Another People's Republic breaks rank

Berkeley recently voted down a measure that would have welcomed freed Guantanamo Bay detainees to come live in their sunny city, thus leaving Amherst (and Leverett) high on the shortlist for providing Bed & Breakfasts for those cleared of terrorism charges, but still under confinement at our leased Cuban military base.

Perhaps Amherst Town Meeting should have dispatched Ruth Hooke to the Berkeley City Council chambers to pitch the proposal, and while there she could also have advocated on behalf of Amherst's most recent foray into national defense policy decisions: the "Bring the War Dollars" home resolution.

zàijiàn

Congressman Richie Neal flanked by PVCIC Executive Director Rich Alcorn and his wife Principal Kathy Wang. Kira center front (black t-shirt)

So after almost four years my 9-year-old daughter Kira said her goodbyes last Friday to the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School, originally founded in Amherst almost four years ago and now located in Hadley, as she will transfer back to Crocker Farm Elementary School only a half-mile from our home.

Today Kira left for her homeland with her mother for a month. Since this week is vacation week she will be missing three weeks of school. Apparently Charter Schools have a harder time granting "extended leaves" or "alternative education opportunities" than their public school counterparts.

After 5 days of school absence Kira would have been considered "absent without leave" and summarily unenrolled from the Charter School. My education oriented Ph.D wife, naturally, plans to hire a private, native Chinese tutor (A Grad Student from an elite University) the entire time Kira is in her homeland to keep up with her, you know, Chinese--although it's hard not to when you will need it every day simply to get around.

We had also assumed Kira (currently an A student) could keep up with homework assignments via email and Skype. But according to Barry Barnett, Coordinator of Federal Programs for the DOE Charter School Office in an email to Principal Kathy Wang:

"When the child leaves for a period of time greater than your enrollment policy allows s/he is disenrolled from your charter school." Ouch!

He then goes on to (sort of) explain, "Only school committees can approve home schooling, charter schools cannot. If, aside from home schooling the parent wants to try to obtain permission for any other form of ongoing education for their child, whatever that might be, they would need to pursue that with the school committee of the town in which they reside. The parent may also wish to consult with an attorney in this matter."

Of course what I then considered a simple matter easily accomplished--going before the venerable Amherst School Committee for permission (although I always get a tad nervous when a high ranking state official suggests I may also want to "consult with an attorney") --quickly became a classic Catch 22.

The Amherst School Committee could approve--and I'm sure would have--Kira's three week absence so that she would not be considered according to state law AWOL, resulting in her parents arrest, however she would still be "disenrolled" from the Charter School.

Charter Schools are indeed less regulated than their tradition public school counterparts and as result that usually works for the betterment of the kids.

This case, however, is an exception.

Not so Public, Records

So according to today's venerable Daily Hampshire Gazette my Public Documents appeal for the redacted sentence (one of only two sentences covering the entire meeting) from the 8/30 Executive Session of the Amherst Select Board granting Town Manager Larry Shaffer a sudden retirement with four months pay as a going away present will be denied due to the "personal" nature of the discussion, which lasted a full hour and twenty minutes.

Oddly enough a state attorney updated me via email last week saying they were waiting to talk with the town attorney before making their decision; and I of course responded with a request for that final decision to also be sent to me via email. Apparently that request too was denied.

Since today is a federal holiday, safe bet I'll get the official letter (dated 2/15) tomorrow via good old fashioned snail mail. I guess the Post Office could use the business.

Almost gone

ABC MIA from Town Center?

Once again the Zoning Board of Appeals seems poised to cast another, gasp, pro-business decision; this time in favor of the Amherst Brewing Company, an established bar/restaurant, to relocate its successful operation a mile from town center into a larger commercial space located on a busy direct route to Umass, the Golden Goose of stable employment for all of Western Massachusetts.Formerly The Leading Edge, aka Gold's Gym

Thus it appears the NIMBYs power to snuff development in Amherst is, finally, beginning to wane--on a couple of major fronts. The ZBA, after a protracted hearing process, allowed the variance required for Dr. Kate Atkinson to practice family medicine in a Professional Research Park, thus she will construct a $2.5 million dollar LEED certified 16,000 square foot building, enhancing the taxbase not to mention providing quality medical care to her thousands of patients.

And last week the public hearing to allow ABC to move into the former Leading Edge Gym location in a larger commercial building a mile down the road seemed to garner major public support--including Stephanie O'Keeffe, the Chair of the Amherst Select Board, and Tony Maroulis , the Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce and a plethora of patrons far removed from the college aged stereotypes neighbors seem to fear the most.

Those speaking in favor of the variance pointed out the previous tenant, a Health Club operation open 100 hours per week, was far noisier than the brew pub and the Jones Library currently adjacent to ABC has never had complaints about either the noise (and a library would notice) or any odor complaints due to the brewing process or routine cooking.

Meanwhile the Amherst Redevelopment Authority is steaming forward with the Gateway Corridor Project, an urban renewal joint effort between Umass, Amherst and a private tax paying developer to significantly beautify the main corridor connecting the campus to the downtown. We have whittled down the original field of four consultants for the "visioning process" to only two and both will come in to pitch their expertise in person at the next two meetings (in Executive Session.)

The ARA will award the consultant contract by March 1st. The ZBA meets again March 10 to present their decision concerning the ABC. I'll drink to that.

The infamous Anon letter mailed to the neighborhood a few days before the 2/10 ZBA meeting.

Former Amherst Bulletin Columnist Baer Tierkel countered in an email to the Planning Department saying "I received an anonymous letter asking me to write against this move, so be aware that there is a campaign against this move being hatched-anonymously My guess is it is from people who want their Gym (Leading Edge) back , of which I was a member, but do not have a viable plan to make that happen. So they are sabotaging another local business with their anonymous campaign."


They also plan for outdoor dining during the wonderful weather season

Providing hope to developing nations via business

So my lovely wife Donna Kelley, a Professor of Entrepreneurship at Babson College and proud Umass MBA, is giving a presentation in Washington D.C. on "Entrepreneurship and Economic Development" this morning to the State Department and other government agencies advancing the idea of entrepreneurship as a solution to unemployment problems in developing nations.

Many of these countries, like Egypt, have invested heavily in higher education, producing well educated college graduates who then find less opportunity in the job market. Entrepreneurship stimulates the overall economy by providing more--and oftentimes higher paying--employment opportunities.

Individuals can create their own jobs as well as build firms that can employ others when society cannot provide enough jobs. And when people are gainfully employed, they are less likely to engage in desperate, destabilizing activities.

The presentation is based on Global Entrepreneurship Monitor research data culled from 59 economies worldwide.

Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in

Former Town Manager Larry Shaffer, standing center (way back in his angelic days)

From: White, Donald (SEC)
To: amherstac@aol.com
Sent: Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:30 am
Subject: Public Records Appeal - SPR11/009

Mr. Kelley,

I wanted to provide you with a brief update on the status of the public records appeal that you submitted to this office. I have been in communication with the counsel for the Town of Amherst to discuss the information redacted from the 8/30/10 Amherst Select Board Executive Session Meeting Minutes. At this time, town counsel has withheld that information and asserted Exemption (c) – The Privacy Exemption. Although the town has asserted this exemption, I am awaiting further information that will support the use of this exemption. I expect to speak further with town counsel next week, as they are out of the office this week.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any further questions, but I at least wanted to provide you with the information that I had on the appeal to date. Thank you.


Donald White
Staff Attorney


Dear Mr White,

Thank you for the brief update. Nice when a government agency in charge of Open Meetings can be so open themselves. I hope when you make your final decision I can also receive the results via electronic mail.

As I'm sure you know, 'Exemption C The Privacy Exemption' is the #1 reason cited by municipal officials for turning down Public Documents requests. But public officials have a lesser expectation of privacy than the taxpayers who fund their salaries.

And the state allows the exception to be trumped when "there is a paramount public interest in disclosure." Indeed I strongly believe the sudden departure of Town Manager Larry Shaffer, taking with him four months of salary, rises to level of "paramount public interest"; and since he very soon thereafter reentered the job market in Michigan, I'm sure it was not a medical condition that fueled his hasty flight.

The redacted lone sentence I seek represents one half of the 120 minute Executive Session, as Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe covered the entire meeting with only two sentences. That too is questionable record keeping.

Maintaining public trust should be your paramount concern. When elected local officials hatch backroom deals in a private manner financed with public taxpayer money, it diminishes that sacred trust.

Again, thank you for considering this important matter.
Larry Kelley

Correction: The Executive Session was one hour-and-twenty-minutes (80 minutes) not two hours (120 minutes). Still, pretty hard to capture in only two sentences