Affordable Housing Hand Grenade?

 Boltwood Place, 12 apartments all market rate

Over 100 residents signed a citizen zoning petition that was handed in late this Friday morning before the high noon deadline for placement on the November 5 Amherst Special Town Meeting.

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The petition article would simply add 16 words to the current Inclusionary Zoning bylaw which would make it harder to develop irregular shaped commercial property for housing, especially in high rent districts like town center.

Currently a developer who owns property with a "by right" development capability can simply ask the Planning Board for minor concessions via a Special Permit (relaxed height limits or setback requirements, increased lot coverage, or waiving of traffic study requirments) and still be exempt from the inclusionary zoning requirements placed on developments of 10 units and up.

The problem with closing this "loophole" is the development cost of the project can exceed the profit potential and the devleloper simply walks away.

 Kendrick Place, 36 units all market rate

A project with nothing but market rate (or even above market rate) units still helps lessen the demand for housing in an overall sense thereby making it less likely for greedy speculators to buy up and convert old single family units to packed in student units.

And a market rate project would have a higher value assessment, paying the town more in property taxes and Community Preservation Tax Funds.

Had this wording been in effect three years ago it would have impacted Boltwood Place and the current project, Kendrick Place, now under construction. 

Carriage Shops proposed redevelopment, 78 apartments all market rate

Or, neither of them would have broken ground.  Which is quite possibly what some of the signers of the petition article have in mind.  The article will require a two-thirds vote of Town Meeting to pass.

The really interesting question is will this petition article impact the King Kong sized redevelopment of the Carriage Shops right up the street from Kendrick Place?

Back On Top Again

 ARPS School Superintendent Maria Geryk

Amherst School Superintendent Maria Geryk has regained the coveted #1 position as highest paid town employee (technically the "schools" are a legally separate entity) at $158,000 up from $147,000 and now eclipsing Town Manager John Musante who briefly leapfrogged her last week with his Select Board approved 2% raise bringing him to $150,628.

But you have to wonder what the impact -- using the school's favorite buzzword these days, equity --  would be if all school employees received a 7.5% raise?

Between the Regional and Elementary schools total salary costs in FY15 is $32.5 million, so that generous raise would have cost taxpayers an additional $2,437,500 -- to a school system already sky high in average cost per child to educate:  $18,388 per elementary student and $18,026 for Regional student vs state average of $13,636.

Although her current $158,000 salary after 4 years now at the helm only matches exactly the incoming salary for Alberto Rodriguez back in 2009.  After an annoying blogger made public a document showing Rodriguez was taking a total of 40 days off in his first year as Superintendent, combined with internal criticism about his management style, Rodriguez parted ways with Amherst after only 8 months. 

Geryk is now closing in on the last Superintendent with any longevity, Jere Hochman, hired in 2003 (at just over $130,000).  Hochman lasted five years, voluntarily leaving for his old stomping ground Bedford Central School District (N.Y.) with a slight pay increase to $262,000.

When Hochman was first hired his $130,000+ salary raised eyebrows, nowhere more so than the Town Manager at the time Barry Del Castilho.  The Select Board suddenly gave Del Castilho a mid-contract raise of $10,000 to sooth his ego.

 Town Meeting Annual Warrant 2004

Hwei-Ling Greeney brought an advisory petition to Town Meeting demanding the Select Board roll back the raise.  Article #38 passed 81-71, but the Select Board simply ignored the will of Town Meeting.

Of course in 2007 when Town Meeting voted to oppose flying the commemorative flags on 9/11, the Select Board routinely cites that shameful vote for an excuse to keep the flags down 4 out of 5 years.

This past year the Amherst Regional Public Schools have been in disarray over racial incidents, one particularly mishandled event which led to the High School closing down for a day.

And according to the Mass Dept of Elementary & Secondary Education neither the Regional Schools or Elementary Schools are making much progress toward their target goals.

Regional Schools 1-10

Elementary Schools 2-10

After a year like last year, what kind of a message does it send to reward leadership with a whopping 7.5% raise?

9/11/14

AFD Central Station 9:00 AM 

So another anniversary has come and gone.  Well, gone if you mark the duration of the attack:  Stunning in its savagery, unimaginable in the extent of damage inflicted in under two hours. 

The 13th anniversary remembrance at AFD Central Station brings it all back, a ritualistic reinforcement of grief.  The Chaplain's prayer, the ringing of the bell, police and fire personnel standing at attention and of course the heartrending bagpipes playing Amazing Grace.

 

AFD Central flag at half staff

My time in town center with one of the commemorative flags this year was perhaps the most unique out of the past 13 years.  A homeless individual, one of Amherst's usual suspects, came over and was being a nuisance.

He started by pulling out a lighter and acting as though he was going to set my flag on fire, and followed up with nasty, loud "expletive deleted" that would have made President Nixon blush.

All of which is protected by the First Amendment (okay, maybe not burning my flag, but burning his own).

Thus it reaffirmed for me the unique power of that glorious rectangular cloth of red, white and blue.  The freedom it so nobly represents, even though that freedom can be, at times, inconvenient.

 

After receiving four separate complaints from downtown businesses APD had a chat with my homeless friend

"It's Just Sad"

 Town Manager John Musante

John Musante presented his Town Manger Report to his bosses, the Select Board, Monday night and pretty much glossed over the weekend public safety debacle, describing Amherst Fire Department as "busy." 

Which is kind of like saying the Mexican Army kept the defenders of the Alamo "busy."

Of course he fawned over UMass giving us additional money to fund four extra firefighters to staff two ambulances on weekends, which still was not enough to handle the Friday overnight deluge of alcohol induced calls.

To which Select Board member Alisa Brewer responded in a refreshingly direct, Harry Truman sort of way, calling a drunk a drunk:

Remember

"... that these dead shall not have died in vain."

About the only thing I left out in my brief polite presentation to the Amherst Select Board Monday night is how cowardly it is to simply pocket veto the question of allowing the commemorative flags to fly on 9/11 tomorrow, on the unlucky 13th anniversary of that devastating day.

A cowardice that flies in the face of the ultimate sacrifice paid by over 400 first responders who rushed headlong towards the stricken Twin Towers and the Pentagon when everyone else was rushing away.

AFD Central Station 9/11/13  (This year ceremony starts at 9:00 AM)

Et Tu, Select Board?

Amherst Select Board 6:29 PM 9/8/14

So it looks like Amherst Select Board Chair Aaron Hayden is taking lessons from former Regional School Committee Chair Lawrence O'Brien when it comes to stifling public comment at a public meeting.

And that, Mr. Hayden should take note, is the key reason why Mr. O'Brien quickly became a former Chair. 

Two weeks ago both John Fox and I appeared before the SB during the 6:30 Public Comment period with our own pet peeves and asked to be placed on the agenda for the 9/8 meeting to have a full public discussion.

Apparently none of the 5 members of the board thought it important enough to request the matters be officially placed on the agenda.

According to Massachusetts Open Meeting Law if an item does not appear on a published agenda at least 48 hours before a meeting, the body cannot discuss it -- let alone take a vote. So that's why questions and concerns brought up during the 6:30 Public Comment period cannot be acted upon, although they do have the benefit of media amplification.



But it sounds to me like Mr. Hayden, who used up over 5 minutes making his comments, is rethinking the entire Public Comment Period.  Maybe he will call it the "Shut The Hell Up" Period.

Then we can change the unofficial town motto from "Amherst, where only the H is silent" to "Amherst, where even the H is silent."

An Unattended Death

Body recovered on north side of Amity Street/West side of U Drive in the woods

SAD UPDATE (2:35 PM):

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A huge police presence this morning at the busy intersection of University Drive and Amity Street near Rafters indicated something serious was amiss.  An unattended death in the woods over on the UMass side of the intersection was the reason.  Sadly, a possible suicide. 

AFD was on scene, but not much for them to do

Since the tragedy occurred on UMass property (immediately abutting Amherst and Hadley) there was a large number of UMPD personnel on scene as well as APD detectives, patrol officers, Captain Jennifer Gundersen and even Chief Scott Livingstone.

No confirmation about either the cause of death or the identity of the person, but it could be related to yesterday's highly publicized case of a missing Amherst woman.  

 

Hadley PD also assisted with traffic control