In spite of seasonably inclement weather--a cop's best friend--and a published plea from Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe in the venerable Mass Daily Collegian (3rd letter down, so not exactly top billing) outlining party behavior that is "Not OK", the damn kids went and did it anyway. Party that is. Not OK!
Especially since my winner this week for 'Party House of the Weekend' is the same location requesting a Special Permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals to double occupancy from a one family (4 maximum unrelated tenants) to a two family (max of eight). Which in this case would seem to indicate a doubling of party house potential. Not OK.
156 Sunset Ave, within shadow of Southwest Towers
According to Amherst Police Department logs:
12:41 AM early Sunday morning
Large party 200+ people with DJ equipment. Arrested for Noise and Nuisance House violations ($600 each):
Stephanie Blynn, 14 Valerie Dr, Plainville, MA, age 21
Heather Ohandley, 16 Hillside Rd, Plainville, MA, age 22
Shauna Obrien, 15 Melrose Ave, Wakefield, MA, age 22
Meanwhile on the street near 156 Sunset Ave:
ETOH (highly intoxicated) female on the roadway and unable to walk or get up. Upon speaking with Nicole, she stated she was going to her dorm, as she attempted to go in the opposite direction of Southwest. Nicole stated she was coming from the party at 156 Sunset Avenue. Transported Nicole to her dorm.
A continuously changing collection of trinkets and mementos adorn EED's tombstone
Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage
Miss Emily's final resting place, centered in West Cemetery, is enclosed by an ornate black wrought iron fence constructed in 1858 for one of the elite families of Amherst--the Dickinson's.
Today the tranquil site enclosing four tombstones attracts visitors from all over the world, almost exclusively to pay homage to the "Belle of Amherst". And it has been showing its age for too many years now.
More recent plaque looks fine
The original 1858 gate was stolen in the 1970s and returned in 2004
Next month Amherst Town Meeting will consider recommendations of the Community Preservation Act Committee, whose sole charge is to sort out capital requests concerning Recreation/Open Space, Affordable Housing and Historical Preservation.
Enter the Holy Grail of Amherst history, the decaying fence that has protected the Dickinson family for over 150 years. The $40,000 request, added to $21,000 appropriated two years ago, will allow for complete refurbishment of the entire fence to good as new condition.
The renovation will start this summer and is expected to be completed before first snowfall, although the fence will have to be disassembled and taken off site.
Since Emily Dickinson is arguably the most famous citizen in our 250+ year history, it's a safe bet Town Meeting will approve the spending article. Although the occasional curmudgeon does point out that perhaps Amherst College with its $1.6 billion endowment and owner of the Dickinson Homestead now turned Museum should shoulder the cost. After all, her grandfather Samuel Dickinson founded Amherst College.
But Miss Emily does not belong to Amherst College; she belongs to us all.
So I paid the newly instituted $25 fee (good for unlimited burns through May 1), had the Fire Department come do an inspection, ran a hose out to the debris pile, and then lit a match..or two...or three.
Last weekend Amherst Police responded to a reported theft of a "55 gallon drum and tires" from this location. The road side attraction is a sign of displeasure with Butternut Farm, the 26 unit HAP low income housing development that opened last June.
Orchard Valley neighbors put up a bitter, expensive legal challenge that dragged on for years (no doubt enriching their attorney Michael Pill) but inevitably failed to kill the project. Obviously hard feelings still linger. After finding no suspects, APD told the reporting party, "facing signs about the new development right at or next to the property would probably lead to the signs being taken down."
Meanwhile over on Snell Street, an irresponsible midnight dumper used the convenient access provided by the road that suddenly terminates to dump trash--including a 55 gallon drum and construction debris--into the woods. Arlo Guthrie is not a suspect.
The Joint Capital Planning Committee voted 7-1 this morning to approve $3,153,200 in recommendation to the Town Manager that backtracked only slightly from last week's fireworks laden meeting, mainly to now include $20,000 for 16 Jones Library surveillance cameras and $10,000 for maintenance work at the town owned Hitchcock Center building.
Hitchcock Center
After the camera initiative was properly vetted by IT directory Kris Pacunas, the price had precipitously dropped from $60,000 to $20,000 and will certainly provide peace of mind for patrons made nervous by frisky teens frolicking in the unattended downstairs, or the homeless wandering in looking for a place to sleep.
Library Trustee Carol Gray took exception once again to cuts that were upheld: $150,000 for fire protection system and $15,000 for building insulation, which she claimed would return about $3,000 in annual energy savings, or a five-year payback. Although she neglected to factor in the $15,000 that was approved last year for insulation and never spent, thus the payback period is really ten years.
And of course being a former lawyer she held up the architectural study commissioned by Library Trustees that highlighted minor deficiencies in the current fire protection system suggesting the town would be liable for any injuries sustained in the (unlikely) event of a fire.
Ms. Gray also took a cheap swipe at $90,000 earmarked for planning studies split between two major projects: Last fall "Form Based Zoning" failed to garner the two-thirds vote necessary (119-79) at Town Meeting--with many opponents saying the article required "more study"--that would have rezoned North Amherst center and the Atkins Corner in South Amherst.
And the Gateway Corridor Town Center rezoning study, a $40,000 item to bring Form Based Zoning to the commercial downtown and the contiguous corridor leading to our largest employer, UMass.
Former Library Trustee (Chair) Pat Holland, who was defeated last year because of her tag-team involvement with Ms. Gray in running off long time library Director Bonnie Isman, is running unopposed for the lone Amherst Redevelopment Authority seat in the April 3 election.
The ARA spearheaded, nurtured and delivered the Gateway Project plan over the past year-and-a-half, but will probably have little future involvement for Ms Holland to sabotage.
100-year-old row of quaint New England sugar maples now on Death Row.
After weathering the last 100 years, including the devastating October 29 tree killer snowstorm, a row of majestic sugar maples that have provided shade, oxygen and protection from the wind to generations of agricultural minded citizens is now threatened by the biggest tree killer of all: development.
Even though these trees are outside their jurisdiction, the Amherst Public Shade Tree Committee unanimously endorsed a letter to Town Manager John Musante requesting they "be respected and protected for all present and future members of the Amherst community."
Amherst Town Meeting acquired Hawthorne Farm property for $500,000 to preserve open space, add to our pitifully small stock of affordable housing (the land includes a house and barn) and preserve open space/recreation, although many town meeting members assumed it meant passive recreation.
But soccer parents and politicians who court their votes are quick to rev the bulldozers anytime the town acquires an expensive parcel of property bigger than a breadbasket. Although, turning the rolling topography of Hawthorne into a smooth aircraft carrier quality flatness will require millions of additional tax dollars.
Larry Shaffer fist bump. About to butt heads with the Mayor
Former Amherst, Massachusetts Town Manager now Jackson, Michigan City Manager Larry Shaffer had a hilarious quote in yesterday's local paper: "I don't give up easily" asserted Shaffer in response to the city council reversing a yes vote he supports on an expensive solar energy project for their waste water treatment plant.
Mayor Martin Griffin strongly opposes the initiative saying, "I hope the project is dead." Interesting power struggle. Since Jackson has a Council/Manager form of government, the Mayor is apparently more of a figurehead than actual CEO. But, nevertheless, Mayor Griffin looks like a strong guy who takes tough stands (slumlords want him recalled over a rental registration law he supported).
Mr. Shaffer, on the other hand...
Let's see, he took a strong stand on requiring Boy Scouts pay a tax on Christmas Tree sales, a beloved annual (tax free) town tradition for 60 years. He tried to withhold the parade permit for the privately organized July 4 Parade to create a competing municipal parade that would embrace war protesters. And he supported the Select Board's annual refusal to fly 29 commemorative American flags in the downtown to remember the horror of 9/11.
Best of all, he railroads the Select Board into giving him a two year extension on his contract and then only a few months later, suddenly, decides to "retire," to Michigan, leaving behind his wife here in Amherst. Meanwhile his secretary concurrently vanishes with a $25,000 taxpayer payout nobody wishes to talk about.
Doesn't give up easily, eh? I guess it depends on how you define "easily".
