Borrowing a page or two from Dave Letterman, rookie Town Manager John Musante presented the Select Board a lucky list of 13 reasons to "stay positive" in the coming year. The only thing his presentation lacked was a little background music, say, "The sun will come out tomorrow."
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Regionalization of Emergency Dispatch (partners in place this Spring) Improve service and save substantial money.
Regionalization of Public Health Services ($tate grant for shared services.)
Kendrick Park. Public Process underway. Designs coming in the next few weeks. Substantial state grant to make it happen. Jan 27 Public Hearing on prospective designs from Kendrick Study Committee.
Road improvement. $4.5 million to deal with "most major roads" ($21 million backlog). Most ambitious in town history (starts this spring).
Atkins Corner road and business improvement in South Amherst. Mass DOT about to issue a contract.
Lord Jeff Inn reopens this summer. Anchor in downtown.
Boltwood Place (behind Judie's restaurant) breaks ground later this month. Direct result of zoning changes approved by Town Meeting to allow infill.
BID (Business Improvement District). Working closely with Chamber of Commerce to explore this privately lead, privately financed entity to enhance services in the downtown.
Gateway Project. Working with Amherst Redevelopment Authority and all the major stakeholders. Very intensive process will begin later this winter. Create vital thriving mixed use development, a boulevard connecting Umass campus with downtown.
Notion of neighborhood stabilization. Efforts to improve quality of life especially around Umass. Involving Code enforcement, rental properties, education, enforcement. Working with tenants and landlords.
North Amherst and Atkins Corner rezoning. About to awards contracts to consultants to finish job of translating broader principals of Master Plan for infill development in our Village Center (could come to Town Meeting next fall.)
Solar energy. Town will be a leader in the Region in renewable energy. Six bids to create a solar array at the old landfill. Great for environment significant financial benefits to town and reducing energy costs.
"Open Government to the Max". Trying to allow citizens to be much more interactive with the town.
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And of course soon after presenting the last item on this list the Town Manager and Select Board retreated into Executive Session (to discuss collective bargaining.)
Only means he knows the shit's going to hit the fan here shortly.
ReplyDeleteSame ol' spin, same ol' disrespect...
Karma.
That's "led," not "lead." Thanks for keeping us informed!
ReplyDeleteBy the way ... all of those Town professionals who gave up their COLA's ... Shaffer's parting shot was to give all of them 3 personal days. Yes, they got paid and did not work for 3 days. Take that, collective bargaining!
There was an interesting line in the FY-11 Housing Services budget request (submitted to Student Affairs0 -- the demand for rental apartments is dropping in Amherst.
ReplyDeleteThrow in this along with the police/town making the rental properties near UMass unfriendly to students and the mortgages that speculators have (and can walk away from) and you are going to have abandoned bank-owned properties in town.
And you think you have problems now....