Bad Form Rising

Select Board member Jim Wald posted to the unofficial Amherst Town Meeting listserve (privately owned by Mother Mary Streeter, protector of all things Larkspur Drive) an ominous sign for proponents of article #17, Form Based Zoning--the most controversial warrant article coming before Fall Town Meeting.

The information packet snail mailed to all Town Meeting members will be slightly delayed because when town staff crammed the quaint 9" by 12" brown manila envelopes with all the information printed on the remains of dead trees, the mailer was overweight by USPS bulk mail standards (and generous are those standards). Yikes!

Of course the main reason was the plethora of paper pertaining to Form Based Zoning. And as pretty as it is with all the color graphs and architectural renderings, as with Godzilla movies, size does matter.

Form Based Zoning is already in trouble because as the name succinctly says it's all about zoning, with zoning requiring a two-thirds super majority of Amherst Town Meeting. And naysayers (NIMBYs) are usually more motivated than calm, rational altruistic members who simply have the best interests of the town at heart.

Town officials should take a hint from the simple two-word description of the zoning amendment and synthesize all the supporting materials down to one single page of text, about the same number Lincoln used in the Gettysburg Address.

Town Meeting is about as simple an institution as you can get, so by all means, apply the KISS principle!

John, we knew ye well

Congressman John Olver

So the announcement this afternoon from Amherst resident Congressman John Olver about his retirement at the end of this term is kind of like when a sickly relative passes away after a very long illness: you're still surprised, even though it's hardly unexpected.

And I learned the news from my Facebook buddy--also an Amherst resident--Stan Rosenberg who posted it about an hour ago, thanking the Congressman for his four decades of public service. Of course Stan is now in a slightly weird position because it's a forgone conclusion he will run for the open seat if his redistricting committee does not nuke it first.

If he votes to keep the seat and then runs for it, his opponent (presumably a nasty Republican) will have a field day with that. Even the left leaning Boston Globe mentioned Stan co-owning a Beacon Hill condo with Congressman Olver, and he started out as his legislative aid.

But Stan is the hardest working guy in politics, and if anybody deserves to be a Congressman, he does. Besides, they're both from Amherst.

Bus stop, bus go

Buses wait for their precious cargo at Crocker Farm School

Every now and then the Amherst Police Department prefers not to score suspects when participating in undercover crackdowns, such as their participation last week in "Operation Yellow Blitz," a state wide initiative to bolster the safety of school children who ride those ubiquitous yellow buses to school and back every weekday.

About 125 police departments joined in the safety effort which coincided with " National School Bus Safety Week." And in Amherst, it was indeed safe.

According the Captain Jennifer Gundersen: "We're happy to report that we had 3 enforcement initiatives (2 assigned to a morning commute and 1 to an afternoon commute) and the officers observed no violations."

Amherst SB: "Okay with that?"

Amherst Supports Business Improvement District

Barry Roberts, Jerry Jolly Co-Chairs Promoting Downtown Amherst

The Amherst Select Board voted unanimously to support the organization of a downtown Business Improvement District financed by a self-imposed, additional property tax collected by the town with the extra money going towards capital improvements (benches, lighting, plantings, etc) and advertising/marketing the wide variety of goods and services provided by downtown merchants.

Promoting Downtown Amherst co-chair Jerry Jolly reports 65% of downtown businesses have signed on (state law requires 50%) as well as Amherst College and the University of Massachusetts, our two main educational institutions and the top two landowners in town.

Todd Diacon, UMass Deputy Chancellor, Jim Brassord Director of Facilities Amherst College

The hearing tonight was packed with supporters and not a single detractor. SB Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe pointed out the board could continue the Public Hearing for a couple weeks in case somebody missed the opportunity to oppose the project, but she also noted that the BID only impacts the business community, so little opposition or concern from NIMBYs was expected.

If the town is also going to contribute funds that will have to get Town Meeting approval in the future.

The BID will put downtown Amherst on the same level footing as the nearby Hadley Malls which charge all the tenants a similar fee for joint promotions and improvements (and have a lot more parking).

Pushing our luck

Once again this past weekend we had the not uncommon situation where all four on-duty ambulances were simultaneously tied up, meaning none available to respond had you called with a real emergency late Friday night.

And what were those four emergencies? Well if you read my post this morning you should be able to guess, as that particular Party House was half the problem. Yes, all four ambulances were required to ferry four college students to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital due to ETOH, an overdose of alcohol.

That kind of avoidable, irresponsible behavior endangers the particular students themselves and the general public left waiting should they require immediate help.

AFD weekend statistics

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And according to AFD Chief Tim Nelson, Thursday was hectic as well:

"I just compiled the stats from Thursday 10/20, 6pm to Friday 10/21 6pm. It breaks out like this:

UMASS – 6 Responses: 1 Fire Alarm; 5 EMS, one of which was an ETOH female.

Hampshire College – 2 Responses: 2 EMS, one of which was an ETOH male.

Town – 13 Responses: 11 EMS; 1 Fire Alarm; 1 Car into People’s United Bank.

During that 24 hour period we also requested station coverage 6 times due to all of our resources being committed to calls for service."

ETOH=Alcohol overdose

Party House(s) of the weekend

872 North Pleasant Street, Amherst

These rowdy kids were lucky APD did not also issue them each a $300 "nuisance house" ticket on top of the $300 noise violation tickets issued very early Saturday morning (1:30 AM).

According to Amherst Police Department narrative:

RP reports a large party, bottles being thrown

Excessive loud party with approximately 300+ guests on property. Upon arrival guests were observed kicking bottles into the street. All four residents placed under arrest for TBL noise. One under arrest for minor in possession. Two ETOH (passed out drunk) parties one male, one female transported by Amherst Fire Department to Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

James Llewellyn, 11 James Ave, Hull, MA, age 21
John Fay, 75 Edgelawn Ave, N Andover, MA, age 20
Alexander Swanton, 41 Crossbow Ln, Andover, MA, age 20
Michael Serrur, 1046 Church St, Saugerties, NY, age 21
All arrested for noise violation. APD arrived on scene 1:34 AM, cleared the scene 2:03 AM

Assessors Card for ownership of 872 N Pleasant St

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76 Taylor Street, Amherst

Now I know this house is located smack dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood, because it is about five houses away from where I grew up on High Street.

According to APD narrative:

Loud music, noise and voices were emanating from listed location. Residents were not cooperative and did not clear out the party as officers told them. Three males taken into custody.

Silas Ray-Burns, 295 Lincoln Ave, Amherst, MA, age 23
Joseph Quinn, 52 Pond St, N Easton, MA, age 23
Alexander Morrall, 51 Cutler Rd, Barre, MA, age 22

APD dispatched 2:00 AM (early Sunday) cleared 3:49 AM

Owner Card for 76 Taylor Street