Recovery

I drove through picturesque Wilmington, Vermont only a day before the normally tame Deerfield river rose up in rage and unleashed damages of biblical proportion. I remember regretting not having my camera, as the town was bustling with tourists drawn to its charm that carefree summer afternoon.

This afternoon I retraced my return to Amherst from Arlington, Vermont through Wilmington on a bright beautiful afternoon much like the one six weeks ago, and the town seemed as vibrant now as it did then.

Vermonters are survivors.

Never too much

29 Commemorative Flags now adorn downtown Amherst

Usually, Amherst forgets a sanctioned occasion or two for unfurling the 29 commemorative flags to observe the "official" holidays our--at the time overly PC--Select Board approved on the night of September 10, 2001, an ever-so-routine meeting in the People's Republic.

But this weekend we have the opposite case, where they put them up for an occasion not on the list: Columbus Day. Not that I'm complaining. Anything we can do to adorn the downtown is fine by me--and nothing is dressier than the American flag basked in brilliant sunlight.

Now if I were the critical type I'd point out that the town goes out of its way to commemorate someone accused of starting the genocide and enslavement of Native Americans, but this coming 9/11 will refuse to fly these very same flags to remember 3,000 Americans slaughtered on a stunningly gorgeous Tuesday morning, simply because they were Americans.

And if I were the really critical type, I would now roll my eyes and murmur, "Only in Amherst."

Never give up

The die is cast

SB:Jim Wald, Diana Stein, Alisa Brewer, Aaron Hayden, Stephanie O'Keeffe

The Rubicon has been crossed, the newspaper put to bed, as the Amherst Select Board signed the warrant for the Fall Town Meeting at approximately 12:15 PM on an otherwise bright fall Friday.
Town Meeting commences on November 7, and will not conclude until all 18 articles are acted upon.

For sure article #17, bringing Form Based Zoning to North and South Amherst village centers, will be the most controversial item, resulting in a l-o-n-g debate; as will article #5: $40,000 for a town wide "market study" of the exceedingly tight Amherst housing market, something that will be attacked as a taxpayer subsidy benefiting real estate agents and developers.

Both articles will primarily come under fire for fear they will be instrumental in producing more "student housing," the bogeyman of Amherst. The Gateway Corridor Project, a joint effort between UMass, the town and the Amherst Redevelopment Authority was the most recent project to suffer from this paranoia.

The final article (#18), an advisory to the Select Board to revive the Committee on Homelessness--terminated only last month--could also generate plenty of discussion, but since it is the last article on the warrant, perhaps members will be burned out and less likely to talk until the cows come home.

Fall Amherst Town Meeting Warrant

Raise the bridge

Snell Street Bridge

The Department of Conservation and Recreation will replace the Snell Street Bridge later this fiscal year and while they're at it--even though reusing the current abutments--will raise it by 6" to 8," which should help reduce instances of truck scalping that occurs when 10' moving vans forget to do the math.

The bridge was originally built to serve the Central Mass Railway Company but became part of the Norwottuck Rail Trail in 1993. Amherst College--the largest landowner in town--is donating a temporary easement on their adjacent property to allow a convenient detour while the overpass is closed for construction.

A tale of two detours, or an inconvenient truth: l-o-n-g red line will be the detour for 90% of the project duration, shorter red/blue lines combination (center) is for construction access to project, but occasionally open to weary travelers

So long Steve

No longer smiling at Apple

I remember the first time Steve Jobs made a difference in my life, and strangely enough it had to do with business, something that at the time his products were shrugged off as just "toys"-- mainly because they were so simple to operate.

In the mid-to-late 1990s the Amherst Athletic Club was going full throttle with just over 750 members. The tagline I always used on WRNX and WHMP radio ads for the club was, "Big enough to own the best equipment, but small enough to know your name."

But when you have that many members, it's hard to actually remember everyone's name.

So I decided to institute a membership card system using photos, figuring a Polaroid camera was simple enough to operate with instant results. But the cost of instamatic film came to almost a dollar per photo, so just to enter all the current members would cost $750.

Enter the Apple QuickTake digital camera. I found a used one on that newfangled thing called the Internet for about half the upfront instamatic film cost and from then on all the digital photos were free.

We started out with a Mac Plus computer, moved to an SE-30 then a couple Quadras, and a few Powermacs, always a generation or two behind because of cost--but each machine got progressively better.

Now I use a MacBook Air and it harnesses the power of a desktop, with the ease of intuitive software Apple made famous, all in a package only slightly thinner than Mr. Jobs was on the day he introduced it.

Apple also pioneered Desktop Publishing with the invention of the LaserWriter printer, allowing anyone a voice via pamphlets--the journalistic equivalent of a personal printing press. Now of course we have the Internet with the unlimited power to publish in real time made stunningly simple by the technology Apple introduced or improved upon.

God knows how many barrels of ink will be consumed over the next few days for ubiquitous print media stories deservedly honoring Steve Jobs; ironically enough, President Obama said it best: "And there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented."

None of which require ink.

Time magazine stops the presses

Form Based Zoning moves forward

The Zoning sub-committee of the Planning Board voted 2-0 one absent to recommend to the full Planning Board "Form Based Zoning" for Atkins Corner and North Amherst Village Center be placed on the warrant for the upcoming Town Meeting starting next month.

And a few hours later the full board voted 5-1 to make it so (Richard Roznoy the only "No").

The Select Board will sign the warrant on Friday.

The form based code requires the maintaining of an architectural look and feel for any new development occurring in those village centers. Because it's zoning, the article requires a two-thirds vote of Amherst Town Meeting, which starts November 7.

While the areas impacted are only the two village centers at the far ends of Amherst, the passing of the article will be a positive indicator for the Gateway Project near Amherst center--connecting the commercial downtown with UMass.

The Amherst Redevelopment Authority is strongly in favor of rezoning the Gateway District, and Form Based Zoning will help enable the public private partnership to work .

Jonathan O'Keefe, Robert Crowner, Richard Roznoy, David Webber, Constance Kruger, Stephen Schreiber

A (somewhat) rational response

Sorry for Partying has left a new comment on your post "Another hectic weekend for APD":

Geeze I'm starting to wonder what you would even write about if these "kids" weren't having a good time - every other article is about "the party house of the week". If Amherst is so interesting and great without college students then find better material. You practically re-write the police log...

I wonder if you've ever experienced a "good time" as a young adult. Sing or dance with friends? Get rowdy? Consume an alcoholic beverage, perhaps? If you had one fun bone in your body I bet you'd understand why college students behave this way. That Peter Clark kid has a good point - what's a party without music?

Contrary to popular belief, most UMass students actually do school work throughout the week. Getting into this school isn't as easy as it once was, the class of 2014's average high school GPA was a 3.61. (compare that to Boston University's class of 2014 that had an average GPA of 3.6) So when the weekend rolls around I think most of the students deserve to party, drink and make some noise without being charged $300 for a noise violation.

I have had nothing but good times with great friends at this school. It's unfortunate that more and more people have been getting arrested. What's funny is that I've partied at most of the houses featured on your "blog" and they've been GREAT. I can remember each one like it was yesterday - Tracy Circle, PIKE, Meadow Street, Townhouses, South Prospect and Summer Street! The guys at these houses are incredible too, if you actually went out of your way to meet and interact with some of the student body I'm sure you would agree.

"Did you know the airport was there when you moved in?" UMass Amherst has been around way longer than you have, and so has the partying. Why should it stop living up to the name ZooMass? I talk to alumni and they reminisce on the glory days - did you ever have those? Did you ever go to a party with 100+ of your closest friends? Do you even have 100 friends?

This school is the best thing that has ever happened to me. And honestly I feel bad, because if I remember correctly you have a daughter - who will NEVER get to experience the UMass I did, If she even chooses to go here. Which, by the looks of it, you probably wouldn't let that happen. Heaven forbid she drink and dance at a party in college with tons of people. Although if she does decide to go here, I hope she doesn't get arrested for playing music too loud and drinking with her friends - wouldn't that just come back and bite you in the butt.

If you could wrap your head around the fact that these parties and gatherings are what complete the college experience, I think you'd have a better understanding as to why these things happen. We don't do it to spite the community or the police force - we do it because we enjoy partying. Hobart Hoedown has been a UMass tradition - and although you weren't the person who decided to have the police and riot force posted up on the street that day, you're part of a community that supports that. We have four years where it's socially acceptable to party our butts off and have the time of our lives and then we have to grow up and participate in real-life. If you could go back in time and relive a day of college - what would you wanna be doing? Sitting in a living room playing a board game on a Saturday night with 5 of your closest friends or be dancing to loud music in a house drinking wiith 100 - 200 of your friends?

...please enlighten me

Thanks for writing--as opposed to using text speak. I'm actually coming up on only the one year anniversary of my popular "Party House of the Weekend" series," which commenced on October 18th; and since then I have put up 58 posts under the tag "nuisance house" out of 1,696 total posts (not counting this one) or .034%--hardly "every other article."

And my family first moved to Amherst in the early 1850s--before UMass was founded.

Interesting, isn't it? When you shine a spotlight or hold up a mirror to their actions people often respond with criticism of the messenger who is simply holding the mirror/light, and try to portray them as somehow overly fixated.

I also notice that my Party Boy, newsworthy friends Peter Clark and Emerson Rutkowski have changed their names on Facebook, as though that is going to throw off the Google stain effect.

But you bring up a good point. Where do you draw the line between kids just having a good time and behavior that simply should not be tolerated by civilized adults, assuming you believe--as I do--that 18 to 22-year-old students are adults and civilized?

I found the perfect example on Peter Clark's Facebook DJ business page (a link he has now deleted) and sent it to the Amherst Select Board and acting Town Manager. It's called 121 Meadow Street and it consists of a little over nine minutes of raw video documenting the "party" at 121 Meadow Street. A party that soon thereafter became a "riot" with rocks and bottles hurled at responding Amherst police officers.

The state of Massachusetts recently passed a "crowd control" law which requires one sober employee for every 250 people at an event. This was in response to the tragic Rhode Island station nightclub fire that killed 100 people who were--just prior to that--having a "good time."

If I had to guess that 121 Meadow Street party, at it's peak, would have required 5 or 6 sober crowd control personnel. At about the five minute mark you can hear one of the tenants of the house saying plaintively, "I gotta get this car out of my driveway..."

What if it was a life or death emergency where every second counts?

That same night the Amherst Fire Department was swamped with calls--many of them UMass students having had too much to drink. Our Town Manager slipped and fell last month and was seriously injured. The quick response of AFD probably saved his life. But what if all the ambulances were too busy with drunk kids to have gotten to him in a timely manner?

A while back a sitting Select Board member's husband needed an ambulance, but they were all tied up with UMass type calls. A Northampton ambulance had to bring him to the hospital.

Although 121 Meadow Street is Ground Zero for student housing, there have been numerous parties just like that in residential neighborhoods (sounds like you attended a few) that are not dominated by student abodes--where average people go to work or school, deal with life in a responsible mature manner, and need to get some sleep.

They also take pride in maintaining their property and hate it when a neighboring house looks like a trash dumpster that was hit by a wind storm. Or when Party House patrons deposit cups, bottles, cans, vomit--or worse--on their property.

Oldest saying in the book my young friend: "All things in moderation."