Wednesday, September 9, 2015

A Bridge Too Far

CPA Committee was unanimously in sync last night
North Town Common in front of Town Hall will see major renovations

The Community Preservation Act Committee voted unanimously last night to recommend funding two major capital projects to the fall Town Meeting, including $190,000 -- contingent on a state grant of $400,000 -- to renovate the North Town Common and $240,000 to  expand/renovate the Crocker Farm Elementary Playground and make it handicapped accessible.

 Crocker Farm's sad little playground will expand by 33% and become ADA compliant

Vince O'Connor's pitch to spend over a million in town money, including hundreds of thousands in CPA historical preservation funds, to renovate the Mill Street Bridge (scheduled for state renovation at no town expense in 2017) was firmly rejected by the Committee.

 Mill Street Bridge this morning

When member Marilyn Blaustein made a motion to "not recommend" the crazy proposal other members said simply not taking a vote is the same thing.  So the Committee unanimously pocket vetoed the proposal by not taking a vote.

 Little Red Schoolhouse will be demolished by Amherst College to make room for new Science Center

And Carol Gray, a mother on a mission to save the pre-school building her child attended, sent a letter of withdrawal to the committee for her $200,000+ request saying she could not find a location for the building after it's moved.  At the last CPA meeting she stated she was in negotiations with UMass.

 Carol Gray email to CPA Committee (click to enlarge/read)

When CPA Chair Mary Streeter quipped that UMass officials do not move as quickly as Ms. Gray, Assistant Town Manger Dave Ziomek confirmed that UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy made it very clear to him that UMass was not in the least bit interested in the structure. 

 Crocker Farm pre-school playground
Chestnut Hill Elementary School playground, Belchertown

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to see the Crocker Farm preschool playground getting funding for a badly needed upgrade. The current playground is so inadequate for the number of kids it serves at the preK (75+) & the special needs students that attend there. Your aerial photo doesn't capture how bad it is. The current playground has less for playing than the yards of some single-family homes.

Anonymous said...

UMass has been knocking down *their* out of date structures- why would Carol think they would take an Amherst College cast off?

Is the BID renting at Kendrick Place Apts? Their golf cart is parked on the sidewalk- and a worker clad in a safety vest seems to be working inside the building.

Anonymous said...

Why did Vince/Abe want to renovate the bridge with town funds and not state funds?

Larry Kelley said...

Pretty much to speed things up.

Anonymous said...

In the letter, Ms. Gray makes a pretty good case for preserving the building.

Thanks for publishing it, Larry.

Rich Morse

Larry Kelley said...

No problem.

One thing I learned a long time ago in the private sector: If you can't give something away for free ...

Anonymous said...

"Is the BID renting at Kendrick Place Apts? Their golf cart is parked on the sidewalk- and a worker clad in a safety vest seems to be working inside the building."

The clean up crews are subcontracted and do not work directly for the BID.

Not Vince said...

Shut down Middle Street and see how South Amherst residents like it. That's what it's like for North Amherst not having that bridge open.

Working theory is that the entitled and apparently well-connected new owners of the property on the corner of State Street and Sand Hill, in addition to reconstructing their property (really a teardown and rebuild) want the bridge to stay closed so that they can enjoy their relative quiet without commuter traffic coming through. To hell with them. Open the bridge!

Larry Kelley said...

Watch it, or they will bring back the jack hammers.

Anonymous said...

To the commenter who claimed, "UMass has been knocking down *their* out of date structures- why would Carol think they would take an Amherst College cast off?"you might want to pump the brakes on that.

UMass tore down the trolley stop a couple years ago.The horror. Glorified stone hut.

Within the last few years they renovated Skinner Hall. Currently, South College and West Experiment Station are being renovated and receiving additions for use in the 21st Century. Oh, and they're renovating and restoring Old Chapel for use in the first time in many years.

Not exactly knocking down out of date structures, in fact, they're going out of their way to save them. :)

Anonymous said...

UMass is saving some historical buildings only because of pressure put on the building authority by a faculty group formed when the historic trolley station was torn down one night when no one was looking.

Puffers Bridge: If the Town rebuilds the bridge it can look like and be the size of the existing bridge which has been adequate for the limited traffic it gets all these many years. The state will have to rebuild it to present "construction standards"--i.e., a very large bridge, at least one and one-half times the width of the stream bed. Many of us feel that a bridge that might serve traffic over the Charles River in Boston--or the Connecticut River in Hatfield--is over-kill.

If the down town merchants want my business, The Town has to make it easier to get there; the Route 116 by-pass of UMass and Pine Street is not easy! Hilda

Anonymous said...

For once I agree with Hilda, and not just on the bridge - on improving our roads.

Fire some town administrators and put the money into infrastructure and public works. I think we would all be amazed at the improvement in the quality of our lives if we had streets and sidewalks updated to modern standards, swept regularly, and cleared of vegetation.

Doing these things would alleviate many of the reasons the town feels dirty and crowded. And under the "broken window" theory a clean, well kept environment encourages residents to take ownership and responsibility for their own behavior, reduces crime and improves quality of life.

Anonymous said...

I thought the preschoolers were able to use the play structure behind the school?

Anonymous said...

Hilda,

Thank you for confirming my decision not to locate my business in Amherst. We located in Hadley a few years back and things are going great, no politics to deal with, no major inspections or oversight. We are treated like adults, not Amherst children.

If we had located in Amherst, I could have a business that has no control over how the town manages itself, but I would be in a position to be judged for this thing I cannot control. It makes sense, you shop based on a package of decisions, not just those of the business owner. Knowing that the town not only has so many opportunities to make decisions that could impact a local business on any given day, but also that they have a track record of making these decisions so poorly, really curtails smart business owners from moving in, you are left with those that will come and go or are already established.

It is a self fulfilling prophesy. Amherst alienates businesses, it makes complete sense that the town would also alienate their customers. I give them credit for consistency.

In regards to the playgrounds. Studies have shown that the kids in a yard with two sticks will end up more creative and ready to deal with the world vs. the kids in the playground doing structured activities with their teachers. Kids rushed from one structured activity to the next end up incapable, it literally backfires. But colorful playground that meet the ADA are cool, so screw the kids and their future, it is not what schools are about, they are about teachers and admins (and pretty blog posts).

Larry Kelley said...

"Pretty blog posts." That's a new one. (Beats many of things I've been called I suppose.)

Anonymous said...

wondering about the whopping price tag for a new playground. Crocker Farm got new equipment from the Rotary a few years ago and it didn't cost anything close to $100K. Fort River parents raised money for new equipment and it was about $40-50k. I understand the ADA equipment might cost more but $225k? How many kids are at Crocker and how many will use the new playground versus the current larger one (not pictured)?

Old fart said...

Hrrm, hm. When I was a kid they just gave us their old rusty razor blades and empty bottles to play with. And we were thankful for it. Kids these days got no appreciation.

Anonymous said...

The play structure is actually meant for older children, K - 2. And it's not ADA accessible.

Anonymous said...

Over half the cost for the Crocker Farm preK playground is for regrading and expanding the fenced-in area, not for play structures.

Anonymous said...

all children & families will be able to use the new preK playground (when the preK is not in session), not just the kids at the preschool.

Anonymous said...

Ah. The catchphrase: "Studies have shown." Not that I doubt it...but What studies?

Anonymous said...

Maybe some Amherst College alumni could make case to the institution's leaders - and bad it up with some directed donations - to preserve and protect the Little Red Schoolhouse right on campus?

Anonymous said...

Studies have shown that nobody cares.