Coulda' Been a College

 

Cowls Tree Farm northeast Amherst

W-A-Y before signing a $6.5 million purchase and sale agreement with Landmark Properties for 147 acres of woodland now destined to become The Retreat, a high-end student housing development, the W.D. Cowls company offered to donate the land for a proposed new unnamed college that seven years later materialized in South Amherst as Hampshire College.

Yes even back in 1958 the property was ripe for development.  Today Hampshire College hosts 1,400 students -- or twice the number of the proposed Retreat, with 641 total tenants.

When You Build It

Excavation work for Kendrick Place @ 57 E Pleasant Street has commenced

It may not look like much at the moment but after Kendrick Place is completed it will be an unmistakable anchor for the north end of downtown Amherst.

The LEED certified mixed-use building will tower five stories (in Amherst, that's a tower) and contain 36 units of high-end apartments over four floors with the ground floor set aside for retail.
  

Archipelago Investments, LLC has already built a similar successful project dead in the center of town, Boltwood Place.

Last month Amherst Town Meeting voted down a simple easement request for the abutting intersection at Triangle and East Pleasant Street, which is required if the town chooses to install a state financed roundabout at that busy intersection.

The NO vote was a thinly disguised NIMBY payback for the Planning Board allowing Kendrick Place and Boltwood Place to be approved without requiring on site parking for tenants, and allowing the projects to go forward with no "affordable" units in the mix.

The town is currently teetering on the brink of falling below state mandated 10% threshold of Subsidized Housing Inventory thus opening up the possibility of a Ch40B mega-development coming to town. 

Mythbusters like roundabouts

A survey contractor measuring the intersection earlier this month

Can You Hear Me Now?

Jones Library this morning

After an outage of four hours and forty three minutes due to server issues the extensive downtown public wifi system is back up and running. 

This total outage was only the second time in six years the system went down, with the first time being the notorious 2011 Halloween snowstorm that knocked out power to the entire town.

Fortunately Amherst Town Hall now has a generator.   So if another major power outage should occur, the Internet around Town Hall, Police headquarters and Central Fire Station will stay up. 

No Rest For The Weary

Bangs Community Center this afternoon

So unlike the stones left atop Miss Emily's gravestone in historic West Cemetery the recent jagged rock stone installation atop a stone wall at the Bangs Community Center is not a sign of love and respect.

More like a "Keep out" sign.

Yes loitering teen-agers with time on their hands or the homeless can be a bit of a pain -- especially since the Bangs Center houses our Senior Center.

But seriously, what's next: electrified barbed wire?

When I contacted Ron Bohonowitcz, Director of Facilities for both town and schools, to inquire about the recent installation it was the first he had heard about it.  A few minutes later he emailed me back to say it would be gone soon.

Sure enough  6:00 PM Bangs Community Center

Trinkets adorn the top of Miss Emily's gravestone

The Atlantic Reports

Here Comes The Taste (du du du du)

Taste of Amherst setting up Thursday morning

Probably the only event on the Amherst town common that generates more traffic than the Extravaganja pot festival, the Taste of Amherst is a fun, family oriented festival that brings many thousands of visitors to our fair town over the next four days.

Organized by the Amherst Chamber of Commerce and Business Improvement District with iconic century old Atkins Farms Country Market as main sponsor, the taste becomes a showcase for the 21 participating restaurants who hope a taste here and there leads to a longtime customer over the rest of the year.

The food extravaganza opens tonight at 5:00 PM until 9:00 PM, Friday 5:00 PM until 10:00 PM, Saturday noon until 10:00 PM and Sunday noon until 4:00 PM.

 6:00 PM

 

Business Improvement District free trolley doing its thing

Blarney Still Blowing

March 8, 2:15 PM Fearing/North Pleasant Street intersection

As the world -- or at least our little part of it -- anxiously awaits the release of the $160,000 Davis Report to ascertain what went wrong with the Blarney Blowout (besides everything), the throng of college aged youth arrested that despicable day are still appearing in Eastern Hampshire District Court, one on Monday and another on Tuesday.

 Jared Dawson, left, expensive attorney, right

On Monday Jared Dawson, age 21, had a brief pre-trial hearing with both his dad and a fairly expensive looking lawyer present.  Probably because of the severity of his charges: disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, assault and battery on a police officer, inciting a riot.

His case will go to trial and it's been scheduled for July 30.

Page 2 continues:  tucked his arms into his chest so he could not be handcuffed.

On Tuesday Judge Payne disposed of another Blarney Blowout case, that of Samuel Douglas, age 21, in what seems to be usual plea deal:  $200 restitution to the town of Amherst, 20 hours community service, $200 probation fee and a letter of apology to APD.

 Samuel Douglass, age 21

A pretty good deal considering he was charged with failure to disperse, inciting a riot, and disorderly conduct.  But not assault and battery on an officer, which seems to make a major difference -- as well it should.

The One That Got Away

Attorney David Mintz did all the talking for client Jesse Bollinger (seated)

In a bench trial this morning Judge John Payne found Jesse Bollinger, age 29, not guilty of driving under the influence, 2nd offense.

He was arrested back on Easter Sunday early morning by APD officer Rita Contardo after she noticed his front headlight out and when pulled over he exhibited the strong "order of alcohol, bloodshot eyes and slurred speech."

In other words, the usual traits that gets you out of the car performing a Field Sobriety Test. He also admitted to having just consumed alcohol.

 Jesse Bollinger did not take the stand to testify

On the Step Test, where you have to take nine strait steps heel-to-toe while saying each step aloud, he missed on step #4 -- leaving a one inch gap -- and step #7 where his heel came down on his other foot.

And on the return trip he made the same type of mistake with one step.

On the One Leg Stand, where you lift one leg, point your toes and count up from one one-thousand, he had to use his arms for balance and touched down at 18.

He also raced through the alphabet (although correctly) in a mumbling manner.

After the brief trip back to APD for booking the officer noted her cruiser was left with the odor of alcohol and even after the booking process the room was left with the distinct smell of alcohol.

Defense Attorney David Mintz rattled off a series of questions establishing that there was no indication of impaired driving after the officer followed his client for about 200 yards.  He also asked if police tend to look a little harder for drunk drivers just after bars close, to which she responded, "yes."

As for the FST's Attorney Mintz told Judge Payne that officer Contardo was a "hard grader" and he would not want to have her for a school teacher.  Because only faltering on 3 of 18 steps was close enough.  And the smell of alcohol does not precisely indicate how much you have had.

Judge Payne agreed that she's a "hard marker" and that the mistakes exhibited on the 9 step test were "not significant."  And since she did not give him explicit instructions about reciting the ABCs it doesn't matter that he quickly mumbled them. 

Since a guilty finding requires "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" Judge Payne found the prosecution did not meet the burden of proof.  Without missing a beat, Attorney Mintz then asked the judge to sign a motion for reinstatement of his client's drivers license.

Of course the one telling piece of evidence not presented to the Judge was Mr. Bollinger's refusal to take the breath test back at Amherst police headquarters during the booking process.  State law says you cannot use the refusal to take a breath test as evidence at trial, but the act of refusal instantly garners a six month license suspension. 

In this case the refusal paid off for Bollinger as he now gets his license back less than two months after losing it for refusing a breath test that would have given solid evidence one way or the other for the serious charge of drunk driving.

The state needs to close that loophole. 

Major Gas Leak

Mass Ave blockaded in front of Whitmore Building

Amherst and UMass police have blocked off roads in and around the UMass ROTC building off Commonwealth and Mass Avenue for a large gas leak, while AFD Engine 1 and Engine 4 are pumping water.

 APD closed off Sunset Avenue by Southwest Towers

At 4:00 PM Dispatch toned out for "all AFD personnel report to your stations" as the explosive situation, which was first reported around 1:50 PM, was still not under control.  

 

AFD Engine 1 laying a water line at Berkshire Gas request near UMass ROTC building 

A large backhoe tries to move the smaller backhoe that hit the gas pipe

UPDATE:  5:30 PM

Many construction workers still on scene

Crisis over.  Whew!

The uncontrolled leak is now shut off but the damaged pipe not fully repaired, so Berkshire Gas customers will be without gas for a while longer.

Pay Me Now Or ...

641 Main Street

Building Commissioner Rob Morra has entered a final phase for rolling in the Rental Registration and Permit Bylaw set to the tune, "No More Mr. Nice Guy."

The law was overwhelmingly passed by Amherst Town Meeting last year and went into effect January 1st.  It requires all rental properties to register with the town, pay $100 annual fee, and fill out a check list verifying adherence to basic health safety regulations.  

Out of 1300 rental properties in town that come under the ordinance only 32 have failed to comply.  As of May 30th the lower 13 properties on the list (below red line) have been issued $100 per day fines.  Yes, that's the total annual cost of compliance now paid PER DAY.

Already the town has received $1,500 in fines, and for those who refuse to pay the fines complaints will be filed in District Court at the end of this month.

The top 19 properties (above red line) will be issued $100/day fines starting this week as their deadline to comply was Friday the 13th.  Bad luck for them, good thing for the town.

 Click to enlarge/read

DUI Dishonor Roll

 Chris Boyle standing before Judge John Payne this morning

As you can tell from his Twitter feed Christopher J. Boyle, age 59, is somewhat the beer connoisseur.  Too bad he doesn't subscribe to the common wisdom, "all things in moderation."

Acting on a good Samaritan cell phone tip of an "erratic operator," Amherst police pulled over Mr. Boyle near the Dunkin' Donuts on College Street just after he drove through the heart of a busy downtown Amherst Sunday evening, Fathers Day, about an hour before sunset. 

The civic minded witness stated Boyle was swerving over the yellow lines while passengers in his vehicle were throwing beer bottles (Heineken's) out the window.  He was arrested for DUI and drug possession.  His third offense for drunk driving.

In Eastern Hampshire District Court this morning Judge John Payne entered a "not guilty" plea and continued his case until July 21 .  He was released on bail with a provision (enforced by testing) to stay away from alcohol.  

Amherst Housing Monopoly Board

10 Tyler Place

One of Amherst's least favorite property barons just added to his already extensive housing empire.  Jamie Cherewatti, aka Rocky Hill Road Partners, purchased 10 Tyler Place for the relatively high price of $495,000.

Although the seller in this case, Joshua Hornik, paid $528,000 for it back in 2007, or $604,000 in today's dollars.

Since the building is a three family structure allowing for 12 unrelated housemates chances are pretty good it will simply remain a very profitable rental.

This is Cherewatti's second purchase in four months using the cloaking LLC, Rocky Hill Road Partners.

Echo Village Apartments, his most controversial purchase because he immediately evicted all the low income Section 8 tenants, was a much steeper investment at $3 million.  At purchase the property was valued at $2.1 million.

Interestingly, the town assessor now values Echo Village Apartments at only $1.795 million -- well below what Cherewatti paid.

Which probably has affordable housing activists salivating for the Fall Town Meeting to take it by eminent domain. 

Main Street USA

Amherst downtown 6/14, aka Flag Day

On the night of September 10, 2001, less than 12 hours before the world changed, the Amherst Select Board had closed the contentious public hearing concerning 29 commemorative flags flying in the downtown and they were discussing the matter among themselves before coming up with a list of days to commemorate.

After Anne Awad had grudgingly stated she would support only July 4th for the extra flags to fly Select Board chair Carl Seppala, when giving his fuller list, said in a somewhat exasperated tone, "Well, they do call it Flag Day."

Flag Day probably gets a little lost since it comes smack in the middle of  two flag centric events: Memorial Day and July 4th.  Sort of like having a birthday a little too close to Christmas. 

Any day, however, is as good as another when it comes to honoring our flag -- and the boundless sacrifice it represents.

Regional School Mega-Committee?

RAWG votes unanimously on governance  8:30 PM

Last night the Regional Agreement Working Group (RAWG) voted unanimously to recommend forming a system of representation via committee that significantly shortchanges Amherst, a college town where our #1 industry is education.

Currently Amherst makes up 88% of the population in the Amherst Regional School District, where all four towns participate at the Middle and High School level.  Yet if all four towns should decide to regionalize in the Pre-K to 6th grade level, the new Regional School Committee will consist of 13 members, seven from Amherst and two from each of the three Hilltowns.

Or as percentages go, Amherst with 88% of the population gets only 54% of the vote in governance. The rationale for circumventing proportional representation (one person one vote) is that Amherst voters will get a chance to weigh in on candidates from the other towns (and vice-versa) in a district wide, single ballot election.

Of course that doesn't help much if each of the Hilltowns only has two candidates running for the two open seats.  

And as part of this endeavor our elementary schools will no longer be overseen by the Amherst School Committee, because the Amherst School Committee will no longer exist. Although once rubber stamped by the current Regional School Committee the new arrangement must be approved by all four Town Meetings even if the town does not plan to join the new Region.  

RAWG also discussed at length the budgets and how a Regional Assessment would work.   And clearly it will be more expensive for Amherst -- by as much as $347,901 in the first year of transition.

Amherst Region Public Schools -- at $18,688 -- already have the highest per student cost in the area,  well over the $13,636 state average.

Even though RAWG in one form or another has been meeting for almost three years the sense of urgency in the room last night to get this Leviathan operational was almost palpable.

Andy Steinberg briefly handed off Chair duties to Kip Fonsh so he could speak freely.  Steinberg, who was most recently elected to the Amherst Select Board, acknowledged the controversy over proportional representation for Amherst but spoke in support of the motion as made.

Superintendent Maria Geryk then announced the janitor was leaving the building at 9:00 PM, so the meeting had to be over by then.

The Regional Agreement Working Group soon came to a unanimous vote supporting the 13 member committee, with Amherst getting 7 seats.

But is that any way to lay the groundwork for a $42 million regional entity?

Although, the janitor seemed pleased.

Affordable Housing Celebration

 Tenants will first start moving in July 1 with complete occupancy by first snow

Tents protected about 75 spectators from the drizzle

Federal, state, and local officials converged on a housing construction site near UMass to celebrate the impending occupancy of Olympia Oaks, an affordable 42 unit housing project that has been dreamed about for decades.

And while the weather was a tad dreary this morning, the celebrants were far from it. 

 Rep Jim McGovern (left) HAP Housing CEO Peter Gagliardi (right)

John Musante could not be present, as his mother just passed away.  But Dave Ziomek quoted a recent conversation he had with the Town Manager:  "It's not about the number of units.  It's about people; it's about family; it's about community."

The Assistant Town Manager closed with, "We welcome Olympia Oaks to the community of Amherst."

Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek:  "Amazing site, amazing location."  Also mentioned the birds and frogs he spotted or could hear on site

 

Representative Ellen Story wants to bring her 8-year-old granddaughter here to play someday

Aggressive Pot Perp

  Eli Berman, 25, appearing before Judge Hurley.  May want to dress better for his next appearance

Last week Amherst police arrested Eli Berman, age 25, who was apparently in the middle of a downtown drug deal but tried to distract an officer by calling him a, "Fucking asshole."

Not the best way to deal those vested with the authority to arrest you.  Which in his case, they did.

Another "Incident" @ ARHS?

APD (2 cruisers 1 detective vehicle) on scene Amherst Regional High School 9:45 AM

There's a heavy police presence at Amherst Regional High School at the moment and it probably has something to do with "Dialogue Day,"  although I'm guessing not a prepared, planned presence since they seemed to have parked in a hurry.

Since no students are outside the building, probably not a bomb or weapon threat.   Although an employee out front said administrators, "did not look happy."

UPDATE:  10:30 AM 

School Superintendent Maria Geryk has confirmed the incident has been safely resolved.  It was an, "unrelated student issue."

Don't Do Drugs!

Josh Sampson, age 19, standing before Judge Mary Hurley

Arrested last week in the heart of downtown Amherst 19-year-old Josh Sampson was arraigned in Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday before Judge Mary Hurley.  He was given a pre-trial hearing for August 27 and assigned a public defender for which he will pay $300.

He was released on his personal recognizance but Judge Hurley gave him that cold hard stare while warning him about not screwing up in the meantime: "You have been charged with possession of an alphabet of drugs.  No more!"  To which he sheepishly responded, "Yes your honor."

Click to enlarge/read