Send in the clowns

http://www.inamherst.com/

Having just read Stephanie’s stenography of the illustrious Select Board meeting Monday night I now regret leaving so quickly.

At least two of them (former-Czar Awad and Greeney), FINALLY, get it and voted against giving Umass free gray water when previously they paid $37,000. YES, they should simply reinstitute the higher charges for water consumption, at the rate Hadley charges for it’s top level water users (that some households fall into); and that alone would equal the entire net gain from this ludicrous “strategic agreement.”

The diffident town manager thinks Umass would walk away from the “deal” if the Sewer Commissioners (that would be our illustrious Select board) didn’t support the gray water fee waiver. Now if the vote had been 2-2 then it would NOT have passed.

And last I looked Rob Kusner is a highly paid professor at Umass, Amherst. Hmmm…

Later Mr. Kusner (what’s with the dress shirt and tie?) defended his meddling in the Lincoln Avenue speed cushion experiment by trotting out a ten-year old Amherst Town Meeting resolution praising cycling and encouraging bike lanes.

But did they say you had to have a three-foot wide bike lane the entire length of the route? Unless you’re under the influence of drugs or alcohol any idiot can negotiate a one-foot wide by three-foot long safe passageway around the cushions. Yikes!

And of course his Lordship Mr. Weiss closed the meeting with a plug for the “Public Forum for Budget Priorities” tomorrow night at Town Hall. Yeah, like they’re going to learn something (and even if they did, would they act on it?).

ALL the “Public Forums” seemed to indicate overwhelming support for the May 1’st property tax Override; and we see how well that turned out. Sometimes tealeaves are simply tealeaves.