The Nuclear Option

Shutesbury representatives dealing with a tough crowd

Well over half the 2.5 hour  "Four Towns Meeting" this morning consisted of sometimes vitriolic discussion of Shutesbury's self serving presentation requesting a change in the Regional Assessment formula from the current rolling five year average (equal cost per student) back to the state Statutory Method which uses a blend of voodoo based on property values, average income and aggregate wealth.

Simply put, the main difference is between perceived "ability to pay" versus the undeniable equity of everybody pays the exact same cost per students.  Thus the more students you have in the system the higher your costs.

And Shutesbury representatives were quick to admit that their costs are going up because of increased enrollments.

Outgoing Finance Director Sandy Pooler pointed out there are "Imperfections in statutory method measurement of wealth"

Response from the other three towns was downright testy ranging from a Pelham official branding it "really outrageous" to Leverett representative Kip Fonsh linking it to Shutesbury's lack of support for the expanded Regionalization from current grades 7-12 all the down to PreK:

"Context is everything.  The Regional Agreement has worked remarkably well over five decades. I'm profoundly distressed and disturbed over this presentation.  You failed to put forth the expanded Regional proposal that was four years in the making.  This past year all I’ve heard is lack of action on the part of Shutesbury to educate its citizens about how Regionalization would address their needs.  I have not heard a single positive thing!  Now I hear Michael DeChiara saying he would not support it.  If you don’t advertise, people will not come out.  This presentation represents a shift in the culture of the Region.  You have not lifted a finger for Regionalization.  That’s alarming." 

The four town school Region is bound by a 50+ year old Regional Agreement that requires a unanimous vote of all four Town Meetings to amend.  But only three of four are needed to pass the annual budget.

 Town reps were a mix of school committee, finance committee and select board

The Region has used the current equitable five year rolling average assessment method since 2008 and any method that differs from the state Statutory Method must also be approved by all four towns.

Every year since 2008 all four towns have passed a Town Meeting article calling for use of the alternative method to fund the Regional School Budget, and then the next article to pass would be their share of that budget.

So in other words little Shutesbury, with only 4% of the Region's population, can vote down the use of the more equitable method favored by the other 96% and that would then automatically switch financing back to the original statutory method.

Either way the proposed budget contribution of $19,539,329 from the four towns stays the same.

Of course at that point two other towns could then vote down the budget (which requires three-out-of-four to pass) because they dislike the extra increase in costs shifted to them.

Like Amherst for instance.  Under the current assessment method Amherst would pay $15,196,144  of the total budget of $19,539,329 a 2.5% increase over last year; but under the Statutory Method  Amherst would pay $15,465,851 an additional increase of $269,707 or a 4.3% increase over last year.

The Amherst Finance Committee has set guidelines for all town departments to keep budget increases to a maximum of 2.5%.

Shutesbury representatives did seem shell shocked by the universally hostile reaction to their budget eating Modest Proposal, and chances are they're only bluffing,  however:

Amherst Finance Committee Chair Kay Moran said the towns may want to think about creating two town budgets this year, one with each method. 

Merry, Merry, Merry

Umass band at center between Merry Maple and Main Street

Well maybe not visible from outer space, but the Merry Maple sure stands out from 400 feet up.  I can see why it took almost a week to string all the lights.

This harkens back to the Amherst of old, and can't help but warm the heart of even the staunchest Grinch.

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Zoning Bylaw Safely Upheld

382 North Pleasant Street

If the town ever wants to generate revenue on the side they could always hire out the Building Department as private investigators.

Last night after a thorough 30 minute presentation by Building Commissioner Rob Morra the Zoning Board of Appeals, with little discussion, unanimously affirmed his October 2 enforcement order to the owner of 382 North Pleasant Street declaring it in violation of the town's four-unrelated-tenants-per-one-family-unit bylaw.

 13 names show up associated with 382 N. Pleasant Street address

Morra used Amherst police license checks to definitively show 8 tenants were members of UMass Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity (which coincidentally has no official address) and anther two cars present during the month of September were also owned by frat members, bringing the total to 10.

In addition two more names showed up when police were called to quell a party there on July 4th.

Mr. Morra also presented photos from a Facebook page showing gatherings on the front porch and back parking lot of the house at 382 North Pleasant Street plus Internet comments about how they threw great parties.

Amherst Fire Department assisted by monitoring the parking lot behind the building during the month of September and routinely found ten cars present in the early morning hours with cold engines indicating that had been there overnight.

The two individuals who did not register with the landlord for a parking permit also just happened to be employed by the landlord, Clifford Laraway, who also owns the Subway in town center.

After the October 2 order from the Building Commissioner they went to Town Hall and took out a downtown street parking permit and indicated they worked at Subway.  They then simply started parking near 382 North Pleasant Street, but not in the official back parking lot.

The defendants put up a pitiful rebuttal providing signed statements by (supposedly) all eight tenants saying they were the only tenants in the two unit structure.  Lawyer Tom Reidy also provided copies of eight checks used for security deposits.

But when questioned about the two individuals who work for his client at Subway, Mr. Reidy could only provide their (non local) home addresses.

In addition during their brief discussion of the evidence ZBA Chair Mark Parent also brought up the site visits that showed numerous extra mattresses in storage and extra rooms locked from the outside with a padlock.

At 7:30 PM, one hour after the hearing started, Mr. Parent made the motion to uphold the order of the Building Commissioner due to "overwhelming evidence the building at 382 North Pleasant Street was occupied by more than eight tenants."  The motion passed unanimously.

The board then moved on to the continuation of the Special Permit hearing to allow the structure to remain a "two family" unit with no more than eight tenants. 

AFD Chief Nelson had issued an order on October 29 requiring the owner to "Install Adequate System of Automatic Sprinklers" because AFD considered the house a "boarding house."

 AFD Chief Nelson telling the ZBA, "Safety is our main concern."

But the Chief said he would hold off on enforcing that order if the ZBA declared the property a two family duplex and instituted conditions that made him believe the landlord would enforce the eight tenant occupancy cap.

ZBA member Tom Ehrgood was visibly angered by the Appeal Hearing saying, "I've lost some confidence in Mr. Laraway.  How is it his two employees are parking in his lot without him knowing it?  Every one of those tenants made a false statement!  How do we know everything is not a fictional scenario?"

Unhappy landlord Cliff Laraway (left) befuddled attorney Tom Reidy (right)

Soon thereafter Mr. Laraway was angered to the point of shouting over the contention the rear fire escape needs to be certified by a structural engineer as soon as possible.  Laraway muttered that was "yet another $2,000 bill.  That's ridiculous!"

ZBA Chair Mark Parent shot back "Safety is not ridiculous".  Chief Nelson added, "Bottom line is we want them to have a safe building.  We want to work with them to ensure safety."

Building Commissioner Morra also pointed out he could fine them $1,000 per day for having an unsafe fire escape.

After 2.5 hours of give and take the ZBA unanimously approved the Special Permit for the building to be a two family house as long as the owner follows all the conditions, mainly centered around keeping the number of tenants to eight.

The Building Commissioner is only issuing a temporary certificate of occupancy through May 31, the end of the lease for current tenants.  But by September 1st the owner will install a knox box, wired fire detection panel, certified safe fire escape, and a management plan/lease that helps enforce the 8 person limit.

Between now and June 1st town officials will make three "safety inspections" with only 24 hours notice to the owner, and thereafter one per semester.

The parking plan can retain 10 spaces although stricter language in the lease will now clearly describe the two "guest" parking spots cannot be used more than 3 nights consecutively.

 Two guest parking spaces will be more closely monitored

The Special Permit will come up for review at a public hearing in a year just to review how the new management plan is working.

Building Commissioner Rob Morra told the ZBA that between now and then, "We will be watching them."  Cue the Jaws theme.

 Conditions that must be met and maintained

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Another Day, Another Massacre

It's getting that our flag is down in a position of mourning so often that people will start to tune it out. 

If they haven't already.

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UPDATE 3:00 PM:

This is an update to the below order from Governor Charlie Baker. *In accordance with the Presidential proclamation Flags will remain at half-staff until sunset on Monday, December 7, 2015.

This Old House

1146 South East Street a few years back

All that remains today

One of the downsides of Amherst having over 50 boards, committees, task forces and working groups is you have to staff them all.  Last August for instance the Historical Commission was down three members and as a result could not muster a quorum to hold a "demolition delay" hearing. 

So the grand old house at 1146 South East Street, with of course a great view of the mountains to the east, ended up slipping through the cracks.  And now it's history. 

 Click to enlarge/read

The most the Historical Commission could have done was to enact a one year demolition delay, although at their last meeting they are discussing trying to enhance their powers to delay demolitions for 18 months.

Either way, too late for this old house.

Sudsy Santa

And what's that Santa is holding in his right hand?

The kiddies promoting this childish event took umbrage at the Santa Con (Manhattan) photos I used to illustrate my post when I first broke this sordid story, and two weeks later they are still crying about it on the front page of the venerable Daily Hampshire Gazette.

But it was okay for them to use a photo of an obviously passed out drunk Santa in their Facebook promotion of the event?

Which also exposes their true motives for unleashing on our downtown this travesty.

Ho, ho, hick-up.

 Today's Gazette:  "Jollity" indeed

DUI Dishonor Roll

Michael Ketcham, age 25, stands before Judge Payne

Both APD impaired driver arrests last weekend submitted to breath tests that showed they were too much under the influence of alcohol to be driving, but then one of them changed his mind and refused to take the official chemical breath test back at the station, which is admissible in District Court.

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 Portable Breath Test result of .114 is inadmissible in Court

As a result Michael Ketcham will automatically lose his license for 180 days.  But he did tell Judge Payne he would be hiring his own attorney for his next pre-trial hearing in January.

And a DUI attorney loves it when you refuse the official chemical breath test because that obstinacy cannot be mentioned to a jury should the case go to trial.

Jacob Bodee, age 21, stands before Judge Payne

Since Mr. Bodee did take the official chemical breath test back at the station he should simply take the standard state offer of a 24D disposition and save himself an expensive attorney fee.

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Signs

A most Catholic time of year

Even more holiday decorations being installed downtown

DPW put out the free, free, free sand pile

Essential Voyage artwork at base of Merry Maple almost gone

Ruh-Roh On Red

UMPD had to attend 2 Eastern Hampshire District Court hearings

I always try to blend in when covering Eastern Hampshire District Court proceedings and since they deal with a cross section of the Happy Valley it's not all that hard to do.

 I also only use an iPhone for photos so I can be as inconspircous as possible, although I do carry a classic reporters notebook and old fashioned pen to take notes which does tend to stand out.

And on occassion I've been known to mutter under my breath -- but loud enough for some court officials nearby to hear -- when someone appears for their 4th or 5th DUI offense.

Or I occasionally laugh out loud at one of Judge Payne's animated expressions.

But yesterday was the first time I had to resist the urge to raise my hand and offer input on a matter as though I were attending an Amherst public meeting.

A woman was given a ticket for "failure to stop at a stop sign" at the intersection of University Drive and Massachusetts Avenue, a leading gateway to our illustrious University.

She had already lost the Clerk Magistrate's Hearing and was now appealing that to the Judge.  She told Judge Payne that after the first hearing she returned to the scene of the crime but could find no stop sign.

The officer responded that a flashing red light is a stop sign and she did not come to a complete stop.  Judge Payne agreed with the officer and upheld the ticket.

For those of you who come upon that intersection for the first time you probably think it's under repair and that is why the lights are flashing: red if you are on University Drive and yellow if you are on Massachusetts Avenue.

But they are always like that, going on many, many years now.

Yet the intersection is only a stone's throw away from the one at Massachusetts and Commonwealth Avenue, where the traffic lights are fully signalized.

And if you are on University Drive taking a right (which should be a "right turn on red") you can see all the way into Hadley to your left for oncoming traffic.

With as many Planners as UMass employs you would think somebody could tweak the lights at that busy intersection to serve a more useful purpose.


Yes, I did roll through this yesterday while enroute to a "box alarm" at Du Bois Library

Mr. Frost Shall Return

Mr. Frost (left) having a dialog with Miss Emily (right) last winter

Mr. Frost taking a nap Thursday morning

Robert Frost will soon return to take up dialogue with the Belle of Amherst, a supporting role he has filled admirably since 1996.  On Thursday morning he was found torn from his foundation and turned in to the DPW.

The public artwork "A Poetic Dialogue" by Michael Versi depicting a hypothetical interaction between Amherst' s two most famous residents was a tad controversial when first installed almost 20 years ago.

When dealing with sacred icons you are almost guaranteed to ruffle a few feathers.  But at least it's not like that whole "Muhammad" thing, where a critical cartoon can bring on bearded dudes with AK47s.

Wait Another Week

Mark Rees in the hot seat

Peter Hechenbleikner in the hot seat

After a fair and balanced one hour public interview with each of two candidates, the Amherst Select Board delayed until December 7th choosing a temporary Town Manager to relieve current Interim Town Manager Dave Ziomek, who returns to his Assistant Town Manger position on January 31st.

The 5 member Select Board wanted more time to mull their important decision but also to allow more time for public input on which candidate is the better fit for our little college town.  

Both candidates are drenched in public service experience.   And both are equally white, older, and currently retired.

One key difference is Peter Hechenbleikner made it perfectly clear he does not want to become the permanent Town Manager while Mark Rees refused to rule it out.

Hechenbleikner also seemed to indicate he would work part-time, somewhere between 25-30 hours per week, while Rees stated he expected to work four to five full days per week stressing, "I would be a  full-time Manager."

Both candidates pronounced the name of the town wrong on occasion but also got it right on occasion as well.

But Mark Rees seemed to have a better grasp of Amherst (with or without the H) and gave fuller more direct answers to the same questions concerning economic development, affordable housing and how to deal with, ugh, a Representative Town Meeting.

The Select Board also decided to task HR Director Deb Radway and SB member Doug Slaughter with coming up with a recommendation for a professional consulting firm to help with hiring a new permanent Town Manager.

The town received four response proposals ranging in cost from $11,000 to $18,000.  Radway said she preferred two of the four: Community Paradigm, the least expensive, and MMACG, the most expensive, because they stressed the importance of public outreach in the process.

 Vince O'Connor during public comment

If the Amherst Police Department were a private rather than public agency they would have grounds for a slander/defamation lawsuit against Vince O'Connor, who requested the Select Board task the temporary Town Manager with "rooting out once and for all the practice in APD of making stops of blacks and Latinos without just cause" which he branded "unjustified harassment."

Of course Mr. O'Connor offered no evidence whatsoever to back up his outlandish allegations.  

Sunny Sunday Over The Valley

Mt. Sugarloaf, South Deerfield

Puffer's Pond, North Amherst

UMass West Experimental Station being deconstructed piece by piece

Crotty Hall going up next to Gordon Hall North Pleasant Street

 Amherst College Greenway Dorms

Olympia Place:  private dorms near UMass

Only two usual peace demonstrators, Vince O'Connor and Pat Church, this afternoon's stand out near main town flagpole 

Owen's Pond sundown

Gull Pond

Let's hope the Fed's don't start requiring kite registration

Anti-Charter Cheerleaders

Typical TM demographic:  Older, white, with 2 much time on their hands

If this is material that passes for a hatchet job these two country bumpkin impersonators may want to start patronizing a better arms dealer. 

First off they need better props.  Who in Amherst still reads a newspaper?  Yes an older crowd for sure, which is the prime make up of Amherst Town Meeting.  But invoking that particular demographic is pretty much preaching to the converted.



Over one-third of the registered voters in our little college town are "college aged youth," and they have not picked up a newspaper since the last time they used a phone booth.

And if you're going to call out people by name at least get their names right.  "Suzie" la Cour, the Business Improvement District director, may have been a cheerleader in her youthful past but her name is Sarah.

And her husband Niels left Town Hall Planning Department for UMass, at least according to former Town Manager Larry Shaffer's announcement on the floor of Town Meeting, because he got a $10,000 raise.  So who wouldn't leave?

Just as one must assume Hope Keenan recently left her marketing gig at the Business Improvement District in favor of a UMass job because of better pay.

Or maybe it was just to have less dealings with entitled socialistic has-beens-and-never-weres who wish for our downtown to stay forever locked in the Eisenhower era.

When asked why he frequented a fixed game the gambler responded, "Because it's the only game in town."  Which is why of course 13-of-20 Amherst For All Steering Committee members are Town Meeting members.

And anyone who has spent so much as one night in Town Meeting knows all too well how outmoded, cumbersome and naive it is.

Can you imagine a multi-million per year corporation being run by a group of 135 or so (out of the 240 who bother to show up) rank amateurs who come together 10 or 12 nights per year to run things?

Apple Inc would be in the business of selling real (organically grown) apples.

The other laughable charge directed at Amherst For All Steering Committee is that they are  "All white, with no disabled and no low income."  Talk about the pot calling the kettle of color.

Anyone looked around the floor of Town Meeting lately?  (Or anytime over the past 256 years).

Amherst Town Meeting counted standing vote May, 2014

Amherst For All is now over two-thirds of the way to target goal of 3,215 signatures of registered voters who agree it's time to study our current form of government and come up with a better one.

Thus these two Town Meeting cheerleaders will someday soon be out of their obviously all too coveted volunteer job.

And So This Is Christmas

 The sign itself should be declared historic

Okay NOW the Christmas season can officially begin -- the Boy Scouts have set up their 60+ year traditional fundraiser selling Christmas trees at Kendrick Park in the north end of downtown.

Some of you remember when then rookie Town Manager Larry Shaffer first demonstrated what he was made of when he proposed a controversial $1 per tree tax on the Boy Scouts operation that was met with a tsunami of criticism and eventually dropped.

Of course the Town Manager went one better not long after when he tried to cancel a July 4th Parade because organizers would not allow rag tag protesters to march.  Again, after a Desert Storm of criticism and threatened lawsuit by the ACLU, he backed down.

The Merry Maple (a PC version of a Christmas Tree) in town center -- the BIG original maple tree of old -- scheduled for lighting December 4th continues the grand traditions leading up to the most holy of Christian holidays.

Crews spent three days decorating the ye old Merry Maple so it should be good