Snoooooow Day(s)

Of course the fake Superintendent Twitter account was first with the news.  Sort of.

Paper, Plastic, Polystyrene

 

Paper cup left (but plastic lid), Styrofoam cup right

Call out the SWAT team, the Dunkin' Donuts on University Drive is still serving their hot coffee (and presumably tea and hot chocolate, oh my!) in Styrofoam containers in defiance of the Amherst ban which went into effect at midnight.  

Well, maybe defiance is a tad strong.  Since Amherst is one of only four communities in Massachusetts with such a ban, maybe the big multinational corporation was simply never aware -- although they are home based in Massachusetts.  

With the college aged youth demographic (59%) so prevalent in our little college town we are probably a highly profitable market segment.

And yes, since the Board of Health can only fine them $100 - $250 day, that would probably only require a half-hour's worth of sales to cover. 

Political Battle of the Year 2013

Nothing in Amherst brings out the wrath of NIMBYs quite like a proposed housing development -- especially when the prospective clients are, gasp, students.  Even though two recent housing studies overwhelmingly concluded Amherst needs more housing -- especially student housing.

The Retreat, a resort like enclave of stand alone cottages clustered in the woodlands of North Amherst targeting a UMass student clientele, was announced in late February.   The reaction was instant and overwhelming.

As in negative.

By the time of the first informational public hearing at the Jones Library in April a coalition of concerned citizens, "Save Historic Cushman," formed and their ubiquitous calling card, red & white 'Stop The Retreat' lawn signs, had already been planted.


Neighbors of proposed development already seeing red April 16, "informational" meeting Jones Library

The first major political confrontation would be at the annual spring Town Meeting where warrant articles only require ten signatures to get on the official warrant.

Article #43 called for the town to "Purchase a Conservation Restriction" on 154 acres of woodland for $1.2 million in northeast Amherst that is already under a purchase-and-sale agreement for $6.5 million.  Once again to stop a large development of badly needed housing.

At the June 3rd session of Town Meeting the esteemed body not only failed to muster a two-thirds vote to take the 154 acre parcel by eminent domain, but they terminated (with extreme prejudice) the naive heavy-handed proposal by supporting my "move to dismiss" the article by a 98-90 vote.



Plan B then became convincing the Select Board to invoke the "Right of first refusal," since the forested property had been in a state conservation program for many years.  Of course that "right" would be a tad expensive as the private deal between Landmark Properties and W.D. Cowls, Inc amounted to $6.5 million dollars.

Neither the Planning Board or Conservation Commission could be convinced to recommend to the Select Board the expensive purchase. Although the July 29 Select Board public meeting was packed with angry neighbors, the Select Board wisely choose not to play that expensive card.

Once again the "Save Historic Cushman" crowd was resoundingly told "No" by town government.

At the beginning of this month (December 2) the Select Board once again held a public hearing to decide whether they should make a recommendation to the Planning Board, who now holds the fate of the project in their hands.

Once again the usual suspects showed up in force voicing the usual concerns.  The Select Board decided to send Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe to the December 4th packed-beyond-building-code-limits Planning Board meeting to remind the board just how important this issue is and that they need to get it right.






Since Planning Board members are old enough (well most of them anyway) to remember the classic Frankenstein scene of angry villagers armed with pitchforks marching towards the castle under the bright glow of crackling torches, perhaps no such reminder was necessary.

Landmark Properties presented their "preliminary" cluster development design to which the Planning Board issued a set of recommended alterations.   Landmark will come back in this New Year with a "Definitive Plan" incorporating those tweaks.

The battle continues ...

Story of the Year 2013

 APD, State PD and UMPD gather at west entrance to Townhouse Apartments

The war on off campus student rowdyism took a serious turn during 2013 and that turning point was the Blarney Blowout, Amherst's version of the Mardi Gras or Florida's Spring Break -- only seasoned with a tad more violence.

As usual good weather was a contributing factor but by far, marketing was the #1 reason for the out-of-control debauchery.

Downtown bars -- most notably McMurphy's and Stackers -- used social media to hype the "Blarney Blowout" promotion, a bait and switch name change from "Kegs & Eggs" which had drawn sharp criticism over the previous ten years for promoting bad behavior i.e. drinking in the morning.

In 2012 the Blarney Blowout had contributed to awful visuals in the downtown and an unusual strain on public safety, including an incident where a drunken college aged male hit on an 11-year-old girl.  The Select Board used their bully pulpit to chastise the pernicious promotion, but as the town's Liquor Commissioners did nothing to penalize the offenders.

So it should not have been too hard to figure out , even if you don't have sitemeters, that the Blarney Blowout, March 9, 2013 was going to be bad day for civility.  Really bad.

The promotion started at 11:00 AM (my first published report was 11:07 AM) and all eyes were focused on the downtown.  Meanwhile crowds, mostly dressed in green,  were gathering at Townhouse Apartments in North Amherst where violence had erupted the year before.

 Entire quad taken up by revelers

The crowd grew to over 2,000 taking up the entire quad and beer cans (some of them full) and snowballs started to fly.  A young woman in the center of the mob passes out from too much alcohol (ETOH) and AFD is called.

 Note UFO

When police and EMTs try to get to the young lady lost in the crowd the mob became uncooperative.  Objects now started flying in their direction. Public Safety personnel retreated after pulling the young woman from the crowd.

ETOH female (age 17) loaded into the ambulance under police escort

Over the next few hours, under the influence of a lot more beer, the crowd would only get surlier.  Vandalism starts to take place.  APD had put out an SOS after the incident with the ETOH female, with many State Police and UMPD officers responding to the call -- all of them dressed in riot gear.

A little after 5:00 PM they uniformly moved in, quickly dispersing the huge crowd while making six arrests.

Moments after police dispersed the unruly crowd

At the following Select Board meeting irate members -- particularly Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe -- blamed UMass for not putting out sternly worded emails to students and parents before the weekend.  UMass -- via a Letter to the Editor from PR guru John Kennedy -- blamed the town for allowing the promotion.

Of course the Select Board, unlike previous years, had not given the bars permission to open early that day and since advertising via social media is protected by the First Amendment there is little they could have done prevent the promotion.

But the acrimony led to UMass announcing it would donate $40,000 per semester so AFD could run two extra ambulances on weekends; and more importantly, the disturbing incident convinced the two major powers that something structural needed to be done.

 Chancellor Subbaswamy addresses Amherst Town Meeting 5/15/13

For the first time in history a UMass Chancellor came to spring Town Meeting to champion town/gown relations.  The $30,000 warrant article (matched by $30,000 from UMass)  to hire a consultant passed, leading to the formation of the Town Gown Steering Committee, a heavy hitter group of top UMass and Town officials that mirrored the ultra successful Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods Working Group.

The SHNWG formulated a Rental Registration and Permit Bylaw, the most important legislation passed by Town Meeting in a generation, and a direct outgrowth of last year's "Story of the Year".  

The Town Gown Steering Committee finished up a Request For Proposals a few weeks ago and will continue to meet after the consultant issues a report.

After all, implementation is the key. 

Firefighters Ratify New Contract

A parade of AFD hardware

Amherst Firefighters Local Union 1764 voted to accept the recent three year contract offered to them by the town which provides a 2% raise but brings a bit more security to the citizenry they serve in Amherst, Leverett, Pelham, Shutesbury and Hadley by upping the minimum staffing level from seven to eight professional firefighters per shift (when UMass is in session).

   AFD New Contract

In The Line Of Duty

It really doesn't matter if officer Dmitry Makovkin knew he was going to die, whether he consciously embraced 22 pounds of high explosives to muffle the deadly blast, or he was simply acting instinctively to subdue a suspicious perp. 

The fact remains his selfless split-second actions saved countless lives, almost all of them innocent civilians.  At the ultimate price of his own life, cut w-a-y too short at age 29.

I always thought the police motto "To protect and to serve" was an American thing.  Not any more. 

Thoughtful Customers

 Food For Thought Books ends the year on a positive note

Food For Thought Books will live to see their 38th year in business thanks to generous customers who came together via the Indiegogo fundraising site to the tune of over $40,000.  Not bad considering the goal was $38,000.  Actually not bad period. 

The left of center bookstore has been a mainstay in the downtown since the early 1970s back before Al Gore invented the Internet.  But now, everything has changed -- and bookstores, newspapers and video rental stores are under the gun.  More like an assault rifle. 

Meanwhile just around the corner, fair and balanced Amherst Books -- also in a building owned by Barry Roberts -- seems to be weathering the storm.