A sense of where you were

Yes, only one thing missing from this proposed license plate hawked yet again by the UMass Amherst Alumni Association to help provide scholarships to deserving students who attend UMass Amherst, the flagship of our state education armada, top 100 University in the world, and unparalleled economic Juggernaut for all of Western Massachusetts: Like, you know, umm...Amherst!

The typical UMass/Amherst graduate (now 225,000 strong) spent at least four years with an Amherst mailing address.  And for many of them our town represented their first experience away from the home where they were born and raised.

With graduation fast approaching an entire flock will soon be gone, off into the real word.  But their time spent here was special, and certainly far different from what it would have been in any of the other four UMass campus locations. 

Could this generic lack of branding account for why the license plate venture failed miserably in the past?

Note to UMass Amherst Alumni Association:  You were in Amherst.  You are in Amherst, a fine home port for the state flagship of higher education.

 Note sign says AMHERST (and if you are walking or driving, at that point, you are in freakin' Amherst)

A few years back the Powers That Be in Boston wanted folks to stop referring to UMass Amherst as "the flagship" because it apparently hurt the feelings of the other four campuses.  Chancellor Lombardi basically responded with his usual "go to hell" rejection of that (which may have been the start of his downfall).  Around that same time UMass/Amherst spent $3 million redoing the signs at the main entryways.  Note inclusion of AMHERST!

Fan Boy UMass Hoops forum seems excited (but then, they're easily excited)

Howard Ziff: A Giant is Gone

Over the past thirty years I've had published in print hundreds of sharply pointed Letters to the Editor, perhaps 150 columns in the Amherst Bulletin, and now almost 2,000 posts here in cyberspace; yet I have only once hesitated to hit the publish button (or in pre-Internet days the "send" button on a fax machine):

My family and I had just toured the Chinese orphanage where Kira was cared for in the 16 months leading up to our adopting her.  We had made an appointment weeks in advance but it was obvious they had forgotten it when we showed up that oppressively hot summer morning.  Thus we got a close up look (and smell) of a typical day in the life for a hundred abandoned kids cared for by the state--and it was far from pretty.

The orphanage director told me to stow the camera as he assigned an employee to give us a tour and another one to keep watch over us.  The scenes were so stark, the smells so pungent, capturing it in the minds eye and then translating it all into words was effortless.   The only important question is, do I publish...from my hotel room...in the People's Republic of China?

The Chinese government does not take well to criticism and they have an amazing power to monitor and control the Internet.  Years earlier a french TV crew used hidden cameras to expose deplorable conditions in Chinese orphanages which enraged more than embarrassed top officials.  The same top officials who ordered tanks to clear student protesters from Tiananmen Square.

But I, eventually, hesitatingly, published anyway.  Truth to power.

So I did not sleep well that night, anticipating a loud knock at the door with the Chinese version of "Open up, this is the police".  Booting my computer the next morning I wondered if the Internet would still work.  To my relief the routinely familiar AOL homepage materialized. The first new email with the comforting subject line "keep up good work" had a somewhat familiar edu address, "journ.umass", but who the heck was HMZ?

hmz@journ.umass.edu;

Sent: Thu, Jul 10, 2008 6:33 pm
Subject: keep up good work

Good work. Get home to Amherst soon. We need you.
Howard Ziff

Well at this point, bring on the Chinese police, military or tanks, Professor Ziff complimented my work!

I had audited Howard's Ethics in Journalism class in 1986 and like almost everyone serious about journalism, was smitten by his combination of battle hardened experience softened by a genuine love for the craft of reporting.

We were political allies over the years on a few local Amherst issues, most notably the downtown Boltwood Walk Parking Garage where Howard was the final speaker on the floor of town meeting.  He invoked FDR's analysis that a good compromise is one where neither side goes away perfectly happy.  Howard closed by calling the emended garage proposal, "close enough".  The measure passed.

Howard was also passionate about the First Amendment and as such had concerns when Amherst wanted to ban posters/flyers in the downtown due to their messy appearance.  I spoke against the proposal at town meeting, addressing my remarks almost directly at Howard who was sitting in his usual spot--second row behind the piano, which could not hide his burly frame.

I used the anecdote about a reporter who misspells a name undermines the entire article; and if small businesses creates an unattractive flyer, it reflects poorly on the entire business and drives consumers elsewhere.  In other words, let the free market decide. Howard, with that unmistakable gleam in his eye, punched the air with his right fist.  The ban failed.

I had not heard from Howard in years, and in fact was surprised that a guy with ink his veins even had an email address.   But his encouraging note could not have come at a better time.  Howard Ziff was a thoughtful man, who made such a difference in shaping lives.

I'm not sure what the family will etch on his gravestone for a final epitaph, but his only email to me is on the shortlist for mine.

-30-


The newspaper he guided remembers


Facebook friends remember

A Hopping Good Time

 Easter Bunny comes to Amherst Town Common

Children and parents took advantage of the delightful weather and the convenient Amherst town common downtown location to hang out with the Easter Bunny and practice hopping in a couple of bounce houses, as well as sharpen agility via a bounce house obstacle course this morning at a free event sponsored by Vita Nova Church.  

Plus of course, an Easter egg hunt.  Thankfully, there were no reports of pushy parents fighting to discover the most hidden eggs.  

Party House e-x-p-a-n-s-i-o-n

Amherst ZBA from right:  Mark Parent, Hilda Greenbaum, Keith Langsdale. Jeff Bagg town planner

In spite of strong objections from neighbors and a first round "NO" vote from member Hilda Greenbaum that would have denied the Special Permit, the Zoning Board of Appeals eventually came around to a unanimous 3-0 vote, allowing the house at 156 Sunset Avenue to double from a one family to a two family dwelling, thus legally allowing eight unrelated occupants--guaranteed to be UMass students--to take up residence.

While neighbors concentrated on the problems associated with college aged kids herded into non owner occupied dwellings without on-site managers, many turned their ire directly at Eaglecrest owner James Cherewatti.

 Neighbor Mark Sims voices displeasure (no one in crowd spoke in favor)

Last weekend, for instance, the house in question was the scene of a major party broken up by APD.  An analysis of downtown properties owned by Eaglecrest (123 total living units) shows 75 police calls over the past three years.

Unlike a new zoning bylaw approved by the Planning Board and a two-thirds vote of Town Meeting that applies town wide, this case was only about this particular dwelling.  And since only a small part of the structure was too close to adjacent property, the house could have been brought into conformity (and thereby guaranteed two family status) via a chainsaw.

 156 Sunset Avenue, Amherst

 ZBA member Mark Parent pointed out to the hostile crowd that at least now they can put conditions on the expansion, one of which is for Eaglecrest to enforce a "three strikes and you're out" clause to evict unruly tenants.

 Phil Jackson (rt) questions whether Jamie Cherewatti (left) will enforce discipline rules

Unfortunately the ZBA did not make that a mandatory provision of maintaining the Special Permit, so if Cherewatti does not enforce his own lease provision, there is no mechanism to revoke the Special Permit, thus leaving little recourse for beleaguered neighbors.

As Sonny and Cher would sing, "The beat goes on." Party beat, that is.

NAVC: Round Two

Planning Board Chair David Webber center:  White Shirt (Good Guy Cowboy)

It sounds like an acronym from the Viet Nam war era.   And the battles surrounding it are taking on the same persona of citizen protests...angrily questioning their government.  Only this time it's about zoning, the North Amherst Village Center rezoning to be exact, and to a lesser extent, Atkins corner in deep South Amherst.

Last night the Planning Board unanimously (with one abstention) endorsed the new and improved Form Based Zoning proposal for North Amherst.  But not before NIMBYs had their say about "sprawl, historic preservation" and, of course, "students slums."

Area resident and long time town meeting member Louis Greenbaum, a major rental property owner and husband of Zoning Board of Appeals member Hilda Greenbaum, played his usual role of Winston Churchill rallying his troops while attempting to intimidate the Planning Board:  "North Amherst has been the dumping ground for cheap housing, for multiple dwelling...for large complexes of low cost housing," he stated in his usual forthright manner.

Mr Greenbaum's voice rises in anger as now he is really on a roll:"We wanted no more of these units north of Meadow Street.  We had more than our share...did you not hear this? This would completely, completely, change the nature and the quality and the aspect and living in our neighborhood, completely."

And the crowd applauds.  Planning Board Chair David Webber throws gas on the fire a short time later by defending students and all the positive things they bring to the table.  NIMBYs resented being "lectured".

Last Fall this zoning proposal failed to clear the high hurdle of a two-thirds vote at town meeting although it did garner a majority,  119-79.  Since then town officials wisely decided to divide the bookend village centers into two zoning articles thus increasing the likelihood of passage (by reducing the formation of a NIMBY union of North and South) and reducing the size of the area impacted in North Amherst Village Center, the more controversial of the two.

These modification concessions should make the critical difference, but not with the hard core NIMBYs obviously.  

Blue area top center north of Cowles Road seems to be the sore spot

And the winners are...

Amilcar Shabazz sworn in this morning for School Committee by town clerk Sandra Burgess

Precinct 1: Pat Holland,Janet Keller, Hilda Greenbaum, Sharen Pouvinelli, Mary Jane Laus, Vince O'Connor, Louis Greenbaum, Kenton Tharp, Melissa Perot, Terry Franklin, Nonny Burack, Paula Distefano, Valerie Cooley, Sarah Swartz, Meg Gage, James Perot, Eric Nazar, Jane Wald, Phillip Gosselin, Nancy Buffone, Peter Gray Mullen, Deborah Timberlake, Daniel Kramer, William Witton

Precinct 2:  Barbara Ford, Margaret Kroeplin, Cynthia Brubaker, Nolan Anaya, Edith Macumllen, William Mullin, Stephan Golfin, Daniel Clapp, Michael Sullivan, Megan Rosa, Jean Swartz, John Coull, Addrienne Levine, Cyrus Cox, Robert Biagi, Sharon Vardalirto, Roy Johnson, Rita Burke, Barbara Levine, Chris Riddle, Arnold Alper

Precinct 3:  Sonya Berquist, Eric Magazu, Nancy Gregg, Marcy Sala, Jacqueline Churchill, Leeta Baily, Andy Churchill, Rob Kusner, Kathleen Carroll, Brian Morton, Catherine Porter, anurag Sharma, Lawrence Orloff, Sherri and Ryan Willey, P. Mcpeak-Larocca

Precinct 4:  Charles Moran, Alan Powell, Kay Moran, Gregg Anderson, Baer Tierkel, John Pistel, Greg Boisseau, Jon Stewert Nelson, Audrey Smith, Patricia Blauder, Carol Johnson, Michael Rosseof,Michael Giles, George Ryan, Katherine Troast, Mark Parent, Christine Pilsner, Peter Blier,

Precinct 5:  Katherine McGovern, Sam Andrews, Mandi Jo Hanneke, Marylees Turner, Michael Mascis, Pat Church, Tom Ehrgodd, Nina Wishengrad, Nancy Pagano, Barry Federman, James Oldham, Hisham Nakshbendi, Walter Wolnik, Tong Shen, Kevin Noonan, Robert Joy, Kevin Eddings


Precinct 6: Marilyn Blaustein, Gordon Freed, Daniel Rivera, James Smith, Silvia Brinkerhoff, FaytheTurner, Kathleen Traphager, Lisa Kleinholz, Josef Wille, Jeff Blaustein, Kevin Vanderlowden, Joan Logan, Ed Mientka, Joe Wronka, Amy Brodigan, Paul Kaplan, Vladimir Morales, Connie Kruger, Paul Drummond.

Precinct 7:  James Brassord, Chris Hoffman, Janet Chaven, Albert Chaven, Marylou Theilman, Gertrude Como, Isabelle Callahan, Carol Gray, Laura Quinn, Alice Swift, Harvey Allan, Adrienne Terrizzi, Louise Hammann, Rebekah Demling, Karen Lennon, Robert Wellman, James Como, Ernie Dalkas, Edward Harvey, Nelson Acosta, Matthew Jacobson, Thad Dabrowski, Jeff Lec, James Smith.

Precinct 8:  Amilcar Shabazz, Gerry Weiss, Lise Halpern, (Mother) Mary Streeter, Frank Gatti, Clare Bertrand, Janie Ratner, Elaine Fronhofer, Jennifer McKenna, Issac BenEzra, Glen Bertrand, Barry Roberts, Sonya Sofield, Charles Scherpa, Fred Mosely, John Kick, Bart Bouricious, Diana Spurgin, David Mullins, Eleanor Gatti, Richard Spurgin, Joan Tempkin, Ruth Hooke, Janet McGowan.

Precinct 9:  Joan Burgess, John Edwards, Sara Ross, Peggy Roberts, A.E. Krogh-Grabbe, Felicity Callahan, Denise Barberet, Aaron Kroff, Simon Leutz, Julia Rueschemeyer, Max Page, Stephen Schreiber, Jessica Wilkinson, Otto Stein, Neils Lacour, Jonathan O'Keeffe, Pam Rooney, Matt Lebowitz, Sarah Lacour, Sara Auberbach, Ben Grosscup, Gavin Andresen, Jan Eilelson, Raymond Laraja.

Precinct 10:  Judy Simpson, James Turner, Stephen Braun, Hwei-ling Greeney, Steven Bloom, Nancy Gordon, Maurianne Adams, Lewis Mainzer, John Michaels, Christine Kline, Regina Rheault, Brett Butler, Jonathan Nelms, Phil Jackson, Richard Bentley, L. Paige Wilder, Robin Fordham, John Fox, Elissa Rubinstein, Robert Pam

Bad Night For Incumbents

Two high profile candidates for reelection, in races where a second place finish would have been good enough, came in third, and thus out of the money.  Irv Rhodes, chair of the Amherst School Committee, fell to newcomers Lawrence O'Brien and Amilcar Shabazz--both of whom wished to be appointed two months ago to finish out the term of Steve Rivkin.

Presciently, Rhodes was at first reluctant to even fill the school committee position, worried it would give that person an advantage in this April 3 election; but then he strongly supported Shabazz.  The combined Select Board and School Committee, however, chose a high school student instead.

This stunning loss for Rhodes mirrors the school committee election of 2004 when incumbent chair Barbara Love came in third behind newcomers Andy Churchill and Thomas Flitte.  Pundits at the time lay the blame on a mediocre campaign that reeked of overconfidence and taking the voters for granted.

While Michael Aronson came in a distant fourth with 433 votes his base in all liklihood bullet voted (did not use their second vote).  If even half of Aronson's supporters had thrown their second vote to Rhodes, it would have put him in second place.

Incumbent Carol Gray also was odd person out in the three way race for two seats on the Jones Library Trustees.  She joins former chair Pat Holland who lost her seat last year as a result of leading an inquisition against 30 year Director Bonnie Isman.

Birds of a feather crash together.

##################

By The Numbers:

School Committee

Lawrence O'Brien     1526

Amilcar Shabazz     1160

Irv Rhodes               1004

Michael Aronson     433

Jones Library Trustee

Austin Sarat     1380

Tamson Ely       1245

Carol Gray         907

Voter Turnout:  15.2% (2,429 voters out of 15,991)

Statement of Michael Aronson - Candidate for the Amherst School Committee

I extend my congratulations to the winners of the school committee race in Amherst.  I enjoyed the dialog we shared. I encourage those of you stepping into public service to remember the substance and focus of the debate: determining why we spend so much more than other school districts in our area; returning resources to the classroom; and eliciting the creativity of Amherst to the benefit of the children of our community.

Voting for Dummies

Since it is such a tough task for harried voters to keep track of 24 candidates per precinct (especially with some precincts not having enough candidates to fill all those seats) our friends at Sustainable Amherst did all the work for us and came up with a handy cheat sheet, err, I mean "printable voter guide" you can bring into the ballot box and march in lock step with the supposed "Amherst Center."

If you remember, these folks lost their Op/Ed column at the Amherst Bulletin for journalistic improprieties concerning election endorsements two years ago, so take their election advice with a truck load of salt.  Although I do agree that this election will have a lousy, err, low turnout.  And I could not agree more with their Jones Library Trustees recommendation, which mirrors my Anyone But Carol endorsement.

Notice for School Committee they do not even mention Michael Aronson, the only candidate who dares to discuss the gilded school costs that give rise to the highest property tax rate in the area--almost twice that of neighboring Hadley where school achievement results are comparable to the venerable Amherst system.

Unfortunately Town Meeting is the only game in town.  But voting for someone you do not know is like a bomb disposal technician doing "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" to figure out which colored wire to cut.

Amherst Voting ABCs

Even with all 240 Town Meeting seats up for grabs, the lack of competition for the highest elected office in town, Select Board, combined with a plethora of status quo candidates for Library and School Committee--a good thing in the former not so good in the latter--will lead to a fairly routine, lousy, voter turnout in the 18% range (while the upcoming November Presidential election turnout will be in the fairly routine 70% range).

On Tuesday Amherst Regional High School will distribute 2nd period "report cards".  For School Committee this election should also act as a report card for the only incumbent candidate, Irv Rhodes:  Fail. 

For the past few years--certainly the entire three year tenure of Mr. Rhodes on School Committee--the exceedingly high average per student cost of Amherst education compared to state average or especially compared to Northampton has been an issue of contention, especially since that steep investment does not result in corresponding high MCAS results.

Most Recent MCAS results: worst in seven years

Former School Committee members Catherine Sanderson and Steve Rivkin brought up this platinum plated disparity continuously at SC meetings, Amherst Bulletin columns and on Ms. Sanderson's high traffic exceedingly public school committee blog--the one Mr. Rhodes wanted the District Attorney to investigate for Open Meeting Law violations.

In fact, a School Budget Advisory Committee was formed in early 2010 specifically to ascertain why Amherst's average costs were $4,000 higher per student than Northampton's.  Four months later they disbanded in disgust due to a lack of cooperation by highly-paid school administrators. 

Apparently the only impression made on Mr. Rhodes by all that budgetary discussion was to develop knots in his stomach. Mr Rhodes also failed to file his campaign financial report due last week.  If he can't properly run a low-budget school committee campaign, how can voters have confidence in him to oversee a $50 million enterprise?

Two other SC candidates--Amilcar Shabazz and Lawrence O'Brien--are also firmly in the blank check, rubber stamp, cheerleaders for highly-paid school administrator league.

Michael Aronson, on the other hand, has made that whopping spending disparity between Amherst and Northampton a campaign centerpiece.  And he has the guts and business experience to do something about it.  Thus the School Committee voting choice could not be more black and white:  Bullet vote for Michael Aronson.

The Jones Library Trustee race (also two seats open for 3 year terms) really is as simple as ABC:  Anyone But Carol!  Carol Gray, that is.

After running off 30 year director Bonnie Isman and seeing her partner in mayhem Pat Holland defeated last year as a result, Ms Gray's ignominious defeat is like a long lost library book:  W-a-y overdue.

Party House deja vu

In spite of seasonably inclement weather--a cop's best friend--and a published plea from Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe in the venerable Mass Daily Collegian (3rd letter down, so not exactly top billing) outlining party behavior that is "Not OK", the damn kids went and did it anyway.  Party that is.  Not OK!

Especially since my winner this week for 'Party House of the Weekend' is the same location requesting a Special Permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals to double occupancy from a one family (4 maximum unrelated tenants) to a two family (max of eight).  Which in this case would seem to indicate a doubling of party house potential.  Not OK.

 156 Sunset Ave, within shadow of Southwest Towers

According to Amherst Police Department logs:
12:41 AM early Sunday morning

Large party 200+ people with DJ equipment.  Arrested for Noise and Nuisance House violations ($600 each):

Stephanie Blynn, 14 Valerie Dr, Plainville, MA, age 21
Heather Ohandley, 16 Hillside Rd, Plainville, MA, age 22
Shauna Obrien, 15 Melrose Ave, Wakefield, MA, age 22

Meanwhile on the street near 156 Sunset Ave:

ETOH (highly intoxicated) female on the roadway and unable to walk or get up.  Upon speaking with Nicole, she stated she was going to her dorm, as she attempted to go in the opposite direction of Southwest.  Nicole stated she was coming from the party at 156 Sunset Avenue.  Transported Nicole to her dorm.

Called Back

 
A continuously changing collection of trinkets and mementos adorn EED's tombstone

 

Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage 

Miss Emily's final resting place, centered in West Cemetery, is enclosed by an ornate black wrought iron fence constructed in 1858 for one of the elite families of Amherst--the Dickinson's.

Today the tranquil site enclosing four tombstones attracts visitors from all over the world, almost exclusively to pay homage to the "Belle of Amherst".  And it has been showing its age for too many years now.

More recent plaque looks fine

 The original 1858 gate was stolen in the 1970s and returned in 2004

Next month Amherst Town Meeting will consider recommendations of the Community Preservation Act Committee, whose sole charge is to sort out capital requests concerning Recreation/Open Space, Affordable Housing and Historical Preservation.

Enter the Holy Grail of Amherst history, the decaying fence that has protected the Dickinson family for over 150 years. The $40,000 request, added to $21,000 appropriated two years ago, will allow for complete refurbishment of the entire fence to good as new condition.

The renovation will start this summer and is expected to be completed before first snowfall, although the fence will have to be disassembled and taken off site.

Since Emily Dickinson is arguably the most famous citizen in our 250+ year history, it's a safe bet Town Meeting will approve the spending article.  Although the occasional curmudgeon does point out that perhaps Amherst College with its $1.6 billion endowment and owner of the Dickinson Homestead now turned Museum should shoulder the cost.  After all, her grandfather Samuel Dickinson founded Amherst College. 

But Miss Emily does not belong to Amherst College; she belongs to us all.

Controlled Burn

So I paid the newly instituted $25 fee (good for unlimited burns through May 1), had the Fire Department come do an inspection, ran a hose out to the debris pile, and then lit a match..or two...or three.

One man's trash...

Longmeadow Drive, South Amherst

Last weekend Amherst Police responded to a reported theft of a "55 gallon drum and tires" from this location.  The road side attraction is a sign of displeasure with Butternut Farm, the 26 unit HAP low income housing development that opened last June.

Orchard Valley neighbors put up a bitter, expensive legal challenge that dragged on for years (no doubt enriching their attorney Michael Pill) but inevitably failed to kill the project.  Obviously hard feelings still linger.  After finding no suspects, APD told the reporting party, "facing signs about the new development right at or next to the property would probably lead to the signs being taken down."

Meanwhile over on Snell Street, an irresponsible midnight dumper used the convenient access provided by the road that suddenly terminates to dump trash--including a 55 gallon drum and construction debris--into the woods. Arlo Guthrie is not a suspect.

Whiny to the bitter end

The Joint Capital Planning Committee voted 7-1 this morning to approve $3,153,200 in recommendation to the Town Manager that backtracked only slightly from last week's fireworks laden meeting, mainly to now include $20,000 for 16 Jones Library surveillance cameras and $10,000 for maintenance work at the town owned Hitchcock Center building.

Hitchcock Center

After the camera initiative was properly vetted by IT directory Kris Pacunas, the price had precipitously dropped from $60,000 to $20,000 and will certainly provide peace of mind for patrons made nervous by frisky teens frolicking in the unattended downstairs, or the homeless wandering in looking for a place to sleep.

Library Trustee Carol Gray took exception once again to cuts that were upheld: $150,000 for fire protection system and $15,000 for building insulation, which she claimed would return about $3,000 in annual energy savings, or a five-year payback. Although she neglected to factor in the $15,000 that was approved last year for insulation and never spent, thus the payback period is really ten years.

And of course being a former lawyer she held up the architectural study commissioned by Library Trustees that highlighted minor deficiencies in the current fire protection system suggesting the town would be liable for any injuries sustained in the (unlikely) event of a fire.

Ms. Gray also took a cheap swipe at $90,000 earmarked for planning studies split between two major projects:  Last fall "Form Based Zoning" failed to garner the two-thirds vote necessary (119-79) at Town Meeting--with many opponents saying the article required "more study"--that would have rezoned North Amherst center and the Atkins Corner in South Amherst.

And the Gateway Corridor Town Center rezoning study, a $40,000 item to bring Form Based Zoning to the commercial downtown and the contiguous corridor leading to our largest employer, UMass.

Former Library Trustee (Chair) Pat Holland, who was defeated last year because of her tag-team involvement with Ms. Gray in running off long time library Director Bonnie Isman, is running unopposed for the lone Amherst Redevelopment Authority seat in the April 3 election.

The ARA spearheaded, nurtured and delivered the Gateway Project plan over the past year-and-a-half, but will probably have little future involvement for Ms Holland to sabotage.

O Lorax, Where Art Thou?

100-year-old row of quaint New England sugar maples now on Death Row.

After weathering the last 100 years, including the devastating October 29 tree killer snowstorm, a row of majestic sugar maples that have provided shade, oxygen and protection from the wind to generations of agricultural minded citizens is now threatened by the biggest tree killer of all:  development.

Even though these trees are outside their jurisdiction, the Amherst Public Shade Tree Committee unanimously endorsed a letter to Town Manager John Musante requesting they "be respected and protected for all present and future members of the Amherst community."

Amherst Town Meeting acquired Hawthorne Farm property for $500,000 to preserve open space, add to our pitifully small stock of affordable housing (the land includes a house and barn) and preserve open space/recreation, although many town meeting members assumed it meant passive recreation. 

But soccer parents and politicians who court their votes are quick to rev the bulldozers anytime the town acquires an expensive parcel of property bigger than a breadbasket.   Although, turning the rolling topography of Hawthorne into a smooth aircraft carrier quality flatness will require millions of additional tax dollars.

And, the death of those stately sentinels.

Trouble in Paradise?

 Larry Shaffer fist bump.  About to butt heads with the Mayor

Former Amherst, Massachusetts Town Manager now Jackson, Michigan City Manager Larry Shaffer had a hilarious quote in yesterday's local paper:  "I don't give up easily" asserted Shaffer in response to the city council reversing a yes vote he supports on an expensive solar energy project for their waste water treatment plant.

Mayor Martin Griffin strongly opposes the initiative saying, "I hope the project is dead."  Interesting power struggle.   Since Jackson has a Council/Manager form of government, the Mayor is apparently more of a figurehead than actual CEO.  But, nevertheless, Mayor Griffin looks like a strong guy who takes tough stands (slumlords want him recalled over a rental registration law he supported).

Mr. Shaffer, on the other hand...

Let's see, he took a strong stand on requiring Boy Scouts pay a tax on Christmas Tree sales, a beloved annual (tax free) town tradition for 60 years.  He tried to withhold the parade permit for the privately organized July 4 Parade to create a competing municipal parade that would embrace war protesters.  And he supported the Select Board's annual refusal to fly 29 commemorative American flags in the downtown to remember the horror of 9/11.

Best of all, he railroads the Select Board into giving him a two year extension on his contract and then only a few months later, suddenly, decides to "retire," to Michigan, leaving behind his wife here in Amherst.  Meanwhile his secretary concurrently vanishes with a $25,000 taxpayer payout nobody wishes to talk about.

Doesn't give up easily, eh?  I guess it depends on how you define "easily".  



 

Gas, Bread, and Wine

 Cumberland Farms, Amherst

Perhaps the busiest convenience store in Amherst is about to get even busier.  The Cumberland Farms on College Street (Rt 9) has filed for a Wine & Malt off premises alcohol license--meaning beer and wine to go. 

The town currently has 8 such licenses in this category allowed by law and only two are currently taken, so it's pretty much a slam dunk the Select Board, who are also the town liquor commissioners, will approve the $1,500 license.

A new law that went into effect January 1st allows individuals or corporations to own up to 5 of these permits in the state when previously the limit was only three.  Cumberland Farms will also have to pay the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission $5,000 for the privilege.

Yes, everybody--from the state on down--ferments money from alcohol.

 Spirit Haus, celebrating 40 years. Right across the street.

Blarney Blowout Busted?

Last night Town Manager John Musante "updated" his bosses, the Amherst Select Board, on important "quality of life" issues that give the town a horrible name, namely party houses like the one at 186 College Street (owned by individuals more interested in profits than peace) and party businesses--McMurphy's and Stacker's--only interested in keeping the taps flowing via irresponsible, juvenile promotions like "Blarney Blowout".

And while it sounds like Musante is taking the responsible parties to the woodshed for a much needed spanking (metaphorically speaking of course), since those discussions are private, we may never know.


Excuse the buzz in the background. Amherst Media seems more interested in TV than Internet feeds

AFD issues SOS

Amherst Fire Department Central Station

Every citizen in town--homeless or living in a $1 million palace--expects that in an emergency, highly trained professional first responders are only a three digit phone call away. 

And that when you do call 911--no matter what time of the day or night, what season of the year or holiday the entire western hemisphere may be celebrating, they will come--and quickly.

Consider this a wake up call, like a smoke alarm in the dead of night.  You have been warned.  Be afraid.

Fight For Your Right Party House

 370 Pelham Road, Amherst

While young adults their age are fighting and dying in a far off country, these boys are hastling their neighbors for calling the police trying to maintain the quiet enjoyment of their most cherished possession--home.  That too is a bedrock American right.

When police arrived at 370 Pelham Road around 10:00 PM Saturday night, called by a neighbor who stated her husband was in a verbal confrontation with a rowdy party boy, police discovered the source of the noise:  a live band.

Yes, this is the second time these perps have been arrested and heavily fined for a party using a live band.  You think they would have learned the first time.  But no, they are entitled.   

According to APD logs:
RP reporting her husband is on the front porch arguing with a male neighbor.  The neighbor came over unprovoked and started arguing with RP's husband about them complaining about noise coming from the neighbors house in the past.


Live band planing upon arrival.  20+ guests were cleared out.  Guests confronted Officers about breaking the party up, stating they had "rights" and that it was a "birthday party".

Arrested for Noise:
Nelson P Klein, 179 Appleton Street, Cambridge, MA, age 23
Geoffrey Dempsey, 6 Fruit Street, Hopkinton, MA, age 23
James Toshana, 370 Pelham Rd, Amherst, MA, age 19

Property Ownership Card for 370 Pelham Road, Amherst

The Week Ahead

Joint Capital Planning Committee:  reports to Town Manager

Time was, not so long ago, a news junkie in Amherst looked forward to the Monday night Select Board meeting because that was the hotbed of potentially entertaining news worthy issues--usually of the embarrassing kind.

But with the, umm, retirement--or I should say relocation--of Anne Awad and the orchestrated coup d'état that ousted Gerry Weiss as Chair, driving him into retirement as well, Select Board meetings  have become a coldbed of boring routine.  Evidenced by a lack of competition for open seats in the annual town election these past few years.

Thus Joint Capital Planning Committee promises to be the most interesting meeting this week (Thursday 9:00 AM) as they will, finally, vote on $4 million worth of capital requests from all town departments including the schools, a vote that will whittling the bottom line down to only $3 million.  And a JCPC thumbs up practically guarantees a rubber stamp by Amherst Town Meeting.

Will the Jones Library get 16 new wireless digital surveillance cameras? (probably)  Will Information Technology Department get it's fancy $32,000 Ford hybrid Escape? (probably not) Will Town Hall get an $85,000 generator? (damn well better).  Will Carol Gray get twitchy again about any cuts to the Jones Library requests? (safe bet).

On Friday The Jones Library Trustees will discuss a report from the Personnel Planning Policy subcommittee regarding the six-month evaluation of library director Sharon Sharry.  Ms. Sharry took over the Good Ship Jones after Carol Gray attempted a mutiny/takeover of the micromanaging kind, driving out Director Bonnie Isman after 30 years of admirable service.

Jones Library Trustees Chris Hoffman, Carol Gray

Interestingly Ms. Gray is on the the current evaluation subcommittee, but from all the reports I'm getting, Sharry is doing an admirable job thusfar and, thankfully, no controversy like the previous kind is expected when the evaluation goes public on Friday.

Also, on the optimistic immediate horizon for the Jones Library is the election April 3rd, where Ms. Gray is expected to lose her Trustee seat, like her inquisition compatriot Pat Holland already did last year (for the same good reason).

Although, she will not have to turn in her library card.

Old Pols Never Fade Away

 Jim & George McGovern

Even nearing age 90, George McGovern still knows how to work a crowd--probably a tad easier when the throng is obviously enthralled, as were about 100 fans who packed the Amherst Bookstore late this afternoon to give an icon of the democratic party a rousing reception.

Accompanied by former aid and current Congressman Jim McGovern, who told the local crowd he hopes to represent them in Congress, the former U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate gave a homespun extemporaneous speech--more like a fireside chat--extolling the subject of the book he lived, "What It Means To Be A Democrat."

Even conservatives could appreciate his bedrock background:  A B-25 pilot who survived 35 missions over Germany and then, like 8 million other WW2 veterans, took advantage of the GI Bill to get a PhD in history. Higher education was a good investment by the federal government McGovern pointed out, as the feds received back $2 for every one invested:  better education led to higher paying jobs, thus greater taxes generated.

Knowing perhaps that he was in the belly of the anti-war beast he said firmly, "I make no apologies for fighting in that war.  It was a war that had to be fought."  But then stated, almost as an aside, "Although I can't say I have supported any since."

Washington, DC is not the embodiment of evil as portrayed by Republicans he said to loud applause.  Retelling a  story about a verbal joust with William F. Buckley, he closed with the humorous punchline that a conservative like Buckley could never carry the state of Massachusetts.  And since that was the only state George McGovern carried in 1972, a fitting finale. 

And proof once again, the dream shall never die.

And put up a parking lot

With the closing of Mark's Meadow Elementary School two years ago, Crocker Farm picked up 80 new students and a few more teachers, so now, apparently, it's time to expand the parking lot at a cost of $25,000...although I'm not sure why it needs to expand by 20-25 vehicles.

The current plan is to expand the lower parking lot on the north side of the main access road above and below the current parking oasis for 11 cars.  Yes, it would look as though the two maple trees (planted during the 2002 renovation) will become kindling, but Ron Bohonowicz, Director of Facilities, said they may come up with a design to "incorporate them."

After all the trees lost in the unprecedented October 29 snowstorm--a few of them at Crocker Farm--it seems sinful to now whack a couple more, especially on a nice summer day.

Sparks fly over "safety"

Sandy Pooler makes a firm point to Library Trustee Carol Gray.  Comptroller Sonia Aldrich stuck in the middle

Carol Gray pulled out the classic Smothers Brothers "Mom always liked you best!" routine at an animated Joint Capital Planning Committee meeting this morning, complaining that "other departments" were given their top two or three requested items, but the Jones Library just had "six out of seven eliminated."

Finance Director Sandy Pooler had indeed decided not to recommend any of their big ticket funding requests:  $150,000 for fire safety upgrades, because AFD Chief Tim Nelson believes it can wait a year or more (especially since you can hit the Jones Library with a rock from AFD Central Station),  $125,000 for generators to turn the Jones or North Amherst library into an electricity oasis should the power ever go out again, and $30,000 for security cameras (down from the original $60,000 request).

The 16 security cameras are strongly requested because of previous incidents of (homeless) individuals "exposing themselves" and other purported general safety concerns of rank and file staff.  Although original presentation materials from last month included the statement "It has been recommended by both Amherst Police and Trustees that a security system, including cameras be purchased and installed," the Amherst Police Department was never officially asked, nor did they give such an endorsement.

The JCPC only makes recommendations to Amherst Town Meeting, but such items are all but guaranteed approval; items not recommended are guaranteed to be a Sisyphean task to now revive.

As sports fans are fond of saying:  "Wait until next year."

Amherst Schools Shake Up

 
UPDATE:  Thursday morning.  School Superintendent Maria Geryk confirmed this story and said an official statement would be forthcoming "soon", perhaps by close of business Friday.

 Maria Geryk Superintendent, Rick Hood Regional School Chair BCG meeting today

Beth Graham, Director of Curriculum and Instruction and member of the $85K club along with 20 other ARPS administrators, is no longer employed in the Amherst School system.

Ms Graham only started working for the Amherst schools on July 1, 2010 and was hired away from Pioneer Valley Performing Arts School, a competitor that has siphoned more students from Amherst than any other Charter school in the region.

Assistant principal Susan Kennedy Marx sent a memo today to parents saying she had been told by  Superintendent Maria Geryk that she would now be serving in central office and is no longer assistant principal at Fort River. 

Amherst has one of the highest average administrator costs in the region at $697 per student vs. state average of $446, so perhaps Superintendent Geryk plans to leave one of these vacated position open.

The Amherst Schools have been in disarray of late:  Fort River Principal Ray Sharick resigned suddenly last year, Regional Middle School Principal Michael Hayes announced a few weeks ago that he was taking a one year leave of absence to spend more time with his children, and Amherst Regional High School Athletic Director Karen Keough-Huff resigned her $86,237 job four months ago for "personal reasons."

Ms Graham was supposed to tweak the math program. 2011 MCAS scores, however, were disappointing

A More Pleasant Wait

PVTA workers install a new bus stop on the corner of West Street and Mill Lane (the last widely used unpaved road in Amherst)