The canary in the coal mine briefly quivered, but survived, as Amherst Town Meeting passed article #5 by a 90 to 67 vote, providing $40,000 for a "housing market study" of the entire town, but mainly used to promote the ailing Gateway Corridor Project, a joint development effort Amherst started last year with UMass and the Amherst Redevelopment Authority but now pretty much a town project.
Fortunately, tonight's marketing study article required only a majority vote. Article #17, Form Based Zoning, also a pro development measure somewhat connected to the Gateway Project, will require a two-thirds vote.
And none of the No voters from this evening are going away.
Unfortunately.
I really would like to see the housing market study results. Do you think we can stop them from shoving low income housing into already dense neighborhoods? I am tired of being called a NIMBY when it seems that nasty former planning employees are driving their own agenda. Apparently, Amherst did not learn its lesson when the instant slum of South Point got worse and worse.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone had time to read and understand the form-based zoning document? Time to understand it's effects? Put it off to Spring Town Meeting so people can learn more about it and vote on something they've had time to read and reflect on.
ReplyDeleteRoom full of geezers.
ReplyDeleteThey'll be gone soon enough.
Then, everything changes.
Can we get this punctuation point?
ReplyDelete"It's" is the contraction for "it is".
"Its" is the possessive form for the pronoun "it".
It's time for Ed's Predictions:
ReplyDelete1: Higher Ed Bubble implodes.
2: UM Undergrad Enrollment Drops.
3: Student housing becomes Sect 8.
4: Larry quietly longs for the days when the biggest problem in town was loud drunken rich kids from Jersey.
5: Drugs, gun violence and the rest plague Amherst... Slumlords rent to single mothers whose drug dealing boyfriends don't officially "live" there, town helpless to do anything....
On to Article 17 for Town Meeting on Wednesday (11/16) night. Rezoning our Village Centers is very important so the growth of Amherst can occur in a "smart" and sensible manner.
ReplyDeleteHere are some reasons why:
http://sustainableamherst.org/2011/11/14/village-center-rezoning/