Friday, April 25, 2014

NIMBYs Noisy Distraction

172 State Street, North Amherst (under construction)


One of the advantages of ownership is not so much the ability to do whatever you want with your property -- especially in Amherst -- but certainly the 100% guaranteed right NOT to do something with it.

Like for instance, drilling into bedrock (not the town where the Flintstones resided).

 View from State Street (note soundproofing going up)

North Amherst residents around Puffer's Pond are in full attack mode targeting the renovations taking place at 172 State Street, where the new owners (who paid almost twice assessed value) are renovating both the house and barn across the street.


And yes it is a tad noisy, and probably dusty as well.  But once the work is done tranquility returns and the new and improved home will be paying considerably more in property taxes.

View from Mill Street

So if you really want to ensure nothing happens next door to you, then simply buy the property ... and do nothing with it.   Only don't use taxpayer money.



10 comments:

Anonymous said...

What exactly do you suppose these people want… quieter drilling? Or would they deny the homeowner the right to build or renovate because of TEMPORARY noise? Richard Marsh

Anonymous said...

I feel so bad for the homeowner who will now be a pariah among her neighbors. Ironically, if any of these sad sacks wanted/needed to have work done on their home, you KNOW they wouldn't think twice about the disturbance they would potentially cause.

I steer clear of generalizations, but truthfully, this region is packed to the gills with these Miserables.

Tom McBride said...

I don't think the pariah label will stick after the drilling stops. People can be forgiving. The only reason they're complaining is probably they they believe it effects their property value in some way. That's the only reason people complain in the first place. The town can look at the process of completing permits in the future, but to tell the truth, there will still be hearings people don't feel like attending, and even if they did, they might approve it anyway. People hate to get involved in a civilized discussion, but think of NOTHING of behaving like a horse's ass later leveling their complaints. It just seems more natural to them as opposed to civilized discussion. Considering the MANY housing problems this town has, whether it be subsidized housing or half million dollar homes, the absolute unaffordability of homes for anybody making a halfway decent income, something that anybody in town should feel shame and remorse over, this problem at Puffer's Pond seems like very small potatoes.

Dr. Ed said...

I do hope they have investigated the possibility that they might wind up draining Puffer's Pond into their basement. If they go lower than the surface of the pond (not saying they are) and if there are any cracks in that ledge -- or if they put any in -- well they are going to have an indoor swimming pool...

Tom McBride said...

Who the heck is this anonymous? That's what I like about the anonymous entries. They worship their opinions, but don't want to take responsibility for them.

Anonymous said...

What is unique about Amherst is the ability of individuals here to broaden something specific such as construction creating annoying noise, into something far more threatening: to the environment, to public health, to the safety of children, to the survival of wildlife, to the future of the planet, you name it.

Our citizenry's rhetorical gifts are great. Our recognition of our neighbors' property rights, not so great.

Anonymous said...

Tom, be proud to put your name on everything. Remember it is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. May God bless ya'...

Dr. Ed said...

Ed you have proven once again, that an education does not fix stupid. Man are you an idiot...

Really? And what do you call the people who have made the quite expensive mistake of doing something like this -- elsewhere, in the past? (A certain railroad tunnel to the west comes to mind in this regard...)

What do you call the insightful geniuses who decided to pipe live steam 1.9 miles DOWNHILL, BEFORE running it through a turbine?

What do you call the insightful geniuses who built an entire college (UM Boston) over an old dump without making any provisions to vent (let alone capture) the Methane -- and arguably came close to having a campus launched into space.

And what do you call the insightful geniuses who have made more expensive mistakes with IT at UMass than I can think of? From taking out a 20 year loan to purchase the mainframes they were then renting -- and retired (abandoned) about 9 months later to the multifaceted disaster that was the Ericsson telephone system, not to mention Peoplesoft where absolutely everything I said would go wrong did and for the reasons I predicted it would.

Underground water doesn't always follow the topography of the land -- it follows the topography of the ledge and I personally know of cases where fresh water flows under the ocean for 10-20 miles and then comes back up onto islands offshore. (This was proven with dye tests.)

So call me an idiot -- don't bother checking relative elevation levels -- and more likely than not, nothing will happen. By the same token, don't bother changing the batteries in your smoke detectors -- or even having them -- because more likely than not, your house won't catch on fire either...

Anonymous said...

Perhaps some Guantanamo detainees can come to town to perform the drilling. That would make it less offensive to at least a few Amherst residents.

Dr. Ed said...

Perhaps some Guantanamo detainees can come to town to perform the drilling.

Why drill?

Many of these gentlemen have expertise with explosives -- they won't need to drill....