Unintended Consequences?

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life Enku Gelaye

As we head into the fair weather weekend, in anticipation of rowdy behavior, UMass disciplinarian Enku Galaye sent out a friendly email reminder to students to be on their, um, best behavior.

After all, off campus students are ambassadors for our flagship of higher education in the state.

Can't hurt for sure.  But there are always those who are not overly receptive ...

 Other informational emails

Good News, Bad News

 

Large contingent of APD officer 53 Meadow Street 4:45 PM Saturday

So once again the marketing machine at UMass pays off handsomely (besides the "world record" fruit salad story) as today's print edition of the Springfield Republican carries the aging good news story about UMass donating $80,000 to the town of Amherst for extra ambulance coverage.

No mention of this past weekend where the "Blarney Blowout" almost reappeared, or that nine-out-of-17 ambulance runs to UMass were for ETOH students passed out drunk.

 

Note high number of ETOH calls

I was at Wildwood Elementary School playground just after 2:00 PM Saturday with my youngest daughter Jada when I first heard the cryptic scanner reports about a growing storm at Townhouse Apartments on Meadow Street.

So I drove the short distance (my youngest loves the sight of police officers) to check it out and of course immediately realized by the huge throng of students (1,000+) in the quad that there was going to be trouble.

My daughter then asked, "Where are all the police officers?"  Good question. I could only spot three.  Yikes!

 APD officers 2:30 PM Townhouse Apartments.  All for one and one for all

But I figured they were simply waiting for reinforcements --  as they did with the Blarney Blowout -- and would simply allow the kids to party for a few hours and then move in around 5:00 PM with the aid of State PD and UMPD officers all safely dressed in riot gear.

 

Townhouse quad 2:53 PM

I drove home to drop off Jada and jump on my mountain bike for better access to the scene.  I arrived back only a half hour later (3:00 PM) and was amazed to see the small contingent of uniformed officers had waded in and dispersed the h-u-g-e gathering at the quad.

 

Just outside the quad area 3:00 PM.  53 Meadow Street party house in background

Give those boys a medal.

Some people encourage the mayhem

But many of the partiers simply moved to an adjacent party house just across the street (53 Meadow Street) and filled the back yard with drunken revelry.

Although this group was only one-fourth the size (250+) of original crowd in the quad and the police presence was now three or four times greater than the previous incident it still took almost an hour to clear the scene.

53 Meadow Street backyard.  Much smaller than Townhouse Apartment quad

Why so long the second time?  Probably that extra hour so of partying and the effects of that much more alcohol in the system.  After all, this entire event was pretty much one BIG binge drinking affair.

Which leads me to believe that if a harrowing small number of police officers had not bravely moved in when they did early on (without riot gear) to break up the huge gathering in the Townhouse quad, only another hour or two would have been enough time for that army to turn ornery.

In other words, we got lucky.  This time.  

Water, Water, Everywhere

UMass Water Tower, Orchard Hill, E. Pleasant Street, Amherst

The $1 million renovation of the UMass 1.5 million gallon (less than a dollar a gallon!) water tower is complete.  The tower is now back on line helping to provide adaquate water pressure throughout Amherst's water/sewer system.

And yes, in the event of a fire, you can bet the fire hydrant in front would provide a heck of a flow. 

Drunken Revelry, Record Fruit Salad

 Breaking News:  UMass Food Fetish

So if you ever wondered why UMass schedules these goofy waste-of-food Guinness World Record events over the Labor Day weekend, I offer you today's edition of the Daily Hampshire Gazette.  Yikes!

While maybe not quite as bad as the "Blarney Blowout" screw up, it's still a sad state of journo affairs when the town of Amherst (Leverett, Pelham, Shutesbury and Hadley) can be essentially unprotected for emergency medical calls because all five ambulances are tied up, mostly with drunk students, and the only thing the newspaper publishes is a public relations puff piece. 

But yeah, that fruit salad must have been pretty epic.

   College Town Labor Day by larry_kelley_1

Waterworks

Orchard Hill, E. Pleasant Street.  Water towers are routinely located on high ground

The 1.5 million gallon UMass water tower on East Pleasant Street is closing in on completion of a major $1 million renovation and should be fully functional in time for the return of the students in the next few weeks. 

A water tower's main function is to maintain round the clock pressure in the water system and provide extra back up in case of a peak draw (hot summer day) or unexpected event, like a major fire. 

UMass is hooked into the Amherst water/sewer system, which they pay for like anyone else.

Amherst owns the smaller tank next to the UMass tank but it only holds 500,000 gallons.  Additionally the town has two larger tanks each holding about the same as the UMass tank, or 1.5 million gallons.

Thus our total reserves when the UMass tank goes back online will be 5 millions gallons in all the tanks and another 1 million in clear wells near the two treatment plants.


Project got off to a rocky start mid May as lift machine stranded worker near top of tower, requiring AFD rescue

 On average Amherst consumed 2.65 million gallons per day of treated water last year, with UMass sucking up 31% of the total.

I'm told UMass wanted to install a "check valve" device to restrict the tank water only to their side of the system, but the town denied the request.

According to DPW Chief Guilford Mooring: "We are now in a very good position: The reservoirs are full. Every year is different and this is a good year. Usually we are shutting down the reservoirs because they are getting too low and the water quality is poor."

 
UMass tower is also a beacon for malevolent spirits

Hadley Water Tower, East Street

 

If You Build It?

Revive the Gateway Project

Actually they are already coming (2,000 over the next seven years) so the need for additional student housing is a given.

Two years ago UMass was willing to donate a prime swath of lush lawn for a mixed use development that would help solve two imbalances in our little college town:  taxable housing for our #1 demographic and commercial space for goods and services -- all within walking distance of the heart of the campus or downtown Amherst. 

The Gateway Project died because public officials failed to show resolve in the face of adversity:  NIMBYs with sharpened pitchforks and flamethrowers.

Now after the tumult created by "The Retreat," it's time to take a second look at The Gateway, and this time GET IT DONE.

According to a recent Op/Ed column in the Amherst Bulletin, UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy states "The university is committed to exploring the feasibility of a legislative remedy that would allow us to pursue public-private partnerships to address our housing needs."  Bingo!

What the Chancellor is referring to is a work around of the 1993 "Pacheco Rule" that protects public services from being privatized (no wonder then Governor Weld tried to veto it):

A "Special Act" exempting Amherst and UMass from the rule -- but only in a case of public/private partnership to construct new student housing on campus property.  The former Frat Row for instance.

 Former Frat Row, ready to go!

This "Home Rule Petition" is just what the Chancellor ordered, and would fall into the hands of able state legislators Stan Rosenberg -- a shoe in for the next Senate President -- and Ellen Story.

Two recent influential housing studies indicated the clear and desperate need for student housing, starting with the simple fact that 59% of our population are "college aged".

And until that problem is solved all other aspects of housing concerning families, retirees, low-and- moderate income, or the homeless will never be solved.

If the "rising star" Housing & Sheltering Committee really wants to make the difference, they need to prepare a warrant article for Town Meeting initiating this Special Act process.  Now!

Growing Pains

 

Coming Soon:  Commonwealth College 1,500 beds

In his May 15 appearance before Amherst Town Meeting to pitch the joint town/gown study on coexisting in harmony, Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy proactively addressed the #1 criticism leveled at UMass/Amherst:  build more housing to keep students on campus.

The Chancellor clearly pointed out that this fall, when Commonwealth College Residential housing goes on line (1,500 beds), UMass/Amherst will be #3 in the nation for housing students on campus. 

The relatively recent construction of "North Residential" also added 800 beds.

North Residential housing complex

And when Commonwealth College dorms come on line they, like North Residential, will not pay property taxes, even though both will be protected by the Amherst Fire Department.

This year AFD cost taxpayers just over $4 million to fund yet they spend 23% of their time dealing with UMass.

Graph courtesy Amherst Firefighters Local 1764

Umass is scheduled to grow over a ten year period at only 300 students per year.  Had the Gateway Project not been scuttled by noisy NIMBYs that alone would handled a couple of years worth of growth.

And of course The Retreat, a taxpaying student development in northeast Amherst would also absorb a couple of years worth of UMass growth.  If it ever gets built. 

Or, if provincial Amherst Town Meeting had only approved Form Based Zoning in village centers last year we would already be seeing mixed use buildings going up in North Amherst to greatly stimulate both commercial and residential stock.  

All The PR Fit To Print

Umass/Amherst, Flagship of Higher Education

According to a blurb in PRWeek "The University of Massachusetts at Amherst is seeking PR support for an outreach effort to grow enrollment at the school."  

More specifically, "the campaign is set to take place after the University completes a year-long project with qualitative and quantitative research to develop messages to improve perceptions of the institution. The university system hopes to increase enrollment by making it students' first choice as they pick schools ..."

Value of said contract?  $450,000.     Okay, nothing wrong with a little promotion I guess -- but $450,000!

I always thought that's why UMass/Amherst has an Office of News & Media Relations with a full time, year-round staff of seven with a combined salary expense this year of $451,628.

And that does not include John Kennedy, Vice Chancellor of University Relations at $222,784;  Nancy Buffone, Public Relations Manager at $89,553; and Lisa Queenin, News Office Director of Community Relations at $69,596 or a total of $833,561.   Including employee benefits and health insurance easily brings the grand total to well over a million per year.

And it's not like any of these folks are knocking themselves out over the summer. 

Proud flagship Umass/Amherst has already made a major leap to "improve perceptions of the institution" by joining the town to combat off campus bad behavior by a tiny minority of their students.  And that is something worth marketing.

But does it have to be so, um, expensive?

Bring On The Consultants

 

Chancellor Subbaswamy addresses Amherst Town Meeting

If the goal of the $60,000 joint Town/Gown study is to enhance relations between the town of Amherst, founded 1759, and our largest employer UMass/Amherst, founded 1863, then we can save ourselves a lot of money as Chancellor Subbaswamy's nearly ten minute speech before Amherst Town Meeting already accomplished that.

Schmoozing with town officials just prior to town meeting start

But the real goal is to enhance relations between the town citizenry and UMass students, and that's going to take some work.  And you don't build something solid and workable without planning.

The motion to spend $60,000 for the joint study, split evenly between UMass and the town, easily passed  by a recorded tally vote 122-46.

 UMass & Town officials huddle during tally vote count

The overwhelming nature of the vote sends a positive signal about the most controversial and most important article of this entire town meeting -- probably in a generation -- Article #29, Residential Rental Property Bylaw, which brings a permit system to the lucrative rental business.

A market driven by the presence of so very many students.  That article comes up May 20.

Leaning Tower of UMass

Tillson Farm steam plant from eastern parking lot

Although the ghostly smoke stack that never actually operated is invisible from the main road cutting  through the heart of UMass/Amherst, North Pleasant Street,  it is clearly visible from scenic North East Street, standing out as a singular symbol of waste and corruption.

Although I've heard it referred to as the "Paradis Power Plant," nobody seems to remember why.  Mostly it's called the "Tillson Farm Steam Plant" or "The one that never worked."

 

The ghost tower as seen from North East Street

Although the building is not supposed to be used, the parking lot always seems busy

The smoke stack I'm told needs to come down soon, before it falls down on its own.  Note lean is towards building.

Reddit to the rescue (notice they censor some of my comments)

Calm Before The Storm

 

AFD logo

The enormous impact UMass/Amherst usually has on our emergency response system shows up rather dramatically when the students are away for spring break.  A decrease by 90% in runs to our #1 customer.

But this coming weekend, with UMass back in session and possible springlike weather, all bets for a quiet weekend like the last one are off.  Way off.

   AFD Runs, Spring Break

However, town officials have a plan:  Up to six AFD ambulances could be operational during peak party weekends throughout the month of April, the highest number in history.

AFD is putting a new ambulance into service this week as part of a normal rotation in the current fleet of five.

Plans are to keep in service the ambulance about to be decommissioned (as long as they can find all the equipment to stock it).

According to Assistant Chief Lindsay Stromgren: "The town has committed to funding overtime to staff from the current seven up to nine minimum on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from now through April 27th (five weekends). On top of that, Umass will be funding one additional ambulance (two firefighters) this coming weekend (three nights) and two additional ambulances (four firefighters) on the four weekends in April."

So with thirteen firefighters on-duty, AFD can staff six ambulances.

Let's hope these best laid schemes do not go astray:  Like having a major structure fire when all six ambulances are engaged.

UMass Comes Around

UMass/Amherst

All that bitching, errr, complaining about the abusive "Blarney Blowout" paid off as our giant neighbor to the north has agreed to most of the demands of Amherst Town Manager John Musante to help our quaint little college town deal with rowdy students from now through graduation.

Which sure beats handing out oatmeal cookies.  

Unfortunately it looks as though the expanded hours on weekends for UMass Health Services to deal with all the drunks probably is not going to happen.

And yes, it's great UMass has agreed to fund two AFD ambulances.  But the problem is not who pays for the ambulances, it's that we can only put five on the road at one time.  And there have been times when five was not enough.

Can we maybe get UMass to fund two more additional permanent professional firefighters?

 AFD call volumes since 1975

UMass Office of News & Media Relations reports

Blarney Blowout Fallout Continues

 Did the "Blarney Blowout" downtown cause riot in North Amherst?

The normally staid Amherst Select Board became uncharacteristically animated this evening when discussing the events of last weekend where riotous behavior on the day of the now infamous "Blarney Blowout" pushed our first responders to the breaking point.

And with all our ambulances and police patrol personnel tied up dealing with drunken college aged youths, average citizens who fund both departments with their tax dollars would have been left waiting if an emergency had occurred.   

 

Vice Chancellor for University Relations John Kennedy

Select Board member Jim Wald seemed to think UMass was trying to blame the town for the riotous event at Townhouse apartments simply because the "Barney Blowout" bar promotion was allowed to occur downtown this year.  SB member Alisa Brewer went so far as to say it was "flat out ludicrous"  and she was "ashamed" of the Letter to the Editor penned by administrator John Kennedy making that association.



The always sedate town manager announced a set of initiatives to address the problem as we head into peak springtime weather:  Musante has asked UMass to keep Health Services open later on weekends to help deal with drunken students, and to provide two staffed ambulances.

He has also requested increased joint patrols between APD and UMPD around the problem areas such as Townhouse Apartments and has authorized AFD Chief Nelson to use overtime to add staffing during the problems weekends coming up.

Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe pointed out that even after her strong lobbying effort prior to the Blarney Blowout, the University did not send out a mass email to all students warning about bad behavior.  She said they were afraid it would serve to "advertise" the event.  

O'Keeffe said the charges and counter charges now ricocheting between the University and the Town demonstrate a "sign of frustration."

Well at least they are not throwing cans and bottles at each other ... yet.

The Republican Reports/Suggests

More Unintended Consequences

One of the (many) downsides of having an internationally lousy reputation with American flag related protocol is that people are quick to believe the worst.  So yes, last week the Amherst Select Board refused the people of Amherst the right to vote on whether commemorative flags could fly in the downtown on 9/11.

And as far as I'm concerned the only thing more unAmerican than not flying the commemorative flags on 9/11 is not allowing The People to exercise their most basic American right to VOTE on it.

However:  NO, No, no -- a thousand times NO!  The town of Amherst did not lower its flag to half staff to honor Hugo Chavez, even if Howie Carr (sort of) said so:

“…It was a sad day for the moonbat community. The People’s Republics of Cambridge and Amherst rushed to lower their flags to half staff first. A spontaneous candlelight vigil erupted in Muddy River. Funeral dirges played endlessly on the NPR stations, like Radio Moscow when Uncle Joe passed. Someone dimmed the lights at the Globe, causing an immediate panic in the newsroom, where the fops assumed the newspaper was finally being shut down….”

 UMPD

Yes UMass flags are currently at half staff, but that is to honor and remember the passing of former Chancellor Randolph Bromery.  Although someone should tell the Chancellor Subbaswamy that only the governor can order state flags to half staff.

##### 

UPDATE:  As I have said all too many times, sarcasm requires its own special font (even for Howie)

Although, one major corporation is lowering the American flag for Chavez.  

If You Do Not Build It ...

 UMass Southwest Towers: 6 were proposed, 5 built

The overwhelming influence of our local Juggernaut, the University of Massachusetts, comes shining through in the "Town of Amherst , Massachusetts Housing Production Plan" unveiled last night at the Housing & Sheltering Committee public forum.

Simply put, the oldest law in capitalism at work:  supply and demand.  UMass provides an overwhelming supply of college aged youth (now comprising 59.4% of Amherst's population), which drives up demand for too few housing units, which sends average prices through the roof. 

Population increased 2.75 times vs housing only 2.3 times

And anytime someone tries to build anything bigger than a dog house, the neighbors sharpen their pitchforks and fire up the torches.

Most impacted are what's left of the classic nuclear family:  According to the report, adults age 25 to 44 saw a staggering drop of 45% since 1990.

The housing picture could soon change, however, as the consultant's report illuminates how precariously close Amherst now is to the dreaded 10% threshhold for affordable housing (10.8%).

And with 204 units at Rolling Green Apartments threatening to come off the affordability list, that would bring overall percentage down to well under 10% (8.5%).

And then, via a Ch 40b comprehensive permit, BIG time developers get pretty much a blank building permit, as long as 25% of the units are affordable.  

Even just the eviction of low-income Section 8 tenants from 24 units at Echo Village Apartments by housing kingpin Jamie Cherewatti, AKA Eagle Crest Management, will reduce our affordable housing index by one-quarter of one percent.

The clock is ticking. 

A Positive Spin

 Mullins Center Thursday night (be afraid of the dark)

If you threw a UMass News and Media Relations PR flack off the top of one of the Southwest Towers, about half way down he would tweet how refreshing is the air flow.  Another one stationed on the 3rd floor would announce how well he is doing ... so far.

So I guess it is not surprising that, according to UMass spokesperson Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, our higher education officials were "satisfied" with the response to the Tiesto concert, despite  the swamping of Emergency Medical Services on Thursday night for alcohol related calls.

In other words, get used to it!

So anytime the Mullins Center schedules a techno dubstep "artist" we can just write off emergency first responder service to the rest of Amherst and four other nearby towns that rely on AFD for ambulance serivces for three or four hours.

Yeah, that's a (pernicious) plan.

Amherst Firefighters respond

Stuck!

Southwest Towers 2 of 5

With UMass Southwest high rise Towers now fifty years old, I guess it's not surprising they are having maintenance issues. And with the new Amherst Fire Department policy to respond to a stuck elevator whenever campus technicians are not on duty the runs to UMass are starting to add up.

Previously AFD would only respond if their were medical issues associated with folks trapped inside the elevator.

This past weekend over half the AFD Fire runs to UMass were for "stuck elevators" (4 out of 7 calls).  And half our ambulance EMS runs (7 of 14) were for ETOH cases (alcohol overdose).

But I'm more than certain that is better than a real fire w-a-y up there on the 22nd floor.

   AFD Weekend Runs mid Feb 2013 by   Larry Kelley

Click top line title  for a better view

Drinking To Excess

Amherst Fire Department ambulances

While Amherst Police Department made no arrests over the weekend for rowdy behavior at any of the usual Party Houses, Amherst Fire Department was swamped with ETOH (alcohol poisoning) calls to UMass, the proud flagship of higher education in our state.

In fact, 80% of the EMS calls were alcohol related.  80%!  And one of them was a combination "ETOH and trauma," meaning the young college aged male hurt himself because of the incapacitation brought on by too much alcohol.

Just as a young college aged female died not long ago on Fearing Street, a notorious party pass through path, after collapsing and hitting her head on unforgiving concrete. 

In addition to alcohol sucking up the valuable time of our first responders, AFD also had a false alarm fire call to my friends at Alphs Delta Phi, 778 North Pleasant Street (who recently threatened me with a lawsuit to protect their sterling reputation) for "marijuana smoke" setting off a fire alarm.

Way to go frat boys.  I wish we could send you a bill for the $300 or more it cost the taxpayers of this town.

   AFD weekend responses last weekend January by  

In addition to these babysitting drunk runs to Cooley Dickinson Hospital, AFD was also busy with the medical emergencies we expect them to handle. So much so, that they had to rely on "mutual aid ambulances" four times (see EMS calls marked with *).

And no, oddly enough, none of these reinforcements were required because of the late night/early morning ETOH calls hogging our ambulances.

Just goes to show how routinely stressed the AFD is even without factoring in drunken college kids which, on weekends, is a BIG factor.

Observations From Afar

 Osaka Japan

As an apartment complex back home was being ravaged by an inferno,  I was happily touring a fire department sub station in Tokyo, Japan. 

Tokyo FD. Mini ladder truck 

Not that I'm superstitious -- even though 25 years ago my Amherst apartment burned down on a Friday the 13th -- but my intuition radar probably should have been buzzing after checking in to our plush hotel room a couple hours earlier:  Room 911.

Even with the restart of UMass and our other institutes of higher education, considering Monday was a holiday, I figured it would be a slow news week in Amherst.  Guess I was wrong.

#####

Once you have experienced a major structure fire up close and personal -- smelled and tasted the acrid stench, listened as the crackling grows deafeningly loud while your field of vision narrows to nothing because of thick black smoke -- not much else in life scares you.

So you simply hope to never meet again. Ever.

The beast paid a call on Rolling Green Apartments early Monday morning.  As with all encounters, it was both uninvited and unexpected. 

 Rolling Green fire. Photo courtesy of Steven O'Toole

And a young man who was majoring in hospitality and tourism management at UMass will never get to put those service skills to use.  Ever.

The investigation will be as thorough as the fire was destructive, maybe more so.  I will be surprised if it turns out the cause can be traced to irresponsible management, as the complex is owned by one of those big corporations with too much to lose.

With Section 8 housing, HUD loans, a large insurance carrier and all the other private sector bureaucracy involved,  safe to say Rolling Green Apartments have been inspected more times than the Town could possibly afford to if rental registration bylaw passes town meeting this spring.

The problem in Amherst with substandard, dangerous rental housing comes not from large professionally managed complexes like Rolling Green, Puffton Village, Mill Valley Estates, or any of the other three complexes on East Hadley Road.  It's largely the lone houses transformed into (illegal) rooming houses that are accidents waiting to happen.

Except of course for Gilreath Manor,  the 14 unit complex out on Hobart Lane,  a sort of white crow that disproves the theory all multi-unit complexes are well run.  A very good reason why all responsible landlords in town should cheer public officials' new found ambition to actually enforce safety and zoning ordinances that have been too long ignored. 

With the same basic design as the Rolling Green complex (with an attic unprotected by fireproof flooring) but made far more dangerous with faulty fire detection and too many students packed into each unit, the Gilreath Manor fire could have been far more murderous had the blaze broken out in the early morning hours rather than high noon.

Town Manager Musante's proposed 2014 budget fortunately includes funding for a "full time fire prevention inspector position;"  but, unfortunately,  no added positions for front line responders like those brave men and women who descended on a killer conflagration early Monday morning.

The Town Manager also touts the weekend "joint patrols" between UMPD and APD which is of course a good thing.  But AFD can't very well partner with UMFD as UMass does not have a fire department.

As I've mentioned before, UMass needs to hire an off campus RA to deal with nuisance party houses before they require APD response, and they should pick up the tab for an additional two AFD first responder positions.

The beast will come calling again.  Because fire is never completely eradicated.  Ever.


Fire victim relief efforts for Rolling Green

Relief efforts for Peshkov family

Newsmaker Of The Year

Umass Amherst founded 1863

What would Amherst be without the flagship University of Massachusetts?  A lot less newsworthy, that's for sure.

Yes, in all of the top Amherst news stories over the past 12 months -- from the alleged gang rape in a dorm, the "riot" after the Superbowl, the death of a young woman from a fall the University kept secret for ten days at family request, or the weekend in and weekend out Party House winners racking up a record breaking number of $300 nuisance house tickets -- the University of Massachusetts has played a central role. 

Of course alcohol has also played a contributing role in all those noteworthy stories as well.

On the plus side, however, Amherst has a 3.9% unemployment rate compared to the state average of 6.6% ... mainly due to our beloved economic Juggernaut, UMass. 

All in all, not a bad trade off (depending on your proximity to a Party House I suppose).