And Then There Was One

 The DV Den, 320 College Street Amherst

The second to the last movie rental store left in Amherst, The DV Den, has called it quits.  Or as they say in Hollywood, "Fade to black."

While the business was ahead of the curve at one time -- becoming the first rental operation in the area to phase out video tapes and go all-DVD in 2006, in the end it was a technological shift in the delivery of movies that all but exterminated the storefront movie rental industry.

Netflix made rentals as easy as point and click for instant access to thousands of movies, and if you did not mind waiting a day or two, first run DVD movies delivered to your mailbox.  All with a comparatively cheap low monthly subscription cost. 

The recent rise of Redbox was probably the final blow as first run moves were conveniently available in ubiquitous vending machines located near and far (one of them within disc throw of The DV Den) where the discs could be returned to any location and only costs $1.20 per rental, almost four times cheaper than the price charged by The DV Den.

Redbox, 360 College Street, Amherst

But you cannot ask a vending machine for a movie recommendation, or briefly discuss how your day is going thus far.

Efficiency always seems to be at the expense of humanity; and Amherst is now diminished because of it.

Party House of the Weekend

 73 Curtis Place, Amherst 

So yes even though UMass, our number one generator of Party House participants, is currently on sabbatical, that doesn't magically flip a switch and guarantee the bucolic village of Amherst a quiet weekend.

Early Sunday morning (12:49 a.m.) Amherst police responded to 73 Curtis Place, an owner occupied home in a tranquil neighborhood, and issued a verbal warning for noise.

The rowdy residents -- not taking the hint -- returned to their noisy ways.  The second time around (2:37 a.m.) Amherst Police issued a $300 noise ticket.

73 Curtis Place, in a tucked away neighborhood

Another Common Sense Zoning Tweak

 

Amherst Town Meeting will take up discussion of article 32 tonight, the second in a "package" of zoning amendments (unanimously supported by the Planning Board) meant to stimulate smart growth development in commercial centers; although North Amherst NIMBYs seem to be the main organized opposition to anything development related that also involves residential uses. 

By reducing minimum lot area and frontage required for development the change would obviously allow for in-fill development on smaller parcels of land.

One other important change would be the way height is measured on a proposed building.  Non usable pitched portions of roofs would no longer be counted towards maximum height.

Kind of like those rear fins that were all the rage on cars in the 1950s, except a pitched roof is far more useful in dealing with heavy snows, solar panel placement or communications antennas.

Combine this new way of measuring with the increase by five feet to a new 55 foot maximum height allowance, and a developer could squeeze out an entire extra floor.  That too is encouraged by increasing the maximum number of floors on a building from four to five.

Amherst has a well earned anti-business reputation built up over generations of obstructionism.  Town Meeting killed more sweeping changes to the zoning bylaws last year with the narrow defeat of Form Based Zoning.

The changes in this article, like article 31 approved last week, are incremental improvements vitally necessary for a healthy mix of much needed development.

Transparency Tweak

 

Amherst Town Flag, Town Hall

So better late than never, the village that -- like President Obama -- wants to be known for transparency has uploaded to our award winning town website all town employee salaries, mimicking the 18 month old state program known as "Open Checkbook."

Well, all town employees -- but that does not include the public schools who eat up the lions share of our $68 million budget.

Northampton, our sister city to the west, has been doing this for years now and of course my readers will note I uploaded both schools and town salaries a couple months ago.

And yes it still attracts a fair number of hits.  And will continue to do so since folks seem more interested in the schools than the town.

Breaking news bulletin from amherstma.gov

Editor's note: opening sentence contains sarcasm

Ready ... Aim ... Release

 

Scenic Bramble Hill Farm 

The Amherst Archery Academy held its first outdoor Olympic style archery competition this morning using tournament like rules and regulations, held at the wide open, bucolic Bramble Hill Farm on the outskirts of South Amherst.  

The "Spring Gathering" event was limited to students of the Amherst Academy but was so successful it may morph into a more open competition next year.

2 archers per target, 12 arrows to score

The monsoons of yesterday gave way to bright skies and dead still air, picture perfect for an outdoor event like this. Friends and family gather to the rear of the contestants with each archer in the line of just over a dozen firing six arrows per "end", times six ends (36 arrows) comprising a "round". 

Today's event totaled three rounds.

 Bow(dacious) line up

The Amherst Archery Academy was founded in 2011 by Kyle Bissell,  a level two certified USA archery instructor.  Around that same time the Hollywood blockbuster  "Hunger Games" sparked a wave of interest in archery. 

Archers on the line

Tight Squeeze

 

Snell Street Bridge 4:35 p.m.

So it took less than a year for our first somewhat serious accident to occur under the new Snell Street Bridge.  Obviously weather played a big role.  Fortunately no serious injuries.

It happened late Friday afternoon and by the looks of it the car coming down the slight incline hit her brakes and then slid on the wet pavement into the other car already in the underpass.

One woman was transported by AFD to Cooley Dickinson Hospital and both cars were towed from the scene.  Each vehicle had air bag deployment.   

Of course if the clearance under the bridge were a tad w-i-d-e-r people might not instinctively brake when they see another car already in the tight zone.

Last year's $315,000 state project did increase the height by 12", giving ambulances breathing room, but did not widen the space at all.

Editors note:  before taking picture I called 911, turned off one of the vehicle's engines, and helped one of the drivers find her glasses.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Washington Post Photo

No wonder Woodward & Bernstein always used payphones with Deepthroat

The number one role journalists play in a free society such as ours (although now I'm starting to wonder) is guarding the rights of "The People" from The Powers That Be.

And it's a little hard to be an effective watchdog when those all-powerful entities are tapping your phone lines or perusing at will your email inbox.

But according to President Obama -- even after Guantanamo,  Benghazi, and the drone program controversies -- his administration is "The most transparent administration in history."

Well as of a couple weeks ago I was thinking maybe somebody should get him a bottle of Windex.

But now, after the insidious invasion of privacy controversy of the past few days, brought to us by The Guardian, a British publication, an American reporter might want to ask our transparent President a follow up question:

Define transparency?

Pretty bad when the author of the Patriot Act is pissed