events and people in Pittsfield Politics, she apprised me that she attended a political dinner and was honored for being a Democratic Party member for 62 years, and that everyone stood up and applauded her work except one man: Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. She apprised me that Luciforo laughed at her during her moment of recognition. I responded that Luciforo should not have been mean-spirited to her.
My grandmother and I talked about her friends and family in Pittsfield. I asked her about her friend Harriet, whom I would also help out during the time I lived with my grandmother and saved her life. My grandmother did not know how her friend of many decades was doing and informed me that she should giver her a telephone call. My grandmother told me I looked good. I responded to her, "Thank you, but I have a belly." I then shook my belly to be funny, and she said to me, "I have a belly, too. That means we eat well." We both laughed.
I think of Pittsfield Politics and the negative tone set by some of the insider politicians there and I shake my head in disgust. Growing up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the people were NOT like the politicians who now run the city. Back in the summer of 2005, when Cliff Nilan called me and asked me about my father, which I credit him for doing, I told Cliff that during my childhood everything in Pittsfield was not the way it is now: The Eagle was locally owned, the politicians were about the people, not themselves, and the community cared about each other, there was NO persecution. I told Cliff that a few bad apples with bad agendas claimed Pittsfield for their own ends and now the people live in fear and intimidation. Cliff responded that no one cares about politics anymore.
That leads me to my point about why I love my grandmother and get along well with elderly people, in general. During the period of time I lived with my paternal grandmother in North Adams, the dichotomy was clear that she and her elderly friends cherished me, but the younger generations were out to spite me for supporting my father's tenure as Berkshire County Commissioner. When I had political disputes with Dan Bosley, John Barrett III, Andy Luciforo, et al, my late paternal grandmother said to me, "It is a beautiful thing that you are doing, Jonathan!" I said to my grandmother, "What do you mean, the entire Berkshire political machine dislikes me intensely, Grandma?" She said to me, "You love my son, who is your father. You are committed to helping him in his time of need, Jonathan. You have shown yourself to be a good man because you put aside all of your own interests to protect your father from what Nuciforo and those guys down in Pittsfield have done to him."
In the end, it was Judge Barbalunga who ultimately saved my father from ruin. My heart was in the right place, but I will never be as good of a man as my father's old boss. But like me, Judge Barbalunga represented the Pittsfield of my youth. He saw my father being politically persecuted by the Berkshire State Senator, Luciforo, and he also saw Luciforo's dual, coterminous attempt to have my father's son jailed under false pretenses, and worked to assist my dad to keep his state job until his retirement. I thank God for the good man that is Judge Barbalunga who helped my father at the risk of his own interests.
My elderly Pittsfield political friend told me on many occasions the slanderous rumors being spread about me in the Pittsfield area after I moved from the beautiful Berkshires to Southern New Hampshire to live with my family. When she was being applauded for over 6 decades of work on behalf of the Democratic Party, I knew that Luciforo laughed at her because she is committed to humanely helping her fellow man and woman before fulfilling an agenda or corrupted interest. She, like my dad, two grandmothers and Judge Barbalunga, still represent the Pittsfield of my childhood. My elderly Pittsfield friend, my two grandmothers, my dad and Judge Barbalunga, are the people I admire most in politics for their commitment to what matters most in life: PEOPLE! Friends! Family!
There are other good people in the Pittsfield area whom I admire immensely who participate in politics: Rhonda Serre, Richard Delmasto, Larry Caprari, among others.
I consider Rinaldo Del Gallo III as another person who represents the Pittsfield of my childhood. Furthermore, I consider Rinaldo as one of my political friends. Rinaldo has worked tirelessly to better the ailing social conditions in Pittsfield, but because he does not comply with the corrupted agenda of the local political oligarchy, he is laughed at like my elderly Pittsfield political friend was laughed at by Luciforo amidst a room of standing applause. Rinaldo did what countless others have done, including myself, which was to collect campaign signatures inside and outside of the United States Post Office on Fenn Street in Pittsfield. The corrupted special intests who have taken over and soured the Pittsfield of my childhood saw it as an opportunity to politically persecute him for practicing his constitutionally protected rights and liberties to participate in democracy.
For the same reason I wanted to help my dad in his time of political persecution, I protected the sanctity of human lives during my honorable service in the U.S. Army and was honored by the sitting president by being ordered a hearing one block from The White House to be granted my VA Benefits, for saving my maternal grandmother's life during her time of illness and need, and for leading a good life and being best known for being a good man, I am going to sign the following affidavit on behalf of another good man, Rinaldo Del Gallo III.
In Truth,
Jonathan A. Melle
-----
AFFIDAVIT OF JONATHAN MELLE
I, JONATHAN MELLE, testify under pains of perjury that all of the following statements of facts are either true or believed to be true, all of the following statements of belief are believed to be true, and that all of the following statements of law are beliefs believed to be true:
That on or about the time period of the entire month of February and up to the middle of March of 2004 I gathered signatures on the sidewalk of the Pittsfield Post Office when I was running for State Senator in Berkshire County.
/signed/
Jonathan A. Melle
Date: June 02, 2007
9/13/2007
Dear Rinaldo,
I concur with your essay, below. I think you are one of the most intelligent and good-hearted people I have ever met. I enjoy reading your policy essays a lot!
I think Pittsfield, Massachusetts is a good place to live! I am glad I grew up and spent most of my life in the Pittsfield area.
It is just that mean-spirited politicians like Denis E. Guyer, who spread vicious, hurtful, racist and violent rumors against me, Carmen C. Massimiano, Jr., who always picks on me to political insiders, and Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr., who tried to both ruin my dad's career and put me in Carmen's County Jail, and who is also now behind Denis E. Guyer's dirty politics, makes me very angry.
When I read online propaganda news articles describing how wonderful Denis E. Guyer is, I want to vomit! When I see through Carmen Massimiano's backing of Andrea Nuciforo for a future run for U.S. Congress based on the pretense of Western Massachusetts issues when they are both insider Boston-run Pols, I want to scream! When I hear Mayor Jim Ruberto mock me while playing into the hands of Denis Guyer, Carmen Massimiano & Andrea Nuciforo, I want to dissent.
The ugly truth, Rinaldo, is that Pittsfield is being ran by the Boston Pols' political machine special interests. Governor Deval Patrick and Mayor Jim Ruberto talk up Pittsfield's economy, but it is all propaganda!
Pittsfield is the number ONE place in Massachusetts for job LOSSES! Pittsfield's public schools are among the ten worst performing educational institutions in the commonwealth. Pittsfield's teen pregnancy rate doubles the statewide average. Pittsfield's welfare caseloads are skyrocketing upwards every year. Pittsfield, Massachusetts is a place with a myriad of devastating social programs. The Mayor and like state and local politicians are to blame!
I feel like Pittsfield's public policies are all done by design for the city to collect its annual tens of millions of dollars in state administered, federal funds for social programs, including public education, and then complement the public dollars to its municipal tax base to fund only special interests and keep the property tax liability artificially low for the elite wealthy residents. This kind of governance behavior is called (intentional) "Perverse Incentives" in Economics.
Rinaldo, this was NOT the community you and I both grew up in. It breaks my heart to read about even one more teen pregnancy, high school drop-out, underperforming public school, lost job, and the like. A couple of years ago, you used to write essays about Pittsfield's perverse governance behaviors. Now, you remain silent. That breaks my heart, too.
As Amherst, Massachusetts State Senator Stan Rosenberg pointed out to me in our past email correspondences, the problems he works on for Western Massachusetts are in New Hampshire too. He is absolutely right. Every public school in Manchester, NH is now underperforming! That breaks my heart, too. Suffice it to say, I will NOT be voting for Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta next Tuesday or possibly in November either!
Thank you to all of you who correspond with me. I read all of your emails. We should all care about each other. That is why I continue to write, because I CARE!
Yours Truly,
Jonathan A. Melle
RDelGalloIII at aol dot com wrote:
Jonathan:
You have many good things to say which are very intelligent. Here however you accuse the mayor of essentially not loving his mother, using her, and putting her in a nursing home in an effort to steal her house. I have had many disagreements with the mayor Jonathan on policy, but I am 100% certain that he has the utmost affection for his mother and would not do anything that he did not think was in her own interest. The decison to put a parent in a nursing home is a difficult one to make. I am sure the mayor's only motives were what was best for his mother and that his own interest had nothing to do with the analysis. Jonathan, I think it might be better to keep your criticism centered around public policy. I know deep inside there is a lot of good in you.
Rinaldo
City schools lag in area
By Jenn Smith, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Article Last Updated: 09/15/2007
Saturday, September 15, 2007
PITTSFIELD — Pittsfield remains the only school system in Berkshire County still listed as needing "corrective action" on the federal No Child Left Behind standards, but school administrators said 11 of its 12 schools are meeting their achievement targets.
According to preliminary annual yearly progress reports released yesterday, the district is still labeled with a corrective action status because six of its schools did not meet goals for achievement either in subgroup performance or, in the case of one school, aggregate performance, which measures the performance of a school as a whole.
In 2006, the district did not meet the standards for adequate yearly progress in English/language arts. And its subgroups — student data categories broken down by limited English proficiency, special education, low-income and ethnic groups — did not make their targets in math.
But for 2007, according to the data released yesterday, the district only failed to get all its subgroups to make progress in English/language arts.
In an interview yesterday, Superintendent Katherine E. Darlington and Deputy Superintendent Howard J. Eberwein III, discussed the status changes in their schools.
Darlington said the results show "not incremental, but dramatic improvement" for the district.
According to the data, Morningside Elementary School was the only Pittsfield school to show a decline in performance in 2007. This is the second year the school has been identified for improvement.
Crosby Elementary and Conte Community schools met their academic targets in math and English/language arts overall, but not in English/language arts for all of its subgroups. This is the first year both schools have been identified for improvement of its subgroup performances in this subject.
Eberwein said Pittsfield High School has been identified for improvement within its subgroups for English/language arts scores, but only because the school did not meet the state threshold for graduation rates, something that was factored into scores for the first time this year.
The other two schools, Reid and Herberg middle schools, are being reviewed by the state because they missed the attendance threshold of 92 percent by marginal percentages.
Reid had an attendance rate of 91.6 percent, and Herberg had a rate of 90.6 percent.
Darlington said the district is going to look more closely at how it collects data to see whether the discrepancies are reporting issues, medical-related absences or other reasons why kids are not in school.
"We know now that we have a great deal of work to do in how we plan for Morningside," she said, adding that administrators will be in the school working with students, staff and faculty and keeping parents informed.
Letters will be sent home with all the district's students as early as Monday detailing the district's performance scores.
--
MCAS scores are up
By Hillary Chabot, Transcript statehouse bureau
Article Launched: 09/13/2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
BOSTON — After years of staying relatively flat, MCAS scores got a boost across all grades and subjects, according to results released Wednesday for the state Department of Education.
Scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Achievement System tests for elementary through middle school students saw the most improvement, with 8 percent more elementary students scoring proficient or higher in math and a 6 percent increase for fourth-graders who scored proficient or higher in English Language Arts.
More 10th-graders managed a proficient or higher score after they took the test for the first time, with 87 passing last spring, up from 84 percent in 2006.
"I think this is the result of schools focusing their curriculum on the standards of the test," said Acting Commissioner of Education Jeffrey Nellhaus. "As the students who got exposure to those standards come up through the grades, the scores have been going up."
The biggest jump was in elementary mathematics, which saw an 8 percent proficiency increase for students in grades three, four and five.
Adams Cheshire regional District Superintendent Alfred W. Skrocki said the results are heartening.
"Our preliminary results look good also," Skrocki said. "We've been making some significant changes in the way we're operating in all of our schools, and I'm sure this has some impact on that change."
Students are expected to get a score of 240 or above to achieve a proficiency score on the MCAS test. The scores of elementary students have remained flat, and sometimes even declined, for the past two years. Gov. Deval Patrick said the boost is a welcome change.
"It is a testament to the diligence of our students and the hard work of our teachers and administrators," Patrick said in a statement. "But let's not lose sight of the fact that while kids with disabilities and limited English proficiency and minority kids, are improving, the achievement gap persists. We have work to do there."
The "achievement gap" shows that minority, low-income and disabled students still have a tougher time making proficiency scores in all grades. While 91 percent of white students scored proficient on their first try, only 73 percent of black students and 67 percent of Hispanic students did so. Only 60 percent of disabled students made proficiency their first try, as did 73 percent of low-income students.
Minority students saw gains in MCAS scores overall, however. Black and Hispanic students in all grades tested improved their scores in math by 1 to 8 percent. They also increased scores on their English Language Arts tests by 1 to 5 percent.
Skrocki said the results reflect hard work that must continue.
"It's a one-year thing, and you're also talking about different kids," he said. "We have been working on substantive changes and programs that will hopefully keep our results rising in the long term."
Scores for individual scores are not expected to be released until next month.
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