#1 Business Story of 2014

 Landmark Properties retreated from their upscale student housing project in N. Amherst

Once again we have a tie with both business related stories involving housing, the #1 "overall issue" of the year -- if not the entire decade. A serious issue we probably share with many "college towns" across the country.

After more than a year of heated packed public meetings, with hundreds of ugly lawn signs polluting the landscape for most of that time and with the developer, Landmark Properties, sinking almost $1 million in initial costs, the demise of "The Retreat" was a BIG story.

 Kendrick Place, north end of downtown

But the rise of Archipelago Investments LLC, fittingly symbolized by their five-story, mixed-use developments, was certainly an equally m-a-j-o-r story.

In fact their three projects combined that have garnered Planning Board approval -- Olympia Place with 75 units, Kendrick Place with 36 units, and One East Pleasant Street with 80 units -- almost make up for the 641 beds that The Retreat would have produced. 

 Carriage Shops:  Future home of One East Pleasant Street

One East Pleasant Street as seen from historic West Cemetery

And with the very recent legal action taken against Archipelago by a tired old-school competitor desperately trying to maintain market share, safe bet that  One East Pleasant Street project will continue to be a BIG story in the new year.

 Olympia Place site work  near UMass

#1 Unreported Story of 2014

Besides being trapped in a major structure fire or a sunken ship, or enduring every parents worst nightmare, the loss of a child, I can't think of anything worse than being physically raped.

I'm probably in good company, so maybe that's why you never seem to see routine coverage of the horrific act in our local media.

But, as a result -- the old "out of sight, out of mind" routine -- we forget that it can happen here.  Yes, even in Amherst.

In FY14 twenty two rapes were reported to the Amherst Police Department, up from seventeen in FY13.  That number is more than three times the rapes reported to them in FY2005 (seven).  The average over the past ten years is twelve.

Those numbers do not include our institutes of higher education.

In 2013 Hampshire College had twenty reported rapes, UMass had twenty two, and Amherst College had nine.  Thus adding in the seventeen reported to APD makes a total of 68 for the entire town, out of a population of 38,000 or 1.8/1,000.

Department of Justice statistics show rape reported at rate of 1.3/1,000 nationwide, so we're well over average.

Unfortunately college aged women report rape at a much higher rate than "average":  6.1 per 1,000 female students, but this is slightly lower than the rate reported for college aged females who are not students, 7.6 per 1,000 females.

Since UMass has around 13,000 female students the 22 reported rapes in 2013 are well below the 6.1/1,000 nationwide average (which would have resulted in 79 reported rapes).

This year that just ended, 2014, will be exceedingly better for the state's flagship of higher education.  The number of rapes reported to UMPD as of two weeks ago is only (and I hate to use that word) six.

But you probably will not see the UMass Office of News & Media Relations issuing a press release heralding that.  Although they probably should.

"We're # One!"

Last month I stated that unless a major catastrophe occurred which, thankfully, did not,  the March 8 Blarney Blowout would be my 2014 "story of the year" -- as it was for the year 2013.  And indeed it is.

But because the aftermath of that debacle has been so subdued, with our college aged youth falling in line through better behavior, I have great hope -- matched by confidence -- that it will not repeat in 2015.  After all, a third time is not very charming.

Thus what was to be my #2 story climbs into a tie for #1:  When Political Correctness collides with teen-aged angst under the roof of the Amherst Regional High School.

Specifically the way school officials treated Dylan Akalis, a white kid from Holyoke who dared like a lot of kids do to use the (modified rap version) N-word with an African American friend, who took no offense. 

Other African American kids did, however, and responded with bullying both online and in person that was reported to school authorities, who did nothing.  Dylan, in self defense, took matters into his own hands and made a "threat" on Facebook suggesting he came to school packing a pistol. 

In a panic, the school was closed for a day.  Dylan was summarily suspended, but his tormentors were not.  His father who worked (with his hands) for the schools was later fired for using a common electrician term in front of an African American school employee. 

Although his diploma reads Amherst Regional High School, officials would not let Dylan march in his cap and gown with fellow students and friends at the June 6 Mullins Center graduation ceremony, or attend the senior prom the week before.  Although a young woman who violated his privacy rights with a public Internet petition was allowed to march in the graduation ceremony.

Had Dylan not been white, the story would have played out in a radically different way.

From cancelling "West Side Story" because it was "racist" to allowing kids to perform the R-rated "Vagina Monologues," ARHS is a shining example of the mayhem that results from Political Correctness run amok.

As usual the response of school officials is to throw money at the problem:  They spent $38,000 enlisting smooth talking  Calvin Terrell, who terrorized 7th and 8th graders back in October and should have been instantly fired.  He returns next month.

The schools spent $48,000 hiring a "Media & Climate Communications Specialist" (fancy term for PR flack) to deal with racial issues, and the first thing she does is get into an embarrassing public fight with a long-time prominent local radio station over transparency.

And of course the  Carolyn Gardner affair was mishandled at the start when school officials kept the original graffiti incident in October a secret, something that could come back to haunt them when the Mass Commission Against Discrimination takes up their investigation. 

No, I don't have high hopes that 2015 will be any better when it comes to the race game played in our little "college town."

Community Policing

Attorney Chamberland stands with his client Steven Cuoco, age 50

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday Steven Cuoco, who gave his address as "the streets of Amherst", had a plea of not guilty entered in his behalf and the Judge assigned him (at no cost) a Public Defender. 

He told the Judge Poehler he was "off his meds."

   Amherst PD Assault

DUI Dishonor Roll

In 2011 twice as many deaths involving drunk drivers occurred on weekends vs weekdays

It looked for a moment that 19-year-old Alexander Osowski was going to strike a plea deal with the prosecution after being arraigned before Judge Poehler on Monday afternoon in Eastern Hampshire District Court, but he must not have liked the idea of a 24D disposition and opted instead to have his case continued until next month.

Neither a private attorney or a public defender will have an easy time beating the official breath test results that is allowed as evidence in a trial, so he should have taken the state's offer.

Alexander Osowski stands before Judge Poehler 

Click to enlarge/read

A Clear & Present Danger

Nikolai James stands before Judge Poehler (in a secure lock up)

So here's one you will not read about in the bricks and mortar media, mainly because they can no longer afford to send reporters to Eastern Hampshire District Court.

And the only way you learn about anything involving "domestic abuse" is to view it in person when the perp is arraigned. 

Because this case involved "domestic assault and battery" Amherst police had to redact it from their daily logs so it becomes that tree that falls in the forest with no one around to record its sound.

In court yesterday before Judge Patricia Poehler the mother and father of Nikolai James tried to have him remanded into a medical treatment program in Springfield.  The father tearfully told the Judge his son suffers from schizophrenia.  

A probation officer told Judge Poehler that Nikolai James had created a "level of frustration" within his department due to his chronic failure to abide by any of his probationary conditions:  He failed to report in with his probation officer, failed to pay mandated fees, and tested positive for marijuana and alcohol,

This most recent arrest over the weekend by APD comes at a time when he is on probation (through 2016) for three separate incidents, including the one where he injured two Amherst police officers. 

Judge Poeler did not allow the motion to transfer Nikolai James to a medical treatment facility and instead remanded him to the House Of Correction pending a hearing for violation of parole. 

Call In The Lawyers

One East Pleasant Street (as proposed)

To no great surprise an abutter (and competitor) to the recently approved One East Pleasant Street, a 5-story mixed use project that will revitalize the north end of downtown, has filed an appeal within the 20 day deadline to overturn two Special Permits as well as the entire "site plan approval."

 Joel Greenbaum, who is also a major Amherst landlord, filed the appeal in Hampshire Superior Court naming Archipelago Investments LLC (the developer), eight members of the Amherst Planning Board, and the town of Amherst as Defendants.

The suit alleges the mostly residential project violates town zoning bylaw because it is a "large scale student housing project". Of course the developers would disagree, citing the demographic of their initial downtown 5-story mixed-use project, Boltwood Place, that attracts tenants other than just students.

Furthermore the suit alleges the project fails to comply with Amherst's zoning bylaw mandating affordable housing units in any housing project that requires a Special Permit.

The town attorney has already found that since the project is allowed "by right" and the two Special Permits are relatively minor tweaks, the affordable housing clause does not apply.

Statement from the developers:

 Click to enlarge/read

The appeal stands little chance of winning on its merits and killing the project, but will most certainly slow down the bulldozers. The tired old strategy of "death by delay".

   Appeal One East Pleasant Street