Expensive Takings

Spring Town Meeting Warrant articles only require 10 signatures

Amherst Annual Town Meeting will discuss and vote on two warrant articles calling for the "nuclear option," i.e. taking by eminent domain two very expensive parcels -- one a forest about to be developed for student housing in North Amherst and the other an apartment complex in East Amherst that formerly catered to low income, Section 8 tenants.

If taken, the Cowls property would cost the town $6.6 million (not to mention significant annual tax revenues by removing property off the tax rolls) and the Echo Village Apartments a little less than half that, for a total expenditure of $9.6 million.  

In 1987 Amherst did take by eminent domain the Cherry Hill Golf Course for $2.2 million, the most expensive taking in town history, in order to kill a 134 unit development proposed by Cambridge architect Robert Kreger. 

Chapter 61 rules and regulations (Cowls property is currently Ch 61)

Click to enlarge/read

Blarney Blowout Epilogue

Blarney Blowout aftermath

Was this year's Blarney Blowout really "less trouble" than last year?  Well, no.  Sure the downtown bar scene was a tad more controlled, but compared to the debauchery on display last year, not a very high bar to hurdle.

Amherst Police tell their side of the (sad) story

 Daily Hampshire Gazette Break Page 3/11/13

And while the downtown merely simmered, the north end of town boiled over.  Yes, another Meadow Street marauders incident.

 Blarney Blowout taxed our first responders

Part of the problem is the bars naming that which should remain nameless, thus giving impressionable youth more of a reason to party into unconsciousness (not that some of them need a reason).

And giving immature cheerleaders who profit off such boorish behavior, a reason to celebrate.

As Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe pointed out last week, the "Blarney Blowout" has taken on a life of its own.

The only good news in all of this is town officials can get the attention of rough-and-tumble business owners by threatening to pull their permits.  It worked a dozen years ago when these same bars (under previous management) were flagrantly violating the town's groundbreaking smoking ban.

Amherst and State Police in riot gear prepare to break up Townhouse Apartments "party" 

So I hope the Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods Working Group is paying attention.  Do you really want to get the attention of Party House landlords and give them an incentive to enforce civility?

Enact a rental permit system which allows the town -- in extreme circumstances -- to pull the permit, shut down the business, end the pox on our neighborhoods.

And yes, it's also time to end the "Blarney Blowout."

Amherst firefighters union did not appreciate Gazette coverage

WGGB CH 40 TV reports

CBS CH 3 reports  

WWLP CH 22 reports

Bostino reports

The Republican reports 

  Gazette Front Page (above the fold) 3/12/13

Blarney Blowout 2013

And so it begins: Friday afternoon delivery to Stacker's.  My Anon photo contributor tells me there were at least three dozen kegs that came off this one truck.

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APD checking up on Stackers 10:55 AM Saturday morning

Hide the women and children, the 2013 Blarney Blowout has begun! And, unfortunately, the weather is fine.

Yeah, sounds like I'm writing a song.

I don't wake up this early for class but ill sure wake up this early to drink #blarneyblowout
— Tim Collins (@m0hawk_f0_sH0) March 9, 2013

Crowd waiting at The Pub much larger than Stackers or McMurphy's 10:30 AM

 Amherst Town Center 1:30 PM Post Office Bus Stop

 

 North Pleasant Street just outside Town Center

#####

4:00 PM

Townhouse Apartments Meadow Street North Amherst

Townhouse Quad area starting to look like Woodstock (including the mud) 

APD and AFD on scene for 18-year-old female passed out drunk

Couple thousand students cram into the Quad area Townhouse Apartments

#####

5:00 PM 

And we just knew this was gonna happen.  Amherst and State Police, including a K-9 unit break up the party.  Rather quickly.

Somebody is going to have a major clean up tomorrow 

How many cop cars do you count? This was shot just after Amherst and State PD broke up the party.

#####

The Morning After

45 Phillips Street 

20 Allen Street

However ... According to the venerable Daily Hampshire Gazette:

BUSY DAYS FOR AFD

Disposable Art

Hastings & Amherst Human Rights Commission celebrate Black History Month

 Worker cleans Hastings window this morning

Leader Of The Pack

Amherst Crocker Farm Elementary School is in the final stage of acquiring a new principal to replace Mike Morris, who was kicked upstairs into Central Office to head up teacher evaluations, a new state mandated protocol. 

Originally 20 candidates -- 9 men and 11 women -- applied for the position.  A volunteer screening committee interviewed 9 semi- finalists and whittled the field down to five finalists, all women.

Earlier in the week the finalists met with parents and other stakeholders.

Two of the final candidates are from out of state so ARPS paid their travel expenses, roughly $3,000 total.

Currently Crocker Farm is being run by co-principals Derek Shea and Anne Marie Foley.  Ms Foley is a finalist for the permanent position of principal.

With two young children of his own and a coaching commitment to Amherst College in the Fall, Mr Shea opted not to put his hat in the ring, but said he "looks forward to coming back next year as Assistant Principal."

Kathy Mazur, Human Resources Director, is currently checking references on the finalists.  Superintendent Maria Geryk will review the feedback forms and then make her decision.  Any offer will of course be contingent on passing a criminal background check.

The new principal will start July 1.

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.