The High Cost of Safety

Dare I even breath the word?

Dare I remind you of that stunningly sad Friday morning when our run of the mill routine was suddenly and forever broken.  By a madman ... with a gun.  Unleashing barrage after barrage of .223 caliber bullets on our most innocent, priceless possession: Children.

And the teachers and staff parents entrusted them with, who died defending their helpless young students in a heroic attempt to uphold that trust. 

Newtown.  Sandy Hook Elementary School.  A tragedy of epic proportions now forever known by either moniker.  What 9/11 did for airline security, Newton has done for school security. 

Take Amherst's three elementary schools for instance.  This morning the schools director of facilities and maintenance Ron Bohonowicz paid a visit to the Joint Capital Planning Committee to defend capital item requests for the upcoming fiscal year.

Ron Bohonowicz, Director of Facilities and Maintenance, right 

One such item is $150,000 for new "columbine" locks on all doors in the town's three elementary schools (average cost $300/lock) ) as well as panic bars for the inside of doors.  Currently the Middle School and High School have such locks. 

In addition to physical upgrades the schools have also instituted new security procedures for parent pick up, lock the main doors and use security cameras to screen visitors, plus have periodic security inspections with APD and AFD.

$150,000 for locks and panic bars is, indeed, expensive.  But so are the cost of funerals.  

A Little On The Top

Former Fiber Arts Building downtown Amherst this morning 

Work continues on the building Amherst College purchased four years ago for $2.3 Million, even though it was only assessed at $1 million.

Activist Vince O'Connor tried to get Amherst Town Meeting to take the property from Amherst College via eminent domain but like a lot of Vince's initiatives these days, the best laid plan did not go very far.

Amherst College planes to turn it into office space.

Expensive Parking

Machines are poorly lit, confusing, batteries die, and are slow to respond (uses 2g technology)

Actually the price of parking in downtown Amherst is relatively cheap, fifty cents per hour. But if you use the convenience of a credit card, which accounts for 34% of our revenues, the bank transaction fee gobbles up 27% of that, a significant portion.

And since the town is tied into the current machines, which run on proprietary software, there's no way to switch vendor's now.  So rather than raise the bridge the Select Board is thinking about lowering the water:  instituting a two hour ($1.00) minimum charge for use of credit cards.



Although, as Finance Director Sandy Pooler points out, it would almost be cheaper to make very short term parking free -- except of course the town generates significant revenues on parking tickets.

The old stuck between a car and a parking meter.

   Amherst Parking Costs: Credit Cards

This One's For You

Amherst Town Flags at half staff for former Town Manager Allen Torrey

Perhaps one of the reasons Amherst still has a Town Meeting/Select Board/Town Manager form of government is because our very first Town Manager -- Allen Torrey -- was such a good one.  

According to current Town Manager John Musante:  "Consistent with the Town's policy and past practice of lowering Town flags to half mast upon the death of a current/former Select Board member or current Town employee, Town flags were lowered in his honor."

Stability At (almost) The Top

 
 Co-Principal Derek Shea at Crocker Farm concert

Probably of equal importance to last night's announcement that Michelle Tesauro has been named the new principal of Amherst's Crocker Farm Elementary School is the news that current interim co-principal and former assistant principal Derek Shea will return to his position of assistant principal next year.

According to Superintendent Maria Geryk, "Derek is amazing in both roles, and we are all fortunate that he remains at Crocker Farm. He and Michele are a very strong and balanced team. I look forward to seeing where we move with their leadership."

Current  interim co-principal Anne Marie Foley status is still to be determined.  Ms. Foley was a finalist for the position of principal.  According to Superintendent Geryk:

"Annie was asked to come in for one year interim- I will work with her over the next few days to discuss next steps. Annie is excellent and we would be fortunate to continue working with her in whatever capacity."

Rental Permit Passes BIG Hurdle

Jonathan Tucker, Stephanie O'Keeffe, John Kennedy 

Amherst Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe deemed the draft document the Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods Working Group has been toiling over for a dozen public meetings, "Not absolutely perfect regulations, but pretty damn good!"

And with that, after a little clarification help from Phil Jackson who seconded the motion, the committee came to a lopsided 8-2 vote in favor (2 property managers voting no) of forwarding the draft document (part 4.a.1. was taken out today, so it no longer exempts owner-occupied rentals) to the Town Manager, who will craft it into a warrant article for Amherst Town Meeting. 

The Residential Rental Property Bylaw will require a rental permit that is exceedingly easy to get and conversely, very hard to lose.  

As a General Bylaw it will only require a majority vote at Town Meeting rather than the difficult to achieve two-thirds vote that all zoning articles require.

Because we are a "college town," Amherst has a far different housing market than national average:  out of 9,621 year round units 4,258 -- or 46% -- were owner occupied, and 5001 -- or 54% -- were rentals.   National average for owner occupied units is 67%.

Also synonymous with being a college town, college students comprise 59.4% of Amherst's population.  And while the vast majority of college students are industrious, hard working, solid citizens, a small percentage who live off-campus make life miserable for average working families and retired citizens. 

With a permit system in place Amherst will have a new weapon to control irresponsible slumlords.  Like the nuclear arms race of the 1950s and 60s, weaponry town officials hope never to use, but the threat will act as a defining deterrent to bad behavior.

DUI Dishonor Roll

DUI isn't always alcohol 

On Sunday night around 10:00 PM, near 301 South Pleasant Street, about halfway between Amherst town center and my house, Amherst Police stopped a green 1997 Dodge Avenger for an expired inspection sticker and defective equipment.

The driver, Micheal Drake, age 29, made "furtive movements" (suspicious) so the officer called in for back up. The driver and vehicle was searched for weapons.

He was found to have a revoked license for being a "Habitual Traffic Offender" and in possession of a class E substance (narcotic prescription).

Click to enlarge/read