Fuel To The Fire

Bernie Sanders attracted overflow crowd to UMass FAC on January 2nd

For those of you who were wondering if UMass, a public institution, gives special favors to hot trending presidential candidates I offer the following:

   Bernie Sanders Amherst rally cost

And there certainly is some wiggle room when it comes to "Public Safety Officer."  Although it might have been a stretch to say all those officers were routinely needed to ensure student safety when the event occurred during intersession.

About the only thing you worry about from a public safety standpoint with popular speakers coming to campus is the disruption factor.  Although at UMass it's a lot more noticeable with conservative speakers than those who lean left.

In this particular case the lone Trump supporter who was escorted from his seat close to the front of the stage at the Fine Arts Center did Bernie Sanders a favor.   

Trump supporter Mike Rooney

Media coverage, although the larger outlets did seem to focus on that particular snippet, was a lot more extensive than it normally would have been.

Perhaps the Sanders campaign should hire Mr. Rooney to show up at all Bernie's campaign stops from now on.

Click photo to enlarge

Line stretched from Fine Arts Center all the way down to the Newman Center

Avoiding The Appearance Of A Conflict

Select Board & Town Attorney decided to dodge transparency issue

The Amherst Select Board had the opportunity to make this conflict of interest issue go away last night but they took the easy way out:  avoidance.

The town attorney suggested that not openly acknowledging a potential "conflict of interest" didn't fall  within the domain of a branch of government titled "Division of Open Government."

Yeah, that's a hair only a lawyer could split.

So I have now filed a complaint with the State Ethics Division.  Let's hope he gives better legal advice to the Select Board this time around.

State Ethics Commission
Enforcement Division
One Ashburton Place, Room 619
Boston, MA 02108-1501
1/12/2016


To Whom It May Concern,

I wish to file a formal complaint concerning an accidental violation of state ethics law — especially as it relates to the “appearance of a conflict of interest” — by Amherst Select Board Chair Alisa Brewer at the Select Board December 21 regular Monday night meeting (although at an unusual time). 

The five member Select Board voted unanimously to allow Interim Town Manager Dave Ziomek to sign a 3.5 year Strategic Partnership Agreement with UMass/Amherst, the town’s largest employer, that could be perceived as overly generous to UMass.

Chair Alisa Brewer shows up in the online data base of UMass employees although apparently she does not work directly for UMass.  Her husband Steven Brewer, however, is a full-time professor in the biology department. 

At that December 21 meeting she did not publicly announce her affiliation(s) with UMass prior to leading the discussion and then voting in the affirmative on the UMass Strategic Partnership (estimated value just over half million annually).

Back in September, 2007 (on or about 9/18/2007) I filed a complaint naming Alisa Brewer and Select Board member Rob Kusner, who was a professor at UMass, when they voted on an earlier version of the Strategic Partnership Agreement that gave UMass free effluent water for their power plant, when the previous year they had paid the Amherst water/sewer fund $38,0000 for it.

At the time both Select Board members made somewhat of an announcement of their affiliations with UMass, but neither had filed a disclosure form with the Town Clerk.  

Within a week of the 9/17/2007 meeting both had (retroactively) filed the disclosure form.  The Ethics Commission then found no violation had taken place since the Select Board members in question had made a public announcement prior to the discussion/vote and both had, eventually, filed a disclosure form with the Town Clerk.

Alisa Brewer’s disclosure form dated 9/25/2007 is still on file with the Town Clerk, but she clearly did not make the pubic announcement at the December 21 meeting acknowledging her potential conflict of interest.  

Although there were no members of the general public present at the meeting that night, all Select Board meetings are televised and live streamed by local cable access entity Amherst Media.

The town suffered a great loss back in September with the sudden death of Town Manager John Musante, so the Select Board has been far busier than normal over the past four months.  

Since I do not believe the lack of transparency was deliberate, I would simply ask the Ethics Commission to remind the Amherst Select Board how important it is for public officials to routinely avoid the “appearance of a conflict” with a quick simple public pronouncement prior to a discussion/vote.

Sincerely,

Larry J. Kelley
596 South Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01002

Quite The Party

Panda East:  Restaurant with a $3,500 "all alcohol on premises liquor license" (now endangered)

Scroll down for update

I would imagine you could forgive a busy establishment in a college town missing a single patron in a large crowd of "college aged youth" whereby a determined 20-year-old with a fake I.D. manages to acquire alcohol.

   Underaged Drinking Panda East

But you really have to wonder about that establishment when they miss 17 patrons who were all underage with many of them with not even so much as a fake I.D.  

Yes, I said seventeen.  And the alcohol they acquired was one of the more expensive drinks offered on the menu:  Scorpion bowls.

Scorpion Bowls at the ready back in October on a Thursday night

The Amherst Select Board, acting as the town's Liquor Commissioners, at the request of Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone will hold a Hearing tonight to decide how to deal with this egregious violation.

UPDATE:  7:45 PM

Select Board votes unanimously to suspend liquor license for two days -- January 25 and January 26 -- for the 17 counts of underage drinking violation.

Also placed another 5 days worth of suspensions on hold for two years as a form of probation, or what District Court calls a "continuation without a finding."  As long as there are no other violations the 5 day suspension is terminated after the two years are up.

Nuclear Option Avoided (Maybe)

Regional 7-12 Public schools include Amherst, Leverett, Pelham and Shutesbury

A dozen and a half community leaders from the four town Region met this Friday evening for an hour and half trying to come to a compromise they all could sell to their respective town meetings concerning the $19,539,329 chunk of the school budget paid for using the rolling five year average per student cost Regional Assessment method.

 Select Board, Finance & School Committee member (shy of a quorum of course) Administrators from all 4 towns

Shutesbury came to the meeting still wanting to partially switch back to the state statutory method for 25% of the that assessment, while Amherst, Leverett and Pelham thought they were being more than fair by supporting a 10% switch that would benefit only Shutesbury.

Since the per student cost method currently used is an alternative method it requires unanimous support of all four towns to pass, and has been used since 2008.  And the compromise of using "ability to pay" statutory method for 10% of the budget (or Shutesbury's requested 25%) would still require unanimous approval of all four towns.

A single no vote to the assessment method reverts the budget back to the state statutory method and would guarantee more cuts to a budget already cut to the bone.

Outgoing Amherst Finance Director Sandy Pooler told the group in a few days this would not be his problem so he can speak freely, which he did (supporting the 10% solution) while looking over at the Shutesbury representatives:

"Insisting we get to that ultimate goal (25%) is fraught with danger.  We need it so nobody is hurt in the short run and then to keep grappling with the problem.  A solution where nobody gets hurt is worth a lot.  The value of goodwill is enormously important.  We simply can’t have people leaving the room thinking they’ve been hurt."  

Four Shutesbury reps left the room to caucus among themselves after it became clear the other three towns would not budge from the 10% offer.  They returned ten minutes later with a counter compromise of 15%.

That did not go over well.  At all.

Because at that amount of a shift both Leverett and Pelham said they would have to cut their elementary budget to come up with the extra money for the Region.

Shutesbury reps were adamant that 15% was their  "bottom, bottom, bottom line," and now they would have to go back to their full Select Board and Finance Committee to report the impasse and seek advise.

The Regional School Committee passes a budget and the assessment method with a simple majority vote of the nine members, but Town Meeting is the final authority for both the assessement method (unanimous vote of all four) and then the budget itself (three out of four required to pass). 

Maria Geryk concluded the meeting saying she would recommend to the Regional School Committee the 10% hybrid alternative method three of the four towns supported and simply hope that Shutesbury voters will support it at their Town Meeting.

10% of a loaf is better than chaos.

Good story that captures some of the angst of small town budget issue https://t.co/9hzpmSjmv9

— JayLeonard (@JayLeonard) January 9, 2016

What's Next, Drones?

Early adopters of hoverboard technology take note

UMass Amherst, that bastion of higher education, has banned the use of hoverboards on campus effective today -- thus proving the nanny state is alive and well.

When I Tweeted about a box alarm AFD responded to this morning at the Integrated Science Center for a "smoking refrigerator" one of my twitter followers reminded me UMass is a "smoke free campus."

Fair enough.  But smoking kills over 400,000 Americans per year and to date I'm guessing hoverboards have killed one or two less than shark attacks.

But hey, you can never be too safe.  Anything that can knock out Mike Tyson ...

"In A Comfortable Spot"

Amherst FY17 budget will be "status quo"

Peter Hechenbleikner attended the first meeting of the Budget Coordinating Group on Thurdsday morning even though he technically doesn't start his $75/hour Temporary Town Manager position until February 1st.

 Temporary Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner pondering BCG info

A good thing of course, since this snapshot budget update will set the tone for the next four months leading up to, ugh, Town Meeting.

Budget Coordinating Group is made up of Town/Schools/Library heavy hitters

After the Schools, Town and Library chiefs' gave a brief update of where they are with their budgets, BCG newly reelectd co- Chair Andy Steinberg summed up the situation by telling the group they were "in a comfortable spot."

Outgoing Finance Director Sandy Pooler gave a macro-view of the state budget and how it impacts Amherst, as well as an update of the town side of the overall budget.

Pointing out that this upcoming year is a "bargaining year for all municipal employee contracts, that doesn't leave a lot of room to add anything new".  The proposed budget (coming out January 27) will not add a single employee and in fact will be a net reduction of .5 Full Time Equivalents.

Mr. Pooler did say the "add list" for any extra unanticipated revenues would prioritize a police position.  Currently the highly regarded Community Policing Officer is funded by a state grant that could lose funding when it expires at the end of the current fiscal year.

Amherst Fire Department will also get an extra $30,000 for supplies.  The Cooley Dickinson Hospital used to let them restock ambulance supplies from hospital stock but the cost conscious new owners have put a stop to that.

School Superintendent Maria Geryk confirmed her budgets would meet Finance Committee guidelines of no more than a 2.5% increase, although she will have to cut $470,000 from the Elementary School Budget and $300,000 from the Region.

Jones Library Director Sharon Sharry also confirmed the Library budget will be within the 2.5% guidelines even though they have cut back the draw from the $7.25 million endowment to only 4% ($310,000), and make up the difference through fundraising and state aid. 

Rezone This?

The 5.8 acre parcel is sandwiched between two major commercial developments

Fresh off his setback at the Amherst Historical Commission Demo Delay Hearing the night before, local attorney Tom Reidy appeared before the Planning Board Wednesday night to request they sponsor a Town Meeting zoning change article for a 5.8 acres site -- wide open but wet -- on University Drive.

The property is currently zoned Professional Office Park and the new potential owners would like it rezoned to Limited Business which would allow for the construction of an apartment complex, presumably, gasp, student housing.

In 2010 a divided Planning Board (5-3) supported just such a warrant article but it was defeated on the floor of Amherst Town Meeting where any zoning change requires a two-thirds vote of support, a high hurdle to clear.

The nearest business owner to the south adamantly opposed the rezoning due to concerns about storm water runoff.  

The project proposed at the time was for 44 units of subsidized senior housing at the back of the property and a mixed use retail/market rate housing project fronting University Drive. 

According to the assessor the property is still owned by Mohammad Idrees and it's in (farmland) Chapter 61, so assessed at $3,600, thus generating only $76 in taxes this year.

A major housing development would probably be assessed in the $10 million range and pay upwards of $200,000 annually in property taxes.

Haters Still Gonna Hate

Kendrick Place:  new mixed use anchor for the north end of downtown

After being described as "hideous" in public meetings, with charges of "good old boy" favortism on the part of the Planning Board, prognosticated to overwhelm town parking and becoming a despicable den for student parties rivaling Phillips Street, it's nice to see four months into their operations the apocalypse has not been unleashed by Kendrick Place.

And some professionals seem to appreciate the design of the building:

Click to enlarge/read

Jones Library Architects Chosen

Jones Library, Amherst's living room

The Jones Library Board of Trustees voted unanimously this morning to hire Finegold Alexander Architects for the "planning and design phase" of the renovation expansion that could see the town center icon double in size.

 Jones Library Trustees voted unanimously to hire Finegold Alexander Architects

The firm impressed the subcommittee charged with coming up with a recommendation out of the five firms who applied for the job because they have great experience with historical preservation, including the Holyoke Public Library and currently the UMass Old Chapel.

The Boston based firm also has strong local contacts, including as their consultants Amherst architect John Kuhn and landscape architect Peter Wells.

Finegold Alexander are the architects for renovation of UMass iconic Old Chapel

The Jones Library e-x-p-a-n-s-i-o-n, which could cost as high as $40 million, comes at a time when the town is also considering three other major building projects: A new South Fire Station and Department of Public Works building, and a new elementary school.

Only the school and library projects are covered by state grants, roughly half the total costs.

The Jones Library already received a $50,000 grant to cover design/planning from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and Amherst Town Meeting appropriated $25,000 in matching funds.

The cost of this contract is for up to $50,000.

Thowing In the Towel?

Time is running out for Amherst College owned Little Red Schoolhouse

Carol Gray crashed the Community Preservation Act Committee meeting last night to file a (late) request for $10,000 concerning her ultimate windmill, the Little Red Schoolhouse. 

At least this seems to indicate she has given up on the enormously expensive idea of saving the building.

Only a small percentage of the $10K would go towards photographing for posterity the interior and exterior of the 79-year-old building.  The majority of the funding  would "document the human side" of the preschool business that operated within its tiny walls.

Of course Ms. Gray herself would be an interview subject since she's an overly proud parent of a Little Red Schoolhouse graduate. 

And if Herman Melville was still around, he could interview her for the writing of "Moby Dick Returns."

Carol Gray (2nd from rt) at 11/22/15 meeting trying to get Historical Commission to become Little Red cheerleaders

AFD: Busiest Year Ever!

AFD North Station strategically located next to UMass

Having listened to and covered up close a countless number of emergency calls over the past 12 months, I'm not surprised that 2015 was the busiest year ever for the Amherst Fire Department with a total of 6,363 calls, up 7.59% from last year's 5,914.

And that was accomplished without a 7.59% increase in staffing, the #1 problem now facing AFD.  The cramped condition and sorry state of Central Station is closely followed problem #2.

 Click to enlarge/read

 This year AFD and Dispatch cost Amherst taxpayers around $5,000,000 
 

UMass paid us $455,000 for emergency services this year and created 19.1% of the call volume, or $955,000 worth.

Amherst College paid the town $120,000 and created 4% of the call volume, or $200,0000.

Hampshire College paid us ZERO but created 3.1% of the call volume, or $155,000 -- enough to hire three new firefighters.

 AFD on scene Hampshire College 8/30/15 for typical "cooking smoke" false fire alarm

Destruction Delayed

The 2 buildings are on the west side of Kendrick Park

Despite the prominence of the two local developers involved (Curt Shumway and Barry Roberts) and that of their architect (John Kuhn) and legal counsel (Tom Reidy) the Amherst Historical Commission voted unanimously not to allow the vaporization of two buildings in the north end of downtown that have stood in that location for over 150 years.

 John Kuhn, Barry Roberts, Curt Shuway (seated) attorney Tom Reidy (standing)

The main reason being, after 150+ years, they add a texture and feel to the neighborhood that would be forever altered by their destruction.  And yes, a good number of neighbors turned out to reaffirm that before the Commission.

 Vast majority of audience was in favor of demolition delay

In fact only one person from the audience spoke in favor of the demolition (Niels la Cour) reminding the Commission that Amherst needs commercial development and erecting hurdles via a demo delay only exaserbates the town's anti-business reputation.

Sarah la Cour also submitted a letter on Business Improvement District stationary supporting the demolition.  Barry Roberts was of course one of the main architects of creating the BID.

Click to enlarge/read

The developers wish to build a four-story 20,000 square foot office building with possible retail on the ground floor.   But not a bar or restaurant, Mr. Kuhn assured the Commission. 

The area is zoned limited business which limits the height to only three floors so even if the Historical Commission allowed the demolition the project must still get a Special Permit from the Planning Board to go up the extra floor.  That motion would require six of the eight members to vote yes.

 Local researcher/historian Ed Wilfert presented his findings to the Commission

Attorney Reidy, after it appeared certain the delay would be enacted, requested perhaps making it only a six-month delay.  But the bylaw only allows for a one year delay,  and it's all-or-nothing.  The Commission can, however, six months down the road lift the delay and allow demolition.

Developers can simply wait out the year and are then free to demolish the buildings or they could try to move them to a new location.  

Back in 2007 Mr. Roberts moved the last remaining house on Kendrick Park to a new location on Gray Street.

No Challenge!

Opponents of Amherst For All's effort to collect the 3,215 required signatures to place on the March 29 ballot the question of forming a 9-member Charter Commission to come up with a new and improved local government failed to challenge a single signature.

After a simple majority vote of the Select Board,  the measure goes on the ballot.

List of candidates who have taken out papers:

One addition:  Gerry Weiss (former Select Board member)

Of these 11 potential candidates for the 9 member Charter Commission only Gerry Weiss and Janet McGowan refused to sign the Charter petition itself.

DUI Dishonor Roll

William O'Neil, age 24, stands before Judge John Payne

Amazingly Amherst police did not make a single DUI arrest over the New Year's holiday weekend, normally peak time for drunk driving. Hadley however, had a doozy:

   Egregious New Year DUI

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

Amherst Select Board 12/21/15.  Jim Wald on right

Amherst Select Board member Jim Wald was arrested by Amherst police over the weekend and charged with "Assault on a family member," arraigned before Judge John Payne this morning in Eastern Hampshire District Court where his case was continued to January 28th for a Pretrial Hearing.

Click to enlarge/read

I have not felt this lousy about reporting an event concerning an Amherst town official since that sad Sunday morning in late September when I broke the shocking news of Town Manager John Musante's death at too early an age.

The relatively new Domestic Violence Law, in order to protect victims, requires police to purge from their daily logs any domestic abuse incident, aka Chapter 56A.

In addition, Eastern Hampshire District Court will not provide the police "Statement of Facts" that I rely on with my usual drunk driving or party house arrest reports.

I reached out to Mr. Wald asking him for a statement.   But other than pointing out, "Not everything you read or hear is true or as characterized -- which is why in this country one is innocent until proven guilty," he did not have anything further to say.

Had it been a DPW worker, Dispatcher or Town Hall janitor you would not be reading this report.  But Mr. Wald is a high ranking town official (although at $300/year he makes far less pay than any of those three other examples) who simply must be held to a higher standard.

And a reporter who decides whether or not to report a story based on personal feelings -- good or bad -- towards personalities involved, is a lousy reporter.

Audit This

Cable Advisory Committee and Amherst Media Director Jim Lescault (rt)

The Cable Advisory Committee voted unanimously today to "formally request the town of Amherst authorize via our special counsel an independent 5 year audit of Comcast."

The $28,000 study is meant to uncover any under reporting over the past five years of cable revenues generated in Amherst.

According to the current license agreement -- which expires in October -- Comcast pays the town 5% of television revenues (but not Internet or phone) which goes to fund Amherst Media.

In the most recent quarter Comcast reported $1,569,509 in qualifying revenues and cut a check to Amherst Media for $74,599.44.  The committee is also sending a memo to the Select Board on Friday outlining key negotiation requests they are seeking to be included in the new ten-year contract.

Should other cities and towns in the region join in with the audit process the $28,000 cost would be divided up equally, sort of like a class action lawsuit.

 CAC member Sean Hannon, also the town's Information Technology Director, was going to hand deliver the $28,000 formal request to Interim Town Manager Dave Ziomek. 

Second Chances

The coolest retro neon sign in Amherst will light up once more

Perhaps the greatest ally a small business owner can ask for is a supportive partner.

Either one in the actual business itself to help deal with the infinitely long to do list, or an understanding spouse who knows what you go through 24/7 and offers encouragement when circumstances conspire to overwhelm you.

The main reason Metacomet Cafe closed down somewhat suddenly last fall, after taking more than two years to serve its first burger, is because one of the two business partners -- a blood relative -- took ill, and is no longer in the picture.

Click to enlarge/read

The most recent note (dated 11/19/15) on the door from Spenser Hopton, who is decidedly still in the picture, said the Cafe would reopen by "next month."  But now we're in the cold month of January and they still have not reopened.

So I called Spenser to inquire and was assured he has not given up.  Metacomet Cafe will reopen by St. Valentine's Day.  Yes I know, the dates seem to keep getting pushed into the future just far enough to allow breathing room.

And when you're now going it alone trying to run a business in town center -- the high rent district -- in a market where UMass unfairly competes with you and Internet trolls can savage you on Yelp (or those damn blogs) it's no wonder normal breathing is hard to come by.

Spenser learned a hard lesson from the brief time they were open last summer and will tweak things accordingly.  The Cafe will offer a wider array of food -- serving breakfast, lunch and dinner -- with sit down friendly service.

Sounding more upbeat Spenser closed with, "I still have hopes the Metacomet Cafe will be cherished by the entire population -- both students and town folks."

And he's well aware this second chance is also a last chance.  

Bern Bernie Bern

Bernie Sanders spoke first to a crowd of 1,000 in front of the Fine Arts Center

And then spoke to a capacity crowd of 2,000 inside

Bernie Sanders, that lovable looking grandfather type we all wish we had, enthralled a crowd of 1,000 outside the UMass Fine Arts Center speaking for around 15 minutes prior to entering the concert hall (only 3 minutes late) which was filled to capacity with another 2,000 admirers.

And if he missed a single liberal talking point in his brief outdoor speech (gun control?) he probably made up for it with his longer remarks indoors.

 Huge line at 11:30 AM waiting to get in Fine Arts Center for 1:00 PM speech

$15/hour Minimum Wage, Single Payer Health Care, protecting both a woman's right to choose and gay marriage, fix the broken criminal justice system, expand paid family leave, tuition free higher education, and lowering interest rates on current student debt.  Whew!

And of course all of this will be financed by increasing taxes on the (predominantly Republican) "1%".

 UMPD estimated outside crowd at 1,000

Mr. Sanders also pointed out that Tom Brady is fine and all that, but maybe we New Englanders  should spend a bit more of our time "transforming America."

Bernie Sanders speaks to capacity crowd of 2,000 inside Fine Arts Center.  Photo by Michael Seward 

Max Hartshorne reports

Obviously not a Bernie supporter.  He was later ousted for heckling him inside the Fine Arts Center

A Moveable History?

12 Hallock (circled) will be demolished for parking  and house in front razed for a new multi-level commercial building

The Amherst Historical Commission will hold a demolition delay hearing on Tuesday night regarding two adjacent structures in the north end of downtown owned by two prominent local developers, Curt Shumway and Barry Roberts.

   12 Hallock Street Amherst

Besides dripping in local history the other main factor working against the immediate demolition is both buildings are in excellent condition with a lot of visual curb appeal.

 12 Hallock Street

236 North Pleasant Street

Perhaps a downside of the two local developers being responsible owners over the years and actually taking good care of the structures.  

   236 North Pleasant Street Amherst

The Historical Commission can only impose a maximum of a one-year delay and they appear to be not overly influenced by the status of an owner.

For instance back in July of 2014 they voted to impose the one year delay on Cinda Jones -- dubbed by neighbors as the "Donald Trump of Amherst" -- for a historic barn on Montague Road in The Mill District.

 Cowls barn 134 Montague Road in The Mill District, North Amherst

Although that demolition delay has now expired the barn is still a stately presence looming over the North Amherst Village center.

Vestry now at 12 Hallock Street was originally just behind what is now College/Memorial Hall, owned by Amherst College

Editor's note:  In the interest of transparency Curt Shumway is an advertiser and I was one of the 10,000 babies delivered by Dr. Merzbach 

Unforgettable

The Pub

Although I worked there 35 years ago during my UMass days I'm embarrassed to say I did not know Natalie Cole made her performance debut at The Pub in Amherst town center.  One of the many advantages of being a "college town" I suppose.

Although I do remember her classic "This Will Be" playing as standard fare on weekends when the restaurant turned into a nightclub and my job was to keep the rowdies in line.

What a talent.  Obviously the chestnut did not fall far from the tree.

And now they are reunited for an eternal duet.