A Road Too Far

 

Farview Way, North Amherst

Longtime town resident Allan Carpenter went before the Pubic Works Committee two weeks ago to lobby in behalf of all the residents living on his street.

His modest single family home was built in 1914, four years after the town constructed Farview Way, and he and his wife purchased it in 1952.

This road has not a major renovation since LBJ was President.  For you non-history majors that was in 1964.

Currently, in addition to Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter 17 other single family homes are sprinkled all along Farview Way with a combined assessed value of a little over $5 million, generating $100,000 in property tax revenues paid to the Town annually.

The Public Works Committee was attentive and polite to Mr. Carpenter but offered no hope on the horizon for repaving Farview Way.

Sure the Governor recently cut in half Chapter 90 (road repair) monies,  sending many DPW chiefs into a paroxysm of disbelief.  Amherst was originally promised $1.2 million back when the weather was still cold; although fortunately, we only budgeted for $500,000.

Still, we will end up receiving $618,000.

And since President Obama declared Massachusetts a "disaster area" after the monster snow storm last February, the town should also be seeing an extra $100,000 or so in federal monies.  

Either way, not much consolation for residents of Farview Way. 

Growing Pains

 

Coming Soon:  Commonwealth College 1,500 beds

In his May 15 appearance before Amherst Town Meeting to pitch the joint town/gown study on coexisting in harmony, Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy proactively addressed the #1 criticism leveled at UMass/Amherst:  build more housing to keep students on campus.

The Chancellor clearly pointed out that this fall, when Commonwealth College Residential housing goes on line (1,500 beds), UMass/Amherst will be #3 in the nation for housing students on campus. 

The relatively recent construction of "North Residential" also added 800 beds.

North Residential housing complex

And when Commonwealth College dorms come on line they, like North Residential, will not pay property taxes, even though both will be protected by the Amherst Fire Department.

This year AFD cost taxpayers just over $4 million to fund yet they spend 23% of their time dealing with UMass.

Graph courtesy Amherst Firefighters Local 1764

Umass is scheduled to grow over a ten year period at only 300 students per year.  Had the Gateway Project not been scuttled by noisy NIMBYs that alone would handled a couple of years worth of growth.

And of course The Retreat, a taxpaying student development in northeast Amherst would also absorb a couple of years worth of UMass growth.  If it ever gets built. 

Or, if provincial Amherst Town Meeting had only approved Form Based Zoning in village centers last year we would already be seeing mixed use buildings going up in North Amherst to greatly stimulate both commercial and residential stock.  

Aftertaste

 West side of town common

The torrential rains that postponed the opening of the 22nd Annual Taste of Amherst last Thursday also primed conditions for that other byproduct of a successful public event on the town common:  turf damage.

Yes the town common is public space freely used by the general public.   But large events like the Taste of Amherst, Pot Rally and Town Fair do more than their share of damage, that has to be repaired at public expense.

 Northeast side of town common

The town should simply enact a fee for large events IF they end up causing damage, much like landlords collect a security deposit prior to leasing an apartment. 

Executive Session: Do Not Disturb

 11:05 AM, Town Manager's office: 4 of 5 Amherst SB members attended

Perhaps the reason the state calls it "Executive Session" is because it mimics a private boardroom meeting between a CEO and a corporation's Board of Directors.  In other words, by invite only.

Although in the case of a public body like the Amherst Select Board, they still have to convene in open session (hence allowing miscreants like me to take a photo) before retreating into private conversation.   Or in this case, evicting the general public. 

The meeting was posted to start at 11:00 AM and finish by 11:59 AM (somebody must have been worried about lunch).  Actual start time was 11:06, as SB member Alisa Brewer was her usual few minutes late.  And I'm told by SB Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe the meeting adjourned at 12:39 PM.

The reason for the secret meeting was a discussion of Cowls Cushman properties (154 acres) that are currently under a Purchase& Sale agreement with Landmark Properties for $6.5 million. 

The town can either invoke the "right of first refusal" and match any legitimate offer on the table for the property, or can simply take it by eminent domain via a simple majority vote of the Select Board. 

Although the draconian use of eminent domain also requires Town Meeting authorization for monetary backing. 

The town would then be liable to pay W.D.Cowls, Inc the "highest and best use" for the property, which obviously is not that of its current condition, a tree farm.

Bully For You!

Define "harassed"

So maybe school officials should go on a witch hunt to ferret out the other 20% who would not drop a dime on a harassment scenario and harass them into compliance. 

Do public officials really think these “social norms messages” suddenly turns outliers into conformists?  Or is it just something to do to make it appear they are doing something?

 And 28% of 27, 269 do not

Yes, I suppose they would argue it's not a sudden thing but a long term indoctrination starting as early in life as possible that makes the difference.

Kind of like the liberal mindset PC attitude that's so prevalent in the town of Amherst.

Government sponsored at every turn.

Fireground: Amherst Road Sunderland

 313 Amherst Road, Sunderland heavily involved in smoke and flames

 

WMECO kills power to the structure

(UPDATED morning after:  scroll down)

A fire broke out just after midnight at 313 Amherst Road, Sunderland and many FD units were still on the scene two hours later.  The two story wood structure, fortunately, seemed unoccupied at the time.

A Sunderland police officer was first on the scene and tried to quash the flames with a portable fire extinguisher but was driven from the house by ferocity of the fire.

At one point a horn bellowed as a signal for firefighters to get out of the building.  

Ladders used to help assist venting the roof

Adjacent garage used as elevated platform to pour water in though window

Fire Departments from Amherst, Hadley, Leverett, South Deerfield, Montague, and Greenfield converged on the scene to assist Sunderland FD who was first on the scene.

Many firefighters on scene

313 Amherst Road, Sunderland 6 bedrooms 

The Morning After:

Roof took a major beating

Taste So Good

Jada loved the Chinese food

Tonight's crowd at the 22nd Annual Taste of Amherst seemed to make up for last night's wash out as pretty much the entire town common was almost shoulder to shoulder with pedstrians, most of them eating.

 Atkins Country Market, all the way from deep South Amherst

The only thing that seemed equally popular was the area in front of the stage set aside for hula hooping.

The feast runs through Sunday 4:00 p.m. and the weather is projected to be as cooperative as it was this evening.