Abstinence in Amherst?

 AFD Central Station

So this has got to be some sort or record -- for recent history at least -- as Amherst Fire Department did not have to taxi a single ETOH (alcohol OD) student to Cooley Dickinson Hospital from any of the three institutes of higher education last weekend.

Bravo!  Although the three credited to the "town of Amherst" could very well have been students living off campus.  Still, either way, a big improvement.

Of course a lot of credit goes to Christopher Columbus and his, sort of, discovering America.  Three day weekends tend to empty the Colleges and University and as a result far less mayhem for our fist responders to deal with.

Monday night around 10:30 PM a Northampton ambulance had to respond to UMass for a young woman vomiting because all three of our ambulances were tied up.  On weekdays AFD only has 7 firefighters on duty and it takes two to staff an ambulance. 

The other bad news is Halloween fast approaches (and it falls on a "Thirsty Thursday).  The good news is Christmas break is not all that far off. 

   AFD wknd Runs Columbus Day

Hope Gone

 

Hope Crolius, Chair, Amherst Public Shade Tree Committee

The Amherst Public Shade Tree Committee meeting late this afternoon started off on a sad note (leaving at least one member to shed tears) as long time Chair Hope Crolius announced her sudden retirement from the committee due to personal health reasons and an increasing time commitment to her two businesses.

Tree Warden Alan Snow arrived a few minutes late for the meeting and was hit with the news before even sitting down replied, "I'm very sorry to hear that."  To which Ms. Crolius responded in jest, "It's not you Alan, it's me."

Turning serious she said, "My brain changed channels and I'm no longer on the same frequency as the Shade Tree Committee." She did agree to stay on for one more month to help the committee transition. 

But the APST committee heard some good news:  the tree planting on Blue Hills Road was a big success with ten trees planted.  The neighbors were described as "energetic."  So far this year the town has planted about 250 trees towards the goal of 500.

 Amherst Public Shade Tree Committee this afteroon

A DPW crew of four is using a tracked mini excavator which speeds up the process from the summer, when 2 interns were planting by hand using shovels.

 Tracked mini excavator, at rest

The committee also voted to send a letter of thanks to Amherst College President Biddy Martin for safely moving (at a reported cost of $100,000) the Camperdown Elm, originally slated for death during the Pratt Field renovation project.

Camperdown Elm, Amherst College Pratt Field

Conversely the committee is working on another letter of "protest" to the state Department of Transportation lamenting the "extensive and unnecessary tree removal that was conducted with the expansion of Rt116."  What most locals refer to as "The Notch."

And in other bad news Tree Warden Alan Snow reports three more mighty pin oaks will have to come down on Kellogg Avenue, due to age and disease.  One healthy tree was taken down recently by the Unitarian Church renovation project as the tree's roots ran across the construction site and would not have survived extensive amputations.


Out of these 17 pin oaks lining Kellogg Ave two have already come down and three more soon will

At one point Ms. Crolius wondered aloud if it wouldn't be more efficient (and merciful) to simply remove all the remaining pin oaks in one fell swoop, and start a replanting effort from scratch. 

Alan Snow replied that other than the three that need to come down those remaining -- with a little tender loving care -- will be just fine; although no doubt, after 100 years, the mighty oaks are coming to the end of their life cycle.

With the loss of Hope Crolius the seven member Amherst Public Shade Tree Committee will be down two members.  Those who wish to speak for the trees are urged to contact the committee. 

A New Deal

 

AFD North Station Friday morning 10/4, calm before the storm

The "5 Year Strategic Agreement" with UMass/Amherst, now well into its 7th year (expired 6/30/12), reminds me of a tech nerd who upgrades their older beloved computer using the Dr. Frankenstein approach of installing a new plug-in card or mother board rather than just buying a new computer.

UMass last year paid the town $363,718 for fire/EMT protection, mainly because UMass has its own police department (larger and better funded than Amherst PD) but not a full time fire/ambulance department.

Recently UMass coughed up an additional $80,000 to staff two town ambulances on weekends to deal with the spike in calls somewhat due to "substance abuse" calls (mainly alcohol).  So at the very least, that extra $80,000 should become a permanent part of the new-and-improved "Strategic Agreement."

The Town Manager had an excuse last year for simply extending the agreement because, after all, he was only named Town Manager in 2010; and of course there was that coup d'état at UMass that brought down Chancellor Holub in 2011, although allowing him a lame-duck extra year.

 UMass accounts for 19% of AFD calls

There's absolutely no question the extra weekend staffing is both vitally necessary and well utilized.  In fact, the 1st weekend of October, even with all the extra staffing, AFD still had to call in two mutual aid ambulances from Northampton and one from Belchertown.

 Mutual aid still required 8 times this past September, but down from an average of 15 in previous 2 years

UMass accounts for 19% of calls thus far this year. And with the extra $80K UMass pays Amherst for additional weekend ambulance coverage they will pay us a total of  $443,718 this year.  But AFD's budget this year is $4,114,438. 

So their fair share (19%) should come to $781,707. And that extra $337,989 would cover adding AFD staff on the weekdays as well.

Because it's also apparent additional staffing is needed NOT just on weekends.

 A Wednesday night delay

United We, Sort Of, Stand

UN flag flies 24/7, 365 days a year in front of Amherst Town Hall

One of the earlier political "firsts" for the loquacious little town of Amherst, trumpeted nationwide via the Associated Press (because print media loves "firsts") a generation ago, is still visible to this very day flying only yards from Town Hall.

And still talked about by Town officials.

Last Monday, with little comment, the Amherst Select Board voted unanimously to declare October 24 "United Nations Day" in Amherst.

Just as 40 years ago Amherst went all out to celebrate the anniversary (started in 1948) by becoming the fist "town" in America to "permanently" fly the UN Flag at their seat of government.

New York City and Los Angeles also fly the UN flag but they are, um, cities.

The late 60s and early 70s was a time of nationwide political upheaval -- especially in "college towns" -- mainly focused on the Vietnam War. Thus the anti-war movement found fertile ground in Amherst, "where only the h is silent".

And to this day, in town center, the weekly vigil for peace still holds court starting at high noon.

The fly the blue flag movement started with Mrs. Robert McGarrah, "housewife" of a UMass professor (naturally), who collected over 500 signatures in November, 1972 on a petition presented to the Amherst Select Board.  The first week of December the SB voted unanimously to approve the idea.

 11/12/72

And as we know from the festering controversy over flying commemorative American flags on 9/11, which is banned four-out-of-every-five years, the Select Board alone has final say over the public way.

Ironically the petition stated:  "We can be patriotic citizens of the United States and a patriotic country in the world community."

Patriotic indeed.  

Play Ball!

 Getting down and dirty for a good cause:  youth baseball

Next season youthful Amherst baseball aficionados will have a better place to play thanks to the volunteer efforts of Amherst Baseball, Inc.,  a new name for the baseball program founded by "Mr. Baseball" Stan Ziomek w-a-y back in 1952.

Last Saturday, in less than four hours, with plenty of help from the Amherst College baseball team, a large part of the general recreation field at Kiwanis Park on Stanley Street was transformed into a regulation Little League Field. 

No one could remember the last time the town built a baseball field.

Spokesman Nate Budington reports the field's final application of a specially engineered infield mix will be applied later this month.

 Batter up!

When it comes to providing safe, healthy, character-building recreation programming the town too often strikes out.  So every now and then, it's nice to see somebody hit one out of the park.

By Any Other Name?

So you have to wonder if the Gazette or Amherst Bulletin had today's memo put out by the Amherst Schools, would they still have used the above-the-fold banner headline "Amherst Schools Ban Nuts"?

Probably not.  But my guess is originally the schools had fully intended to BAN nuts, but after the newspapers made such a BIG deal about it, and those snarky comments on Facebook and Twitter started rolling in they, um, waffled.

So now it's not a ban -- God forbid Amherst ban anything other than flying commemorative flags on 9/11 -- it's a "strongly requesting" sort of thing.

Back in 1984 Amherst Town Meeting boldly declared us a "Nuclear Free Zone" to do their part on stopping nuclear weapons proliferation.  Probably would not have worked so well if Town Meeting had only "strongly requested" it.  

Wonder if the Gazette will print a retraction?

 #####

Breaking News Update. Stop the presses!  Superintendent Maria Geryk has sent out a follow up email saying "In response to feedback from families and community members, we will delay implementation until Monday, October 28."  Notice the word "ban" does not appear ...

 #####

UPDATE Saturday Morning (Geeze, I guess they did stop the presses.  Yikes!)

Chop Chop

 Hills House, 38 Gray Street

An enormous dead tree in front of historic Hills House awaits a lot more whittling.  Would come in handy inside the Hills House this winter as the historic home boasts eight fireplaces.

The mansion was built in 1865 for one of Amherst's first business barons, Henry Hills, who at one time owned one of the largest hat factories in America.

The Amherst Boys and Girls Club purchased the sprawling estate back in 1976 for $83,500 after the town took their downtown building by eminent domain for the Bangs Community Center project.

Developer Barry Roberts purchased it in 2007 for $725,000 and the Boys and Girls Club moved back to town center renting space from the Knights of Columbus.  The current owners snapped it up from Mr. Roberts in 2008 for the bargain sum of $1,120,000.

Last May Amherst Town Meeting rezoned from General Residence to Neighborhood Business the sprawling front 2 parcels to allow Amherst Media to build a new building there, which of course will somewhat spoil the current majestic views.

Hills House h-u-g-e front lawn rolls down to Main St.  New home of Amherst Media?

Of course back in the day, when the Hills Hat Factory was cranking out palm leaf hats by the trainload, the big brick smokestack was hardly a thing of beauty.

Scott, Edgar T., 1858-1940, "Hills Company hat factory," in Digital Amherst, Item #40, http://www.digitalamherst.org/items/show/40 (accessed October 10, 2013).