The People's Republic: A view from above

Amherst Town Center Saturday afternoon

I'll see your white elephant...

So my friend and fellow small business owner and of course blogger Max Hartshorne put up a fascinating post the other day about one of my favorite countries—North Korea.

Seems there’s this skyscraper/hotel they “tried” to build that would put them on the map for tourism and entertainment (yeah, just the place I would like to go on vacation).

But they ran out of money (if it was our government we would have simply printed more) and the concrete quality was so poor that it was downright dangerous.

So there it sits, a hulking monument to all things communist.

But before we get all high and mighty remember Umass/Amherst (as opposed to the other four locations) has this $10 million dollar heating plant built in the 1970’s that never threw a BTU of heat. If, however, Mel Gibson reprises the Mad Max series--this would be a great location.

Let’s hope the new $130 million--or whatever it ends up costing--Cogeneration Power Plant fares better (let's also hope those angry skies in the background are not an omen).


And this is the original photo I uploaded thinking--for almost 35 years now--it was the $10 million White Elephant. Damn! But that is what is great about a blog; corrections are like Vice President's: only a heartbeat away.

When bad things happen...

Although I consider myself a journalist, one reporter job that I simply would not do is go knock on doors and ask complete strangers how they feel about a horrific tragedy that befell their neighbors such as what happened in North Amherst yesterday.

As I said a few months back, when Amherst police officer Ricky Arocho lost his two-year-old daughter, I can’t think of anything worse than losing a toddler; and if you can--I don’t want to hear it.

A private couple suddenly thrust into the glaring spotlight at the worst moment of their lives.

Yes, to a certain extent the public has a right to know. The bus and school are publicly funded. But these parents also have a right to grieve: privately.

In this particular case the public interest is mainly out of concern, wanting to help, wanting to make sure this never happens again.

Please send whatever you can (if only your prayers):

Abrahim Espinoza Memorial Fund

Contributions can be dropped off at any Florence Savings Bank branch or the Mark's Meadow school office, or mailed to Mark's Meadow School, Abrahim Espinoza Memorial Fund, 813 North Pleasant St, Amherst MA 01002.

The Springfield Republican reports

League of Women Voters backs down

UPDATE: 10:15 PM So I'm told the event went well. Although Pro-Question 1 folks did show up and got in a few hits. Senator Rosenberg also showed up but only acting as a "private citizen." Hmmm....

So I guess the only thing that surprised me about this morning's headline/article: "Question 1 panel goes on without Rosenberg," is that the League disinvited him rather than having Stan step down on his own.

Even though the LVM boycotted the July 4'th Parade (as did ACTV) this year I'm sure they heard about Mr. McCormic getting up on a soap box during the Parade and giving brief speeches along the way. Thus they did not want him out in front of their studio this evening with his soap box (maybe he would have dressed up as a Colonist/Indian and instead of a soap box used a tea chest)

Preaching to the Choir (especially in Amherst)

State Senator Stan Rosenberg has an uncharacteristic slip up in today’s well placed (break page, above the fold) Gazette article finally getting around to covering the controversy of the 'Vote No on Question One' propaganda night coming up “live” at ACTV studios tomorrow night.

Cut to the close: “This is a very, very serious matter. If people speak, it has some very significant weight.” Rosenberg said. Damn, that's a lot of very's.

So then are you saying Stan, that us lightweight voters should only hear from heavyweights like yourself?

Yeah, yeah we know
As usual, a blog covered it first

Working

My Backyard 10:00 AM

A Mile down the road 3:45 PM

By any other name...

The question is not what would Amherst be like without Umass but what would Umass be like without Amherst? There’s a move afoot to drop the 01002 location from the Flagship University because it makes Umass sound to provincial.
The Boston Globe reports

Even though Umass is currently the second largest landowner in town (all of it tax exempt).

Growing up on the wrong side of the tracks in bucolic Amherst over a generation ago I remember my mother—a staunch Irish Catholic –becoming horrified at a family gathering when a relative asked my slightly older sibling, what he wanted to be when he grew up.

“A Redman!” he almost shouted. My mother assumed he was talking about those marauding Indians from a John Wayne movie. But he was referring to Umass basketball; a moniker changed in 1972 to “The Minutemen” which is of course is fine by me.

I also remember hiking from High Street on cold winter Friday nights to sneak into The Cage to watch “The Redmen” at work. The advantage of being a pint-sized 8-year-old is you can insinuate yourself fairly easily into a general admission crowd and sneak by ticket takers.

So I have always lived in the shadow of Umass, even back when it did not cast such an overpowering shadow. I remember when the Southwest was simply a rolling open field where we neighborhood kids would play “capture the flag”.

All relative, I suppose; because back in the 60’s when only a few thousand students attended Umass Amherst townie population was a lot smaller as well. And as the University grew, so did the population of Amherst.

All us blue-collar townie kids wanted to get a job at Umass, many of them—fast approaching retirement age—still work there. I remember the water crisis from 25 years ago, although a tad differently than reported in the press recently. A town employee forgot to prime one of the main pumping stations so when the kids returned there was no water.

And the huge library that was to be a symbol (like the World Trade Center Twin Towers) of a proud flagship. Then the bricks started falling. The Collegian on April Fools Day issued a spoof article saying engineers forgot to calculate the weight of books and now the Library was sinking. The AP picked up the story, and to this day it is an Urban Myth.

Because of the University one cannot help but get involved in current political issues. In the late 60’s and early 70’s it was of course Viet Nam—the Mother of All issues. In the 80’s streaking and disco (politics took a back seat) in the 90’s nothing, and now--sort of--the Iraq War.

Amherst benefits greatly by the presence of the flagship, but suffers financial hardship as well. The University has a police department (with more staff and better funded than the town’s) but no Fire Department thus relying completely on the town’s annual $5 million operation. And of course our Police Department also spends about 25% of its time dealing with students.

About ten years ago Umass removed Amherst from their logo, now they want to go one step further and pretend the town doesn’t exist. Okay, next time somebody on campus calls 911 and requests help the dispatcher should say very slowly “Well what Umass is this: Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, Worcester, or that provincial one out there in the sticks of Amherst?”

Would Umass still smell as sweet without Amherst? Hell no, that stinks!