Who's bluffing whom?

So tonight in two hours Amherst Town Meeting disposed of seven articles,raising taxes on local restaurants and hotel/motels, while giving Atkins Farm Stand (a thriving business) a tax break to expand, purchased two solar panels that are advertised to generate $2 of electricity for every dollar of investment; but denied by a vote of 96 to 78 the Jones Library an additional $34,704 to bring their budget up to minimum state standards--and risking the $70,000 to $80,000 of funding that comes with it.

Apparently less than 10% of Massachusetts' cities and towns have been granted a waiver of the state minimum threshold for funding by town tax dollars. Select Board Chair Princess Stephanie in prepared remarks (not prepared enough apparently as she went over the time limit by 22 seconds) boasted if the state rejected the certification waiver request. the Select Board would quickly call a Special Town Meeting in the fall and suggested town money would then be forthcoming.

Let's hope the state official who decides waivers doesn't read that remark and call her on it.

I voted in favor of the higher number...mainly out of pride. Amherst. where education is the number one industry, with a town seal denoting a book and plough, begging the state to drop minimum library standards.

Seasonal Amherst?

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Yeah, back twenty years ago the town pretty much rolled up the streets in the sumertime (and the living was not easy.) But these days Amherst is a lot busier with all the summer camps and conventions at our tax exempt institutions (Judie's was busy last night for instance.)

So I find it a little odd that Papa Gino's, who only opened this past March closed for the summer (reminds me of those "gone fishin" signs). It does demonstrate that employees are the number one overhead--but rent in that location can't be far behind.

This from the March 2 Daily Hampshire Gazette:

Company representatives who came before the Select Board, including manager Joseph Kimmel, said they are confident that, even though the popular pizza-by-the-slice Antonio's restaurant is located directly across the street, many college students are already familiar with its products from living in the Boston area.

And another one gone, and another one gone...

So you would think a national franchise selling ice cream could at the very least survive the Summer in the People's Republic of Amherst into the Fall; and by then the students (swallows) return to Amherst (Capistrano).

But that location-- and its congenital twin (the vacant store next door)--is probably the most expensive rent in Amherst, if measured by $ per square foot. And normally I would say that labor is the #1 cost of doing business with rent #2.

But with Ben & Jerry's the actual rent was probably number one overall. And a decade ago, even McDonald's could not survive in that location (killed by Antonio's Pizza back when still owned by Bruno Matarazzo)

An innocent victim

So Bank of America better hope the Conservation Department does not take note of the dead tree in their overhead walkway. The bank--in the very heart of downtown Amherst--has been closed for a while now due to renovations (and obviously somebody forgot to water the tree.)

Bank of America or KFC?

What informed readers want.

So first of all, Amherst has according to our toothless watchdog the Finance Committee (report of January, 2007) approved 10 of 18 Overrides over the past 25 years. Yes, some of them were menu Override where on the same day/ballot a few items appeared, but still The People’s Republic of Amherst has on numerous occasions approved tax Overrides. Thus saying “only 2” is not even close, even by hand grenade measuring.

And of course the other hilarious hypocrisy is the Gazette touts “transparency” as a reason why Northampton just passed a $2 million Override; but the Gazette has also recently taken them to the woodshed (which indeed they should) for not keeping good Public Records notes during executive sessions --especially since those sessions seemed to be related to a $1.2 million buyout of homes near the landfill.

Cherry Hill Golf Course shanks again

So before the Town Manager or LSSE, our expensive recreation empire, spews a disingenuous positive spin on the numbers, here’s what the illustrious business of golf really cost taxpayers this past year (FY-09, ended June 30, 2009):

“Operation Budget: $211,000
Hidden costs: (employee benefits, insurance): $31,000
“Capital costs” Commercial lawnmower $22,000
Total taxpayer funded budget: $264,000

Total Revenues (with about half the patrons from outside Amherst): $254,000

Or a loss of $10,000.

Not bad...compared to the six consecutive years of $100,000 losses between 1999 and 2005, or South Hadley’s usual annual losses of $500,000 on their B-I-G-G-E-R white elephant, the Ledges.

But this loss does not reflect the $30,000 “opportunity cost” of privatizing the operation. The Town Mangler rejected Niblick Management because they wanted a 3-year-deal.

But Shaffer wants Town Meeting next week to approve a 5-year lease/buy on experimental photovoltaic, solar panels for two in-town locations. Hmmm…

And even if you ignore the $30,000 privatization opportunity had Amherst never absorbed Cherry Hill for $2.2 million over 20 years ago (still the most expensive land purchase/taking in town history) the former owner would be paying property taxes of almost $10,000 per year.

As former Czar Anne Awad told Town Meeting in June 2006 (back when she still lived in Amherst): “Numbers can be used in many ways, statistics in many ways” Yeah, for sure. It would help if town officials told the truth.


Hey, at least he was accurate (gotta love the facial twitch) when admitting the golf business would not cover capital.

A haunting reminder

This "ghost bike" appeared near the spot on University Drive where cyclist Misty Bassi was run down by a hit-and-run driver on Memorial Day morning. She was hit head on, so at least her death was instantaneous.

When Umass students return and The Hanger starts packing them in again, maybe more folks will be reminded that a car is a deadly weapon.

CBS reports