Can We Chat?

Click to enlarge/read.  Or follow @BlarneyChat (he could use the help)

Fade and Yik Yak are pretty easy to join -- even for folks well beyond their "college aged youth" -- thus giving easy access to the best laid plans of that small minority of party hardy types still reveling in the recent past.

So BlarneyChat, a semi-private chat room, is a pretty good idea.  Only allow like minded Nitwits who can prove they are a UMass student.

Although I'm sure UMass can find some of their "Team Positive" types to act as infiltrators.

And since my friend "BlarneyChat" only has under 10 followers on Twitter, I do have to wonder how many kids have joined his chat room. 

I do have to admit Fade is pretty funny

Regionalization Round Up

Andy Steinberg, Katherine Appy, Alisa Brewer

Maybe it was the snow squall that hit about an hour before the scheduled 6:00 pm start or maybe parents were busy getting dinner on the table, but last night's turnout for the 1st public forum on school regionalization since the Regional Agreement Working Group issued their three-years-in-the-making final report was less than encouraging.  Way less.

In fact Amherst School Committee and wanna be candidates for same and Select Board members outnumbered parents or Amherst Town Meeting members, the main target demographic for the forum.

 Empty chairs outnumbered spectators

Amherst School Committee Chair Katherine Appy extolled the virtue of an "aligned" curriculum.  Currently when the elementary students from Leverett and Shutesbury hit the Regional Middle School at 7th grade it reportedly takes months "to get them on the same page".

Although Ms. Appy was careful to say they were not less fit as students.

Currently Superintendent Maria Geryk has to prepare reports/budgets for three different school districts:  Amherst and Pelham elementary grades and the Region grades 7-12.

Each district requires 110 reports or 330 total.  Blending them all into one region would reduce those state mandated reports by two-thirds.

The 7-12 Region is comprised of four independent towns -- Amherst, Pelham, Leverett, Shutesbury -- all of them proud of their non-aligned elementary schools.  Thus they are like Greek city states prior to the Persian invasion.  Happy with their ethnocentric independence.

Andy Steinberg presented the economic argument which he described as "A lot harder to explain."  The first year of full regionalization would only see a 2% savings and that's probably a best case scenario.

Savings come from state regional transportation reimbursement and two towns -- Leverett and Shutesbury -- breaking free of their current Union alliances with other districts.  But those savings are pretty much offset by teacher pay increases for bringing their elementary teachers up to the current pay scale of the Amherst Region.

Steinberg worries that with revenues not keeping pace with expenditures, two of the partner towns may someday vote down their assessment for the Regional 7-12 budget in order to help fund their elementary operations.  The Regional Agreement requires 3 of 4 towns approval to pass the budget.  

The Regional Agreement also requires unanimous approval in order to amend it.  All four Town Meetings would need to approve the newly expanded Region, after the Regional School Committee has supported the idea with a two-thirds vote.

Shutesbury has already all but declared a "NO" vote, which alone kills the idea.  Since they could vote yes to allowing the region but then vote no to joining it, why would they spoil the parade for other three towns?

Probably because they fear the newly expanded Region would not be as cost effective as advertised and would lead to an increase in their grades 7-12 assessment, which is hard enough to pay under current conditions.

Last night Katherine Appy was vague as to whether the Regional School Committee would even come to an official vote at their upcoming March 10 meeting.

And with their next scheduled meeting after that not until April 14 -- too late to get the issue on  Town Meeting warrants in all four towns -- March 10 is pretty much do or die.

Or I should say, do or delay.  

Stop! In The Name of NIMBY

Only eastbound traffic has a stop sign at Pine/Henry Street intersection

The same folks who cost Amherst taxpayers $32,000 in land court legal fees to protect their "historic" North Amherst neighborhood from a housing development that would have generated $400,000 in annual taxes, now wants to turn their little slice of paradise into a slow go zone for evil automobiles.

A three-way stop, speed bumps, and the closing off of the most northern end of Henry where it intersects with Market Hill Road would definitely scare off traffic.  But both the DPW and Public Works Committee gave the self-serving idea a resounding "NO".

The Select Board has final authority.  They are, however, awaiting a major transportation study report coming out soon from Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates and may use this as a test case for how to handle traffic mitigation requests town wide.

For the time being they accepted the recommendation of the DPW and Public Works Committee.

Let's hope the petitioners don't file suit against the town.  Again.  

 Pine/Henry Street intersection looking east

Gaming The System

Conditions for "Failure to Disperse" charge being dropped

If Thomas C. Donovan, age 22, was so confident Amherst Police infringed on his First Amendment rights at last year's Blarney Blowout then why did his lawyer sign a Tender of Plea or Admission & Waiver of Rights" back on May 15th, 2014?

As we all know from the O.J. Simpson case a criminal jury must find guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt," whereas a civil jury is bound by a lesser threshold: "preponderance of the evidence."

Had Mr. Donovan not taken the "diversion" from criminal to civil plea deal with the dropping of "disorderly conduct" charge, he could have had his "trail by jury."

The Assistant District Attorney would then have to convince a jury "beyond a reasonable doubt" to acquire a unanimous decision of guilty.

But Donovan took the easy way out, and now wants to cash in big time by filing a federal civil rights lawsuit. 

DUI Dishonor Roll

Austin Hiller stands before Judge John Payne

In Eastern Hampshire District Court yesterday Austin Hiller, age 19, had a plea of "not guilty" entered in his behalf by Judge John Payne and his DUI case was continued until April  2 so he could hire a private attorney.

Considering he took the legally admissible in Court breath test back at APD headquarters, he should probably save himself the attorney fees and simply take the Chapter 24D deal that state always offers for 1st time offenders:  $600 in fines, alcohol education program, probation for one year and loss of license for 45 days.

Proven Track Record?

McMurphy's Uptown Tavern 9:45 AM

Well at least the Gazette did not put this front page story about bars opening late on Blarney Blowout above the fold.  Although they still forget to mention how important weather will be on Saturday.

Since Amherst Select Board members are the town Liquor Commissioners they can do pretty much anything they wish with a liquor license.

So you have to wonder how hard it was for the Town Manager to "negotiate" a later bar opening on Saturday when the town could simply have said, "Okay fine, we're suspending all alcohol sales on Saturday in the name of public safety."

After the disaster unleashed in town center in 2012 the Select Board should have suspended McMurphy's and Stacker's liquor license for a few days to send a message, which would have gone a long way towards avoiding the riots in 2013 and 2014.

Now they are giving them a medal for "working toward the common good."  Better late than never I suppose.

Make My Day

I have to admit disappointment that Turtle Boy Sports had never heard of me.  After all, I've been doing this -- whatever this is  -- for almost eight years now, and some folks still think my sole reason for being is to hassle kids having fun.

The digital equivalent of "get off my lawn."

But I don't really live all that close to UMass/Amherst and I can honestly say I have never lost a night's sleep due to a party house next door.

Although I do lose a fair amount of sleep on warm weather weekends cruising around neighborhoods that do have problems with party houses.

Over the past 8 years I've published 3,474 posts, 161 of them "Nuisance House" posts (mainly involving male UMass students) and another 135 "War on Rowdyism" posts pushing Town & UMass officials in the right direction to deal with it.  So all in all, less than 10% of what I do.

I've probably published as many if not more posts championing Amherst public safety departments and my neighbors at the DPW, or respect for country, aka my 9/11 commemorative flag odyssey -- something patriotic Turtle Boy would probably support.

So other than the grumpy-old-man-with-too-much-time-on-his-hands jokes, it will be interesting to see what Turtle Boy comes up with to "bury" me.  Although he may be wondering how I managed to acquire his Twitter Direct Messages.

And if he is a high school history teacher he should know rule number #1 in war:  "Never underestimate your opponent."

No Abatement For You!

Colonial Village South East St (foreground) Belchertown Road to the rear

Last week in Executive Session the Board of Assessors unanimously sided with town Principal Assessor David Burgess and upheld his significant increase in valuation from FY14 to FY15 for four Apartment complexes in town: Presidential Apartments, Brandywine (both in North Amherst) and the two Colonial Village complexes in East Amherst off South East Street and Belchertown Road.

 Presidential Apartments

Click to enlarge/read

The total increase came to almost $7 million in valuation, or with a tax rate of $20.97/$1,000, almost $150,000 in property tax revenue to the town.  Enough to add a couple of firefighters or police officers to our desperately anemic public safety departments.

 Branywine Apartments

Although had they won the appeal it's no skin off the town's nose, because the tax base would remain the same (allowed by law to increase 2.5% per year) and other property owners would simply pick up the tab by having their valuations, or the tax rate, go up ever so slightly.

The apartment complexes can appeal the decision to the Appellate Tax Board in Boston or the Hampshire Council of Governments in Northampton, although since it's a complicated case it would probably have to be the former.

Either way, costly from a legal perspective.

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

The Hangar (right), Amherst Brewing Company (left)

UPDATE: Monday morning

So I had a very nice conversation with The Hangar Pub and Grill owner Harold Tramazzo and he said the "hybrid" model -- where he does food service and Amherst Brewing Company maintains liquor service -- was the original plan he approached ABC owner John Korpita with about 6 months ago.

But now it's morphed into a outright sale of Amherst Brewing Company (not yet completed) because Mr. Tramazzo "doesn't want the name Amherst Brewing Company to go away."  At the moment he has "management and financial responsibility."

He also wants it known that if the numbers work there's no reason he can't run two businesses almost directly across the street from each other, as well as the Wings Over Amherst just down the road near Big Y.

He also denies The Hangar Pub and Grill is a college bar (which I don't think I called it) and pointed out that he interacted with lots of older patrons over the weekend.  

Mr. Tramazzo does own buildings that house his food service business in Westfield and Greenfield but has no plans for buying Newmarket Center, which has a  town valuation of $3,145, 300.

The "kids menu" has not disappeared, he just weeded out the offerings that were not working and simply serves smaller portions of regular items still on the menu. 

Lots of details still need to be worked out (including paperwork with the town), so at the moment you can consider the operation in soft opening/launch mode. 

#####

Original Report: 
The super popular chicken wings at The Hangar Pub and Grill will get even more room for distribution -- not to mention parking -- as the formerly competing business has taken over food service at the expansive Amherst Brewing Company just across the street on University Drive.

Although one of my Facebook buddies was not overly happy that they immediately cut the kids menu at ABC, making it a tad less family friendly.

The demographic for The Hangar is younger than ABC, to quote that often heard line in a college town:  "College aged youth."  While the Amherst Brewing Company seemed to attract an older crowd, as well as families.

So it will be interesting to see how this clash of cultures works out.

 Charles Lane, a neighborhood immediately behind ABC

Neighbors who live on Charles Lane immediately behind Newmarket Center probably will not be pleased, since this will undoubtedly increase the potentially nosier demographic to their side of the street.

About 15 years ago the Zoning Board of Appeals denied a Special Permit to H2O, a sports bar that wished to open in the space occupied by ABC, because of the potential for noise and nuisance.

A Gold's Gym opened a couple years later, changed their name to The Leading Edge to save franchise fees and then went belly up for good.

Former members tried to form a co-op and revive the fitness operation at that site, but like most things born of Internet petitions, never managed to break a sweat.

Blarney: There They Go Again

Frozen tundra?  Nah, Townhouse apartments:  Ground Zero for bad Blarney

Once again my friends at the Gazette do a front page above the fold story on why Blarney Blowout is going to fizzle and neglect to mention the #1 reason, weather.

For the past two years the downtown bars have not played any role whatsoever in Blarney going bad.

If I were the Select Board, however, I would still pull their liquor permits for Saturday, March 7 just as retroactive punishment for creating the monster they unleashed, and now have no control over.

St. Patrick's Day Parade in Boston could be cancelled

Start shoveling kids!

"Dismissed" Doesn't Mean Innocent!

Thomas C. Donovan arraigned in Eastern Hampshire District Court (3/10/14).  Your humble reporter standing in background.  MassLive photo by Dave Roback

So the hotshot Boston attorney for Mr. Thomas C. Donovan was being a tad coy when he told my friends at MassLive that the reason he took so long to file a lawsuit against Amherst police is because he wanted to wait until the Blarney Blowout criminal case was concluded against his choir boy client.

Thus giving the impression that the criminal case was "dismissed" and his client was totally innocent.

As any of you who have followed my Eastern Hampshire District Court reports over the past year or so know, the usual method of dealing with UMass students arrested for rowdy behavior is a "diversion" from criminal to civil and the dropping of at least one of the charges.

In the case of Mr. Donovan, who was charged with "failure to disperse" and "disorderly conduct", the Judge, as part of his plea deal, dismissed outright the "disorderly conduct" charge but DID NOT DISMISS the "failure to disperse" charge.

Instead he was put on probation for four months, ordered to pay $200 in restitution and write a letter of apology to APD ... only THEN was the charge of "failure to disperse" dismissed.

Click to enlarge/read

And yes, I have confirmed Donovan wrote the letter of apology to APD, but since this now involves a lawsuit the letter is not a public document.  I also assume he paid the $200 and did the 20 hours of community service.

If he's so innocent, why write a "letter of apology"?

The fact he was recording on his phone at the time he failed to heed a lawfully given order to disperse is irrelevant.  If he were playing a violin, the cops would have told him to stop playing the violin and leave.  

"Not talking to reporters now".  Gee, I wonder why?

To Serve & Protect

APD Captain Chris Pronovost (left) Chief Scott Livingstone (right) 

 
Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingston and Captain Chris Pronovost appeared before the Joint Capital Planning Committee this morning to present their FY16 equipment needs, which were pretty modest considering their $4.5 million operational budget.

Joint Capital Planning Committee preparing to discuss PD equipment this morning

The usual replacement of three front line patrol vehicles, with an excess of 100,000 miles usage, takes up the bulk of the total request at $105,000.  Next year it will be a tad more expensive as the request will be for one additional vehicle.  The department orders four vehicles on a rotating basis every 4th year.

Front line cruisers are used 24/7, 365 days a year

One of the things you don't want to have happen when you call 911 for a life or death emergency is to have help delayed because of a vehicle breakdown.

 Click to enlarge/read.  FY16 starts July 1st

Amherst police department was one of the first public safety agencies in the state to adopt  "in car video systems" aka dash cams.  Such a system protects both the officer making an arrest or just interacting with citizens and the person being arrested or just interacting with the officer. 

$12,000 will purchase two complete systems, to replace older systems in two cruisers.

Naturally as the Chief was leaving the meeting I asked him about body cams.  He responded that within two years it will probably be standard equipment for his department.

The current crop of cameras somewhat rushed to market are still a tad expensive (decent reliable units around $1,000 each) and like any new technology the cameras will get better and cheaper just within the next two years.

He did point out that officers are in favor of wearing the cameras, so it's not a labor union issue  holding things up.  Obviously body cameras would have come in handy last year at the Blarney Blowout.

Also coming in handy when things reach riotous proportions are "Crowd management tools, Protective Gear" aka riot gear.

The Chief told the JCPC that he was dropping the $9,500 request -- not because they are unneeded -- but because he found leftover money in another account to fund them.

The current generation of riot gear (both bulky and hot in the summer) was purchased back in the mid-1980s before anybody ever heard of Blarney Blowout and the excuse to day-drink and get riotous was called "Hobart Hoedown".

Officers only recently were fitted for the equipment so it will not be available this coming March 7.

Do I think they will need riot gear that day?  Well the weather is forecast to be sunny/clear but COLD so that's a BIG help.

Free Mullins Center Concert March 7 to keep students on campus

Plus the quad area of Townhouse Apartments -- ground zero for the gestation of riotous behavior -- is currently buried in snow, so that's a BIG help.

And even the recent regrettable publicity about an alleged "First Amendment" violation last year resulting in a federal lawsuit against APD will at least serve to remind everyone of what a lousy day Blarney was ... for EVERYBODY.

Although I do find it fascinating that Cowardly Anon Nitwits post drivel on the mobile app FADE publicly threatening my First Amendment rights:

At least I'm filed under "hot"

Photo is from an "event" I covered at Townhouse back on September 20

United Once More

UN Flag flies above Black Liberation flag this morning

The pretty blue United Nations flag has returned to its perch directly in front of Town Hall after the previous one was stolen during a storm and briefly replaced with a pirate flag.

I'm told the last remaining member of the original committee who brought the request to Amherst Town Meeting in 1972 donated the new flag. 

The Amherst town flag has been missing from the turret on Town Hall for about as long as the UN flag was missing.

The staff broke so it needs to be replaced before it goes back up alongside the state flag and one of the original 29 commemorative American flags (originally installed during that glorious summer of 2001) that have caused such controversy whenever the anniversary of 9/11 comes calling.

Interestingly Town Meeting this spring will no doubt unanimously support a  "citizens petition" to declare June 14 "Race Amity Day".    Of course June 14 is also "Flag Day".  Which I find exceedingly appropriate.

The American flag represents the diversity -- aka "melting pot"  -- of all the immigrants, all the races, creeds, colors, religions or sexual persuasions that built this great country.

And she represents the freedom so many of us take for granted. 

Precisely why the 29 commemorative flags should fly in the downtown this coming 9/11.

Blarney Blowback

March 8, 2014 North Pleasant/Fearing Street

So no, I'm not surprised a lawsuit was filed over alleged brutality by enormously outnumbered Amherst police at the Blarney Blowout.  But I am surprised it took this long.

After all, if it is such a strong case why wait almost one full year to file your complaint?

Rule #1:  Hold your phone horizontally Rule #2: Leave when police ask

And I always thought lawyers were not supposed to try their case in the media?  Here these legal beagles posted their "evidence" to the web for the entire world to see, and issued press releases no less.

Specifically timed of course to coincide with the upsurge in media interest as we approach the one year anniversary of that outrageous event.

Interesting how you can clearly see objects detonate near officers busy arresting someone on the ground. And I recognize that dull thud a full can of beer makes when it hits a nearby snowbank, as I had one miss my head by 6" the year before at Townhouse Apartments during the Blarney Blowout.

It's easy to look at a snippet of video and come up with ways you would have calmly handled the situation better.  Hindsight is always a piece of cake.

Or maybe I should say, "keg of beer."

The Massachusetts Daily Collegian reports

Can You Hear Me Now?

Amilcar Shabazz remotely peering over Maria Geryk's shoulder

The Amherst Regional School Committee is starting to get it when it comes to all things digital. 

Last month they voted unanimously to allow legal notice of meetings with agendas to be posted to the district website rather than the clunky physically post by hand in all four towns. 

And last night the RSC also voted unanimously to allow "remote participation" so lame duck member Amilcar Shabazz could participate and vote in the surprisingly newsworthy meeting. 

Like the posting to the website, it is a blanket vote that will allow any member to use remote participation from now on as long as they give the Chair some advance notice.

Surprisingly for a town dominated by committees, boards, and working groups, remote participation has not been used.  These days Skype, Facetime , or Google+ Hangout is just as good as being there.  Well, almost.

The Jones Library Trustees did use it once, sort of, for Carol Gray four years ago when she was in Egypt.  But it was prior to the Attorney General ruling it okay, so she was not allowed to participate in the meeting or vote, just observe.

Regionalization Train Wreck

Amherst Regional School Committee all 9 members (including one by remote participation)

Even before the Amherst Regional School Committee could get to the official agenda item scheduled for 6:20 to discuss the 3.5 years in the making Regional Agreement Working Group report, RAWG member Michael DeChiara dropped a bombshell during "public comment", telling the committee he would not support the proposal and would be telling his Shutesbury constituents to vote it down.

Michael DeChiara, Maria Geryk (Amilcar Shabazz above her), Michael Morris

All four towns in the Region -- Amherst, Pelham, Leverett and Shutesbury -- must vote yes in order to change the 50+ year old Regional Agreement, to allow for the region to extend from the current 7-12 all the way down to include elementary level pre-K through 6th grades.

When the Regional Committee then started discussing the RAWG proposal Shutesbury representative Stephen Sullivan echoed DeChiara's concerns and clearly said he would vote no.

Parent and Town Meeting member Janet McGowan told the committee the public outreach on Regionalization has been nonexistent

Amherst representatives were also less than impressed:  Lawrence O'Brien said he "had concerns", Rick Hood said it was "not ready", Kathleen Traphagen did not see any "compelling educational case" and the disembodied voice of Amilcar Shabazz (using remote participation) could not have been any more clear:  "Put a stop on the school attorney from doing any more work on this matter.  Moving in this direction now should be Dead On Arrival."

Kathleen Traphagen

Katherine Appy was the lone member of the entire 9 member Regional School Committee to speak in favor of the idea.  The RSC is scheduled to vote on this Regionalization proposal at their next  meeting, March 10.

Since it involves amending the Regional Agreement it will require a supermajority two-thirds vote.  Had the vote been taken at this meeting it certainly looked like it would be 8-1 against. 

Rick Hood said they should continue to move forward with the public forums (March 3 for Amherst ) but the timeline for all four towns to vote an the agreement should be pushed back until spring, 2016.

It has already been 3.5 years for this particular regionalization agreement and some members mentioned previous attempts date back 40 years or more, so what's another year.  

Not overly crowded audience in attendance