Block Party: Bingo

 North Pleasant Street mobbed by pedestrians

If only town gown interactions could always be this cordial.

 Now that's what you call a blockade

The 3rd Annual Block Party put on by the Business Improvment District with lots of help from the town (Police, Fire and DPW) drew an intergenerational crowd of thousands to the heart of downtown Amherst, to amble safely down the center of a normally busy road, ignore the traffic lights and breath the fresh clean air.

 Judie and her iconic popovers

Starting at 5:00 PM, an hour earlier than the last two years seemed to help draw families, perhaps using it as a good excuse to eat out on a school night, as the food concession stands were doing a brisk business.

 Black Sheep Deli drew a happy crowd

The dunk tank -- raising money for charity -- made a big splash:

Building Inspector Jon Thompson takes a dip

Dr. Kate Atkinson exuberantly hits the icy water

Stilt lady towers above the crowd

Portable lights would turn night into day 

AFD moved 2 ambulances and Engine 1 to the DPW one mile away to avoid congestion in front of Central Station town center

Blarney Blowout Report: Finally!

Townhouse Apartments, Blarney Blowout March 2013 (6 arrests that year)

So I could have guessed that Umass would use a Friday -- the day when mainstream media takes a siesta -- to release the long awaited $160,000 Ed Davis report, analyzing the largest disturbance in recent town history, aka the March 8 Blarney Blowout.

 Town center March 8, 2014 10:00 AM

Amherst police arrested 55 "college aged youth while UMass PD arrested only three.

But I still think tomorrow's press conference will get respectable media exposure -- as well it should.

Get The Lead Out

Amherst Town Meeting will vote on a citizens petition article targeting fluoride -- produced in China -- used in the municipal water supply. 

The petition requests the town purchase the additive only from providers who can guarantee the purity of the product, and calls for the water department to test shipments to ensure they are free from contamination.  

The town of course follows strict state imposed testing requirements on the water supply, and in the most recent "Water Quality Report" (2013) Lead and Copper tested below actionable levels, although those tests were taken in 2011.

The next test for lead (required every three years) is serendipitously scheduled for late October, in time for the Fall Special Town Meeting which starts November 5.

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Party Perp Redux

Luke V. Gatti stands before Judge John Payne Monday morning

I'll let the Amherst Police Department "Statement of Facts" speak for itself. I'm beginning to wonder (If I may speculate) if Mr. Gatti has Tourette's syndrome.

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And yes -- in the interests of being fair and balanced -- I did reach out to Mr. Gatti for comment:

Party House of the Weekend

 115 Belchertown Rd, Amherst

Been so long since Amherst police busted a party house for "Noise & Nuisance" (at $300 a pop) I barely remember how to write these.

Ah, blessed are the summers in a college town.  Unfortunately now over.

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 APD "statement of facts"

The 3 amigos stand before Judge John Payne Monday morning

Since this episode was their first brush with the legal system the prosecution stuck a typical deal called "diversion," where the criminal charges are diverted to civil charges, and each of the perps accepts responsibility for one-of-the-two $300 bylaw violation tickets.

$900 to the town coffers and, hopefully, a lesson learned.  

Unacceptably Typical AFD Weekend

 Antonio's Pizza Saturday afternoon

Amherst Fire Department responded to Antonio's Pizza Saturday afternoon just after 1:00 PM for a minor electrical fire.  At the time Central and North station each had only two professional firefighters available, who quickly scrambled their response via Engines 1 & 2.

But had that fire occurred just 12 hours later, the extremely popular downtown eatery would have been jam packed with students AND the fire department would have been unable to muster much of a response.

   AFD Sept Weekend by Larry Kelley

Because at 12:55 AM Sunday morning a mutual aid ambulance from Northampton had to handle a call as AFD was dealing with four substance abuse cases, all within a half hour, all of which required transport to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital.    

What's it going to take to awaken town officials, another Station Nightclub incident?


Trigger Warning.  Extremely graphic:

Never again. Please God, never again

Repeat Party Offender

Luke V. Gatti (center) and father (right) appear before Judge John Payne this morning

Apparently Phillips Street, alcohol, Luke Gatti and late night weekends, make for a bad combination.  Perhaps because he's only 18-years-old, but still no excuse for such outlandish behavior.

Arrested two weeks ago on Phillips Street for disorderly conduct (which included calling a detective the N-word), this time around Mr. Gatti seemed to go out of his way to get arrested yet again on that same notorious street, and when taken back to the police station, assaulted an officer. 

With his father looking on, Luke Gatti was arraigned this morning before Judge John Payne who set bail at $250, taken out of the $1,000 bail posted over the weekend to get out of jail. 

Noting the arrest only two weeks ago Judge Payne said to Gatti,  "I'm a little concerned you're going to pull a trifecta before the month is over."

Gatti will appear in Eastern Hampshire District Court with his hired lawyer on October 15 for a pre-trial conference.

Unless of course, in the meantime, he gets arrested again. 

Click label "Luke Gatti" below for additional stories

Privacy vs Free Speech

I always cringe when Massachusetts hastily passes a new law in reaction to a high profile event, such as the exceedingly good intentioned Domestic Abuse Law in response to Jared Remy murdering his girlfriend that now, unfortunately, forbids police was releasing names of perps arrested for domestic abuse.

Or the recent "upskirt" law criminalizing peeping toms who take surreptitious photos of women in public places.

According to the Governor's press release:  "The legislation makes the secret photographing, videotaping, or electronically surveiling of another person's sexual or other intimate parts, whether under or around a person's clothing or when a reasonable person would believe that the person's intimate parts would not be visible to the public, a crime."

Okay fair enough, no arguments there.

But I now wonder if that is the fledgling law UMass administrators are using to bully a freshman for tweeting a picture of a couple -- clearly anonymous, without "intimate parts" showing -- having sex in state subsidized housing on the campus of a state subsidized flagship of higher education?

Amherst College can do pretty much whatever they want in relation to the First Amendment because it doesn't apply to them, since they are not a "government" institution.  UMass/Amherst is, however, a state funded institution -- so the First Amendment clearly does apply.

Arguably our single most valuable freedom enjoyed as Americans.

If the young student who innocently tweeted that image-shattering photo (My God, 18 year old students actually have sex on a Thursday afternoon!) had instead published a photo of white Ferguson police officers combating black protesters, UMass Office of News & Media Relations would fall all over themselves championing her for standing up to authority.

Yes of course the First Amendment can indeed be, um, messy -- especially in this instantly publish Internet age.

Westboro Baptist Church @ UMass 4/16/14

I don't like the racist, homophobic signs carried by the attention seeking Westboro Baptist Church any more than you do.   But suppressing their rights today based on content, only means tomorrow it could be your message banned.

Fuck the censorship!

Say What?

My friends at the Gazette have switched over to Facebook commenting for their online articles, which I of course think is a good thing.  Yes, trolls and cranks thrive under a cloak of anonymity.

But based on a Facebook posting I received in the dead of night (2:00 AM) I'm now not so sure that simply having to identify yourself keeps the discussion civil and prevents namecalling ...

UPDATE (11:15 AM):

 

So Mr. Geryk has removed his incendiary comment from my highly public Facebook page.  

But no, I'm not going to remove it here.  In Massachusetts you cannot record someone without their knowledge, but if someone calls you up and leaves a message on your voice mail then that is fair game.

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These are in response to article about Maria Geryk's $11,000 raise:

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Affordable Housing Hand Grenade?

 Boltwood Place, 12 apartments all market rate

Over 100 residents signed a citizen zoning petition that was handed in late this Friday morning before the high noon deadline for placement on the November 5 Amherst Special Town Meeting.

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The petition article would simply add 16 words to the current Inclusionary Zoning bylaw which would make it harder to develop irregular shaped commercial property for housing, especially in high rent districts like town center.

Currently a developer who owns property with a "by right" development capability can simply ask the Planning Board for minor concessions via a Special Permit (relaxed height limits or setback requirements, increased lot coverage, or waiving of traffic study requirments) and still be exempt from the inclusionary zoning requirements placed on developments of 10 units and up.

The problem with closing this "loophole" is the development cost of the project can exceed the profit potential and the devleloper simply walks away.

 Kendrick Place, 36 units all market rate

A project with nothing but market rate (or even above market rate) units still helps lessen the demand for housing in an overall sense thereby making it less likely for greedy speculators to buy up and convert old single family units to packed in student units.

And a market rate project would have a higher value assessment, paying the town more in property taxes and Community Preservation Tax Funds.

Had this wording been in effect three years ago it would have impacted Boltwood Place and the current project, Kendrick Place, now under construction. 

Carriage Shops proposed redevelopment, 78 apartments all market rate

Or, neither of them would have broken ground.  Which is quite possibly what some of the signers of the petition article have in mind.  The article will require a two-thirds vote of Town Meeting to pass.

The really interesting question is will this petition article impact the King Kong sized redevelopment of the Carriage Shops right up the street from Kendrick Place?

Back On Top Again

 ARPS School Superintendent Maria Geryk

Amherst School Superintendent Maria Geryk has regained the coveted #1 position as highest paid town employee (technically the "schools" are a legally separate entity) at $158,000 up from $147,000 and now eclipsing Town Manager John Musante who briefly leapfrogged her last week with his Select Board approved 2% raise bringing him to $150,628.

But you have to wonder what the impact -- using the school's favorite buzzword these days, equity --  would be if all school employees received a 7.5% raise?

Between the Regional and Elementary schools total salary costs in FY15 is $32.5 million, so that generous raise would have cost taxpayers an additional $2,437,500 -- to a school system already sky high in average cost per child to educate:  $18,388 per elementary student and $18,026 for Regional student vs state average of $13,636.

Although her current $158,000 salary after 4 years now at the helm only matches exactly the incoming salary for Alberto Rodriguez back in 2009.  After an annoying blogger made public a document showing Rodriguez was taking a total of 40 days off in his first year as Superintendent, combined with internal criticism about his management style, Rodriguez parted ways with Amherst after only 8 months. 

Geryk is now closing in on the last Superintendent with any longevity, Jere Hochman, hired in 2003 (at just over $130,000).  Hochman lasted five years, voluntarily leaving for his old stomping ground Bedford Central School District (N.Y.) with a slight pay increase to $262,000.

When Hochman was first hired his $130,000+ salary raised eyebrows, nowhere more so than the Town Manager at the time Barry Del Castilho.  The Select Board suddenly gave Del Castilho a mid-contract raise of $10,000 to sooth his ego.

 Town Meeting Annual Warrant 2004

Hwei-Ling Greeney brought an advisory petition to Town Meeting demanding the Select Board roll back the raise.  Article #38 passed 81-71, but the Select Board simply ignored the will of Town Meeting.

Of course in 2007 when Town Meeting voted to oppose flying the commemorative flags on 9/11, the Select Board routinely cites that shameful vote for an excuse to keep the flags down 4 out of 5 years.

This past year the Amherst Regional Public Schools have been in disarray over racial incidents, one particularly mishandled event which led to the High School closing down for a day.

And according to the Mass Dept of Elementary & Secondary Education neither the Regional Schools or Elementary Schools are making much progress toward their target goals.

Regional Schools 1-10

Elementary Schools 2-10

After a year like last year, what kind of a message does it send to reward leadership with a whopping 7.5% raise?

9/11/14

AFD Central Station 9:00 AM 

So another anniversary has come and gone.  Well, gone if you mark the duration of the attack:  Stunning in its savagery, unimaginable in the extent of damage inflicted in under two hours. 

The 13th anniversary remembrance at AFD Central Station brings it all back, a ritualistic reinforcement of grief.  The Chaplain's prayer, the ringing of the bell, police and fire personnel standing at attention and of course the heartrending bagpipes playing Amazing Grace.

 

AFD Central flag at half staff

My time in town center with one of the commemorative flags this year was perhaps the most unique out of the past 13 years.  A homeless individual, one of Amherst's usual suspects, came over and was being a nuisance.

He started by pulling out a lighter and acting as though he was going to set my flag on fire, and followed up with nasty, loud "expletive deleted" that would have made President Nixon blush.

All of which is protected by the First Amendment (okay, maybe not burning my flag, but burning his own).

Thus it reaffirmed for me the unique power of that glorious rectangular cloth of red, white and blue.  The freedom it so nobly represents, even though that freedom can be, at times, inconvenient.

 

After receiving four separate complaints from downtown businesses APD had a chat with my homeless friend

"It's Just Sad"

 Town Manager John Musante

John Musante presented his Town Manger Report to his bosses, the Select Board, Monday night and pretty much glossed over the weekend public safety debacle, describing Amherst Fire Department as "busy." 

Which is kind of like saying the Mexican Army kept the defenders of the Alamo "busy."

Of course he fawned over UMass giving us additional money to fund four extra firefighters to staff two ambulances on weekends, which still was not enough to handle the Friday overnight deluge of alcohol induced calls.

To which Select Board member Alisa Brewer responded in a refreshingly direct, Harry Truman sort of way, calling a drunk a drunk:

Remember

"... that these dead shall not have died in vain."

About the only thing I left out in my brief polite presentation to the Amherst Select Board Monday night is how cowardly it is to simply pocket veto the question of allowing the commemorative flags to fly on 9/11 tomorrow, on the unlucky 13th anniversary of that devastating day.

A cowardice that flies in the face of the ultimate sacrifice paid by over 400 first responders who rushed headlong towards the stricken Twin Towers and the Pentagon when everyone else was rushing away.

AFD Central Station 9/11/13  (This year ceremony starts at 9:00 AM)

Et Tu, Select Board?

Amherst Select Board 6:29 PM 9/8/14

So it looks like Amherst Select Board Chair Aaron Hayden is taking lessons from former Regional School Committee Chair Lawrence O'Brien when it comes to stifling public comment at a public meeting.

And that, Mr. Hayden should take note, is the key reason why Mr. O'Brien quickly became a former Chair. 

Two weeks ago both John Fox and I appeared before the SB during the 6:30 Public Comment period with our own pet peeves and asked to be placed on the agenda for the 9/8 meeting to have a full public discussion.

Apparently none of the 5 members of the board thought it important enough to request the matters be officially placed on the agenda.

According to Massachusetts Open Meeting Law if an item does not appear on a published agenda at least 48 hours before a meeting, the body cannot discuss it -- let alone take a vote. So that's why questions and concerns brought up during the 6:30 Public Comment period cannot be acted upon, although they do have the benefit of media amplification.



But it sounds to me like Mr. Hayden, who used up over 5 minutes making his comments, is rethinking the entire Public Comment Period.  Maybe he will call it the "Shut The Hell Up" Period.

Then we can change the unofficial town motto from "Amherst, where only the H is silent" to "Amherst, where even the H is silent."

An Unattended Death

Body recovered on north side of Amity Street/West side of U Drive in the woods

SAD UPDATE (2:35 PM):

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A huge police presence this morning at the busy intersection of University Drive and Amity Street near Rafters indicated something serious was amiss.  An unattended death in the woods over on the UMass side of the intersection was the reason.  Sadly, a possible suicide. 

AFD was on scene, but not much for them to do

Since the tragedy occurred on UMass property (immediately abutting Amherst and Hadley) there was a large number of UMPD personnel on scene as well as APD detectives, patrol officers, Captain Jennifer Gundersen and even Chief Scott Livingstone.

No confirmation about either the cause of death or the identity of the person, but it could be related to yesterday's highly publicized case of a missing Amherst woman.  

 

Hadley PD also assisted with traffic control

Oops

Planning Board 9/3, David Webber Chair (center)

The Amherst Planning Board & Zoning Subcommittee will have to reschedule tomorrow's meeting due to late posting with the Town Clerk.  Although now that The Retreat is dead, the Planning Board will have lots of free time on its hands, and less likely to make these kind of rushed scheduling errors.

At last week's 9/3 meeting the PB pretty much acknowledged the controversial "Inclusionary Zoning" (affordable housing) bylaw that was suddenly pulled from last spring's Town Meeting due to business community concerns, will not be ready for the upcoming fall Town Meeting, as promised.

It also doesn't help that the nine-member board has a vacancy that needs to be filled by the Town Manager. 

Public agendas (posted on time) are important because they give the general citizenry a heads up with issues that may be important to them.

And again, with the demise of The Retreat, we see how citizen pressure at pubic meetings can bear fruit.

Although at times, a very bitter fruit.

UPDATE (2:30 PM):

And Looking Pretty

 

Callery pear, aka Pyrus calleryana

Three new large cedar tree boxes, complete with Callery pear trees, were installed this morning along Main Street from in front of Town Hall up to South Pleasant Street, significantly brightening the heart of downtown Amherst.

 Let's hope they don't obscure UMass football banners

The Business Improvement District paid for the boxes ($500 each) and the town provided the trees and people power to install them.

The hardy ornamental trees blossom in the spring, participate in fall foliage and produce only small, hard fruit that doesn't leave a squishy mess on the sidewalk to attracts bees. 

The Retreat Surrenders

 And so they did

The Retreat, a controversial student housing development proposed for the 147 acre woodlands of northeast Amherst, is no more -- killed by protracted battles with organized neighborhood resistance and quite simply the high per unit cost of development.

 

Letter hand delivered to Town Clerk on Friday from Landmark Properties

The Planning Board did not seem overly enthusiastic about granting all the variances required as part of the Definitive Subdivision Plan for 123 lots, which would have housed 641 tenants -- all of them UMass students.

UMass is the #1 employer in town and #2 property owner but because they are an educational institute pay no property taxes. The town assessor had projected the private development would have paid almost $400,000 in property taxes annually if built. 

Landmark Properties had a Purchase & Sale agreement with W.D. Cowls for $6.5 million, but only put down $50,000 which is non refundable.  In addition they have done upwards of $1 million in due diligence site work leading up to the Planning Board hearings.  

Cinda Jones will now pursue other development opportunities with the improved property.