Meadow Street Mayhem

 Townhouse Quad.  

Glorious weather on a long holiday weekend spelled trouble for APD, reminiscent of the September 9 Meadow Street Riot, when the north end of campus erupted in crowd violence while town and UMass officials were busy handing out oatmeal cookies and schmoozing with students in the south end of campus.

Once again the nefarious north became the general location for out-of-control nuisance partying, with Meadow Street  again serving as ground zero.  This of course is reason #1 neighbors (over the age of 30) in the north oppose North Amherst Village Center rezoning, fearing incidents like this will only magnify exponentially.



Police first responded to Townhouse Apartments on Saturday afternoon around 2:30 PM for reports of a "party going on and a band setting up in the quad area." But the band was given a verbal warning and the officer noted, "Quad filling up with students but nothing out of control at this time."

At 3:15 PM police are called back by apartment security regarding "beer bottles that were thrown in his direction."  And at 6:00 PM, a female called wishing to press charges against a male student who drunkenly fell into her and chipped an incisor tooth.  She also reported being struck in the leg by a thrown beer bottle while at the Townhouse quad party.

About this same time apartment security reports "while walking by unit #20 he had bottles thrown at him that missed but hit and smashed the windshield of a black Audi."  At this point (6:14 PM) APD swoops in and shuts down the party, before the cover of darkness makes matters considerably worse.

According to police narrative:

1000+ and an unruly crowd, with numerous fights breaking out.  Apartment #24 refused to disburse and control their guests inside and out.  The apartment continued to party and refused to silence their music or clear the party.  Residents (4) issued Town Bylaw noise citations and then became hostile, puffing their chests up and surrounding officers 101 and 110 in an attempt to overpower them.  One party (Tyler Davidson) clenched his fists and charged.  Placed under arrest for Assault and Battery on a police officer.

Tyler Davidson, age 23.  Arrested for A+B on police officer, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct

Amherst College upkeep continues

Pratt Field panorama

 Green green grass of home (at least the color will stay the same)

One of the top liberal arts colleges in the nation continues its new construction renovations boom as Amherst College plans to overhaul venerable, stately Pratt Field, located on the gateway to downtown Amherst, although set off by a black wrought iron gate.

 Rt 9 side of Pratt Field: guarded by same style gate that protects Dickinson family plot

The $12.5 million renovation, courtesy of a handful of Anon donors, will start this coming Fall and be completed by the Fall of next year.  Perhaps the only surprise for a college steeped in tradition is the move to transform the plush playing field into artificial turf.

 The track will shift slightly down to better align with ornate gates

New viewing stands will push back towards bike path.  New press box (for dwindling supply of reporters)

No word if Woodside Ave will reopen at the entryway to Pratt Field,  closed by the Amherst Select Board after the state renovated the historic bridge

Meanwhile, almost contiguous with Pratt Field located directly on busy Rt 9 the College will go before the Amherst Planning Board on May 2nd for a routine rubber stamp to their request for doubling the occupancy from a one family to a duplex for this home they recently purchased at  96 Northampton Road (Rt 9).

96 Northampton Road.  Yet another yellow house expansion

In spite of being a tax exempt educational institution, Amherst College is still the number one taxpayer in town.  For instance, the newly renovated Lord Jeff Inn and the 9-hole Amherst Golf Course are for-profit businesses, so they are on the tax rolls.   But mainly because of all the houses Amherst College owns and rents to professors, who have a reputation for not partying.

Another neighborhood expansion

This one bedroom colonial at 1156 North Pleasant street, only a stone's throw from North Amherst center or Hobart Lane and Meadow Street--ground zero for student party houses--sold in early March for $264,000, well below its accessed value of $373,500.

The new owners, Catherine and Morten Jensen-Hole, will go before the Planning Board on April 18 for a rubber stamp "site plan review" to e-x-p-a-n-d from one family (maximum of four unrelated occupants) to a two family, or eight unrelated tenants.

Even though the rental income potential doubles, the assessor does not increase the valuation of the property whatsoever, so the tax revenues to the town remains the same.  Last week the Zoning Board of Appeals approved (as did the Planning Board) just such a conversion for a yellow house at 156 Sunset Avenue, but not before neighbors made their concerns loudly known about the quality of life issues associated with non-owner occupied student rentals.

Property Card for 1156 North Pleasant Street, Amherst

The few, the proud...

 Downtown Amherst 8:45 AM

So this morning, not quite as early as usual, the 29 commemorative flags returned to their lofty perch in the downtown to commemorate Patriots' Day, one of the few (six) "holidays" the flags are allowed to fly free and proud.

Seven days if you count 9/11, but then Amherst only allows that commemoration once every five years, so this will not occur again until 2016, on the fifteenth anniversary.

President Bush called 9/11  "Patriot Day" when signing an executive order for the American flag to fly at half staff every 9/11 for as long as the republic stands, joining only a handful of days remembered in such a mournful way.

Annually, as it should.

Circle the (Welcome) Wagons

The "Welcome Reception" for two new employees put on by town officials in the prime location for all things governmental, the Town Room, was well attended this afternoon.  Major local developers--Barry Roberts, Rich Slobody, Scott Nielsen--mixed with Select Board members, police brass, department heads, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tony Maroulis, and Nancy Buffone, UMass Executive Director of External Relation.

Obviously the town put on this meet and greet pageant to demonstrate their commitment to solving the vexing problem of non owner occupied rental property bringing down the quality of life in residential neighborhoods throughout the town.


And it's a multi front mission.  Town Meeting enacting bylaws and new zoning regulations and these gentlemen enforcing those regulations.  Or of course, the Amherst Police Department.

Jon Thompson (far right), building inspector/code enforcement officer receives bottle of Bayer from Cinda Jones. Dave Ziomek, Nancy Buffone, Stephanie O'Keeffe in the middle

Rob Morra, Building Commissioner, chats with Cinda and Evan Jones

A sense of where you were

Yes, only one thing missing from this proposed license plate hawked yet again by the UMass Amherst Alumni Association to help provide scholarships to deserving students who attend UMass Amherst, the flagship of our state education armada, top 100 University in the world, and unparalleled economic Juggernaut for all of Western Massachusetts: Like, you know, umm...Amherst!

The typical UMass/Amherst graduate (now 225,000 strong) spent at least four years with an Amherst mailing address.  And for many of them our town represented their first experience away from the home where they were born and raised.

With graduation fast approaching an entire flock will soon be gone, off into the real word.  But their time spent here was special, and certainly far different from what it would have been in any of the other four UMass campus locations. 

Could this generic lack of branding account for why the license plate venture failed miserably in the past?

Note to UMass Amherst Alumni Association:  You were in Amherst.  You are in Amherst, a fine home port for the state flagship of higher education.

 Note sign says AMHERST (and if you are walking or driving, at that point, you are in freakin' Amherst)

A few years back the Powers That Be in Boston wanted folks to stop referring to UMass Amherst as "the flagship" because it apparently hurt the feelings of the other four campuses.  Chancellor Lombardi basically responded with his usual "go to hell" rejection of that (which may have been the start of his downfall).  Around that same time UMass/Amherst spent $3 million redoing the signs at the main entryways.  Note inclusion of AMHERST!

Fan Boy UMass Hoops forum seems excited (but then, they're easily excited)

Howard Ziff: A Giant is Gone

Over the past thirty years I've had published in print hundreds of sharply pointed Letters to the Editor, perhaps 150 columns in the Amherst Bulletin, and now almost 2,000 posts here in cyberspace; yet I have only once hesitated to hit the publish button (or in pre-Internet days the "send" button on a fax machine):

My family and I had just toured the Chinese orphanage where Kira was cared for in the 16 months leading up to our adopting her.  We had made an appointment weeks in advance but it was obvious they had forgotten it when we showed up that oppressively hot summer morning.  Thus we got a close up look (and smell) of a typical day in the life for a hundred abandoned kids cared for by the state--and it was far from pretty.

The orphanage director told me to stow the camera as he assigned an employee to give us a tour and another one to keep watch over us.  The scenes were so stark, the smells so pungent, capturing it in the minds eye and then translating it all into words was effortless.   The only important question is, do I publish...from my hotel room...in the People's Republic of China?

The Chinese government does not take well to criticism and they have an amazing power to monitor and control the Internet.  Years earlier a french TV crew used hidden cameras to expose deplorable conditions in Chinese orphanages which enraged more than embarrassed top officials.  The same top officials who ordered tanks to clear student protesters from Tiananmen Square.

But I, eventually, hesitatingly, published anyway.  Truth to power.

So I did not sleep well that night, anticipating a loud knock at the door with the Chinese version of "Open up, this is the police".  Booting my computer the next morning I wondered if the Internet would still work.  To my relief the routinely familiar AOL homepage materialized. The first new email with the comforting subject line "keep up good work" had a somewhat familiar edu address, "journ.umass", but who the heck was HMZ?

hmz@journ.umass.edu;

Sent: Thu, Jul 10, 2008 6:33 pm
Subject: keep up good work

Good work. Get home to Amherst soon. We need you.
Howard Ziff

Well at this point, bring on the Chinese police, military or tanks, Professor Ziff complimented my work!

I had audited Howard's Ethics in Journalism class in 1986 and like almost everyone serious about journalism, was smitten by his combination of battle hardened experience softened by a genuine love for the craft of reporting.

We were political allies over the years on a few local Amherst issues, most notably the downtown Boltwood Walk Parking Garage where Howard was the final speaker on the floor of town meeting.  He invoked FDR's analysis that a good compromise is one where neither side goes away perfectly happy.  Howard closed by calling the emended garage proposal, "close enough".  The measure passed.

Howard was also passionate about the First Amendment and as such had concerns when Amherst wanted to ban posters/flyers in the downtown due to their messy appearance.  I spoke against the proposal at town meeting, addressing my remarks almost directly at Howard who was sitting in his usual spot--second row behind the piano, which could not hide his burly frame.

I used the anecdote about a reporter who misspells a name undermines the entire article; and if small businesses creates an unattractive flyer, it reflects poorly on the entire business and drives consumers elsewhere.  In other words, let the free market decide. Howard, with that unmistakable gleam in his eye, punched the air with his right fist.  The ban failed.

I had not heard from Howard in years, and in fact was surprised that a guy with ink his veins even had an email address.   But his encouraging note could not have come at a better time.  Howard Ziff was a thoughtful man, who made such a difference in shaping lives.

I'm not sure what the family will etch on his gravestone for a final epitaph, but his only email to me is on the shortlist for mine.

-30-


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