Monday, May 9, 2011
War Memorial Pool wins another battle
First opened in 1955 and beloved by generations of children, the centrally located War Memorial Pool closed two years ago but suddenly came back from the dead with an improbable combination of a seldom used town meeting "motion to reconsider" (the Community Services Budget) by Julia Rueschemeyer which passed 93/72, and then her follow-up motion to amend the budget by adding $65,250 to fund operations this summer.
The Select Board voted 4-1 against the motion to reconsider and the Grinch-like Finance Committee voiced their displeasure. Leisure Services Director Linda Chalfant had nothing positive to say. But recreation czar Stan Ziomek, who spearheaded the construction of the pool 55 years ago, spoke passionately in defense of renovating and reopening the aging facility.
The motion carried 92/75.
Party House repeat offenders
So even my casual readers will recognize this house and address, 23 Tracy Circle as a recent Party House of the Weekend winner. Yes, the losers who created the Facebook page "Fuck The Fines" are b-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ck. And yes, they were fined $1,800 for Friday's late night party.
According to APD narrative:
"Upon arrival Officers could clearly hear loud TV, noise and voices laughing and shouting from open windows. Several people could be seen through a partially open picture window . There have been 5-6 calls to house #23 for the same complaints with verbal warnings as well as written Town By Law citations. Three residents were placed under arrest for noise violation and nuisance house. 12-15 guests were asked to leave and the house was secured."
Arrested and charge with noise and nuisance house:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx age 21
Emerson E. Rutkowski, 36 Puritan Park, Swampscott, MA age 20
Michael Upham, 53 Sherwood Road, Swampscott, MA age 21
Property owner: who ya gonna call? Mr Gesualdi owns a few properties in Amherst.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Amherst Sunday Morning
But tomorrow they will be back to the grind, as Amherst's $4.5 million road reconstruction continues.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
This one's for you Major David L. Brodeur
AFD remembers: three of their own now in service, and Major Brodeur.
Although you made the ultimate sacrifice a few days before the gates of Hell sprung wide open to welcome the unholy madman who set you on a collision course with destiny, rest easier knowing--along with your friends and family--our nation will never forget your devotion to duty in the never ending mission to keep our citizens safe.
Friday, May 6, 2011
King of the decadent street
Decadence and student party houses go together like pizza and beer. Take Phillips Street for instance (and the Amherst Redevelopment Authority could), scene of a major disturbance last weekend--specifically 33 Phillips Street, where 11 arrests occurred on Saturday night starting as early as 6:46 PM.
The house is owned by STEPHAN GHARABEGIAN under protection of a Limited Liability Partnership KNIGHT PROPERTIES LLC (with his wife, Angela.)
In addition to this party house the pair own three others on Phillips Street (#11, #37, #45) thus making a total of 4 out-of-nine, almost half the housing for a street the ARA consultant deemed "decadent".
Color schematic of the Gateway area showing properties with decadent conditions (Phillips Street, where all but one wins the prize)
#########################################
To: Larry Kelley
Sent: Mon, May 2, 2011 8:43 pm
Subject: towns reputation...
Hi Larry,
My teen daughter had a soccer game on Sunday on the UMass campus against a team from Maine. As we waited for a game against a Rhode Island team to end, I heard the out of towners talking. They were going on about how disgusting it was on their way to campus and said they "would NEVER send their kids to school there." They were talking about the party remnants, beer cans, trash, etc. I started to defend our town and explain the Hobart mess and just stopped. It isn't just that weekend, and we all see it. I was actually embarrassed and didn't say another word. Do you think sharing this with someone at UMass or the town manager would make any difference at all?
Mary
Let's hope Mary...let's hope.
Let's hope Mary...let's hope.
Labels:
45 Phillips Street,
nuisance house,
Phillips Street
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Additional housing inspector survives Town Meeting
The $140,789 budget increase in Conservation and Development an 18.9% increase over last year's budget, funding a much needed additional housing code inspector, a part-time planning consultant, plus an additional administrative assistant survived an assault from activist and former Select Board member Hwei-Ling Greeney, who moved to ax the amount from the Town Manager's budget unanimously approved by the Select Board.
The town, UMass (and this blogger) have declared war on rowdy student party houses scattered like weeds among residential neighborhoods. The additional building inspector is a key asset in curbing unsafe, unsanitary, overcrowded conditions that rile long established neighbors and casts a shadow over the town's image and reputation.
Town Meeting overwhelmingly passed the budget on a voice vote.
The town, UMass (and this blogger) have declared war on rowdy student party houses scattered like weeds among residential neighborhoods. The additional building inspector is a key asset in curbing unsafe, unsanitary, overcrowded conditions that rile long established neighbors and casts a shadow over the town's image and reputation.
Town Meeting overwhelmingly passed the budget on a voice vote.
Labels:
Amherst Town Meeting,
nuisance house
Another family member gone
Amherst's downtown character changed when family owned mom and pops--the kind that inspired Norman Rockwell--closed or abandoned town center in favor of a high volume commercial areas sited in a sea of concrete.
Louis Foods gambled on a new commercial building on busy University Drive back when The Chequers bar was the toast of the town and soon succumbed to competition from the larger corporate supermarkets.
Amherst Drug Store suffered a major fire and new ADA requirements would have forced the aging owner to include an elevator in the renovations, so it was left vacant and blighted for many years before Barry Roberts purchased it and did what had to be done. Now it's a well maintained, attractive Subway franchise.
But one of my favorite places to hang out as a kid (along with sitting on the stairway reading comics at AJ Hastings) was Aubuchan Hardware across the street from historic Town Hall. In the summer the door was propped wide open and under the awning tools and nick knacks on display to attract the attention of folks causally ambling by--the same folks you would later see on Sunday morning at St Brigid's Church.
But the New England based family owned chain hardware store relocated from main street Amherst into that newfangled thing called a "strip mall" in Hadley with Zayre Department Store as an anchor, back in the late 60s or early 70s.
The growth of UMass created a gold rush for entrepreneurs hoping to cash in on the big city located within a town. Soon the big box corporate chains came a calling, most recently Home Depot and Lowe's.
I'm told by a reliable source, that before Home Depot came to town shareholders were assured that Home Depot's market analysis showed they would close Aubuchon and Rocky's and take 20% of Cowls Building Supply's market share. Of course little did they realize Lowe's was simultaneously making the same assumption.
So the rest, as the say, is inevitable. Turn the page on another sad chapter.
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