Party Place of the Weekend

Salem Place apartment complex Main Street, Amherst

Griffin Veldran, Jesse Korzen stand before Judge Payne Monday morning

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday in Courtroom #1 two college aged youth took the plea deal offered by the Commonwealth to dispose of their "noise" arrest by Amherst police late Friday into early Saturday morning.

Click to enlarge/read

Pay the $300 Amherst Town Bylaw fine and stay out of trouble for the next four months. 

Meanwhile over in Courtroom #2, three other "college aged youth" (Zachary Calderwood, Jonathan Spencer, Joshua Young) who had appealed their Noise TBL violation last November almost went to a jury trial, but copped a plea at the last minute ... as folks so often do.  

One of them (Jonathan Spenser) did not actually live in the apartment, therefor should not have been issued a ticket, so the Commonwealth dropped the charges against him.  And the other two pled guilty to a civil infraction and had their case put "on file" for the next 60 days.

So yes, by burdening the system via an appeal they avoided the $300 fine, but taxpayers still won by avoiding a jury trial.  And if they get into any trouble over the next two months, the original charges come back into play.

Therefore they better behave themselves on Superbowl Sunday.

Blizzard of 2015: Another Bust?

Town Hall 7:45 AM

Thus far the storm of the century has not lived up to the hype, which is of course a good thing. The scanner was so quiet last night I had to double check to make sure it was on. Which is of course a good thing.

Carry on.

Amherst makes The Onion (We're somebody now!)

Update from Governor Baker

 Miss Emily to Mr. Frost: "Don't believe the hype."

But the wind is still whipping

Bring It On!

DPW supply teepee is one of the busier locations in town this morning

Assuming the venerable Amherst Select Board is hardy enough to meet this evening they will hear a half-year budget update that shows good news and bad news from the DPW budget line:

  

Original budget, Amount spent, Encumbered, % of budget spent

Good news is of course the ambitious LED lighting retrofit of all the street lights in town is paying off handsomely in electricity savings (only consuming 15% of the budget at the half-way point).

And, almost as important, the new LED lighting in the Amherst Town Room (where the SB meets) makes photos look a lot better as well.

The snow and ice budget is not really 29.4%  in the red, as Guilford Mooring points out the amount shown as "encumbered" reflects a full season's worth of supplies. But he does verify that tomorrow's Snowmageddon will most likely bust the budget:

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Even that, however, should be mitigated by Federal Emergency Mgt Agency reimbursement if things turn out as bad as universally predicted.

The DPW are the unsung heroes at times like tonight, tomorrow and maybe even into Wednesday.

Public safety personnel simply could not do their potentially lifesaving jobs if not for those big yellow trucks keeping the streets passable.  Another good reason to stay off the roads once the snow starts to fly: 

Let the police, fire and DPW do their vital work.

Tips from the town

Rusty Public Art

Northampton, Old Courthouse lawn, city center

Amherst Kendrick Park

Snowthings

Amherst College professorial snowman

Snowman corner of Mass & Commonwealth Ave, UMass

An hour later these young ladies were building a mate

Playing field off Commonwealth Ave

Boys will be boys

If You Can't Beat 'Em ...

Mission Cantina 485 West Street, South Amherst

One of the gripes you hear about food carts is that they have an "unfair" advantage over traditional bricks-and-mortar restaurants since they pretty much pay the town only a $100 annual fee to operate.

Restaurants of course either  pay a hefty downtown commercial rent to their landlord, or if they own the building, pay the whopping Amherst property tax that is twice that of neighboring Hadley.  And recently became even more oppressive with the doubling of the Community Preservation Act tax.

But because the lunch cart system, unlike liquor licenses, is not overly regulated it really is an equal opportunity, two-way street.

For instance, Mission Cantina, one of the more wildly successful restaurants located in the heart of South Amherst's microscopic business district will go before the venerable Amherst Select Board Monday night for a lunch cart license to bring their Mexican fare downtown this coming nice weather season.

Currently the town has two active lunch carts, Sun Kim Bop and New York Halal Food but this will be a first for an established restaurant entering the market.

Viva la competition!

Coming soon to a street near you

But Did You Inhale?

Stan Rosenberg speaking at Kendrick Park last October

Here's yet another reason to love the new state Senate President and actual town "local", having passed the 25 year mark for living in Amherst:  When asked by a Boston radio station if he ever smoked pot State Senator Stan Rosenberg replied, "Did I go to college in the 60s?"

Well ... yes.  Umass actually.  Back when it really was known as "ZooMass".  But not anymore fortunately.
 
Rosenberg, being the savvy experienced politician, anticipates a referendum question to legalize marijuana for recreational use will be forthcoming in 2016.

After all he's from Amherst, so he remembers the town vote in 2000 where a pot advisory question asking police to "deprioritize" marijuana arrests passed handily1,659 in favor to 981 opposed.

A local election with a much better turnout than most (20.4%) propelled in a large part by students.

With the state-wide referendum process being used to decriminalize up to an ounce of pot back in 2008 and most recently in 2012 legalizing pot for medical uses, it is indeed a safe bet advocates will go for all the marbles in 2016.

So why not be prepared?  Although Governor Baker is opposed to recreational use of pot he supports Rosenberg's formation of the "Special Senate Committee on Marijuana."

Now will somebody please pass the brownies.