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Bianchi Reaffirms Support For Campaign Mailer
Bianchi Campaign,
02:54PM / Monday, November 02, 2015
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The Bianchi campaign put price tags on programs Linda Tyer supports and sent the figures to voters in an attempt to cast Bianchi as the more fiscally responsible candidate. The Berkshire Eagle called the mailer "misleading" and a "scare tactic" in an editorial, which led the Bianchi campaign to reaffirm its support for the mailer. 

In response to a Berkshire Eagle editorial and Linda Tyer's press conference to refute a campaign mailer incumber Daniel Bianchi's campaign sent to voters, the Bianchi campaign issued the following statement:
 
"Our opponent along with the Editorial Staff at the Berkshire Eagle has taken issue with a mailer we sent out to inform voters. Since the Berkshire Eagle and others have not taken the time to watch any of the debates to see exactly what Ms. Tyer has promised the voters, and because Ms. Tyer refuses to put any real dollar amount on those promises, we have elected to do the homework for both her and the Berkshire Eagle. 
 
Please note that our opponent claims she will pay for all the programs she promises with no real revenue stream or specific cuts to existing programs or services. When she has been pressed to explain how she will pay for her expensive promises, she has stated the following:
 
-Grants (with no specific grant programs mentioned)
-Private Donors (with no specific donors mentioned)
-Re-prioritizing the budget (with no specific information as to what portion of the budget will be cut)
-Draining police overtime to hire new officers
-Increasing taxes to pay for additional police officers
 
Taxpayer money does not grow on trees. Voters deserve specifics. A responsible Berkshire Eagle should be demanding them, as well.
 
The following is point by point information on Ms. Tyer's expensive promises, taken directly from public campaign appearances or debates which we pointed out in our very accurate mailer:
 
1) Ms. Tyer clearly stated at the BCC debate that a city the size of Pittsfield should have 120 police officers. She has made hiring more officers a focal point in her campaign, time after time. We currently have 86 officers and another 7 in the pipeline, bringing the force up to 93 officers which is the authorized level. If you take the 120 figure that Ms. Tyer says is what the city should have to be at full force, minus the 93 that we will shortly have in the ranks, we arrive at the number of 27 additional officers. 
 
It costs $80,000 annually per officer for salary and benefits. This, multiplied by 27 officers, equals $2.16 million. This does not include training and the additional equipment and cruisers needed for a larger force. In a campaign interview with New England Public Radio and at the Planet Valenti debate, Ms. Tyer said she will help pay for this by tapping into the police department's overtime budget. In the radio interview, she elaborated on how she will pay for additional officers - by re-allocating existing resources and by expressing her belief that the people of Pittsfield are willing to invest their taxpayer money in this initiative.
 
Cutting the police overtime budget will not achieve the cost-savings that Ms. Tyer would need to partially fund additional police officers because police officers working overtime are not being paid additional benefits. So, even at time and a half, the final cost is less than hiring a new officer who comes with additional costs in benefits and equipment. And also reduces the flexibility of PPD to assign special details when needed.
 
2)Ms. Tyer said in the West Side debate that she would build the West Side neighborhood a new community center. Just recently, the City of Springfield went out to bid for a new Community Center with the low bid coming back at $8.1 million. Our contention that a new West Side Community Center will cost taxpayers $4-$5 million is conservative. 
 
3)Universal Pre-K is something that Ms. Tyer speaks about in every debate. Currently there are 22 private pre-schools and over 60 licensed day care centers. We estimate that it will cost $3 million to offer free, quality, public pre-K to those who are currently not in it or in private daycare currently. And what will happen to the existing pre-schools and staffs?
 
4)Ms. Tyer continues to say she will implement the Cure Violence program, which is used in cities like Chicago and New Orleans and in countries like Iraq, South Africa and Syria. This program costs $350,000 a year and requires a three-year commitment. She claims we can fund it through grants, but never cites any specific grant and the program itself offers no grant funding. After speaking with a program director at Cure Violence, we came to an estimate of $1.2 million every three years.
 
5)The Pittsfield Police Department already has a traffic bureau. Ms. Tyer claims that we do not have enough officers, yet her idea is to either add or shift current responsibilities from officers to work in the traffic bureau which has been in place for over three decades.
 
6)Just like the PPD Traffic Bureau idea, the City already has a Highway Department that performs a comprehensive road management program. 
 
7)Councilor Clairmont; who is front and center in her campaign has promised raises to dozens of current employees. For fear of retribution of the folks who shared the information with us, we will not disclose who they are. With that said; raises have most definitely been promised.
 
8)Ms. Tyer said in a debate that she would like to hire a Business Recruitment Agency; this duplicates efforts not only being performed at the city level but also on the State level which performs the same task at the Massachusetts Office of Business Development which is under the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. Not to mention the great efforts being performed at the private level by the Chamber of Commerce, 1Berkshire, the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority and other economic development agencies. 
 
9)Currently the Mayor has a Vacant Housing Committee. This committee meets and systematically addresses vacant buildings in a smart and efficient manner, which includes demolition, amounting in 55 buildings over the past three years. These costs are covered by Community Development Block Grants through the federal government and by the private building owners. Ms. Tyer is asking to duplicate efforts in demolishing buildings, which costs more money not only in demo costs but in legal costs as there is a legal process to be followed. This is not to mention the staff that would need to be hired to enforce her proposals on mowed lawns and boarded up windows and doors. Considering that we know how much money it takes to take down structures, we conservatively estimated that what she claims she would like to do will cost at least $3 million.
 
10) Ms. Tyer has said at multiple debates that she would not want the Mayor to sit on the PEDA board to help guide decisions and also would hire a developer to develop some of the last remaining industrially zoned land in our City. We find this to be irresponsible as the Mayor should be representing the will and the trust of the public not transferring that critical responsibility to those who may have their own special interests."
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