Town/Gown Peace Proposal

 Umass Amherst:  The Entity That Be

In addition to the $50,000+ in spending for extra AFD and UMPD personnel over the next six weeks to deal with off campus rowdy weekend behavior, UMass is also proposing a long-term major study costing between $50,000 and $60,000 to analyze public safety and housing issues created by the presence of our #1 employer, and how potential remedies fit into their "Master Plan".

Town Manager John Musante will be requesting  $25,000 to $30,000 from Amherst Town Meeting in matching funds for the joint town/gown study.  The money could come from the town's "overlay account," a stash of cash set aside in case property owners appeal their assessment and win an abatement.  Apparently the town has put aside more than needed.

Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy will make an appearance before Amherst Town Meeting this spring to champion the proposal.  Since Swamy is intrepid enough to endure a night of Town Meeting perhaps -- to get a real introduction to the problems of off campus rowdyism -- he should do a ride along with APD any weekend over the next six weeks.

After all, Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe has done it as has Town Manager Musante and former UMass second in command Todd Diacon. 

A3: In Service

 

AFD A3

Amherst Fire Department's newest ambulance has just passed state licensing and goes into service later today, just in time for a trial by fire -- or I should say alcohol -- over the weekend.

Amherst has a fleet of five ambulances and on some weekend nights when UMass is in session and the weather is warm (or the Mullins Center presents a techno concert) all five are not enough.

Plans are to keep the oldest ambulance around and in service for the next six weeks as back up.

Now you know why AFD does not like to transport two patients at a time

AFD will also be getting a new pumper one year earlier than expected at Finance Director Sandy Pooler's urging due to low borrowing rates.  The new $400,000 pumper will replace a 1996 model that Assistant Chief Lindsay Stromgren referred to as a "low bid vehicle" that was not especially popular with staff.

New streamlined state bidding process allows for ordering exactly the vehicle you want with custom add ons.  If ordered in July the town should take possession by the winter.

AFD last purchased a pumper in 2003 and the Quint -- a combination pumper/ladder truck -- in 2009.  The new pumper will become Engine 1 stationed at Central Station in town center and the "go to" truck for initial calls.

AFD Engine 2 Quint

The 10%

The Amherst Housing & Sheltering Committee heard an ominous anecdote this morning from one of their own members, Andrea Battle, who resides at Rolling Green at Amherst apartments:  The most recent lease she signed was for only seven months instead of the usual twelve, and ends this August rather than January.

Housing & Sheltering Committee from right:  Andrea Battle, Nancy Gregg, Aaron Blodgett, Greg Stutsman

A September start for leasing is more reminiscent of an apartment complex geared towards students, or what neighbors refer to as  THEM.

In addition, August just happens to coincide with a time frame where Rolling Green owners, a huge Chicago based real estate investment firm, finish paying off a 15 year low-interest state loan,  and can then bring all 204 units up to market rate.

Thus taking them out of affordable housing stock, which instantly drops Amherst to only 8.5% affordable, well below the 10% threshold.

Our little college town is then at the mercy of BIG time developers doing pretty much whatever they want as long as 25% of the units are set aside as affordable.  It's called CH40B and it's use is about as welcome as giant mutant carnivorous ants.

The town has been aware of this August, 2013 deadline for at least five years with little progress towards an equitable solution since then.  And time is running out.

Former Select Board Chair Gerry Weiss appears before Amherst Select Board during unscripted 6:30 PM Public Question period last week to air concerns about Rolling Green going off line

Rescue Me

Jake will sleep better at night

Thanks to the generosity of three of Amherst Firefighter Bill Dunn's  Facebook buddies -- Doug Frederick, "K9 Diezel" of the University of Massachusetts Police Department and a caring Anon animal lover from Northampton -- the Amherst Fire Department now has on order three oxygen mask kits designed to fit man's best friend (as well as felines, birds, and rabbits).

Amherst is home to about 1,400 dogs and most --if not all -- are treated like family.  The only thing worse than losing all your possessions in a major structure fire is losing a member of your family.

This purchase gives our first responders one more tool to help preserve that which is sacred:  life.

Sins Of The Few

The Gazette uses a dramatic pull quote in today's one-sided, front page article about the evil BIG BAD town government making life sooooooo hard for "property managers and renters alike."

Of course they fail to mention the two property managers are also occasional advertisers. 

"But why are you punishing the many for the sins of the few?" asks Pat Kamins of Kamins Real Estate.

Perhaps Commander Spock with his dying declaration had the best answer:   "The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few."  Especially when the few profit greatly at the expense of the many.

The Gazette quotes a couple of renters criticizing the proposed residential rental property bylaw; but neither of them are college students, a demographic that makes up 59.4% of the town's population, and the ones most preyed upon by slumlords.

The sad saga of the attempted cover up at Hobart Lane by a major player in the Amherst rental industry   should stand as a testament to why the free market sometimes needs government regulation.

Yes, it's a very small percentage of landlords who cause problems for the entire industry.  Just as it's a small percentage of party hardy immature college kids who ruin the image for the vast majority of students who are hard working, law abiding, future titans of America. 

Pat Kamins, center. Amherst Town Manager John Musante, right

Member of Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods speaks

Incremental Improvements

 New LED light Amherst Rt 9/South Pleasant intersection

This spring in an ambitious energy efficiency crusade, Amherst will relamp all streetlights to these more  efficient, longer lasting LED bulbs using a $300,000 state Green Energy grant.

This streetlight at the gateway to town center is already done.  It was decapitated in the Snowmageddon storm last year and replaced with the new and improved LED model, which I'm told are a tad trickier to install properly, but then are pretty much maintenance free.

Speaking of Snowmageddon, work continues on the $85,000 generator at Town Hall which will allow the building to become another Emergency Operations Command.  During the Halloween storm of the century power went out in almost all of Amherst and since the emitters run off the streetlights the WiFi also went down (as did 911 communication).

 New generator behind Town Hall

The generator, which cost $39,000, arrived a couple weeks ago and now needs to be installed -- which will also cost close to an additional $39,000.  Last year Amherst Town Meeting approved $85,000 in capital expenditures for the project.

 Fiber Arts Building, downtown Amherst

Amherst College, our #1 property owner, is in a full court press for construction.  Here working on the old Fiber Arts Building in the downtown, which will be used for office space.

Calm Before The Storm

 

AFD logo

The enormous impact UMass/Amherst usually has on our emergency response system shows up rather dramatically when the students are away for spring break.  A decrease by 90% in runs to our #1 customer.

But this coming weekend, with UMass back in session and possible springlike weather, all bets for a quiet weekend like the last one are off.  Way off.

   AFD Runs, Spring Break

However, town officials have a plan:  Up to six AFD ambulances could be operational during peak party weekends throughout the month of April, the highest number in history.

AFD is putting a new ambulance into service this week as part of a normal rotation in the current fleet of five.

Plans are to keep in service the ambulance about to be decommissioned (as long as they can find all the equipment to stock it).

According to Assistant Chief Lindsay Stromgren: "The town has committed to funding overtime to staff from the current seven up to nine minimum on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from now through April 27th (five weekends). On top of that, Umass will be funding one additional ambulance (two firefighters) this coming weekend (three nights) and two additional ambulances (four firefighters) on the four weekends in April."

So with thirteen firefighters on-duty, AFD can staff six ambulances.

Let's hope these best laid schemes do not go astray:  Like having a major structure fire when all six ambulances are engaged.