Pay The Piper

UMass is by far the town's largest employer

These days -- or most any over the past 35 years -- it's not often I find myself in agreement with forever activist Vince O'Connor, but on this particular issue he's dead on correct.  There, I said it.  Step one in any good multi-step program.

UMass currently pays the town under $500K as a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes courtesy of a "5 year strategic agreement" signed w-a-y back in 2007.  Thus it expired over three years ago but has been extended annually ever since.

I'm told by a reliable source that a new multi year agreement had been on Town Manager John Musante's desk for many, many months now.

His unfortunate passing two weeks ago today could obviously delay even longer the ratification of that new agreement -- if indeed it is worth ratifying.

Because if the amount is under $1 million per year -- which it probably is since Mr. Musante seemed not overly interested in jumping on it even though he had come under pressure of late by the Select Board to get an agreement resigned -- I would tell UMass to go fly a drone, err, kite.

With a Public Safety budget of $10 million and our police and fire/EMTs dealing with UMass students on and off campus amounting to 25% of our emergency services utilization, that alone comes to $2.5 million the town should be reimbursed.

 Amherst FY16 (ends June 30, 2016) budget

And with UMass grad students sending their children to our public schools (56 total, times our high $20K per year average cost to educate) that comes to another $1 million plus per year.

If UMass were smart -- and they are after all a "higher education" enterprise -- they would seek to cut a new five year deal as soon as possible.

Because if Representative Kulik's bill passes to force tax-exempts to pay 25% of their assessed value, and Amherst and Hampshire College end up paying for more than UMass there will be hell to pay.

This year Amherst College paid the town $130,000 -- up from the previous year's $90,000 -- for AFD fire/EMS services while Hampshire College paid us a BIG fat zero.

Location, Location, Location

Ladder 1 and Engine 2 with aerials extended about 75 feet up

About the only thing I'm going to miss with Central Station when the town FINALLY gets around to building a new fire station in South Amherst is the great access the general public has to the department in their heart of the downtown location.

Like today's successful annual Open House, which always coincides with "Fire Prevention Week."  And that's just one of the great things about our local department:  They would much rather not have your business when it comes to fire.



And a little training can go a long way should the unimaginable ever happen in your home, office or school.  AFD also gets out of their office and takes fire safety training to our schools with the highly successful SAFE (Student Awareness of Fire Education program).

 Demonstrating extraction techniques

Of course the other huge problem the town needs to address is the inadequate staffing levels that all too often requires mutual aid supplementation from a surrounding department and frequent requests for off duty firefighters to report in for "station coverage."

Smokey Bear and Jada

Or, maybe we could just draft Smokey Bear.

Click to enlarge photo

 Why we need an adequate full-time profession FD. Those who fail to learn from history ...

A Matter Of Student Safety

Attorney Tom Reidy and Cliff Laraway appear before ZBA last night, Chair Mark Parent (ctr)

Sometimes the difference between life and death is measured in mere seconds -- especially when dealing with The Beast otherwise known as  fire.

A cluttered escape route, narrow stairway, or -- God forbid -- a door locked from the outside that doesn't allow opening from within, could quickly spell death of a most unimaginable kind.

Would you trust your life to this fire escape?

At last night's Special Permit hearing for 382 North Pleasant Street, which most people probably think of as a fraternity (which apparently it still is),  Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Mark Parent clearly stated, "My concern is about safety, that's what is driving this.  Some kids do crazy stuff and we need to protect them from themselves."

A September 29 Site Visit turned up "living rooms" with doors on them, and at least ten rooms with external locks on them (which as a joke someone could lock the person in), as well as a bevy of extra mattresses in storage.

A Tad Too Many Tenants

Mr. Parent told the petitioner and his attorney, "It is very clear to me this site is occupied by at least 10 people consistently. No question it's more than the 8 allowed.  We need to come up with conditions that rectify that."

The town of Amherst has a zoning bylaw that restricts occupancy to no more than four unrelated housemates per one family unit.

Owner Cliff Laraway is requesting a Special Permit to allow the structure to be a two family, non owner occupied structure (for up to 8 unrelated tenants).  But the layout of the former fraternity, with so many rooms, makes it hard to enforce only eight of them be bedrooms.

Building Commissioner Rob Morra stated, "There have to be significant structural changes, like taking out a wall vs simply removing a door".

The Amherst Fire Department, having done car counts over the month of September, considers it a "rooming house" with 10 or more tenants, thus requiring an expensive ($39,000) sprinkler system.

 Click to enlarge/read

The Special Permit hearing was continued to November 5th so the ZBA could request an AFD representative attend.

The petitioner was sternly instructed to come back with floor plans that show eight and only eight bedrooms as well as physical changes in place to keep the other numerous available rooms from conveniently be used as additional bedrooms.

Building Commissioner Rob Morra did not waste any time taking enforcement steps to ensure the current population of the building goes down to only eight:

   Amherst 382 N Pleasant violations

Almost There

Amherst Office Park's new 30,000 square foot mixed-use building, an exciting new addition to the South Amherst Village Center will open November 1st, joining Kendrick Place and Presidential Apartments as providers of additional, badly needed housing in town.

In this case 17 total units -- the vast majority of them one-bedroom (15) and the remaining two, two-bedroom.  The residential portion of the building occupies the upper two floors and are now fully rented, while the ground floor commercial space is 75% leased.

Balconies offer scenic views to the east and west

Mixed-use buildings like this are a blessing to nearby local small businesses by providing a bevy of potential customers, all within walking distance.

Cable Ascertainment Hearing: Repeat

Cable Advisory Committee members stand at beginning of meeting

The 2nd and final joint public meeting of the Amherst Select Board and Cable Advisory Committee to hear costumers concerns with Comcast service over the past ten years this morning was pretty much a rerun of the Ascertainment Hearing last week:  Amherst Media is amazing, but Comcast kind of stinks.

 Jones Library Director Sharon Sharry:  Would like to see all three libraries wired for broadcast

This time 19 people (vs a dozen last week) came to the microphone to present testimony, and not a one had anything good to say about Comcast.

Peggy Roberts, Town Meeting Coordinating Committee Chair:  "Amherst Media needs equipment replacement and extra staff support."

Amherst Cable Advisory member Demetria Shabazz led off the assault by pointing out Comcast is an $8 Billion company and rather than tie revenues only to the 7,000 cable TV customers it should include ALL profits including Internet and telephone.

Currently Comcast pays the town (who turns it over to Amherst Media) a little over $300,000 which represents 5% of the $6.5 million in revenues generated by 7,000 cable TV subscribers, but nothing from Internet or digital phone services.

Matthew Duranti, filmmaker:  "Amherst Media helped me get my voice out there as a young film producer"

Most of the speakers pointed out Amherst Media is critical to our democracy because of the governmental meetings they cover (Select Board, Town Meeting, Finance Committee, etc), but they are currently stuck using outdated copper wire analog technology.

Chris Riddle, member of the Town Meeting Coordinating Committee, said the lighting in the middle School auditorium is old analog theater lighting that leaves a lot to be desired for Town Meeting members trying to watch presentations and for the signal beamed to viewers at home.  He suggested Comcast upgrade the facility with new LED lighting and a digital sound system.

Louie Greenbaum:  "Town Meeting sound system at Middle School is a terrible, terrible system unworthy of Amherst"

Ten years ago at the start of the contract Comcast contributed a one-time "technology upgrade" grant of $450,000.  This time around, with the chorus of requests for fiber optic upgrade to the entire Amherst Media system, it sounds like the request will be a l-o-t higher.

Jim Lescault, Amherst Media Executive Director:  Last year we provided 504 hours of original content over our three channels 

At least one woman advocated for a switch in providers saying, "If I went to a doctor and they didn't have the equipment to make me better, why would I go back"?

But not a lot of other companies are going to wish to come to Amherst when they will have to wire the entire town to set up a new cable system.

So Comcast it is.  Only questions are will their customer service improve, and how much more money will they be willing to invest in Amherst Media?

Josh Stearns: Digital Journalism guru

Busy Beavers!

Gull Pond (off Old Farm Road) 9/29/15

The Amherst Conservation Commission gave "emergency certification" for a Gull Pond beaver breach last week to keep the pond from overflowing its boundaries. 

According to Town Manager (& Conservation Director) Dave Ziomek:

"My wetlands administrator worked closely with conservation and DPW staff to breach the dam. Late summer rains raised concerns about the road and water backup into basements etc. We’ve done this many times in my tenure with the Town to prevent impacts to residents, roads and property. All part of living with beavers. In these cases we seek what is called an emergency certification to breach a dam to lower water levels temporarily. Rain this week will bring level back up I’m sure."

 A "beaver deceiver" will be reinstalled to protect the drainage pipe

Considering the monsoons that are now upon us, that's a pretty safe bet.

Gull Pond 9/29/15 (from a tad higher up)

DUI Dishonor Roll

Gates Larson, age 52, arraigned before Judge John Payne

Only one APD arrest for impaired driving over the weekend but it was of a kind that illustrates the danger drunk drivers pose not only to the general public but also to police officers who job it is to be out and about during those prime drunk driving hours.

UMass police, who also serve and protect property located in the little college town of Amherst, also had one arrest:

 Keyarra Wood, age 22, arraigned before Judge John Payne

 

And Hadley, close enough to catch our overflow, had one as well.  All three defendants had their cases continued until next month and were released on their own recognizance.  Although Ms. Ritchie-Dunham turned over her license to an Assistant District Attorney before leaving Court.

Jacqueline Richie-Dunham, age 20, stands before the Judge

 

Party House of the Weekend

 419 Old Farm Road

Shane Walsh, Evan Stack, Ben Gallacher off to Clerk's office to pay $300 town bylaw noise fine (each)

For only the second weekend of the semester we have a party house winner where APD intervention of the arresting kind was required.  Although this one is of the more typical variety:  all college aged men.  UMass students to be precise.  All hockey players no less.

Henry Dill (left) also arrested next door to 419 Old Farm Road at same time for assaulting a police cruiser

A few years ago at this time of the season APD was making arrests at numerous party houses.  I asked APD Chief Scott Livingstone if things were, as I suspected, getting better:

I would agree, that thus far, the communication and interactions, cooperation,  with officers and young adults has greatly improved.

Although still very early, I know that both Officer Laramee, Eric Beal and all of the other sector officers having been doing a lot of outreach, whether it be door to door meetings, Fraternity and Sorority meetings and others.

I have been contacted by coaches of many of the sports teams, and we are in the process of scheduling meetings with them as well.

A very good sign!

The usual Saturday day drink parties at Townhouse Apartments in North Amherst also seem to end a little better than they did a few years ago. 

These past two weekends have also seen large gatherings at the western quad where police managed to herd the kids off the green (more like brown at the moment) without incident.

 Townhouse Apartments 9/19/15 5:00 PM

Townhouse Apartments 9/26/15 6:00 PM (Click photo to enlarge)

A Barn By Any Other Name ...

134 Montague Road, North Amherst aka The Mill District

Over the course of its 100+ year history almost everything made of wood -- which is to say the entire post & beam barn -- has been repaired and/or replaced on the big structure that's impossible to miss in North Amherst.

So is it still an original historic structure worth spending many times over new construction costs to preserve, protect and maintain the iconic view it provides to travelers passing by?

Over a year ago the Amherst Historical Commission thought so and ordered a one-year demolition delay, which expired back in mid-July.

But that is the extent of their power to preserve the barn at other people's expense -- in this case -- W.D. Cowls, Inc, the largest private landowner in the state.

Interestingly at the Historical Commission meeting last week discussing the last remaining carriage house contributing to the South Amherst Common Historic District, much was made out of the fact that over the years most if not all of the original structure had been replaced piecemeal.

The Commission decided not to even bother holding a Demolition Delay Hearing, thus the structure can be vaporized at any moment.

As could the historic old red barn at 134 Montague Road.  But that's not going to happen.  At least not before trying to come up with an economic reuse that justifies the high cost of maintaining the iconic image that so dominates the landscape.

Click photo to enlarge

 Barn (right)  is close but not attached to new Atkins North (note roof damage)

According to Cowls Vice President for Real Estate and Community Development Mollye Wolahan:

The demo delay has been over since mid July. We have no plans to remove the barn at this point. On the day of expiration we removed a dangerous window and a couple pieces of siding that we were prohibited from removing during the year-long demo delay. Barn is still being used as a commercial structure as it is warehousing company equipment and materials (though not on the leaky south third so much as before) as it has for many decades now. The barn is leaking profusely on the south third and an interior beam has fallen, a couple others are about to. The south third is structurally shakey. With the opening of Atkins, we have put a fence around the perimeter of the barn to keep the public at a safe distance from the structure.

Ms. Wolahan concludes optimistically:  "My hope is to start the public process this month — sharing information with the neighbors and starting the zoning process that can allow the barn to be reconstructed, retaining the same iconic image that is there today with an exciting new use to further support our neighborhood and the Mill District."

Barn currently hosts art project

Killer Competition

PVCIC recently completed $10.6 expansion project behind original building

Not only does the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School have nicer digs than Amherst Regional Public Schools -- courtesy of a $10.6 million building project just completed -- but their student 10th grade academic performance is also superior (if you have faith in MCAS results that is).

 Boston Globe 9/24/15

In the current school year PVCIC has approximately 83 Amherst Regional students (up from 68 two years before) who have jumped ship, costing the Amherst Regional Public School District around $1.5 million in state money. 

And based on these test results, next year could be even worse. 

Click to enlarge/read

Amherst Regional Middle School.  Officials are considering abandoning building as student classrooms and moving grades 7 & 8 into the High School

A Simple Act Of Kindness

From my mailbag (late Friday night):

Hi Larry,

I am hoping to let the Happy Valley know about a very sweet act of kindness from the Amherst Police Department.

My 8 year old boy had his bike stolen from our home yesterday.

We looked for hours last night for it and again this evening. We covered every nook and cranny of our neighborhood and then drove around Amherst hoping to find it.

I filed a police report online just in case, and then called the police because I thought I might have spotted it but didn't want to go up to it in case it wasn't actually my son's bike.

I hesitated to call the police because I worried they had better things to do than deal with a kids lost bike, but Officer Corsetti showed up within moments and he took it seriously.

My two little boys were with me in the car and were so upset about the stolen bike and officer Corsetti let them know it mattered and was important.

He looked on foot for it for a long time, asking people he saw if they saw it, and then when we lost hope and went home, he still called me and update me on his search this evening. He asked me more questions about the bike, told me he hadn't given up.

My boy, Levi, was so touched that the officer cared that he wrote him a thank you note for caring and helping him look for it. (He also put some chocolate chip cookies in a bag for Officer Corsetti in case he got hungry while working).

We figured he would be out of a bike and I can't afford another bike for him. As a mother, I felt devastated and so sad that something my boy loved SO much and rode every day, was gone. It broke my heart.

Then, an hour or so later (at 8 tonight), there was a knock at our door and it was Officer Corsetti and Officer Ting. They had a brand new bike for Levi. And a lock!

 Sergeant Gabriel Ting, Levi on his new bike, Officer Dominick Corsetti.  Levi was getting ready for bed when officers arrived (hence no shirt) and they only put him on the bike sans helmet to adjust the seat

Levi was SO happy, he was glowing and over the moon excited. We had looked for so long for his bike and Levi thought he wouldn't be riding a bike for a long time. But now, because of the kindness of the police, Levi has a bike, a really nice one!

They told us that all of the police chipped in and got him this bike and lock. This is something my son will never forget.

It's an act of kindness that will live on long after he outgrows the bike because they gave him the gift of compassion, of kindness, of belief in doing good.

Levi promises to pass on the kindness and I believe he will.

Someday, when Levi is an old man, he will look back on this and remember it and still be passing on this act of kindness.

He says so himself.

Kettie L.

UPDATE Saturday morning:

Story (deservedly so) goes viral on Facebook

UPDATE Thursday Oct 1st 4:00 PM:

Ascertain This!

Final speaker Jim Lescault, Director of Amherst Media, addresses Amherst Select Board

The Amherst Select Board and Cable Advisory Committee hosted their first of two "Cable Ascertainment Hearings" last night with the second one scheduled for Wednesday September 30 at the Bangs Community Center at 11:30 AM.

The Select Board voted to adjourn their meeting after hearing an hour-and-a-half of testimony but they kept the public hearing on all things cable open until their October 5th routine Monday night meeting so citizens have plenty of time to provide them with written comments.

The ten-year contract with Comcast expires in October, 2016 and Federal law requires two public hearings as part of the Request For Proposals targeted to Comcast.  Rates and programming are off the table as is anything related to Internet or phone service.

Cable Advisory Chair Kris Pacunas:  These public hearings are "The most important tool for our committee."  

A couple dozen citizens showed up, many of them associated with Amherst Media to champion our local cable assess entity that operates channels 12,15, and 17 -- aka, the local government beat.

Amherst School Committee member Vira Douangmay:  "Amherst Media is important for our Democracy.  People freak out when School Committee meeting are not televised."

Amherst Media is funded by a 5% cut of Comcast's overall Amherst revenues ($6.5 million) from its 7,000 subscribers, which came to $317,000 last year.

And once every 10 years a "technology upgrade" capital expense for new equipment, which came to $450,000 ten years ago.

But more than a majority of the audience came to complain about various service issues with Comcast -- either billing, quality of product or just overall customer service.

Wendy Jones Boisseau:  I own a house on Pulpit Hill Road that's hard to rent because Comcast wanted $8,000 to install cable/internet service.

Staff liaison and town I.T. Director Sean Hannon said the Comcast fiber optic access is "very valuable," but the equipment used by Amherst Media is "very old and should be replaced."

The Cable Advisory Committee will come up with a ten year contract proposal that must first be approved by the Town Manager and then final approval rests with the Amherst Select Board.

Of course if you the customer don't like the final contract, the alternatives are pretty slim.  All the more reason to make your voice heard NOW.