The emperor has new clothes

22 Snell Street

So that whooshing sound you hear and the glare reflecting off bright white siding is the look and sound of local tax dollars evaporating.

Yes Amherst College, the #1 landowner in town, is taking yet more property off the tax rolls. Last year they paid Amherst $330,000 (or about the tuition of 6 0r 7 students out of 1,648) mostly due to 44 houses they own and rent to professors, thus making them the largest single taxpayer in town (they also pay taxes on the Lord Jeff Inn and, unlike the town's Cherry Hill Golf Course, their more successful Amherst Golf Course.)

However, they recently purchased the Fiber Arts Building in town center for $2.3 million--but since it was only valued at $1 million the loss of tax revenue is $16,000. And with these two houses now going off the tax rolls that will be an additional drain of $15,500.

Not to mention they are using them for commercial office space which if owned by a private individual doing that extensive expensive amount of renovation work could almost double the valuation. And if Barry Roberts can’t lease the business space they are abandoning in the downtown, he can always request abatement from the assessor.

Yeah I know, Amherst College “donated” $100,000 last year to the town. Yippee. That does not even cover the $120,000 in fire and ambulance costs the taxpayers incurred servicing them.

Meanwhile the Lord Jeff Inn sits forlornly like blight on the downtown because Amherst College nixed/postponed the renovation project. That too cost Amherst tax money because--unlike the Umass Campus Center Hotel--the historic Lord Jeff did collect the 4% local hotel/motel tax and last year that amounted to $40,000 (plus the state is talking about raising it to 6% to help out local communities.)

So come on President Marx, I know the endowment took a hit and decreased to only $1 billion. But with Amherst public schools implementing devastating cuts, our award winning public safety departments stretched to the breaking point and state aid drying up like the War Memorial Pool, it’s time to for Amherst College to step up.
14 Hitchcock Street



The Bully Reports:
Fiber Arts Building dead in downtown center

Deadbeat Umass Hotel

Spring

In Amherst, it matters.

UPDATE 10:40 PM

The Gazette and Republican (and a few TV stations) covered today's court hearing. And as I just said on Gazettenet feedback: if that pretty boy, over paid attorney had the audacity to come up to me in a public setting and offer his condolences after his client had run over, say, my daughter--I would have kicked him upside his pretty boy head.

The Republican Reports:

Original Post: Sometime this afternoon (it all starts to blend)

So my Anon commenter reminded me why “religion” had anything to do with the local media coverage of the sorry saga of 33-year-old Misty Bassi and her exceedingly tragic interaction with 75- year-old Parvin Niroomand (both Amherst residents) on that fateful Memorial Day sunny morning on a normally busy but--at the time--almost abandoned roadway, specifically designed for heavy traffic.

Ms. Niroomand piloted a 4,000-pound car, Misty was navigating a 20-pound bicycle; and the collision was head-on because Ms. Niroomand went well over the centerline of the roadway into the other lane (and beyond). Misty is now ashes.

Since Tommy Devine, the local blogesphere guru, is now doing a retrospective—bringing into Blogger, stuff he published many years ago on a pioneering website about to vaporize—it reminded me of why "religion” matters in the People’s Republic of Amherst.

Even a complete neophyte knows that if the roles had been reversed: had 33-year-old Misty Bassi shredded Parvin Niroomand with an automobile then fled the scene; and the Gazette discovered that Ms Bassi patronized the “pagan club” at Umass and Ms. Niroomand was a devout “Muslim,” you can bet they would never have published a puff piece extolling the virtues of Ms. Bassi days before the funeral.

Amherst sponsored Pro-Muslim Rally one month after 9/11

A tale of two articles (one day apart)

Long-time newspapers folks—those who claim to have ink in their veins—will confirm that headlines are critical, a good lead paragraph extremely important, and then the rest of the information presented in clear, easy to read prose with a closing paragraph that wraps it all up nicely.

And editors who do layout will also verify the critical importance (echoed by real estate agents) concerning "location, location, location".

The Daily Hampshire Gazette has come under withering fire yet again. Remember that non-critical front page article about the award winning Umass professor who subscribes to the whacked theory that 9/11 was an inside job published on, you know, 9/11?

This time it's for an overly sympathetic puff piece on 75- year old Parvin Niroomand, the driver who ran down cyclist Misty Bassi, 33, on a bright clear Memorial Day morning and fled the scene.

Now obviously had the driver been a white college age male who drove back to his Frat House with blood on the cracked windshield, the Gazette would not have done that. In fact, Amherst PD probably would have arrested such a perp on the spot rather issuing a “summons to appear in court.”

But the driver was a woman, senior citizen and a Muslim--any one of which would not have tripped such a PC sympathetic response, but when you combine them…

Nick Grabbe called me yesterday afternoon for a slight correction: the Gazette had run his initial nicely written sympathetic background article on Misty Bassi the day before the puff piece on her killer, but unfortunately editors chose to combine it with Scott Merzbach’s top of the front page article about the older woman getting charged (but not arrested) for hit and run.

Mr. Grabbe’s prose did not even start until page B-8 so many, many readers probably never saw it.

Regardless, the front page puff piece on a driver who crushes a cyclist and then runs strait home was completely inappropriate and probably approved by the same editor who combined two stories that should have stood alone the day before and buried the important one on page 8.

Thus the (deserved) public stoning.

When bad things happen...

UPDATE: Monday 2:20PM

So the Daily Hampshire Gazette must feel bad about Friday's (below the fold) front page puff piece on the 75-year-old hit and run driver. This morning they published an (above the fold) front page sympathetic piece on 33-year-old cyclist Misty Bassi who was tragically killed on Memorial Day morning, written by Nick Grabbe their most experienced reporter; and the Gazette also did a somber editorial on the "tragedy in Amherst".


Original Post: Saturday morning

Having trained for ten consecutive years to summit Mt. Washington on a bike, I spent a lot of time in the saddle. And over the past 25 years probably cycled up or down University Drive a thousand times.

While 'Swift Way,' the bike path connector to Umass, has only been around since 2002 I have never used it; and not simply because of my prior habit of using the shoulder of the road but because of all the activity on the east side.

The west side has its own access road, so it seems less conjested for cars entering University Drive. But yeah, it can still get hairy with folks coming and going to the Post Office or Big-Y supermarket. On Memorial Day morning I took my two-year-old for a ride on the back of my mountain bike, but fortunately went uptown.

Ten years ago when I was on a training ride near Hadley center a driver backed out of his driveway directly into me. And while he was only going 5 MPH or so and I was doing close to 20 MPH a 4,000-pound car vs. 19-pound bike always results in a TKO'd cyclist.

My business partner said the man called the Athletic Club and was so distraught as to be almost unintelligible. And while I did little damage to his car a fully-grown body cascading over the top of a vehicle is pretty hard to ignore.

But apparently that’s exactly what a 75-year-old Amherst woman did when she left her lane, crossed into the southbound lane of University Drive and hit Misty Bassi, 33, who probably died instantly.

Yesterday the Gazette published an overly sympathetic front-page profile—not of the innocent 33-year-old victim going about her daily routine, but of the woman who ran her down and fled the scene. Although a friend did admit it was a tad out of character considering her Mother Teresa persona.

Yes, we all make mistakes and for most of them folks deserve a second chance. Misty Bassi did not make a mistake; yet she gets no second chance.

Hell Hath No Fury...

The Springfield Republican Reports:

So my friends at the Republican are having a ball with this story--and I'm sure readership is W-A-Y up.

I was a little surprised that the court did not allow the more serious charge of "assault and battery with a dangerous weapon" and that is usually followed by "shod foot". After all, Susan Dawson is the Mayor of Agawam (at least until the next election anyway.)

Not often a woman does not remember what kind of shoes she has on, but the point is any shoe on a foot when that foot is repeatedly kicking a downed opponent to the head is dangerous.

That's why Billy Jack always removed his boots before taking out the bad boys.

A night on the town

I was a little surprised--but more disappointed--that my overnight “ride along” with Amherst Police on a warm Saturday night (Umass Graduation day) did not immerse me in more mayhem, people pyrotechnics or maybe a high-speed chase. Although we did get to zip up Main Street at almost 90 MPH with blue lights flashing for a possible domestic disturbance.

I reported to the Station at 9:00 PM with my trusty old digital camera, new flip video camera, my wife’s i-phone and a good old fashioned notepad and pen. The Patrol Supervisor I was riding shotgun with could go anywhere he pleased, so when trouble occurred we would arrive quickly—as would back up.

First up, a possibly breaking-and-entering on Owen Drive in a large, expensive house still under construction. The new owner told dispatch the lights were on (his family had yet to move in) and he could see two men moving about. They fled into the nearby woods or drove off in a small red car depending if you believed the Dad or his two young children.

We took a fishing trip to a Gatehouse Road condo/apartment complex (a hot spot for calls) because the Supervisor wanted to demonstrate how stolen cars from Holyoke or Springfield end up in Amherst. He typed in one plate number for a 4-door gray Nisan that looked like it had been sitting a while (build up of pollen) and sure enough it was reported stolen in Holyoke about a month ago.

Stolen car (one of many)

And another five cars parked adjacent to it lacked license plates. The bad guys bring them into their apartment making it harder to “run the plates,” and when they want to go out marauding they simply reattach the plate.

Hobart Lane in North Amherst, scene of the infamous Hobart Hoedown was quiet (although we did note broken glass in the parking lot and empty cardboard case of cheap beer.)

The center of town was busy—especially the bars and Antonio’s pizza but not overly so. Around midnight it seemed to get busier. We passed thru town center dozens of times and the Super pointed out that by keeping on the move folks see you a dozen times they might think it was 6 or 8 different patrol cars.

And it’s a good thing he uses smoke-and-mirrors to multiply, because this evening (expected to be a busy night) only six cruisers total (one cop per car) patrol the entire 27 square miles of the People's Republic of Amherst.

We are called out to a house on the Amherst/Pelham border where a mother—the owner of the house—had called the day before saying she was going out of town for the long weekend leaving her teen-aged son home alone for the first time and could the police keep an eye on the house.

Well…she had just called back a few minutes earlier saying a party was happening and could police please break it up. This could tie up officers for hours because if underage kids had been drinking you couldn’t let them drive and they would have to call parents and baby sit them until a parent or guardian came to get them. Hence the request for a Supervisor on scene.

It was still before 11:00 PM and the house was dark and quiet. Another patrol car arrived moments after we did and the Super told the young officer to go around back. He returned a few minutes later and said he could see a teen-aged couple on the couch in what you might call a delicate situation.

The Supervisor had rung the doorbell numerous times and even knocked loudly. Both officers used their powerful flashlights to scan the side of the house, windows and back yard. Dispatch informs the Super of a 911 call coming from that exact neighborhood. The Super laughs as he replies, “Let me guess, it is house number XXX and a kid is calling about possible intruders?” Yep!

When he finally comes to the door wearing only pajama bottoms, he looks startled at the sight of two police officers. He must have thought they were magicians since he had only called for help a minute earlier.

I guess the mother will be happy no party was happening. The son will probably yell at her for not trusting him (assuming she doesn’t discover the tryst). And Amherst PD got to be private security and babysitter all in the same call. Taxpayers should send Mom a bill.

The Super mentions the “Open container By-Law” is exceedingly effective because they can arrest anybody on the spot for public drinking. As crowds gather police can pick a few of the boisterous ringleader tough guys and cart them away--sending a clear message to the remaining crowd.

A house on lower Main Street fits the bill as perhaps 100 young folks spill off the front porch onto the front lawn with loud music blaring and everybody drinking. We had passed it earlier in the evening and the Super said confidently “We’ll be there before the night is out.”

Sure enough around 1:00 AM neighbors called to complain about the ruckus. Five patrol cars respond (leaving the rest of town protected by just one) and Amherst PD goes into crowd control mode. They move quickly and confidently among the crowd barking short direct orders: “Party’s over!" or "Go home!”. The kids pretty much don’t know what hit them.

It helped that the party host was standing on the porch bellowing, “Everybody get out of here!”

This time Police were only outnumbered 20-1 by the boisterous drunken crowd. It’s those nights when they are outnumbered 100-1 when things can get hairy.

The Amherst PD blog reports, “The most frequently committed violent crime in the United States is drunk driving.” Fortunately these kids seemed to be walking (staggering) back to their apartments.

And since I repeatedly heard the word “graduation,” I assume most of these partiers were Umass students. During my entire 9:00 PM – 3:00 AM shift I did not see a single Umass patrol car (or State Police for that matter.)

And if APD did get into trouble at that party scene, the Super could not even directly communicate with UMPD. He would have to radio dispatch and have them call Umass for assistance.

Meanwhile back in town center we pull over in the very public parking lot between Charlie’s and Bertucci’s and the Super bellows out his window “You gotta be kiddin me!?” while directing a spotlight on a youth in a Red Sox t-shirt urinating against a parking meter who slurs something about “just graduating”.

The Super responds “Do you want to start your job search with an arrest for indecent exposure?” “No sir” he quickly responds and then apologizes profusely. Earlier in the evening the Super had suggested that if Amherst passed a Public Urination By-law with a $200 fine the town could make a fortune.

Before the night is out we counted up $1,400 in violations.

A call just past 2:00 AM also involved alcohol. A neighbor in North Amherst on a very busy street complained a party getting out of hand. As we pull up, directly in the middle of the main road, the remains of a rather large 40oz beer bottle.

The Super is not pleased. He bounds out of the car and heads around to the back of the house where another officer is already knocking on the door. A 20-something kid answers and almost before he can say anything the Super says “I want to show you something: follow me!”

The kid almost starts to tremble at the sight of the mound of broken glass. “I… didn’t…do…that!” he stutters. “Well go back in your house and find the one who did and clean it up now,” barks the Super. “Yes, sir” he responds sheepishly

Driving back to town center past just 2:30 with all the bars and Antonio’s closed things are quiet to the point of dead. We get a call that a PVTA bus driver is in a confrontation with a passenger over money.

They are in the center of town the driver said a 20-something Hispanic youth dressed like a hip hop singer had flagged him down (the bus was empty heading back to Umass). The kid was obviously drunk and tells the Super he does not have the $1.25 fare to Northampton but would repay it tomorrow.

The Super responds: “No money, no ride.” The bus driver responds, “I don’t want to smell your breath all the way to Northampton.” And of course I’m thinking that one passenger on a huge PVTA bus paying $1.25 for that 7-mile ride, is not exactly big business.

The youth starts to stagger towards Amherst center. Then turns around and says, “Northampton is this way?” The Super responds: “No, that a way” and points in the opposite direction.

And so ended my night shift. The distant storm that generated heat lightening dancing across the northern sky now briefly produced rain, an Amherst cop’s best friend, but only for a moment or two. By then the crowds had dissipated.

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I witnessed a police department comprised of men and women who all toil as a team. In every incident mentioned --and a few I skipped--nobody ever called for back up, but another patrol car almost always instantly appeared.

APD is also made up (48 total) of a unique upper-echelon of highly trained, very experienced, dedicated officers and newcomers who are eager, in shape, respectful of their supervisors and the general public they serve.

Folks like Chief Charlie Scherpa, after 40 years of exemplary service, are almost impossible to replace. Nobody knows this unique town better than officers who have served and protected Amherst for many, many years.

Let’s hope the local civilian committee to select a new Chief takes that into consideration.




And yet the state will defund the Quinn Bill?!