Expensive Tools

 US Navy has Battleships, AFD has Ladder Trucks, and the DPW has Dump Trucks.  Big ones

Today's snowstorm would have provided a better backdrop for Amherst DPW Director Guilford Mooring's appearance before the Joint Capital Planning Committee, initial gatekeepers for all capital equipment purchases in the upcoming fiscal year.

Yesterday morning Mooring pitched the needs of his department (besides $2 million in operations) with the most expensive item, "the backbone of his fleet," a $150,000 dump truck.

Those really B-I-G dump trucks.  And his #1 priority.  Plus $20,000 for sander & plow attachments.

The town currently has six of these trucks on the road.

The new truck is to replace an 17-year-old dead one that lost its firewall due to corrosion. The steering wheel fell into the drivers lap -- while he was driving!

 Rotted out firewall

Also high on the list and expensive @ $130,000, is a bucket truck used to change light bulbs and perform other work that requires a safe stable platform high in the air.

Amherst recently received a $302,000 Green Community award energy grant, and will be relamping the entire town with energy efficient LED lights.  So the current, tired, ten-year-old bucket truck may not survive.

 Bucket truck at rest

Coming in 3rd on the list and a lot less expensive is a $40,000 special trash/recycling bed for a one ton pickup truck to make downtown clean up more efficient.  A natural compliment to the renewed effort via the Business Improvement District to attract consumers to the heart of downtown Amherst.

With 28 square miles of terrain to maintain, Amherst upkeep is a 24/7 endeavor.  You may not notice the routine work the DPW performs day-in and day-out, but you notice it instantly when it does not get done.

And doing a job right requires the right tools.

Another Sad Story

Amherst College flag on Chapel Hill today

Yesterday in a statement to the Amherst College community President Biddy Martin broke the sad news of the sudden passing of popular employee Pema Tsering, and today their majestic flag atop Johnson Chapel is in mourning.

And since Amherst College is a private entity they are entitled to do whatever they want with their American flag, unlike state of federal institutions.

Either way, flag police are forgiving when the cause is just.

More Unintended Consequences

One of the (many) downsides of having an internationally lousy reputation with American flag related protocol is that people are quick to believe the worst.  So yes, last week the Amherst Select Board refused the people of Amherst the right to vote on whether commemorative flags could fly in the downtown on 9/11.

And as far as I'm concerned the only thing more unAmerican than not flying the commemorative flags on 9/11 is not allowing The People to exercise their most basic American right to VOTE on it.

However:  NO, No, no -- a thousand times NO!  The town of Amherst did not lower its flag to half staff to honor Hugo Chavez, even if Howie Carr (sort of) said so:

“…It was a sad day for the moonbat community. The People’s Republics of Cambridge and Amherst rushed to lower their flags to half staff first. A spontaneous candlelight vigil erupted in Muddy River. Funeral dirges played endlessly on the NPR stations, like Radio Moscow when Uncle Joe passed. Someone dimmed the lights at the Globe, causing an immediate panic in the newsroom, where the fops assumed the newspaper was finally being shut down….”

 UMPD

Yes UMass flags are currently at half staff, but that is to honor and remember the passing of former Chancellor Randolph Bromery.  Although someone should tell the Chancellor Subbaswamy that only the governor can order state flags to half staff.

##### 

UPDATE:  As I have said all too many times, sarcasm requires its own special font (even for Howie)

Although, one major corporation is lowering the American flag for Chavez.  

If You Do Not Build It ...

 UMass Southwest Towers: 6 were proposed, 5 built

The overwhelming influence of our local Juggernaut, the University of Massachusetts, comes shining through in the "Town of Amherst , Massachusetts Housing Production Plan" unveiled last night at the Housing & Sheltering Committee public forum.

Simply put, the oldest law in capitalism at work:  supply and demand.  UMass provides an overwhelming supply of college aged youth (now comprising 59.4% of Amherst's population), which drives up demand for too few housing units, which sends average prices through the roof. 

Population increased 2.75 times vs housing only 2.3 times

And anytime someone tries to build anything bigger than a dog house, the neighbors sharpen their pitchforks and fire up the torches.

Most impacted are what's left of the classic nuclear family:  According to the report, adults age 25 to 44 saw a staggering drop of 45% since 1990.

The housing picture could soon change, however, as the consultant's report illuminates how precariously close Amherst now is to the dreaded 10% threshhold for affordable housing (10.8%).

And with 204 units at Rolling Green Apartments threatening to come off the affordability list, that would bring overall percentage down to well under 10% (8.5%).

And then, via a Ch 40b comprehensive permit, BIG time developers get pretty much a blank building permit, as long as 25% of the units are affordable.  

Even just the eviction of low-income Section 8 tenants from 24 units at Echo Village Apartments by housing kingpin Jamie Cherewatti, AKA Eagle Crest Management, will reduce our affordable housing index by one-quarter of one percent.

The clock is ticking. 

DUI Dishonor Roll

DUI where the D could also stand for Deadly

On Saturday night around 10:30 PM Amherst Dispatch recieved a call from Granby PD to be on the lookout for a vehicle piloted by an "erratic operator" heading north into Amherst on RT 116.

In short order the vehicle was "located, stopped and the operator arrested for OUI Liquor." Again.

James Arnelle Hicks, 12 Longmeadow Dr #22, Amherst, MA, age 32 was arrested for OUI Liquor Second Offense, Marked Lanes Violation, Driving with Suspended License.

Later School Start

One of the more notorious quirks of the Amherst Elementary Schools -- half day on Wednesdays -- is about to go the way of dogs swimming at Puffer's Pond:  Abolished. 

In order to come into compliance with state law for "time on learning" but not disrupt the busy schedule of the average family, starting in September the elementary schools will start ten minutes later (8:50 AM) every day of the school week.   Dismissal will be  at the normal 3:10 PM, so the only major difference is no longer having the 1:20 PM release on Wednesdays.  

Or a net gain of one hour of school time.  Yeah.

This realignment/normalization of hours will probably also make Leverett, Pelham and Shutesbury look a tad more favorably on the elementary school regionalization effort currently on a fast track. 

Blarney Blowout: Unintended Consequences

McMurphy's Uptown Tavern 9:45 AM

The Select Board last night, sort of, addressed the Public Relations nightmare caused by the "Barney Blowout," one of the more juvenile celebrations hosted in downtown Amherst.

In fact, it used to be called "Kegs 'n Eggs" but came under such criticism two years ago for boorish bad behavior that they simply changed the name rather than the behavior.

Call me a prude or a cranky old reformed drunk, but I have serious problems with a downtown public promotion that encourages heavy drinking before noon.

Especially when that production abuses Irish heritage.

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