Water, Water, Everywhere...

McClellan Street 10:30 AM

The Department of Public Works is not often thought of as "first responders" like AFD or APD, but this morning their quick response became vital, with a water main break just off town center causing water pressure to drop town wide.

Since the town has instituted a water/sewer fund price increase for the upcoming fiscal year perhaps town officials should look at improving the aging infrastructure to avoid such inconveniences in the future.

The Very Hungry Gaggle

UMass pond (pre-development)

Burn Baby Burn!

Treemageddon. 10/30/11

Apparently Town Manager John Musante learned nothing from predecessor Larry Shaffer's PR major malfunction--charging Boy Scouts a fund raising tax on selling Christmas trees. So it's time for yet another town manager to be taken to the woodshed.

Amherst is now trying to profit on the freak Halloween weekend snow storm that littered the landscape with tree debris by charging a $25 open air burn permit paid to Amherst Fire Department (money that will not even stay in their budget), something that has been free since 1759.

Unlike Belchertown or South Hadley, Amherst saved a bundle by failing to open an emergency warming shelter in those critical first few post-storm days, and charging folks $100 ton for the storm debris cold, weary citizens dragged to the heavily tax subsidized Transfer Station, although an advertising error later forced them, grudgingly, to reduce the price to $50 ton.

So maybe now they're trying to make up for it. Last week the town announced yet another hike in user fees (water/sewer) that amounts to $24 annually for the average user, but did so with six months notice in order to give users time to adapt. This new $25 burn fee came out of nowhere (and it is fairly well buried on the town website).

Yesterday an irate citizen called Town Hall to complain, and a Town Manager staff member was not even aware of the new charge.

Like potholes, these seemingly trivial customer service items are issues l-o-n-g remembered. Snuff out the burn fee--a penny wise increase in revenue at a ton foolish cost.

South Amherst 1/11/12 A bonfire waiting to happen

Run it up the flagpole

Amherst Town Flag draft

A joint meeting of Amherst Historical Commission and the Design Review Board pretty much saluted artist Barry Moser's design proposal incorporating a shield, open book and sheaves of wheat for an official town flag (even though Amherst was never known for wheat harvest) winnowed down from nine variations he submitted.

The only recommendation is to add the date 1759 in a subtle way to the background. The Amherst Select Board --a body not known as flag connoisseurs--will have final approval.

Select Board member Diana Stein first raised the idea for a town flag in June, 2010 and the town encouraged citizen submissions which resulted in 8 designs, but none of them a clear winner. Select Board member Jim Wald contacted renowned artist Barry Moser, who agreed to volunteer his design services.

The flag will hang at the Massachusetts State House in the Great Hall alongside pennants from most cities and towns in Massachusetts . Twenty years ago the state came up with the idea of hanging flags as a means of improving the acoustics in the spacious hall.

Who would have thought state government could be so practical?

And yes, Amherst is the same town that restricts the flying of 29 commemorative Americans flags on 9/11, to once every five years.

All Systems Go

The Amherst Fire Department descended on the Lord Jeffery Inn this morning for final inspections, parking their rigs at nearby Town Hall.

After spending $14 million in renovations, pretty safe bet everything checked out okay.

All they need now is an American flag

Do as I say...

Kid is thinking: What about Police and Fire?

Baer "The Turk" Tierkel is asking fellow Amherst liberals to post this town meeting recruiting poster on Facebook to drum up support for the aging institution. Now yes, Mr. Tierkel is an Amherst resident and a town meeting member, so no hypocrisy there...but, umm, he also does not send either of his children to the Amherst public schools. I guess it all depends on how you define "support."

The Catcher in the Rye