Amherst Town Gown: Moving Forward

Town Gown Steering Committee co-Chairs Nancy Buffone, David Ziomek

In its final public meeting 13 months after formation the Town Gown Steering Committee discussed and then voted unanimously to support the final letter of conveyance drafted by member Stephanie O'Keeffe that will accompany the $60,000 U3 Advisers final report -- both narrative and Powerpoint overheads. 

   Amherst Town Gown Letter

The entire package will be sent to UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy and Amherst Town Manager John Musante, and committee co-chairs David Ziomek and Nancy Buffone will also meet with them in person to go over "next steps."

One additional amendment was added by member Ken Rosenthal to the bullet point about creating an "Economic Development Director".  Forming a new committee charged with economic development to work hand-in-hand with the town hired Director and potential developers.

Even though the town already has an Amherst Redevelopment Authority, Town Commercial Relations Committee, Chamber of Commerce and Business Improvement District.

  Roughly half the Town Gown Steering Committee

Not a single member out of the 18 who showed up for this final meeting spoke against the formation of University Town of Amherst Collaborative (UTAC) an outgrowth of -- but downsized from --  the Town Gown Steering Committee.

 Or the recommendation the town (unfortunately not half subsidized by the University) should hire a "Economic Development Director."

 Other half of the Town Gown Steering Committee

The meeting as usual, was not completely free of dissent:  Rolf Karlstrom reiterated he would be issuing a "minority report" outlining key points of disagreement or "lost opportunities" with the U3 final report.  So far two other members have signed on.  Co-chair David Ziomek agreed to include it in the final package.

Now the key question is will the committee report became a vital road map to the future for two super powers, or just another dead end waste of time, money, paper and bandwidth?

No School For You!

 Crowd of students gather ARHS front entry  12:10 PM

Adult bystanders in front of school

Encouraged by a handful of adult bystanders and more than a few members of the media, hundreds and hundreds of Amherst Regional High School students walked out of school just after noon today to protest the #Ferguson non-indictment of a police officer who used deadly force in self defense.

After 4.5 minutes of silence the crowd, lead by a student with a bullhorn, headed toward town center chanting as they went.

 APD briefly blocks town center to enable crowd to cross

The crowd snaked its way down Lessey Street and up Main Street to town center where the Amherst Police Department swooped in to block traffic for the few minutes it took to amble across the main intersection enroute to the Jones Library.

Originally a dozen students signed a statement advertising the walkout, but that was amplified prominently in this morning's Daily Hampshire Gazette, encouraging a huge response.

And, of course, the weather was hospitable. 

Event promoted on Facebook, but not all that many confirmed "going"

Not to be left out even the Middle School got involved

Click to enlarge/read

1 Is NOT The Loneliest Number

1 East Pleasant Street, a new downtown anchor on the north end of town center

5th time was the charm for the proposed mixed use five-story building with 84 residential units located on the north end of downtown, as the Planning Board last night, finally, gave Site Plan Approval with waivers for 1 East Pleasant, Archipelago Investments 4th commercial Amherst development in just the past few years.

 Kyle Wilson, Dave Williams (behind)

Determined opposition had switched tactics for this final meeting suggesting the Planning Board hold off giving final approval of the project until September of 2015. That way, they reasoned, nearby Kendrick Place with 36 rental units would be open and clientele demographics could be ascertained.

 Kendrick Place under construction next door

Only in Amherst do NIMBYs micromanage private developments right down to the target customers.

The vote to approve was 6-0 with 2 abstentions.  Since two members were not present at the original hearing that started w-a-y back on October 1st, they could not legally vote on the project.

 Building abuts sacred West Cemetery

The approval comes with a boatload of conditions but the developers thus far have been overly attentive to details so it's unlikely they will not keep up their side of the agreement.  The developers are also pursuing LEED-Gold certification, which also comes with a great number conditions.

 A couple dozen residents showed up for "public comment" period

The Planning Board showed extra concern for how the new building would be managed.  Archipelago responded that they are "developers not property managers," and they were in the final process now of picking a management company that would handle all four of their Amherst developments.

1 East Pleasant will have an on-site manager living in one of the units and a front desk will be operational during peak hours.   The lease will not allow rental by the room, only by the unit, and anyone not on the lease will be subject to sanctions.  

The specter of rowdy student behavior clung to this project like a wet blanket.  Fortunately with the town and UMass joining forces to reign in such bad behavior that concern is getting less and less valid.  Although hard to convince neighbors of that.

Wilson and Williams in the not-overly-hot seat before Planning Board last night

Kyle Wilson repeated stressed this building would be well-managed ... something to make the town proud.  The Planning Board unanimously agreed.

Remember

On 9/11, we remember the 343

Today, or more precisely tonight, marks the 15th anniversary of the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire in a hulking windowless beast of a building perfectly described by District Chief McNamee as "the building from Hell."

Six firefighters perished, just doing their job.  They were searching for a homeless couple who, it turns out, started the deadly inferno. 

RIP:

Lt. Thomas E. Spencer
Lt. Timothy P. Jackson Sr.,
Lt. James F. Lyons III
Firefighter Jeremiah M. Lucey,
Firefighter Paul A. Brotherton
Firefighter Joseph T. McGuirk

See The Light

Vince O'Connor

So if grandma gets run over by a reindeer and it happens in a downtown crosswalk this holiday season, after dark, Vince O'Connor thinks the town will be liable.



Yes this is the same Grinch who brought before Amherst town meeting a "Dark Sky Initiative" back in 2007 that would have fined downtown businesses for keeping their lights on after 11:00 PM.

Town Meeting quickly said "Bah, humbug!" to that.

CVS crosswalk (on a dark and story night)

Hastings crosswalk

Post office crosswalk

Kendrick Park crosswalk

Alcohol Induced Disruption

1 of 5 cars deliberately damaged by Jason Fortin, age 41

Anytime someone asks me to remove a post or to stand down from publishing one relating to an alcohol related crime, I think about Danny -- especially now with the holidays fast approaching.

Alcohol is not the answer.  It never is.

Over the weekend public safety personnel dealt with a couple disruptive incidents -- and no, neither of them perpetrated by "college aged youth."

The only two arrests by APD to be arraigned in Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday were both a by-product of actions taken while under the influence of alcohol, a potentially deadly OUI and a rampage on foot in town center.

 Jason Fortin appears before Judge John Payne from the "lock up"

Click to enlarge/read

Judge Payne released Mr. Fortin on his own recognizance and scheduled a pre-trial hearing for January 30. Since the Assistant District Attorney pointed out to the Judge that he "appears to have a serious alcohol problem," the Judge did require Fortin attend two Alcoholics Anonymous meeting per week.

In other more dangerous alcohol related matters Judge Payne accepted the standard 24D disposition (only available to 1st time offenders) from Kristin Hill, arrested by a Massachusetts State Trooper on November 1st.  She will lose her license for 45 days, pay $600 in fines and her DUI case is "Continued Without A Finding for one year," when it will then be dismissed providing she stays out of trouble.

More recently arrested, Kathleen Brennan, age 50, also took a standard 24D for her Saturday night ride that went wrong.

 Kathleen Brennan stands before Judge John Payne

Tech Titans

Wi-Fi emitters dangle from a streetlight in Amherst town center

The town of Amherst scored another award for being on the cutting edge of all things Internet, this time for "Improving Government Services," via the town website.  The award was presented to outgoing IT Director Kris Pacunas and his assistant director Sean Hannon on behalf of the entire department at the 20th annual Digital Government Annual Summit held at the Boston Park Plaza today.

#madgs14 Very proud to accept Improving Government Services award with Sean Hannon on behalf of #amherst first class IT team! #massit
— Kristopher Pacunas (@krispacunas) December 1, 2014

"Strong nomination" from the Big Boss