Amherst College upkeep continues

Pratt Field panorama

 Green green grass of home (at least the color will stay the same)

One of the top liberal arts colleges in the nation continues its new construction renovations boom as Amherst College plans to overhaul venerable, stately Pratt Field, located on the gateway to downtown Amherst, although set off by a black wrought iron gate.

 Rt 9 side of Pratt Field: guarded by same style gate that protects Dickinson family plot

The $12.5 million renovation, courtesy of a handful of Anon donors, will start this coming Fall and be completed by the Fall of next year.  Perhaps the only surprise for a college steeped in tradition is the move to transform the plush playing field into artificial turf.

 The track will shift slightly down to better align with ornate gates

New viewing stands will push back towards bike path.  New press box (for dwindling supply of reporters)

No word if Woodside Ave will reopen at the entryway to Pratt Field,  closed by the Amherst Select Board after the state renovated the historic bridge

Meanwhile, almost contiguous with Pratt Field located directly on busy Rt 9 the College will go before the Amherst Planning Board on May 2nd for a routine rubber stamp to their request for doubling the occupancy from a one family to a duplex for this home they recently purchased at  96 Northampton Road (Rt 9).

96 Northampton Road.  Yet another yellow house expansion

In spite of being a tax exempt educational institution, Amherst College is still the number one taxpayer in town.  For instance, the newly renovated Lord Jeff Inn and the 9-hole Amherst Golf Course are for-profit businesses, so they are on the tax rolls.   But mainly because of all the houses Amherst College owns and rents to professors, who have a reputation for not partying.

President Biddy Martin Presents

Amherst College President Biddy Martin (speaking extemporaneously)

Perhaps it was the home field advantage, speaking from the comfort of a newly refurbished historic inn, or the friendly audience of local business and civic leaders--the "usual suspects" at an Amherst Chamber of Commerce event--or maybe her lifelong background in higher education...but more likely all of the above, as this morning Amherst College President, going on seven months now, Carolyn "Biddy" Martin gave an engaging fireside chat to a receptive audience of 86 smartly dressed men and women at the Amherst College owned Lord Jeffery Inn.

First and foremost, President Martin wanted to dispel the outdated notion (from back in the day when Emily Dickinson was putting quill pen to paper) that Amherst College is an elitist, blue blood private school for the privileged. She cited the telling statistics that over half the current enrollment are a combination of international students and students of color and almost one-quarter are eligible for a PELL Grant .

She highlighted her background at Cornell and the University of Wisconsin-Madison which are both "land grant" institutions expected by charter to serve the local community. And so it will be with Amherst College, where the fortunes of the town and the college named after the town are so deeply intertwined.

Ms. Martin's short list of top priorities include hiring new faculty in the current competitive market. The education boom of the 1960s swelled the ranks of professors, who are now retiring in droves. While competition from demanding Asian colleges and universities for liberal arts professors only adds to supply problems.

She proudly pointed out the new $200 million life sciences building, which will require the next four or five years to complete and will be second to none on a national scale. One unusual component (at least for a liberal arts college) will be an "incubator" for the study of entrepreneurship. Not a space for business start ups, like at UMass or Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, but a center for students to learn about the social value of starting a business.

Coincidentally enough fellow Amherst resident Donna Kelley, associate professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College, made national news last week for a major study she co-authored on women's entrepreneurship encompassing 59 economies, that found American women have greater fear of failure than American men when contemplating business creation.

Precisely the problem education can rectify--the earlier the better. Kelley also recently co-taught a Junior Achievement course at Amherst's Crocker Farm Elementary School, where her daughter is a student.

When the new Amherst College science center opens sometime in 2017, the four-story, 220,000-square-foot building will be the largest structure on campus, and an impressive trophy to attract new faculty and students.

But expensive new bricks and mortar buildings are not the only means for dispensing higher education--at least not in this digital age. Ms. Martin pointed out the importance of distance learning online as a cost effective adjunct for face-to-face communication, where maintaining an 8-1 student teacher ratio is costly. A lesson the Amherst public schools could stand learning.

If anyone in the audience harbored any uncertainty about the first female president in the 190 year history of the college, they left the Dickinson Room with those doubts dispelled.

Amherst College is in confident, able hands.

The new face of Amherst College?

Jim Brassord pitches Amherst College reconstruction projects to Amherst Historical Commission

Todd Diacon and Jim Brassord pitch BID to Amherst Select Board

With recent appearances before the Select Board to support the formation of a Business Improvement District as well as the Planning Board and Historical Commission for new construction and major renovations, Jim Brassord seems to be the poster boy for all things Amherst College, although President Biddy Martin did get out for the grand reopening of the stately Lord Jeffery Inn.

Amherst College President Biddy Martin (does not require a microphone)

And both the BID and Lord Jeffery Inn will contribute greatly to the revitalization of downtown Amherst. Amherst College is the largest landowner in town and even though the vast majority of their empire is tax exempt, they are still the town's largest taxpayer contributing about $350,000 last year for 40 some odd houses used to shelter professors and of course their profitable nine hole golf course that puts the town's moribund municipal offering to shame.

The Lord Jeffery Inn, open for business

Amherst College is also refurbishing the old historical Baptist church downtown for office space and launching a $200 million, six year construction project, for a new Life Science Building on campus. And all these construction/renovation projects will be protected by the Amherst Fire Department.

Amherst College owned former Baptist Church in the heart of downtown Amherst

Former Town Manger Larry Shaffer crunched the numbers four years ago to discover Amherst College cost the town about $120,000 annually for fire/ambulance protection. That year the College, kindly enough, donated $120,000 to the town's General Fund.

Ahh, but then the stock market slid into the toilet and Amherst College's endowment declined from $1.3 billion down to a paltry $1 billion. In response they shelved the $20 million reconstruction of the Lord Jeff, and reduced the Payment in Lieu of Taxes to Amherst from $120,000 to $90,000 and let Amherst taxpayers go back to subsidizing emergency services.

But now their endowment has W-A-Y more than recovered, sitting at a historic high, $1.6 billion. The sparkling renewed Lord Jeff is open, and work is about to commence on the former Baptist Church they purchased two years ago for $2.3 million, over twice its assessed value. But even at that lower value the building generated $16,000 in taxes to the town. And at today's whopping tax rate ($19.74/$1,000) would have generated $20,000.

Amherst College, around that same time, purchased and removed from the tax rolls houses on Hitchcock and Snell Street that today would also be generating $20,000 if still on the tax rolls.

22 Snell Street

14 Hitchcock Street

Most recently the town was overly generous with the Spring Street Parking lot renovation at the Lord Jeff's front door, spending over $350,000 in enterprise fund money and providing almost two years worth of work for an already busy enough DPW.

Spring Street Parking lot adjacent to the Lord Jeff

So let me recap: Over the past three years Amherst College has added to the protection portfolio of the Amherst Fire Department, removed buildings from the tax rolls and reduced annual payments to the town, all while their endowment has grown significantly.

Currently Amherst, the town, is cobbling together the FY13 budget which goes into effect July 1, 2012. And for the first time in many a year there's no gloom and doom talk emanating from Town Hall about devastating budget cuts, although the schools, as usual, are looking at a $500,000 shortfall.

Since Amherst the College and Amherst the Town are synonymous with education it would be both fitting and nice if the College donated a chunk of change to either the town for new fire/ambulance equipment, or the schools to help close that $500,000 sinkhole.

And I'm sure Town Manager John Musante or Superintendent Maria Geryk would buy Biddy Martin (or Jim Brassord) a beer at the Boltwood Tavern.

Recent typical weekend for AFD (note calls to Amherst College compared to UMass)

Blessings of the Juggernaut

UMass Amherst

Nice to have some good news to report just before the holidays: Unemployment in Massachusetts decreased in November to 6.4%, beating the 8.6% national average, with Amherst, not surprisingly, doing w-a-y better than either at 3.7%.

The November seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate for the state was 6.4%, down from 6.8% in October. Amherst's very low 3.7% is down considerable from the (off season) summer where June was the highest at 7.8% followed by July at 7.6% and August at 5.2%, thus upholding Amherst's reputation as a "college town" where low unemployment depends on the University being in full session.

UMass is the largest employer in Western Massachusetts and the number two property owner in town behind our other tax exempt higher education icon, Amherst College.

Those daring young men...

Shumway Landscaping still cleaning up after the Halloween weekend storm

A brave worker going after sky high, large "hangers" on the grounds of the Emily Dickinson homestead. Nice to see Amherst College using local contractors.

Riot house of the weekend

202 College Street, Amherst

Amherst police could have used a couple of Texas Rangers this weekend as all available units were not enough to quell a "disturbance" (apparently UMass officials get queasy over the word "riot") at 202 College Street when a party of around fifty got out of control very early (3:47 AM) Saturday morning.

UMass police, naturally, were too busy to respond to our mutual aid call but Amherst College and Hadley PD each provided two units for back up and assisted with transporting the uncooperative perps to the Amherst Police Department jail, located only a half mile away.

One perp is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon as he struck an Amherst Police officer with a stick. And yes, most officers wear a bullet proof vest to protect their mid torso but the officer was struck below the belt. Ouch.

Arrested for "Riot, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest":

Zahir Ajam Delrosario, 130th St, Harlem, NY, age 23
Jose Picot, 111 Franklin St, Northampton, MA, age 27


Arrested for "Unlawful noise":

Eric Cameron, 202 College St, Amherst, MA, age 23
Stephen Halliday, 17 Katherine Rd, Rehoboth, MA, age 21

Property ownership card for 200/202 College Street

Out with the old

Clark House 8/24/11

Clark House 8/29/11

On August 23 last year the Amherst Historical Commission hit Amherst College, the number one property owner in a town half owned by tax exempts, with a one year "demolition delay," the maximum extent of protection they can offer to all things historical--public or privately owned in Amherst.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette demonized the decision saying it "tested the boundaries of common sense." Coming from the Gazette, the Commission probably took that as a good sign.

After the rains

Let's break out the booze and have a ball

The Lord Jeffery Inn

I owe you a draft beer Mr Marx, payable on opening night spring, 2011 at the Boltwood Tavern--assuming the newly renovated Lord Jeff Inn keeps the concept of a low-key, relatively inexpensive pub as part of the fancy more expensive Inn with rooms and fine dining.

Okay maybe it's not the ultra ritzy $24-30 million renovation originally planned, but I'll take a lousy $14 million anytime (seven times the current assessed value). Just get her opened again!

In addition to bringing folks to the downtown the Inn will pay significantly more property taxes (currently $30,000) increasing by a factor of 5 or 6. And they will also pay the newly increased lodging tax and meals tax. All in all, a bonanza for the town tax coffers and a much needed shot in the arm for downtown economic development.

All hail the purple and white!
Boltwood Tavern