We're Looking At You Southwest!

Southwest:  Five residential high-rise towers built in the early 1960s, housing 5,500

If UMass students do riot after the Super Bowl tomorrow night the fault will be theirs and theirs alone.

UMass administrators have gone above and beyond the routine call of duty to mitigate rowdy behavior including stern messaging, alternative viewing activities, and -- the smartest thing -- strangling the supply of potential "outside agitators" without a vested interest in the school.

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Unlike the Blarney Blowout -- a BIG reason we see all these precautions -- should rowdy behavior occur it will almost certainly be contained to the UMass campus, most notably the Southwest Residential area.

Although I'm sure Amherst police will see their share of Party House noise and nuisance complaints town wide.

Since the $160,000 Davis Report is the playbook UMass is using, it will be interesting to see how UMass PD responds should the crowds grow too large, and the noise levels becomes almost deafening and then the solid objects start to fly.

When do they don their Darth Vader riot suits?  You know, the ones that incite the crowds to further violence (sarcasm).  At what point do overwhelmingly outnumbered police use chemical munitions to disperse the unruly mob?

 Davis Report

Since anonymity brings out the worst in people UMass should install throughout Southwest plaza areas portable lighting to turn darkness into day.  And call in Massachusetts State Police air wing to hover a big old helicopter directly overhead with a spotlight pointing down.

Complemented by a half-dozen HD camera drones, just to let them know it's all being recorded.

The breathless arrival of TV news cameras always incites the crowd.   Therefore UMass should also request television journalists not use a large commercial shoulder mounted camera, and stick to a more unobtrusive iPhone. 

After all, as Marshall McLuhan pointed out a long time ago, "The medium is the message."

UMass web page for all things Super Bowl

Still Work To Be Done

AFD on scene UMass Mullins Center for ETOH concert goer

The war on rowdy student behavior seems to have taken a major positive turn with UMass student off campus code of conduct violations down 63% from last year, and Amherst Police Department noise/nuisance tickets down 66%. 

Great news for sure, but the war on stupid behavior still has a ways to go.

The other equally important part of the equation is the drain on Emergency Medical Services brought on by "substance abuse" calls that needlessly tie up ambulances, and on occasion fire trucks that have to act as medical first responders.

A little over 9% of AFD's 4,478 emergency medical runs (410)  in 2014 were because of substance abuse, down ever so slightly from 2013 when almost 10% of 4,328 EMT runs (422) were due to drugs and/or alcohol abuse.

Naturally our institutes of higher education are outliers.   In 2013 UMass substance abuse runs came in at 27% of total (219 out of 848), Amherst College at 26% (39 out of 152) and Hampshire College at 24% (17 out of 71).

In 2014 UMass was down ever so slightly with substance abuse runs at 25% (202 of 808), Amherst College up a little at 27% (50 out of 184) and Hampshire College also up ever so slightly at 25% (19 out of 77).

In other words no improvement whatsoever. 

The problem with these preventable substance abuse cases is they all seem to come around the same time (late night/early morning on weekends) severely straining staffing levels at AFD.

Yes, even with additional money from UMass to put two extra ambulances in service (making 5 total) on weekends there were a few times in September when that was not enough.

The day will soon come when someone's life slips away while awaiting an out-of-town mutual aid ambulance to arrive.  That cost is incalculable.

A New Age of Civility?

UMass/Amherst: the flagship of higher education

When I first started shining a spotlight on rowdy student behavior a few years ago, I never thought the day would dawn where a dramatic decrease in such bad behavior would become a "dog bites man" kind of news story.

But here we are, thankfully.

UMass released on Friday the box scores for this past fall's violations of the student code of conduct (now that it applies to off campus activities) and it was down a whopping 63%.

No surprise really since I published the Amherst Police Department noise/nuisance tickets and arrests back in late November showing they were down dramatically.  And the feeder system so to speak for the Dean of Students is APD, as every negative interaction is reported to their office.

But I still find some of the statistics interesting.  Out of the 107 students reported to the Dean's office only one was expelled, probably this guy.  (Assaulting and calling a black police officer the N-word will do that.)

Another not at all surprising, but still notable when you see it as a stark statistic:  80% of the 107 student offenders were males.  Why is that?  Is it a testosterone thing where men are more naturally inclined to bad behavior?

Of course the other statistic UMass doesn't show is the involvement of alcohol in all of these sordid situations, which if I had to guess approaches 100%.  Perhaps alcohol and testosterone make for a bad mix. 

Speaking of which, another notable statistic, one that UMass will not tell you about, is reported rapes plummeted from 22 in 2013 all the way down to six in 2014. 

In his inauguration speech on Wednesday, Northwestern District Attorney Dave Sullivan credited UMass with helping to develop materials now used nationwide to address sexual assaults on campus.



That too is something to widely acknowledge.

Another Good Sign

You have to wonder if the young man who wrote this -- naturally as a Cowardly Anon Nitwit -- gets up in the morning and curses the mirror when it reflects a big fat zit on his scrawny face.

Thus I have another reason to believe that indeed, the Tide is Turning:

When the hard core minority of party hardy idiots who give all students a bad name lash out in such a juvenile manner, you know the heat is getting to them.

A closer look at the tickets handed out by APD for bad behavior demonstrates there is a hard core minority who just don't seem to get it.

Noise tickets were down dramatically this semester from 91 to only 17, but the "Nuisance House" tickets -- a higher level of mayhem -- were not down all that much, going from 33 last fall to 25 this fall.

It will be interesting to see the UMass report on off campus student discipline for violation of the student code of conduct covering this fall, which of course will reflect the same dramatic drop in number of sanctions imposed (since they are based on APD arrest/ticket reports).

And the severity of the sanctions handed out will probably be pretty mild.  

What UMass really needs to do is seek out the hard core party types (reflected in Nuisance House tickets, Resisting Arrest, and Assault and Battery on a police officer charges) and be rid of them once and for all.

Go Team!

There's a new team in town:  Positive Team Presence

The UMass Student Government Association is taking the $160,000  Davis Report on the Blarney Blowout to heart -- as well they should.

In response they created "MinuteMarshals", now renamed "Team Positive Presence", a group of fellow students who will be embedded into the potential party scene as peer counselors hoping to deescalate things before they get out of hand.

Naturally they will also use Social Media prior to events to send a message about being responsible and maintaining control.  

 

Walk This Way group on Fearing Street last Labor Day weekend

The peacekeeping program will be in addition to and a step up from "Walk This Way", where a group of students stand out on late night weekends in heavily traveled corridors just off campus to request the herds keep quiet when traveling through residential neighborhoods.

Town Manager Musante report to Select Board last night

This just completed Fall Semester has been the quietest in memory, with noise/nuisance tickets and arrests down dramatically, so this new program comes at an opportune time.

But the true game changer -- also heartily endorsed by the Davis Report -- is the hiring of an "off campus Resident Assistant".

Boston College has successfully used the program for many years to keep peace between off campus students and nearby neighbors.  The Off Campus RA is an official representative of the school and as such wields far more authority with potential miscreants.  Either abide by his/her wishes or risk being expelled.
 
UMass has already acknowledged they will probably make such a hire.  Since Team Positive Presence hopes to be in operation by the Super Bowl, it would be nice if UMass hired the Off Campus RA before the weather gets warm this coming spring.

Because even with Team Positive Presence and Walk This Way crews, plus an Off Campus RA, they still would not have stopped the Blarney Blowout last March.

Only Mother Nature, conjuring up a blizzard, could have done that.

The Tide Is Turning

No single issue has dominated the public discussion in our little college town over the past too many years like the problem of unruly off campus student behavior.

Yes, let me quickly interject that it's only a small minority that indulge in downright dangerous antics, tie up emergency services for preventable alcohol related calls and disturb the tranquility of neighborhoods all over town.

But when the majority of your population consists of "college aged youth,"  that small percentage adds up to significant number -- especially problematic considering our woefully understaffed Public Safety Departments.



Plus they all seem to want to get out of control around the same time:  Thursday night through early Sunday morning.

In response to problems emanating from student rentals the town, 40 years after it was first proposed, enacted a Rental Registration and Permit Bylaw.  As of today 100% of the rental property in town is registered and have a permit that can be revoked.

Neighbors now have easy access to contact information for those adults who are owners/managers of Party Houses and a simple mechanism to file complaints with the town should they not get satisfaction from them.

UMass, the Goliath that provides the vast majority of housing consumers, has also started taking things seriously after student bad behavior started receiving the continuous attention it deserved (kind of like the bad behavior of Bill Cosby should have been exposed many, many years ago).

For over four years now I have focused attention on the weekend circus with my "Party House of the Weekend" reports, naming names of both the arrested perpetrators of the mayhem and the landlords who own the property.

These days I get requests almost weekly to take down a post because a Google search brings it up and prospective employers are probably not overly impressed (although we all were young once I suppose).

March 8, 2014

The Blarney Blowout was also a major turning point as my spotlight on rowdy student behavior was amplified a thousand times over by national and international media coverage.

In spite of the $160,000 Davis Report suggesting overwhelmed police overreacted, the average citizen -- both taxpayers and students -- knows full well the alcohol fueled mayhem was a significant black mark for the University and its student body.

 But you can still buy UMass branded shot glasses at the Textbook Annex

And it has served as an unmistakable wake up call,  or some would argue an attention getting slap in the face.

So why do I, a grumpy old get-off-my-lawn cynic, think things are improving?

Last year between August 15 and November 15 Amherst police responded to 322 noise complaints, while issuing 91 Noise Violations and 33 Nuisance House violations.

This year between August 15 and November 15 Amherst police responded to 214 noise complaints, while issuing only 17 Noise Violations and 25 Nuisance House violations.

In other words total number of $300 tickets levied have dropped from 124 to 42 in just one year.  A stunningly significant decrease. 

Now that's worth partying over!

Mini Hobart Hoedown

Matthew Langford stands before Judge O'Grady

Hobart Lane is kind of like Phillips Street in that it will probably never live down its (well deserved) party reputation, even though there has not been a "Hobart Hoedown" in many years.

For you nubies the Hoedown preceded the Blarney Blowout, but of the same basic idea:  day drinking until you get completely out of control, and when police arrive throw dangerous objects at them.

Amherst police encountered two rowdy party goers very early Sunday morning trying to force their way into #29 Hobart Lane.  When they refused to comply with instructions to leave -- and physically resisted police -- officers had no choice but to arrest Kyle Bisceglia and Matthew Langford, both age 20. 

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Matthew Langford (6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 200 pounds) was charged with Disorderly Conduct, Resisting Arrest and Assault and Battery on a police officer.

 Kyle Bisceglia arraigned before Judge O'Grady

Kyle Bisceglia was charged with Resisting Arrest and Disorderly Conduct.

Both are hiring their own attorney and they will return to Eastern Hampshire District Court in mid-December.

All's Well That Ends Well

AFD and UMPD on scene UMass Lederle Tower early last night

The one call I hate to hear is what is known as a Q5, public safety code for suicide.  Oftentimes with a kind of tension in the voice of the first responder that you do not normally hear for all the other emergencies they deal with on a day-to-day basis.

Last night around 7:20 pm a father called UMass Dispatch (which is not affiliated with the town of Amherst Dispatch) to report his son had just threatened to jump from Lederle Tower.  Considering he was in the Tower at the time of the call, a threat to be taken quite seriously.

Immediately a bevy of UMPD officers responded, found him pretty much within minutes, and called AFD for a "section 12" (psyche evaluation) transport to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital. 

His parents, who live in a nearby town (suburb of Springfield), headed there as well. Hopefully a happy ending.  Or at the very least, certainly not the sorrowful ending that could easily have resulted.

In other words, the system worked.

But I wonder and worry what would have happened had this harrowing call come in later in the night (or early in the morning), on those special days in a college town when rowdyism gets completely out of control?

When all our ambulances are tied up carting drunk students to CDH, and police -- both UMPD and APD -- are dealing with alcohol fueled mayhem, pushing response times to over an hour?

In other words, next time the system may not work quite so well.

Halloween Haze (Alcohol That Is)

AFD Engines Fine Arts Center awaiting ambulance to transport ETOH student 1:15 am

One can only wonder how much worse it could have been if Mother Nature had not played the role  first-responders-best-friend by providing rain right about the time parties are getting warmed up. And on Halloween, the parties are ubiquitious as pumpkins on a front porch.

 Hampshire Halloween fireworks 8:00 pm

Hampshire Halloween, the biggest event of the year for Hampshire College, was far less intoxicating than last year when AFD had six transports for ETOH.

This year AFD Chief Nelson required 2 out-of-town ambulances stage on scene, just as they did for the recent Fantazia concert at the Mullins Center.

South Hadley and Easthampton ambulances were easily able to keep up with demand, as only three patrons required transport to Cooley Dickinson Hospital. Medics on the scene also treated and released three more.

UMass, however, staggered to a new record, easily surpassing last year's 9 transports for intoxication. This year there were 13 transports, half again as many!

Interestingly male immaturity, as it often does, predominated: 12 of the 13 transports were (young) men. Another three patients (2 men, 1 woman) were treated and released for too much alcohol.

Fortunately Mother Nature continues to smile on our beleaguered first responders, as tonight promises to be the proverbial "dark and stormy night."

Just two of many ETOH incidents after midnight Halloween

100% Compliance!

Building Commissioner Rob Morra, head of the table

The Rental Bylaw Implementation Group heard nothing but good news this afternoon from Building Commissioner Rob Morra:  All 1,261 rental properties in the the bustling little college town of Amherst are now in full compliance with the bylaw overwhelmingly passed by Amherst Town Meeting last May.

Morra told the committee that originally using assessor records the number of rental properties was pegged at 1,575.  After the first bulk mailing, however, about 300 let it be known that they do not rent out any part of their property.

Taking a hint from President Reagan the Building Commissioner used a "trust but verify" methodology to confirm they were indeed not renting, and he continues to keep those properties on a "watch list".

About 30 property owners out of the 1,261 did not take the bylaw seriously and continued to ignore requests to come into compliance.  They were issued $100/day fines and soon enough ALL of them became believers.

But not before $8,000 was collected in fines, with the most stubborn landlord accounting for about $3,000 of that.

In total, the Rental Permit Bylaw has generated $126,100 in registration permit fees ($100 per property times 1,261) plus the $8,000 in fines for a total of $134,100 this Fiscal Year, FY14.

Yellow pins indicate APD actions taken

The other equally major piece of good news is the town website for all things rental now shows properties that have been warned or cited (or arrested) by APD for noise and or nuisance complaints over the last year or so.

Neighbors can now track the major offenders.  Once three complaints appear under a yellow pin in a single location, that property is potentially subject to a revocation of the rental permit.

Dance The Night Away

 

UMass Haigis Mall 10:15 PM Friday

This coming weekend -- and in a "college town" the weekend begins on Thursday -- should be a notable one for our understaffed public safety departments.

 The crowd was exuberant but, fortunately, well behaved

On Friday night UMass PD came very close to calling in the Amherst Police Department for help dealing with a large crowd (700-1,000) of somewhat scantily dressed youth congregated at the Haigis Mall awaiting bus rides to Holyoke for an Electronic Dance Music event, a fundraiser for breast cancer promoted by a local fraternity.

That event was so popular the Fire Marshall shut down entry soon after I took these pictures, and most of the crowd above did not actually board the rented yellow school buses.

 AFD responded to the scene for an over intoxicated student

The UMPD officer in charge told Dispatch to hold off since "APD probably has their hands full about now," and indeed call response at the time was delayed by up to an hour as Amherst police were dealing with the simple routine of weekend in a college town when the weather is still warm.

On Thursday the Mullins Center hosts Skrillex a notable EDM artist, and of course the following weekend is Halloween -- the mother of all excuses to party hardy.

Main ingredients in the making of a not so perfect storm. 

Yet Another Lost Weekend

 

AFD A5 on scene slummy Phillips Street for ETOH female with head injury 12:09 AM

Amherst Fire Department made twenty eight (28) Emergency Medical Services calls to UMass Amherst over the weekend, twenty five (25) of them for overly intoxicated "college aged youth," and quite frankly the other three traumas I have a strong suspicion alcohol was a contributing factor.

   AFD Fantazia Concert Runs

Let me repeat that:  At least 89.2% of all "emergency" runs to our flagship institute of higher education last weekend were for otherwise intelligent people who voluntarily drank themselves almost to the point of death.

AFD Engine 1 and Engine 3 on scene Theta Chi Frat 496 N. Pleasant Street 12:23 AM

And notice too just after midnight Saturday-into-Sunday morning in the midst of a flurry of ETOH runs two engines responded to an alarm at Theta Chi fraternity.  What if that had turned out to be a major structure fire?

With all our ambulances (and 80% of the on-duty crew) dealing with drunks, how effective a response could they have mustered?

Repeat Party Offender

Luke V. Gatti (center) and father (right) appear before Judge John Payne this morning

Apparently Phillips Street, alcohol, Luke Gatti and late night weekends, make for a bad combination.  Perhaps because he's only 18-years-old, but still no excuse for such outlandish behavior.

Arrested two weeks ago on Phillips Street for disorderly conduct (which included calling a detective the N-word), this time around Mr. Gatti seemed to go out of his way to get arrested yet again on that same notorious street, and when taken back to the police station, assaulted an officer. 

With his father looking on, Luke Gatti was arraigned this morning before Judge John Payne who set bail at $250, taken out of the $1,000 bail posted over the weekend to get out of jail. 

Noting the arrest only two weeks ago Judge Payne said to Gatti,  "I'm a little concerned you're going to pull a trifecta before the month is over."

Gatti will appear in Eastern Hampshire District Court with his hired lawyer on October 15 for a pre-trial conference.

Unless of course, in the meantime, he gets arrested again. 

Click label "Luke Gatti" below for additional stories

Is nine too many?

110 Logtown Road

The occupancy capacity of the little house at 110 Logtown Road,  a one family unit which is limited by a generation-old town zoning bylaw to no more than "four unrelated occupants," comes up for discussion at a Zoning Board of Appeals hearing Thursday night.

The landlord and tenants are appealing a Notice of Violation, "Cease & Desist" order issued by Amherst Building Inspector Jon Thompson in mid-July.  If the ZBA overrules the Building Inspector the proposal for a waiver of the 4 person limit will then proceed to the Planning Board as part of a Site Plan Approval.

At less than 1,250 square feet of finished space the house is kind of small for even four people, let alone the request for nine.

The main concern in a "college town" with increasing density per unit of housing is that it will result in "college aged youth" negatively impacting a residential neighborhood with loud noise, inappropriate activities children should not be exposed to, and general unsightliness with housekeeping bringing down property values.

But since these particular youth are involved with farming, the usual negative neighborhood fallout is probably not going to happen.

Still, that house is awful small for nine people.

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It would help of course if the building owner, Onesta Properties, had a better reputation.

 

What NOT To Call A Police Officer

Phillips Street, midnight 9/1/14

As I pointed out in my weekend wrap up, Phillips Street -- the slummiest street in Amherst -- was almost impassable to vehicular traffic just after midnight in the Sunday overnight leading into Labor Day morning.

Problem with that is an ambulance or fire truck can't make it down the street, and when you mix that large a crowd with equally large amounts of alcohol it's not uncommon for an ambulance or firetruck to be needed in a hurry.

So Amherst police, acting like herding dogs, will move in to redirect the crowd.


Obviously Luke V. Gatti did not want to be herded ...

Click to enlarge/read

Page 2 continues:  "a temper tantrum like behavior.  Mr. Gatti then clenched his hands and held his arms in a defiant manner consistent with an agitated state.  He was arrested for Disorderly Conduct."

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Tuesday Judge Payne imposed a $100 (Court cost) fine and placed Mr. Gatti on probation for four months.

 Luke Gatti, age 18, stands before Judge John Payne

About 30 minutes after his original arraignment Mr. Gatti returned to the courtroom to ask Judge Payne for extra time to pay the $100 fine, as he did not want to place it on his credit card. 

Makes you wonder who gets to see a copy of his monthly statement.

$2000 Fine vs $100 Compliance Fee

 25 Butterfield Terrace

The last of the housing holdouts paid their dues and the town's rental stock is now 100% in compliance with the new Rental Registration and Permit Bylaw, overwhelmingly passed by Amherst Town Meeting last year.

   Amherst Housing Court Docs

On Monday Amherst Building Inspector Jon Thompson appeared in Eastern Hampshire District Court before a Clerk Magistrate.  Of the six cases he presented, one was continued to August 29 (Kathleen Maiolatesi), with all the others ended favorably for the town.

Deborah Kruger failed to show up for the hearing, costing her $1,700.  The three parking citations were all upheld and the perps paid $100 each.  And Alpha Tae Gamma (25 Butterfield Terrace) settled before the hearing by agreeing to pay $2,000.

FY15 only started July 1st

We're Number 37!

 APD keeps the streets safe

Yes of course Amherst is a safe community -- probably more so than some of the other 36 Massachusetts cities and towns rated higher for safety. After all, we were one of the first to go "nuclear free" in the 1980s and just last May, "drone free".

If you can't trust a company that sells home security systems, who can you trust?

But I would feel a little more comfortable celebrating the distinction if they knew that Amherst was located in the western part of the state and not "central Massachusetts".

As a "college town" Amherst has the lowest median age population in the entire state, so our main problem seems to be a byproduct of alcohol (and other drugs) mixed with the exuberance of youth.

And they don't sell a home system to neutralize that.

The Dirty Dozen

 

 407 North Pleasant Street, owned by Gamma Inc Alpha Tau 

The Amherst Rental Registration & Permit Bylaw that went into effect January 1st affecting 1,300 properties in this rental dominated "college town" now has an astounding 99% compliance rate. 

Only 12 properties -- some with the same owners -- have failed to heed the warnings of Amherst Building Commissioner Rob Morra, and will be brought to Eastern Hampshire District Court in the very near future.

The Rental Registration Bylaw is an attempt to bring law and order to a Wild Wild West mining town where the attraction for boatloads of people is education rather than gold or silver.

With restrictive zoning and well organized NIMBYs, housing production -- especially student housing in a town with the lowest median age in the state -- has been almost non existent over the past generation.

Thus supply and demand is out of whack, resulting in higher prices forcing out families and low-to-middle income workers, residential one family-house conversions to student rooming houses and all too many noise and nuisance complaints in residential neighborhoods.

The new Rental Registration and Permit bylaw is working.  Now we need to tweak zoning.

Code enforcement is a key ingredient

Pay Me Now Or ...

641 Main Street

Building Commissioner Rob Morra has entered a final phase for rolling in the Rental Registration and Permit Bylaw set to the tune, "No More Mr. Nice Guy."

The law was overwhelmingly passed by Amherst Town Meeting last year and went into effect January 1st.  It requires all rental properties to register with the town, pay $100 annual fee, and fill out a check list verifying adherence to basic health safety regulations.  

Out of 1300 rental properties in town that come under the ordinance only 32 have failed to comply.  As of May 30th the lower 13 properties on the list (below red line) have been issued $100 per day fines.  Yes, that's the total annual cost of compliance now paid PER DAY.

Already the town has received $1,500 in fines, and for those who refuse to pay the fines complaints will be filed in District Court at the end of this month.

The top 19 properties (above red line) will be issued $100/day fines starting this week as their deadline to comply was Friday the 13th.  Bad luck for them, good thing for the town.

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There He Goes Again

33 Phillips Street

The poster boy for lousy upkeep of student rental housing, Stephan Gharabegian, is at it once again.  On good old Phillips Street naturally, where he owns almost half the houses on the slummy street. 

Building Inspector Jon Thompson has given him until June 24 to either demolish a bootleg four bedroom basement apartment or file for a Special Permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals, where he's been turned down in the past.

And since the illegal basement apartment did not have a second means of egress in case of fire Gharabegian is lucky the town did not file endangerment charges!

   33 Phillips Street - Cease and Desist