Saturday, June 23, 2012

Proves The Rule


621 E Pleasant (Illuminated sign reads "Babetown")

UPDATE: September 17

So yes, the childish comments that started coming in yesterday alerted me that this fairly routine, slow- -news-day post from almost three months ago (or "forever" in Internet time) was suddenly getting an avalanche of renewed interest -- probably from one of the denizens who must have Googled the address or possibly the silly sign title, "Babetown" to discover this post and then reposted on Facebook.

Interestingly this particular post originally barely registered on my sitemeter for traffic generated.  But NOW, it has broken in to my Top Ten list (see "popular posts" widget over on the lower right side) of all time, out of almost 2,200 posts.  Well done boys.  Keep up the good work!

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 Original Post: June 23

A day after the Planning Board Zoning Sub Committee heard an angry earful about student party houses at their annual public hearing--especially the conversion of single family homes to two family homes with a doubled capacity for eight unrelated housemates to congregate under one roof--police were called to 621 E Pleasant Street for loud noise and a bonfire.

And when firefighters arrived late Thursday night to put out the poorly contained fire, a couple dozen of the college aged youths gave them a hard time for disturbing their fun.

Hey when you have a full sized skateboard halfpipe in your backyard you would be able to enjoy it anytime of the day or night, neighbors be damned!

20 comments:

  1. this place is relatively recent 2010 single family to rental conversion. appears rich guy purchased for undergrad son. current owner/father lives in a mega mcmansion in wilbraham.

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  2. This is one family house, occupied by owner's family. So I get the reference to 2 family conversions.

    So even owner occupied single family houses can be problems.

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  3. The town needs to realize the schools are expanding. If you do not allow expansion controlled by the university than it is up to the private market to collaborate. The town of Amherst does not nor should ever get a say in the enrollment at the university.

    Despite this it should be able to choose how such students are housed in the area. Given the resistance to the gateway project and lack of proposed alternatives the "invisible" hand of the economy is working itself out here.

    On another note the town is not fighting parties with the archaic four person bylaw rule. You're only increasing the demand and price of rentals by restricting supply. This can be seen in the increasing number of party tickets issued, as this is the opposite trend of what is expected after the law was put in place.

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  4. Very sad to see homes head in this direction. And Anon. 11:56 am. NO ONE is jealous of the A-hole parent who bought this for his brat, and in turn lives in Wilbraham. We all just want to live quietly without the parties, at all hours, and the disturbances. Most of the UMass kids abide by the laws. It's the few who really ruin it for everyone.

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  6. I may have accidentally submitted my previous comment several times. I'm new to blogspot, my apologies.

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  7. I know the people who live at this house. They are some of the nicest guys I know, and I have met a lot of awesome people going to this house for social events. If you were to actually take time of of your day to sit down, have a cup of coffee, and talk to them as actual people about what they do in their daily lives/how responsible they actually are, you wouldn't have a single problem with them. You would find out that they are truly genuine people.

    I would just like to add one thing. There is a gentleman that lives near the house. He doesn't live inside the house, but can be seen around the property from time to time. He calls himself "Grey Man". I suggest the committee set up watches around the neighborhood and surrounding areas. The only way I can describe him is he's very grey. Very, very Grey. I have to go now, I think I see him...

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  8. One of the house mates, Bryce, is a part of the Juggalo nation. A HORRIBLE ORGANIZATION THAT CONDONES THESE TYPES OF PARTIES! THEY MUST BE STOPPED AT ALL COST!
    I must not show my real identity.

    -Squeak

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  9. I heard that the hard working man who helped his son purchase this property had raised his son to be a genuine, caring, insightful and intelligent person. I also heard a rumor that if you approached him like a rational, calm person and had an issue with how you may have an issue with his residence he would welcome you and hear you out and try to come to a resolution. Assuming he is a child still I feel is ignorant and misinformed. He may choose hobbies and forms of expression you take issue with but to call them names and make assumptions about him and his family only tells me that you are close minded and insecure I'm your own being. Your beautiful town of Amherst thrives from the universities and colleges there and in proximity. You may want to reconsider your opinion of the people injecting millions of dollars into your tax base and economy.

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  10. I know the person who owns this home and find it hard to believe that he can do what he wants with his home when he wants to with in reason.
    This is AMERICA, the land of the free?
    I was there for the event previously mentioned and it was a small camp fire to not only light the back yard but to keep the bugs down.
    It was in a small contained fire pit no larger than 3 feet around. We had a hose close by and it was not even 10 at night by the time the police and firemen had come to push every one around. Most of the people there, were there to skate the mini ramp. Which is a small outdoor back yard ramp about 16 feet wide and 24 feet long. About the side of shed.
    I became questionable to the authority when they told me I had to leave and could not stay even though I had been drinking. I had told them when I felt comfortable to drive I would. They did not like that. I was trying to be safe and I was helping extinguish the fire and clean the hard for the tenants. I am well into my thirties and did not see that we were doing anything wrong, volume wise with noise or with our contained fire.
    I am sorry to be rambling on but like I said I know the people that live here and they are not party crazed college kids. They are kids that are working and going to school part time and just trying to have fun from time to time.

    If this was my home I would have had it out with the neighbor along time ago, these guys have tried to accomodate everyone around them with out being complete push overs. Just because they are kids, does not mean they are push overs.

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  11. Anonymous @10:29PM
    How can you live in Amherst and not think you are going to see parties now and again?
    You have three colleges in the area and kids are going to be kids.
    If you dont like the college way of life than I think YOU chose the wrong place to live not the other way around?

    I dont care what type of people they are there, they have a right to live the way they want. Not every one lives a 9 to 5 and should have to worry about YOUR quiet? I am sure when they are sleeping in from working a second shift and you are out mowing your lawn at 9 in the morning they would like to set fire to your face.

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  12. Mike Lynch has tattoos and is a public nuisance. He moved to arizona to become a coyote and smuggle illegals across the border. maybe these children playing in this home unsupervised should move to arizona with mr. lynch instead of harassing the fine people of amherst.

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  13. rThis blog post was specifically brought to my attention by one of the "Pleasant" St. house residents. I am honestly shocked, and a little frightened that there is a fully grown adult male who believes there is nothing wrong with taking photographs of others private property- ESPECIALLY with car license plates in full view! Not only is this man doing so, but he is frothing at the mouth over literally nothing....a bon fire, and a hand made sign on the house. Wow, sounds like these boys are dangerous!!! Talk about invasion of peace and quiet! If I didn't know better, I would say the owner of this blog is border line stalking Amherst residents and if I lived in that house, I would feel threatened. Actually, I don't live there and I do feel threatened! And as far as having a "half pipe" in the back yard, you're wrong. It is no where near that size, and was hand built by the home owner and friends. Amazing to see that by taking pride in a healthy hobby (skateboarding) that is being generalized as 'doing what you want night or day'? The residents in this house are hard working, studious, and respectful of their neighbors. It is really unfortunate that they've become a target of now, public ridicule. What ever happened to big boys acting like just that and if there was an issue, give a phone call or knock on their door? If you really think that your grievances will fall on deaf ears, then I suggest you stop acting like a baby, hiding behind your computer, let it go and just move on. Oh, and stop taking photos of peoples homes without their permission first! Creep.

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  14. Simple, really. Stay out of the police logs and you do not have to worry about a photo of the palace appearing on the web.

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  15. @Larryk

    There is strong scientific evidence suggesting that photographs and police [audio] logs are completely independent occurrences/phenomena. This evidence is further fortified when we consider that police logs are composed and published by law enforcement officials, while photographs (such as the one of said palace) are taken by flippant individuals who deem it necessary to adopt an inexorably doughty stance on otherwise inane and arbitrary states of affairs.

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  16. There is even stronger scientific evidence that commenters who do not have the balls to sign their names are not to be taken seriously. Ever.

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  17. If you had balls you would speak to us in person Larry, instead of complaining over public forums. Every person in this home is a very hard working smart individual working two, even three jobs to get by. We do not party or aim to cause trouble, in fact we rarely have time to sleep a healthy amount never mind throw parties. We have very good relationships with all of our neighbors and are respectful to all of them aside from one who refuses to talk to us. Occasionally we have get togethers and often have guests from all over the country. Being traveling artists and musicians it is important to return favors given to you while on the road. For us this involves offering a place to stay the night which means parking a van or car on our lawn. I really am sorry ou have nothing better To do with your time than stalk others who are minding their own business . And I clear things up, if our neighbors are bothered by us, they call us and let us know so we can immediately respect their wishes.

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  19. Actually Jon, I'm a fairly aggressive reporter.

    Spent most of the day and late into the night on Saturday alongside APD and AFD.

    You may want to fast forward to some of my more recent posts.

    My email is amherstac@aol.com, twitter handle @amherstac and on Facebook, Larry Kelley (although I'm told by another Larry Kelley that there's 200 of us, but I think if you just Google my name I come up close to #1).

    Glad to hear you know who Clint is.

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