A Toast To Survival

Camperdown Elm, Amherst College Pratt Field

Friends, neighbors, Amherst College faculty, Amherst Public Shade Tree Committee members and a couple of long-time columnists for the Daily Hampshire Gazette gathered round the historic Camperdown Elm on Pratt Field Amherst College yesterday and raised a glass of champagne to celebrate a reversal of the pernicious plan to kill the Camperdown. 

Instead, Amherst College will pay -- or I should say an "anonymous benefactor" will cover -- the $100,000 relocation cost to move the iconic beauty out of harm's way:  the $12.5 million major renovation of 122 year old Pratt Field.

A realignment of the track directly intersected with the plot of earth the stately tree has occupied, probably since Pratt Field was founded in 1891, and if not for the great concern of arbor aficionados the Camperdown was destined to become kindling.

Since this photo was taken in late July, Amherst College has enclosed the Camperdown with fencing to protect its roots, trimmed it, and is being extra careful with watering and fertilizer

Homeless Hoedown

 Homeless shelter for one, woods off University Drive

While thankfully there were no arrests last night at the "Celebrate Amherst Block Party" for noise, nuisance or disturbing the peace, one of the usual suspects -- Maurice St Onge -- was arrested for open container violation while consuming "Five O'Clock Vodka" at 7:49 PM on North Pleasant street, in town center, at around peak attendance time for the family oriented block party.

This is precisely why Town Manager John Musante was leaning towards forbidding Craig's Doors, the homeless shelter at the Baptist Church, to increase capacity by 50%, going from 16 beds to 24.

His bosses, the Select Board, have publicly all-but-ordered him to allow the expansion ... not to micromanage of course.  Pretty safe bet Mr. Musante will not wish to jeopardize his $142,100 position over a homeless shelter. 

The B-I-G difference between Amherst's homeless shelter and all other regional facilities is that Craig's Doors is a "wet shelter," meaning folks can still attend even if under the influence of drugs.

Which is kind of like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting trying to increase attendance by hosting meetings next to a bar.

APD gets calls when the homeless are overly aggressive about occupying benches in town

The Right Way To Party

 No one had to stop for a red light in town center

In spite of dire warnings over mosquito borne illnesses --a modern day biblical scourge -- thousands of regular folks, young and old flocked to the downtown for a first of its kind event:  Celebrate Amherst Block Party.

 Performer on stilts had a great view (as did AFD)

Local businesses set up tents all along the stretch of North Pleasant Street after it was shut down by a blockade of DPW dump trucks on both ends leaving almost a half mile of asphalt suddenly car free. Thus creating the biggest party this town has seen since the last major Hobart Hoedown.

 Even after the season opener blow out they still let Sam The Minuteman out in public

Only at this one, thankfully, no incidents of disturbing the peace.

Ta Da!

Bookend entertainment: Band in Kendrick Park, DJs in Town Center 

Former Gazette reporter Mary Carey attended/covered the event with DA Dave Sullivan

High Cost of Education

ARPS administration costs last year: 60% over state average

Amherst schools consume the lion's share of town tax money with the vast majority of that funding labor costs.  The Region's salary database shown below does not include paras, clerical or AFSCME staff members, all of whom are paid hourly.  The salaries shown also do not include associated costs of employee benefits.

With Amherst officials on a head long rush to regionalize with our Hilltown partners all the way down to kindergarten (currently only the high school and middle school are in the region) the key question for Amherst taxpayers is, will this lower our education system's high average cost per student, or drive it even higher?

And the corresponding key question for the Hilltowns is, will giving up your autonomy also increase your current cost to educate children in your stand alone current system.

 2011

Amherst Elementary Schools Average cost per student $17,116 vs state average $13,361. Admin cost per student $735 vs state average $447

Leverett Elementary School: Average cost per student $15,382 vs state average $13,361. Admin cost per student $710 vs state average $447

Pelham Elementary School: Average cost per student $14,926 vs state average $13,361 Admin cost per student $478 vs state average $447

Shutesbury Elementary School: Average cost per student $15,612 vs state average $13,361. Admin cost per student $767 vs state average $447

ARPS payroll using Google Docs

ARPSPayInformationFY13_9-12

Public Safety First

Celebrate Amherst Block Party banner, also in the downtown

In the past 24 hours I've received two emergency  reverse 911 calls, one from the town health department warning residents to stay indoors after dark, and just now from School Superintendent Maria Geryk cancelling all after school sports until October 1st,  all because Amherst is at "high risk" for mosquito-borne illness.

UMass/Amherst has also just now cancelled all nighttime outdoor activities.
  
So it really makes no sense for the town and Business Improvement District to move forward with the "Celebrate Amherst Block Party" scheduled for tomorrow night 6:00 PM until 10:00 PM outdoors, in the downtown, on a warm late summer evening.

Since the reverse 911 calls have probably reached a majority of households in the region (the schools encompass Leverett, Pelham and Shutesbury) attendance will surely suffer. And if anybody should contract a mosquito borne disease after attending the event, a lawsuit could be costly.

And that's nothing to celebrate.

Public Safety Pressured

 Ambulance runs account for the vast majority of calls for help

Amherst Police and Fire Department's are swamped on weekends as the returning students have brought with them a boatload of work for our first responders.  Both departments will have extra personnel on weekends for the rest of the month (although for APD the weekend starts with "Thirsty Thursdays").

Last weekend, in spite of having 11 full time professional firefighters on duty so all five ambulances could be staffed (up from the normal weekday number of seven firefighters, three ambulances), we still needed to call for mutual aid very early Saturday morning because of the high number of ETOH (alcohol poisoning) cases at our institutes of higher education.

Not only did AFD require reinforcements for an ETOH UMass student via mutual aid ambulance, they also required a second mutual aid ambulance for a serious fiery car accident on South Pleasant street that injured two occupants at 12:36 AM Saturday morning.

That's the problem with these nuisance ETOH babysitting runs to Cooley Dickinson Hospital:  they tie up local  resources so that when a sudden serious life threatening emergency occurs, valuable time is lost awaiting a mutual aid ambulance from another town. 

AFD 9:7:12 Weekend

Scenes From A Sad Day

The Lord Jeff Inn had a commemorative flag at half staff
Dump Truck loaded with flags parked in front of Town Hall all day

A flag bearing all the names of casualties that day

APD and AFD come to attention for the ringing of the bells

Town officials, Ellen Story, and just regular folks

Had to get a second angle, with town flag at half staff in background

Amazing Grace.  Republican Photographer Michael Beswick did not start work officially till 4:00 PM, but came to cover 9:45 AM fire department ceremony

Caravan of trucks, jeeps, Harley Davidson's all with flags flying roared thru town repeatedly in the late afternoon, doing a circuit between downtown and UMass

Last year, on the 10th anniversary, another Springfield MassLive photographer, Greg Saulmon, came and took this photo

This morning, 9/12, the Lord Jeff went back to their pre-9/11 no flag status.  To polarizing I guess Fellow

Amherst resident and blogger Tom Porter's take