Water update 12:51

No, we don't have the results yet. Town Manager Larry Shaffer just arrived at the DPW office and they are hunkered down awaiting the results. The emergency phone system will kick in either way to spread the news: good or bad. Let's hope it's good.

Houston, we have a problem...

Friday 4:00 PM Click to enlarge

Smoking zone

Well, actually I think it's just steam from testing of the new Power Plant; sure makes enough of the white stuff. And they are still using Amherst effluent water in the production process, so you may not want to breath in those clouds directly. Last year Umass paid the water/sewer fund $38,000 for the superdiscounted effluent. This year they used roughly the same amount but paid zero. Side benefit of the 'Strategic Agreement'.

We are the world

My esteemed fellow Amherst Town Meeting members will love this:

Yesterday morning my overworked wife performed an international live lecture presentation over the Internet to about 100 academics concerning research techniques used in entrepreneurship from our little home nestled in the People’s Republic of Amherst.

The GEM Project (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor), a joint collaboration between Babson College, the London Business School and "teams" from numerous other countries, collects economic data worldwide and uses it to measure the role entrepreneurship plays in a country’s economic growth.

And like the recent sports spectacle in China, this academic pursuit transcends political bounds—as indeed it should.

Donna’s enthusiastic audience was located at the University of Tehran, in the People’s Republic of Iran. (Yeah, I half jokingly asked if she had cleared this with the State Department or Homeland Security.)

University of Tehran website reports

Some of you may remember one of the more recent “Only in Amherst “ episodes where our Town Meeting overwhelmingly approved a resolution declaring the US should never attack Iran. In response we received a “thank you” from their ambassador.

I’m so glad this Boston TV Channel 4 has bandwidth to burn, so you can still see this upload from January 2007. Kind of ironic to see then Selectman Robie Hubley (now absconded to South Hadley) use the term “Democratic Republic of Amherst”. Yikes!

Channel 4 reports

Perhaps even more ironic, the “thank you” is dated December 7 and has the subheading “In the Name of the Almighty.” Double Yikes!

EMBASSY OF PAKISTAN
INTERESTS SECTION OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
2209 Wisconsin Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20007
Tel: (202) 965-4990 Fax (202) 965-1073 www.daftar.org

In the Name of the Almighty

December 7, 2006

Ms. Sandra J. Burgess
Amherst Town Clerk
4 Boltwood Ave.
Amherst, MA 01002

Dear Ms. Burgess:

We would like to express our appreciation for the courageous stance of the participants of the Amherst Town Meeting in urging diplomacy with Iran and expressing opposition to any U.S. military action against our country. Your letter along with the attachments was submitted to the office of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Upon receipt of any response, this office will notify you accordingly. The staff of this office would be more than happy to respond to any questions you might have.

Sincerely,

A. Mohzabadi
for Mostafa Rahmani
Director

The Amherst Bulletin Reports

International Media reports this "weird" story

Can government compete fairly?

UPDATE: 3:30 PM: I have only been doing PR for 25 years but does anybody else find it odd that Umass News Info Department (that I believe has three full-time spinmeisters and a Department Manager) only puts out the press release about the $9.2 million renovation project on the very day construction starts?

Hmmm….
What the Umass flacks wrote

(Original Post 6:00 AM) So Umass can spend $9.2 million tax dollars to better hustle for costumers private dollars? Unlike the Campus Center Hotel, those new and modern hotels that have popped up along Route 9, courtesy of Hampshire Hospitality Group, pay property taxes to the host town.

And in the People’s Republic of Amherst, if you simply construct a commercial enterprise valued at $9 million it would pay Amherst $135,000 annually in property tax plus the 4% Local Option Room Occupancy Tax on gross annual revenues.

Simply being owned by a tax-exempt does not necessarily keep the business off the tax rolls. Take Amherst College for instance: they own the apparently only profitable golf business in town, Amherst Golf Course, and pay Amherst the normal $7,000 per year in tax that a private, for-profit owner would pay.

And they own the historic Lord Jeffery Inn that not only pays property taxes ($32,000) but also honors the local room tax. They too are feeling the pressure from new modern hotels along Rout 9--as evidenced by their upcoming $20 million expansion--but at least they compete on a level playing field...well sort of, having over a billion in reserves is a tiny advantage.

Back in 2003 a ‘Special Committee to Recommend Mitigation for Local Aid Cuts’, chaired by State Senator Stan Rosenberg, an indefatigable Umass supporter clearly stated:

“Eliminate UMASS Amherst Campus Center's exemption from hotel motel tax (that tax doesn't cost the state anything, doesn't cost the university anything, shouldn't be an edge in competition against local hotels / motels). This could be a significant ($70,000+) help to Amherst.”

Since the Town Manager was already taken to the cleaners by Umass with their ‘Strategic Agreement’, The Select Board should appoint a “Blue Ribbon Committee” (better yet, an Attack Dog) to pursue this potential pot of tax gold.

Springfield Republican Reports (scooping the Gazette)

So we beat on...

UPDATE: 7:25 PM Okay, this video is a tiny bit raw, I may edit it tomorrow, but wanted to get it up ASAP





(Original Post 6:30 AM) So coincidentally enough—this being the first Select Board meeting since Anne Awad resigned—I will be going before the four she left behind tonight to ask at the getting more and more popular 6:30 Question Period as I have done every late August since the world changed, that the 29 commemorative flags be allowed to fly in the downtown on 9/11.

Or maybe I’ll ask (as an insider suggested) for them to put it on the 9/8 SB agenda for a fuller public discussion.


Can you imagine even having to discuss flying American flags to honor the 3,000 Americans we lost on 9/11? Only in Amherst.

Economic development, eh?

So you will notice the "coming soon" part of the banner is pretty weathered--as in having been up in the New England sun for over three months. I actually took this photo a month ago when I covered Pizza Rama calling it quits after 39 years. And the banner has been down for the past two weeks, although I'm told by a reliable source they will open in September.

You would think going from a Fish Market that served food (Take out and Delivery) to a Latino Market (Take out and Delivery) is a turnkey endeavor. But NOOOoooo, not in Amherst!

Here we have the Planning Board pumping molasses in front of any Good Ship trying to navigate the waters to opening, and building inspection folks delaying reopenings.