Those Who Fail To Learn ...

 Ghosts of Christmas yet to come?

"Whereas:  There currently is a severe shortage of rental housing in the Town of Amherst, which shortage has been caused in part by the rapid increase in the population of the Town since 1970 resulting from its desirability as a place to live ...

Where have you heard that preamble before?  The controversial Town Meeting warrant article continues:

"This severe shortage of rental housing has led to a serious public emergency with respect to the rental housing available to a substantial number of citizens of the Town, which emergency is causing a serious threat to the public health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of the Town."

Selected excerpts from Article #29, Rental Registration Bylaw coning up Monday night?  No.  Article #64, Rent Control Act.  Narrowly defeated by only five votes, 116 to 111.  Monday, May 16, 1983.

Yes, THIRTY YEARS AGO.

Today's landlords should consider themselves lucky that Article #29 is so light on the touch, simply ensuring that minimum common sense health and safety codes are routinely enforced for the good of tenants and the neighborhood.

The only landlords being "punished" are the ones who deserve it!

Of course should Article #29 fail tomorrow night -- and I'm confident it will not -- a fallback article comes up on Wednesday (Article #38), a similar version of Rental Registration Permit system with the main difference being owner occupied units -- whether the rental aspect is an "accessory use" or primary use --  will be exempt from the regulations.

Architects of that less restrictive article also plan to amend #29 with that wording.  

Because  most of the problems of rowdy student behavior emanate from (absentee) non owner occupied rentals, it is tempting to support #38 over the more restrictive #29.

Although the Safe & Health Working Group intended for the General Bylaw to cover all rentals, a serendipitous mistake between revisions does exclude room rentals for up to 6 tenants in owner occupied units. 

And those mom-and-pop landlords who are also town meeting members are now far more likely to support Article #29, the original bylaw created by the Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods Working Group, already approved by the Town Manager, and unanimously supported by the Select Board, Planning Board and Finance Committee.

Tune in Monday night as Amherst Town Meeting takes another bite at the 30-year-old apple.  This time the majority will get it right!

Back story told in emails

This One's For You

Edith Wilkinson 1927-2013

Thirty years ago my maiden speech to illustrious Amherst Town Meeting almost didn't happen.  I had taken the easy route to petition my government for grievances by collecting the ten signatures required to file a warrant article for the Annual Spring Town Meeting held in what was then called the "Junior High School."

My article requested town meeting "advise" the recreation department to stop unfairly competing against my karate school, Hampshire Gymnastics and the Amherst Ballet Center, the latter two businesses owned individuals who were also homeowners:  Thus their property tax payments (a burden even back then) were being used against them by competition on an unlevel playing field.

But when I checked in with moderator Bill Field he asked if I was a town meeting member, as only a town meeting member could move a motion.  Uh-oh.

A long-time, well-know Town Meeting member was standing directly behind me waiting to talk to the Moderator so I turned to him and asked if he would simply move my motion.  He shook his head side to side. Vigorously.

I retreated to the front row of the auditorium and asked another Town Meeting member that I recognized and she responded, "Absolutely not."  By now the august body was getting very close to reaching a quorum and opening for business -- err, I mean discussion -- so I started to panic.

Edith Wilkinson was Chair of the Select Board at the time and from her position at the head table had witnessed my two exchanges and the now panicked look on my face.    She came over and said, "What's wrong Mr. Kelley?"   After I briefly explained she said, "I will not support it, but I will move your motion."

Then she smiled and said "That's exactly what Town Meeting is all about."  Or as we say in journo school, "give voice to the voiceless."

I still remember the blank stare from the masses when I used the term "tax exempt entities" for government programs that consume tax money while for-profit business (a dirty word in Amherst 30 years ago) generate tax revenues.  Naturally my article was defeated overwhelmingly. 

Still ... if all Amherst Town Meeting members were as gracious and fair minded as Edie Wilkinson, maybe I would have been a lot less strident in my criticisms of the ancient institution over the past thirty years.  Maybe. 

Getting A Jump On Crime

APD bike patrol practicing stair climbing Friday morning

Formation ride near Amherst Regional High School Thursday night (photo by Tom Porter)

Got Him!

According to now confirmed scanner reports Amherst police bagged a perp, local resident Peter Jeffs, age 51, red handed around 2:30 p.m. on West Bay Road near the Eric Carle Museum driving a van loaded with stolen goods from a series of break-ins over the past week, some of them daring daylight deeds.

The suspect was arrested by Amherst police but turned over to Southwick PD based on probable cause in their jurisdiction.  APD will issue a statement early next week.  Stay tuned.

As many as a half dozen break ins, some where locked doors were kicked in, recently occurred all over Amherst as well as nearby Hadley, and not so nearby Southwick.

WGGB Ch TV reports (with great photos)

 Peter Jeffs, alleged scumbag

There is still much work to do building the case, but still good to know a brash thief has been taken off our streets.

Turning Up The Heat Even More

 

 61 Gray Street yesterday

61 Gray Street today

Yes, if everything always went as smoothly as this most recent action by the Amherst building inspection services the Rental Registration Bylaw would probably not have such broad support. But this landlord acted responsibly, in a timely manner and therefor has nothing to fear -- under either the current or newly proposed system.

The letter I received today from their trade group makes a great point: only 2% of landlords are the problem, but I take issue with the assertion that the other 98% are being "punished."  Certainly 98% of the citizens of Amherst are law abiding with outright criminals a distinct minority.

If the police should install a camera to monitor a high crime area located on public property to catch the problem 2%, why should the other 98% have anything to fear?

Providing they are not doing something they shouldn't be doing.

Click to read

Be Careful What You Wish For

Henry Street, Amherst

Click title below left to read

   Amherst Warrant Article #43

Bring On The Consultants

 

Chancellor Subbaswamy addresses Amherst Town Meeting

If the goal of the $60,000 joint Town/Gown study is to enhance relations between the town of Amherst, founded 1759, and our largest employer UMass/Amherst, founded 1863, then we can save ourselves a lot of money as Chancellor Subbaswamy's nearly ten minute speech before Amherst Town Meeting already accomplished that.

Schmoozing with town officials just prior to town meeting start

But the real goal is to enhance relations between the town citizenry and UMass students, and that's going to take some work.  And you don't build something solid and workable without planning.

The motion to spend $60,000 for the joint study, split evenly between UMass and the town, easily passed  by a recorded tally vote 122-46.

 UMass & Town officials huddle during tally vote count

The overwhelming nature of the vote sends a positive signal about the most controversial and most important article of this entire town meeting -- probably in a generation -- Article #29, Residential Rental Property Bylaw, which brings a permit system to the lucrative rental business.

A market driven by the presence of so very many students.  That article comes up May 20.

Turning Up The Heat

11 Phillips Street (this morning)

Some of you may remember 11 Phillips Street as the house busted last fall by APD for hosting an underground bar as well as cramming 14 students into living quarters only zoned for four.  Kind of a BIG difference wouldn't you say?

Well our Building Commissioner certainly thought so, and hit owner Stephan Gharabegian with a $100/day fine, racking up a $2,400 tab before coming into compliance.  Better late than never.

 Stephan Gharabegian, yesterday, Amherst landfill.  A regular one man band

   Amherst Landlord Surrenders

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DUI Dishonor Roll

Every day in America, another 27 people die as a result of drunk driving crashes

While incidents of Party House revelry will, mercifully, decrease rather dramatically over the next three months now that our #1 industry is on hiatus, the more dangerous by-product of alcohol abuse, drunk driving, will probably not let up all that much. Sadly.

For instance, neither of this past weekend's arrested "college aged youth" show up in UMass, Hampshire or Amherst College people search, although they could very well be friends who came to visit a student.

 If I had to pick a clear cut winner between the two, it would easily be Briana Howell.

Click to enlarge

McMurphy's 1:20 AM early Sunday

 Even though she was bagged at 1:23 AM, the location at East Pleasant/Chestnut Streets means she just drove through town center, and oddly enough at that time the town was packed with kids getting out of the bars and waiting for their $1 slice of pizza at the best little pizza shop in the state, Antonio's.

Antonio's 1:18 AM early Sunday

But Kurt Russavage would still be a close second, since his time of arrest was 11:14 PM on a Friday night ... when even us old  fogies might still be on the road.

School Daze

 Amherst School Committee in the hot seat

While not exactly hostile last night -- and Town Meeting can be pretty hostile on occasion -- the questions from the floor about our Sacred Cow schools were a tad more probing than in years past.  Transparency is a good, although sometimes painful, thing. 

Declining enrollments are a major contributor to stress on a system that, like a big old aircraft carrier, was designed to carry a l-a-r-g-e population.

Is the decline simply a byproduct of a lower birth rate or consumers choosing alternative means of education like Charter Schools, School Choice or Homeschooling?  Because this is after all America, which was built on competition.

Interestingly School Superintendent Maria Geryk did acknowledge the rather obvious fact that Amherst "Is an expensive place to live," so perhaps families with children simply cannot afford to live here.  Thus we end up with single family homes converted to (college) student rooming houses.

And most college-aged youth do not have school-aged children.

Since the schools account for $50 million -- the lions share -- of our $68 million dollar municipal budget they alone are the number one factor pushing our tax rate to almost twice that of neighboring Hadley: In 2011 average cost of education at elementary level in Amherst, with a property tax rate of $20.39/$1000, was $17,116 vs Hadley, with a tax rate of $10.22/$1000 at $9,770 per child.

The budget Town Meeting passed last night for the elementary schools works out to a whopping $19,563 average cost per child to educate, so things are certainly not moving in the right direction

Hadley is home base to the Amherst elementary school's number one competitor,  the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School, which currently has 54 Amherst children as customers.  Since Charter Schools receive revenues based on the "sending district" average cost per child, it's far more lucrative to attract an Amherst student than it is one from Hadley.

Kind of like UMass/Amherst now targeting more "out of state" students because the revenues are higher than in state students and UMass gets to keep the money rather than passing it through to the bloated bureaucracy in Boston. 

Currently the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School is the #1 competitor for Amherst Regional High School, attracting the vast majority of 67 regional children who attend charter schools at the expense of the Amherst Region.

But the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School has been granted permission to e-x-p-a-n-d through high school starting in September thus becoming a potential Death Star for our entire K-12 system.

Time to innovate!

Rescue Me

 Note front wheels off the ground

When the Genie lift he was using shifted slightly on uneven ground, a safety switch kicked in to shut off the machine and left the construction worker stranded 40 feet in the air.  Amherst Fire Department came to the rescue with aerial platform trucks otherwise known as ladder trucks.

 

Ladder 1 getting ready

UMass is overhauling the large water tank (the town owns the smaller one next to it) including new paint, to the tune of $1 million dollars.  Amherst sent out a notice to consumers just this morning informing them of the project and mentioning that they may experience some discoloration in their tap water.

Aerial platform gets up close and personal

And he's climbing the stairway ...

 

AFD Ladder 1 and Engine 2 (the quint) under angry skies

Speed Jump

Country Road, take me home ... 

One of my sagacious readers who drives daily through North Amherst (not to be confused with the Historic Village of Cushman) wonders why the speed limit sign I photographed last month laying on its side in front of Watroba's, a victim of vandalism, has now been replaced with a new one at a much higher speed limit?



Turns out the DPW is now trying to replace signs with what the venerable Amherst Select Board actually approved, and way back when -- for this particular road -- it was 45 MPH.  But at some point that one was replaced, and the only one available at the time was a 30 MPH, so they went with it. 

The Select Board never actually voted 30 MPH thus the new one is now back to what apparently it always should have been,  45 MPH. Although the nearest sign facing the other direction is still 30 MPH.

Neighbors, however, who walk that stretch of road like the idea of 30 MPH a lot better than 45 MPH.  Or as Simon and Garfunkel once observed, "Slow down, you move to fast ..."

Party House of the Weekend

 

10 Tyler Place, Amherst

This past weekend, the last until September with our little college town filled by more than a majority of college aged youth, was relatively less rowdy than usual:  No arrests made for noise or nuisance activity, although seven locations drew $300 noise violation tickets, a few motor vehicles accidents on graduation day, a couple DUIs and two bold Breaking & Entering incidents less than 24 hours and three miles apart. (Not counting another in nearby Hadley.)

 Even though no arrests were made, 10 Tyler Place, managed by Eagle Crest Property Management naturally, is the hands down Party House winner.

Police were called near midnight Saturday for noise and found a live band as the source.  (The house had  one previous noise warning on April 28th.)

 After issuing a verbal warning they were called back less than a half hour later and issued five $300 "noise" tickets, presumably one to each tenant. 

Yes, five is one too many for Amherst's unrelated housemates bylaw.  

In addition to this bounty of ticket revenues, Amherst will also be receiving fine money from 42 Harris Street, 71 Eames Ave, 694 Main Street, 328 Linclon Avenue, Townhouse #72, and 407 North Pleasant Street.

Ten Years Later

MSP leads the "Convoy" 

With Massachusetts State Police leading the way, the small town veterans "Welcome Back Convoy" roared through Amherst town center Saturday morning on their way to the Cummington Fair Grounds.

 AFD Engine 1 greets "Veterans Welcome Home Convoy"

Even though town center was bustling at the time, I did not see a single person holding an American flag or "Thank You" sign to acknowledge their service. And I'm not sure why.

 

10 minutes later convoy hits Hadley town center

Ten years ago when I organized a "Support The Troops" rally in town center, soon after the 2nd War In Iraq started, I feared a scant turnout.  This is after all Amherst, where only the h is silent and anti-war sentiment is voiced loudly and often.  But that day I could not have been more wrong. 

So why such a different result yesterday, especially since we went on to depose a monster and "win" the war?  Are Iraq and Afghanistan  going to become the "Korea" or "Viet Nam" of American conflicts, where the resulting efforts were for too long a time period considered futile ... best not brought up in polite conversation?

I hope not ...

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Shortly after the convoy came through, eight college aged youth made a grand entrance near the busy downtown Farmers Market carrying a large construction pipe on their shoulders with "Thank You TD Bank" emblazoned on both sides.

I just thought they were an athletic team publicly thanking TD Bank for sponsorship until a half hour later I heard Dispatch mention to patrol cars in the field to check out a small group of "protesters" hassling TD Bank customers about "oil."

So the kids may want to work on their presentation next time. 

Or they could change ad copy to "Thank You Veterans" for protecting our most solemn right as an American:  The First Amendment.  Oorah!

Paying A Fair Share

 AFD arrives Hampshire College Admissions for false alarm today 2:25 PM

Not to pick on Hampshire College or anything, but they are the #3 landowner in town and they do charge students who attend top dollar, but they contribute nothing to the town for Amherst Fire Department protection.  Which they call on quite frequently.

UMass pays $325,000 annually (too little by the way) while Amherst College pays $90,000 for this vital public service.  And as I said (many times), Hampshire College pays zero.

Sorry, but that is unacceptable.  If they simple paid what Amherst College does for about the same usage we could afford to hire an additional two desperately needed full-time professional fire fighters. And we would all be better for it.

Or they could always donate a tiny slice of their large land holdings in South Amherst for our new, equally badly needed, South Fire Station.

Click to enlarge

Amherst Firefighters local 1764

Leaning Tower of UMass

Tillson Farm steam plant from eastern parking lot

Although the ghostly smoke stack that never actually operated is invisible from the main road cutting  through the heart of UMass/Amherst, North Pleasant Street,  it is clearly visible from scenic North East Street, standing out as a singular symbol of waste and corruption.

Although I've heard it referred to as the "Paradis Power Plant," nobody seems to remember why.  Mostly it's called the "Tillson Farm Steam Plant" or "The one that never worked."

 

The ghost tower as seen from North East Street

Although the building is not supposed to be used, the parking lot always seems busy

The smoke stack I'm told needs to come down soon, before it falls down on its own.  Note lean is towards building.

Reddit to the rescue (notice they censor some of my comments)

Fore!

 Cherry Hill Golf Course behind the curtain

With no discussion except my own and not a single "no" vote other than mine, a noticeably smaller (from Monday nights grand start) Amherst Town Meeting approved the Cherry Hill Golf Course operation budget for its 27th year of municipal operation as a "business."

 

And I even wore a new shirt

The 66 acre 9 hole golf course was taken by eminent domain under an "emergency measure" making the drastic action referendum proof in the spring of 1987, with an original cost of $1.6 million.

159 North Amherst NIMBYs signed a petition to get it on the Town Meeting warrant to stop a 134 unit Planned Unit Residential Development proposed by Cambridge architect Robert Kreger. 

But then after an appraisal became public, Town Meeting had to reconvene and add another $600,000 to the original appropriation bringing the total cost of acquisition to $2.2 million ($4.4 million in today's dollars), to date the most costly land purchase in town history.

Not to mention the $1 million the golf course lost in operations as an Enterprise Fund, which are supposed to be self supporting like a private sector business.  Town Meeting gave up on that idea and dissolved the enterprise fund status in November of 2006, rolling the course back into the General Fund where it's far easier to hide overhead costs like employee benefits, insurance, capital heavy equipment purchases.
 
And golf is a heavy equipment Godzilla.  Next year for instance they will request $97,500 in capital, none of which will be considered part of their "operation budget".

But year after year Town Meeting bestows their undying support using taxpayer money.  Even Sensible Center types sometimes wonder ...

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Winston Churchill once famously said, "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." In Amherst it could become, "When Town Meeting does not learn from history, taxpayers are doomed to regret it."

Article #43 calls for the town to "Purchase a Conservation Restriction" on 154 acres of woodland for $1.2 million in northeast Amherst that is already under a purchase-and-sale agreement for $6.5 million.  Once again to stop a large development of badly needed housing.

Stop The Retreat sign (cheaper by the dozen)

But the courts have long ago ruled that a municipality using the Godlike power of eminent domain must pay "highest and best use" price for the property.  Or in this case, $6.5 million!!!

More than the town has in combined total reserves between Free Cash ($4,326,501) and Stabilization ($1,821,401).

Since the town has "right of first refusal" on the property, North Amherst NIMBYs should simply put up or shut up:

Raise the $6.5 million required to match Landmark Properties' offer to W.D. Cowls, Inc ... and then, even I will support this Children's Crusade cause.

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From their Facebook page

"Must be halted immediately."  Getting a tad aggressive are we not?