Can You Hear Me Now?

 Good crowd for community forum.  Pat Archibald UMPD front left, John Musante town manger front rt

Clearly the crowd who packed the community room at the new $12.5 million UMass police station tonight to discuss uncivil off campus behavior of some UMass students could be broken into two distinct groups:  those who seem satisfied with efforts thus far to curb unruly behavior (UMass officials) and those who are not (townsfolk). 

And townsfolk outnumbered UMass officials, who were there in force.

 UMPD Chief John Horvath

Perhaps Fearing Street resident John Fox summed it up best with the last statement taken at almost exactly 7:30 PM, the scheduled end time for the "community forum".  Mr. Fox made brief allusion to Afghanistan and declared "the surge" is simply not working.  Not enough cops, and not enough programs.  Things are getting worse!  Time for something new.

 Two Johns:  John Coul front, reacts to John Fox's final statement of the night

Unfortunately that something "new" did not come out of tonight's meeting.  To quote the cliche, "same old same old."

Almost all the townsfolk in attendance seemed to agree that unruly behavior towards Amherst police should have zero tolerance with instant repercussions.  In other words, automatic expulsion.  But Enku Gelaye, Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students did not want to say what offense garners automatic expulsion, or even illuminating what line the five students (out of 652) did cross to get expelled.  Although she did reiterate they take assault of any kind "very seriously."

An affable Enku Gelaye, perhaps too affable for chief disciplinarian 

So yes, our gracious hosts staged a successful by-the-book community event, and they will no doubt sleep well tonight.  And perhaps even some of the townsfolk in attendance will also sleep well tonight, content that at least their voices were heard.  

Problem is, how well will they sleep this coming weekend?

Truth To Power

 UMass/Amherst:  Juggernaut of the Happy Valley

Leave the torches and pitchforks behind, but do bring to the meeting a protective passion for the most important possession you own:  a home.  Because if you do not feel safe and comfortable in your own home then everything else is secondary.

And how can you feel safe and comfortable when the noise level in the dead of night is akin to a highway construction project, or hoards of strangers stream by, some taking the time to vomit or urinate (or worse) on your front lawn, or a drunken pair decided to kick in your front door while your family is fast asleep? 

When it's your life and that of your family routinely inconvenienced, it's of no consolation that the University of Massachusetts is in the top ten for housing students on campus.

The fact of the matter is rowdy student behavior from a tiny minority of off campus UMass students is a major problem, and UMass needs to hear that loud and clear. 

The answers employed -- handing out oatmeal cookies or creating whimsical cartoon characters in PR handouts -- have not worked.  Neither has the discipline meted out over the past year.

So let them hear that tonight, on their home court.  After all, a bitch session is better than nothing.  (Maybe they will have a staff psychiatrist open the meeting with,  "I'm listening.")

Bermuda Triangle For Civility

The first weekend of renewed joint patrols between University Massachusetts PD and Amherst PD has yielded (rotten) fruit as officers on foot patrolling Lincoln Avenue/McClure Street had to dodge a bottle thrown from the bushes by John Moffitt of Andover, MA, age 19, who was arrested for underage drinking and disorderly conduct. 

"Disorderly conduct" is an apt description for that entire area, a kind of town/UMass DMZ border, although -- as usual -- problem houses made their presence known in other areas far from the UMass campus.  Take for instance 120 Amity Street, almost in the center of town.

120 Amity Street, Amherst

APD was called at 1:39 AM early Saturday morning to clear a crowd of 150-200 "uncooperative" guests from the "one family" residence and arrested two uncooperative party hosts: Nikoli Sotil, 209 E Granby Rd, Granby, MA, age 21 and Nick Freiter, 257 School St, Taunton, MA, age 21

Police were called to #25 Hobart Lane yet again for a party of 100-150 inside the apartment and another 200 milling around the road in front around 12:30 AM early Saturday morning.  Two residents were issued noise tickets and another cited for underage drinking.

A half hour later on North Pleasant Street, within spitting distance of Hobart Lane, Andy Thach, 7 Olympia Drive, Amherst, MA, age 22 was arrested for disorderly conduct and was noted to be "extremely ETOH" (drunk).

Around that time (1:02 AM) a patrol car was flagged down on Sunset Ave by a female advising the officer another very drunk young man was trying to fight with people and he appeared to have urinated on himself.   After running down Sunset Avenue onto UMass property, he was arrested by UMPD

In the furthermost reaches of North Amherst (1:10 AM) police were breaking up a party at 198 Sunderland Road because of loud noise and with 30-40 guests near the road a car barrelled by almost hitting some in the crowd.

Police chased the gray sedan and pulled it over on Rt 116 (yes, the same highway where a UMass student only weeks away from graduation was killed last year by a drunk driver going the wrong way) and arrested the driver Kevin Chan, 352 Silver Lane, Sunderland, MA for drunk driving.

Also in North Amherst  (2:21 AM) at the intersection of Meadow Street and North Pleasant the commercial center of N. Amherst police arrested Christopher Wade for drunk driving.


And of course what would a weekend of revelry be without Phillips Street?

 45 Phillips Street

Early Sunday morning (1:16 AM) police responded yet again to 45 Phillips for a loud stereo and guests up on the roof who were "very uncooperative."  One of the guests tried to prevent the arrest of his brother and he was also arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Arrested for both Noise and Nuisance House:
Ian Reeb, 285 Highland St, Dedham, MA, age 21
Alex Bazin, 112 Country Club Rd, E. Longmeadown, MA, age 20
Joshua Scott, 33 Portulace Dr, Spfld, MA, age 20
Matthew Scott, 33 Portulace Dr, Spfld, MA, age 26
Joseph Dingmann, 814 Shore Rd, Rocassett, MA, age 21

Late Friday around midnight police observed two youthful looking individuals exiting #19 Phillips Street carrying a 12 pack of beer, an address where police had visited previously to speak to tenants about civility.  Both were issued summons for underage possession of alcohol.  

 19 Phillips Street

Around midnight Saturday police were called to 84 Sunset Avenue, a one family home actually occupied by a family, for a Breaking & Entering.  Arrested for underage drinking, open container, and destruction of property over $250 in value:

Joseph Murphy, 6227 82nd St, Middle Village, NY, age 19
Amasith Phrommavanh, 5 Fawn Circle, Old Saybrook, CT, age 18

51 Phillips Street Monday morning. Rooftop party remains.

 AFD kept busy at our institutes of higher education with ETOH (passed out drunk) and  false fire alarms

AFD Mid October Weekend 

Sugarloaf High

View from Mt Sugarloaf, Sunderland

iPhone Panaram

No Scarlet Letters Here

Abandoned house (but not the property) on South East Street

So to repeat what I wrote yesterday about the coordinated PR surge Amherst and UMass are now jointly putting forth on the their solutions to problem party houses in town, I question if either has the will to actually back up their tough talk.  And now, for your consideration, I present exhibit B:

Board of Health Problem Houses

Interesting that this "list" of dwellings the Board of Health has dealt with since the June 30 start of FY13 does not give exact addresses?

When a public health problem rises to the level of being placed on a watch list, that list becomes a public document.   And since the Board of Health is an investigatory body with state mandated powers I assume they put the exact address on their list.

So why protect them from public exposure?  Don't neighbors have a right to know about a problem house in their neighborhood (although they are usually all too familiar).  Isn't that why the state has a Sex Offender rule for public exposure of their whereabouts?

Notice the Board of Health has issued only one fine (to a house somewhere on Glendale Road) out of the 60 or so locations on the list, or under 2%.  No indication if it was for the $50 minimum or $1,000 maximum, or anywhere in between.

And it's also interesting that this fine was issued only last week.  Since this powerpoint slide is to be presented tomorrow night to the Amherst Select Board as part of the Town Manager's report on "Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods", a conspiracy theorist might think they just randomly picked one token house to fine in order to demonstrate toughness. 

At least the 9/13 basement apartment fire at Gilreath Manor on Hobart Lane shows up (but only as "Hobart Lane").  At least we now have an official admission from the town that those basement apartments were indeed illegal.  And they have given the owners an "Order To Correct"... at least.

That seems to be an apt description for the efforts the town and UMass are showing for enforcement action:  At least.

And a sternly worded letter too!

AFD Central Open House

The quint reaches up over Amherst center into a brilliant blue sky

Unfortunately I could not make my annual trek to the top of the ladder towering over Amherst center because Ladder 1 is in need of repair for the electronics that make the big stick go up and maneuver, so today the quint with a smaller and more difficult ladder apparatus was on display instead.

Target practice with a fire extinguisher

And the Chief was worried about liability should I take a tumble (I do get a tad preoccupied when framing a photo).

Jaws of Life make short work of entering a crumpled vehicle

But as always seems to be the case, the weather was perfect -- a crisp day of radiant sunshine under an almost cloudless blue sky ... a haunting reminder of the potential cost these public safety stalwarts deal with daily.

Unlike last year Smokey Bear managed to make it this time around

Ladder points to a commercial jet's  vapor trail

Crying Wolf?

Two days before the "Celebrate Amherst Block Party"-- the inaugural debut of the Business Improvement District -- the Amherst Board of Health issued a stern public health advisory/warning to stay indoors to avoid contracting a mosquito borne illness.

The next day they pretty much retracted it -- at least for the downtown block party. So I wonder how seriously local landlords are going to take this threat of heavy fines from the Board of Health for having a slumlike demeanor?

After all, the town's Nuisance House Bylaw has always had the provision for fining property owners $300 for the actions of their rowdy tenants ... but have never employed it.

And even when serious -- potentially life threatening -- infractions are found, like faulty smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, blocked fire escapes, or illegal bedrooms in basements without a second means of egress, the town seems to do nothing of note to the rental property owners.

Board of Health Nuisance Threat