And Another One Falls

 1190 North Pleasant Street, Amherst (taken from Meadow Street)

The man with more LLCs than M&Ms have colors just added another trophy to his growing collection of Amherst rental units, this one in the heart of North Amherst center on the corner of Meadow and North Pleasant, two street names synonymous with student rentals and the all too familiar aftermath:  Disruption.

Jamie Cherewatti, aka Eagle Crest Management, aka East Pleasant Street Partners LLC,  just purchased 1190 North Pleasant, formerly Watroba's General store before they moved down the street a short ways and indeed, a student rental for the past few years anyway.

This makes the second time in a row he has coughed up well over assessed value for a property, paying $3 million for Echo Village Apartments (valued at $2.1 million) back in January.  And now this property, paying $495,000 -- more than ten times what Watroba paid for it in 1972 -- and $113,400 over its current assessed value.

Of course the assessor does not instantly increase the valuation based on this selling price, so the taxes paid to Amherst will remain around the same:  $8,000 next year.  But if he should buy the property next door and overpay by 33%, then perhaps the assessed values would increase.  "A rising tide lifts all boats"

Or if he should do renovations, but since the property is already a "two family," highly unlikely.  For instance Cherewatti purchased 156 Sunset Avenue for $350,000 two years ago as a "one family" dwelling, but then subdivided the home, added a little landscaping and morphed it -- with ZBA permission -- into a two family home, where 8 unrelated residents can legally reside.

The valuation has since increased to $404,000 or $8,000 in taxes paid to the town annually -- but the rental income doubled.  And with average rents in Amherst almost $2,000 per month, that doubling adds up pretty quickly.

Meanwhile just down the road in the historic neighborhood of Cushman, also located in North Amherst, red stop signs are springing up everywhere opposing "The Retreat," a 170 unit high-end student housing development.

The Village of Cushman

But the real enemy is not large corporate owned, professionally managed dense developments like "The Retreat".  It is instead the steady sprinkling of Mom-and-Pop operations that have creeped in under the radar.  The enemy within.

Concert Consequences

Easthampton FD, one-half of "Mullins Center Command"

So yes, the Rusko concert at the Mullins Center went much better than it did last year when AFD was completely overwhelmed with a tsunami of ETOH calls.  

This year AFD had convinced Mullins Center management (not be confused with UMass management) to hire two ambulances from surrounding towns hand-picked by AFD, to handle the by-product of a combination of strobe lights, loud music, energetic dancing, alcohol and drugs ... usually dubbed, ETOH.

Click to enlarge/read

   Mullins Center Rusko Concert

DUI Dishonor Roll

 

2010 fatal DUI crashes, 64% involved drivers ages 21-34 

I can now put a name to the face of the driver APD pulled off the road only a hundred yards from a packed downtown at the height of the Extravaganja "celebration" late Saturday afternoon:  Brien Michael O'Connor, age 21, a UMass student.

And since he's majoring in Finance maybe he can better calculate the economic impact of a DUI on his record (should the judge agree of course).

Brien Michael O'Connor

Runner up winner for this disturbing distinction of "most dangerous" DUI goes to someone who should know better:  local businessman Emmanuel Proust ... bagged only a mile from town center, speeding, and his car showed damage from a possible accident just prior to being pulled over.  Second offense no less.

And to round out the list, two more UMass students, both pulled from their potentially deadly weapons just after the bewitching hour early Friday and early Sunday morning.  

APD administers a Field Sobriety Test in the heart of downtown early Sunday morning.  Small amount of class D (pot) was confiscated

Amherst Center High

 

Extravaganja #22!

UPDATE Sunday morning

While the UMass Amherst Cannabis Reform Coalition is always good about cleaning up after the pot festival -- way more so than the average Amherst Party House revelers -- I'm still concerned about the damage inflicted on the historic Amherst Town Common.

 Wet conditions and heavy equipment do not mix

If the CRC can pay for trash removal why not for reseeding the common? 

 

 Mud Wresting anyone?

Must have been something I ate 

How brown was my Valley

#####

UPDATE 5:30 PM (event day)

 

5:10 PM Triangle and North Pleasant near Bertucci's

Off to jail

The downtown is more crowded now than it was for the Block Party last fall when the roads were shut off to vehicular traffic for the event.  

Dispatch received an "erratic operator" report from another driver for a car "all over the road" and "throwing beer bottles out the window," all within spitting distance of our jam packed town center.

He was pulled over, a Field Sobriety Test carefully administered, and he flunked.  His hands were then cuffed behind his back, his fancy car towed, and he will spend the rest of the night in jail.

 #####

Probably not the kind of event the Amherst Business Improvement District will ever considering helping to sponsor but there's no doubt the Extravaganja pot festival brings thousands and thousands of consumers into downtown Amherst.

Although in this particular case, the product they are most interested in consuming is still illegal.

Ch 40 engages in a bit of hyperbole (the clouds really are, you know, clouds)

 

 Antonio's is doing a brisk business

Amherst Police break out the Personal Transport Vehicle

Traffic is snarled heading into town center

Snowstorm Silver Lining

 Snowplow Amherst Town Center 2/9/13

Although it took the federal government less than a week to declare Boston a disaster area after the terrorist bombing, the epic snowstorm that caused the entire state to "shelter in place" took over two months for Massachusetts to garner that designation, bringing aid in the form of federal dollars.

Same day declarations by President Obama (who did quite well in Mass back in November)

Guilford Mooring Amherst DPW Chief

Amherst DPW Director Guilford Mooring submitted a request to MEMA for $100,000 that includes vehicles, material and 72 hours of work for storm clean up.  The amount was only an "estimate" so the actual grant could be more (or less).

The money will go to cover deficit spending in the "snow and ice removal" budget and the surplus will go back into the General Fund.

Although it would be nice to set some aside for union raises for DPW employees, firefighters, police officers, police supervisors and service employees whose contracts all expire July 1st.

Fireground: College Street Command

195 College Street, Amherst "single family" home

By the time an Amherst police patrol confirmed "smoke coming from the building" Amherst Fire Department had already committed three engines dispatched in a hurry to 195 College Street after the "box alarm" first sounded around 10:10 PM last night.

Yes, another basement fire. And like the Hobart Lane basement fire last September this one also narrowly missed becoming a tragedy. Especially since the building inspector discovered far more bedrooms than allowed by law.

While it was only a dryer fire, I'm told the machine and all the clothes inside were incinerated with thick smoke filling the entire structure.  Like my six year old daughter, fire loves to climb.

So if it starts at the lowest point possible in a wood frame structure, it's ravenous appetite is all the better served.

Fortunately AFD stopped it in a hurry.  But when the building inspector arrived, as is standard procedure with any structure fire, he found inadequate smoke alarm system and more than twice as many bedrooms as shown on the official town property card (seven vs three).

Kind of makes you wonder why anyone would need seven bedrooms in a single family unit only zoned for four unrelated housemates? 

The house is owned by195 Amherst LLC not to be confused with 197 Amherst LLC or 162 Amherst LLC all three "sold" for $1 each by Sandra Weisman of Brooklyn, NY.  In addition Ms Weisman also sold for $1 162 South East Street with all these transactions dated December 24, 2112. 

Merry Christmas.

Note name of owner

   195 College Street Amherst Fire

Something Doesn't Add Up

When I made the identical Public Documents request of the town and UMass exactly 10 days ago for their written exchanges since the 1st of January, I was kind of thinking the equation was fairly simple:  UMass Bigwig A writes to town official Bigwig B, who then responds:  that equals one response (C) captured by my request.

So A + B should  = C, or B + A should = the same C.

Of course the reason for the redundancy is to keep people honest.  If each party knows I'm double checking by making the identical request of both parties then they will be careful in giving me all the documents. 

Kind of like cops putting two suspects in separate rooms for an interrogation.  In journalism it's called "verification".

So I'm trying to figure out why UMass (A) is charging 12 times the amount the town (B) is charging to fulfill the identical request (C)?  Anyone?

   UMass response to Public Documents Request

#####

From: Roussel, Debra
To: Larry Kelley
Cc: Ziomek, David ; Selectboard ; Brian Riley ; Musante, John
Sent: Thu, Apr 18, 2013 6:22 pm
Subject: RE: Public Documents Request

Good afternoon Mr. Kelley,

Thus far we have confirmed a minimum of eight hours of staff time to review, pdf and redact as necessary the documents you have requested.   The lowest paid individual able to produce the documents is paid approximately $32 an hour.  Therefore, if you decide to move forward with the request, you will need to submit a check in the amount of $256.00.  This estimate does not include the cost of paper copies, as it was unclear as to the number of copies that were involved. 

Regards,

Debra A. Roussel

Assistant to the Town Manager