Blarney Blowout: The Biggest Loser

It has not been a good week for the mid-30ish cowardly Worcester blogger who likes to relive his carefree UMass glory days, almost as much as he likes to exude snark from under the protective cloak of anonymity.

First he gets outed by an actual professional journalist, and then his childish attempt at taking me down while championing the outlandish aspect of Blarney Blowout falls flat, like a drunken bozo staggering across a patch of ice.

And I was so anxiously awaiting a decent hatchet job.

No, Larry Kelley did not win.  The town, higher education in general, and in particular students who attend UMass/Amherst -- our proud flagship  -- won.  Resoundingly.

Crawl back to your swamp Turtle Boy you're drunk.

Even better, you're marginalized.

Blarney Blowout 2015

Sagacious Fade user figured it out well before noon

UPDATE Sunday afternoon:

Ultra-reliable source confirms the total number of Law Enforcement Officers involved with snuffing out the Blarney Blowout yesterday was 225.

Since the Western Mass Mutual Aid regional agreement calls for the "host community" to cover the bill for a "pre-planned event," UMass has graciously stepped up to accept full responsibility, rather than the town of Amherst.

Classy move UMass/Amherst!

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A sea of uniformed officers strategically stationed in all the usual trouble spots snuffed out the Blarney Blowout.  Decisively. With very few arrests and NO violence.

 Brisk start to the morning

The main difference this year was advance planning, a seemingly endless supply of police personnel and of course THE WEATHER.  Townhouse Apartments, ground zero the last few years for rowdy behavior, remained a cold barren tundra.

 Hard to miss contingent of state and local PD at Townhouse and North Village Apartments

Hobart Lane

Lincoln Avenue/Fearing Street intersection near UMass Southwest

Puffton Village

Police also blocked off the main entrances to these trouble spots and allowed only residents entry.  A modus operandi that was also used at North Village, Puffton Village, Phillips Street, Nutting Ave and of course Hobart Lane.

Phillips Street

 No guest policy at UMass and no visitor parking at apartment complexes kept down the crowds

The MSP helicopter paid a visit bright and early to North Amherst and maintained a highly visible -- and auditory -- presence.

 MSP Air One

The Mullins Center concert attracted thousands of students off the streets so that too was a BIG help.

  Long line of students waiting to get into Mullins Center concert 11:30 AM

And yes, maybe having the half dozen downtown bars not open until 4:00 PM also contributed since it certainly kept college aged youth from swamping town center like they did in previous years.

Long line waiting for Stacker's to open at 4:00 PM

Girl Scouts cookies for sale town center

Equipment:

UMPD Incident Command vehicle set up at Puffton Village Apartments

 

APD Personal Transport Vehicle 

 Mass Fire Services Special Operations vehicle staged at Wildwood School

Many police vehicles staged at Wildwood School 

 

The price tag for all the additional personnel and equipment plus the free concert at the Mullins Center is indeed sizable. But the damage done last year to the town, University and student body is incalculable.

Whatever the cost for today ... it was worth it!

Only 365 days until Blarney 2016.
— ZooMass (@ZooMass) March 8, 2015

Top That!

Kendrick Place, 57 East Pleasant Street

Town received $1.5 million state grant to bury utility lines around the project

Premier Amherst developers Archipelago Investments, LLC held a "topping off" party for Kendrick Place, a five-story mixed use building with 36 units of housing, anchoring the north end of downtown Amherst.  

Investors, friends, and town officials -- including Town Manager John Musante and Assistant Town Manger Dave Ziomek -- showed up for the guided tour over a two hour period.

 Kyle Wilson (center) Judie Teraspulsky (right)

The building, which is well within walking distance to UMass and town center, is expected to be completed in August and occupied by September.

  View of town center/Kendrick Park from 5th floor

As I was turning in my hard hat after the tour Town Manger Musante jokingly suggested  I should hold on to it for today's Blarney Blowout coverage.

Fireground: 106 Belchertown Road

AFD Engine 2 (the quint)

Amherst Fire Department. with the help of APD, knocked down a fire at 106 Belchertown Road, a three story, two family house.  Everyone managed to get out safely.

The 911 call for smoke in the building came in around 8:15 PM and the first arriving police officer reported fire in the upper floor.

AFD Engine 3, (UMass) Student Call Force

Firefighters used an interior attack and had the flames put down in about a half-hour.  Fortunately public safety staffing levels were higher than normal in preparation for Blarney Blowout.

Busy RT9 was closed for a half mile on either side of the location to allow firefighters to do their work.  The road was still closed at 9:30 PM, waiting for the DPW to come sand the ice created by water run off.

AFD Chief Tim Nelson (center) Chaplain Bruce Arbour  (left) Assistant Chief Stromgren (right)

AFD Engine 1 on scene

Encouraging Budget News

Budget Coordinating Group meets in Town Hall this morning

The Budget Coordinating Group, made up of key players from the town, schools and library, had their first and last meeting of the year this morning to go over the proposed FY16 budget, and came away with good news.

After all was said and done concerning the Governor's recently released state budget, which increased "unrestricted local aid" by 3.6%, the likely scenario is Amherst will get only $45,000 less than what town officials projected back in the fall.   Town Manager John Musante described that as "not much more than a rounding error" considering the proposed total budget is $71 million.

Although the town manger did also mention that a state economic development program lost funding so that will cost the town another $75,000, two-thirds of which he had earmarked to help fund a newly proposed "Economic Development Director."

But the Town Manager made it quite clear he still supported adding the position saying, "I continue to believe strongly this is the year to act on it."  And that he would, "Figure out how to fund that  initiative" by reallocating money within the municipal budget.

Costs for the Elementary Schools losing students to Charter Schools was off by a whopping $443,000 over original town estimates, but School Finance Director Sean Mangano said the Governor was using the wrong figures: 94 students vs the correct number of 77.

By April firmer state aid figures will be forthcoming.

The Library Budget generated the most interesting discussion.  Director Sharon Sharry was a tad unhappy about using state aid money for routine operational overhead rather than library materials.

She requested clarification because a news story seemed to indicate the $9,000 new cost of providing sick leave benefits to part-time staff would be partially covered by town funding and not all from her budget?

The Town Manager, in a forthright but Mr. Rogers sort of way said, "Find it" (meaning within the Library budget).

Perhaps the most interesting information presented at the meeting was the broader acknowledgment that the Jones Library and their immediate neighbor the Strong House (home to Amherst Historical Society) is indeed working towards a merger.

$145,591 in red ink is offset by Elementary Schools coming in $100K under budget

Blarney Blowover?

A sagacious Fade user (Anon of course)

After spending serious amounts of tax dollars for a free Mullins Center concert, beefed up public safety staffing and countless hours of input from the UMass PR department, will it all come together tomorrow for a, comparatively, positive outcome?

Well yes, of course it will. Mainly because you can't get much worse than what happened last year.

But the #1 reason, once again, will not be so much all the measure taken by Amherst and UMass officials and the excellent work of the Student Government Association. Or even all the breathless press attention this past week (the Gazette set a record for front page stories).

Environmental conditions, aka THE WEATHER, will play the major role in keeping a lid on rowdiness. The Townhouse quad just isn't the same if you have to wear snowshoes. 



And the #2 reason will be a major police presence. I also notice on social media how students would prefer to deal with UMass PD over Amherst PD. And as long as they stay on campus that is all but guaranteed.

Although the LEOs they really don't want to mess with is Massachusetts State Police, who were out in force for Superbowl Sunday and like General MacArthur they "shall return."

Just for fun, in response to a silly "secret plan" hatched on BlarneyChat to party at Lot 25 near the busiest road on campus, I started a rumor it was going to be a landing zone for the MSP helicopter.

About an hour later a Fade user came up with a great graphic.  Behold the power of social media, which cuts both ways.

 Townhouse Apartments 9:30 this morning 

Hitler had his Atlantic Wall, which failed to keep out the Allied invasion. Townhouse has a chest high concrete-like wall of snow completely encircling the quads, ground zero for Blarney bad behavior over the past three years.

Kids would need a backhoe to clear it now.

Fade users with no sense of humor

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Downtown bars taking delivery 11:30 am, meanwhile just around the corner:

APD having Mass Emergency Management communications equipment installed

Only 365 days until Blarney 2016.
— ZooMass (@ZooMass) March 8, 2015

Cost Of Doing Business

321 Lincoln Avenue, For Sale signed partially buried

After running up $15,500 in legal expenses to the taxpayers of Amherst (presumably as much to his lawyer) in a losing effort to throw out the "owner occupied" requirement of one house in his Amherst empire, You-Pan Tzeng has put the property up for sale.

Litigation Report to Amherst Select Board

The house at 321 Lincoln Avenue was granted a Special Permit almost 20 years ago by the Zoning Board of Appeals to expand from a single family to a two-family (8 unrelated tenants) but with the provision that one of the two units be "owner occupied."

When Mr. Tzeng bought the house in June, 2012 and started renting it out to a gaggle of students, he told town officials that he was living there as opposed to his Longmeadow address that appears on all legal documents concerning GP Amherst, LLC.

Since that was not overly convincing, he filed suit against the town to remove the residency requirement and lost via "summary judgement," meaning blown out of the water. 

When the Building Commissioner recently contacted Mr. Tzeng to ask when he would come into compliance, he was informed that Tzeng's daughter, a UMass student, was now living there.  She was also gifted part ownership of GP Amherst, LLC. 

Of course a UMass education isn't a very long-term thing (at least for most students) so as soon as she graduates and moves out, the building will go back into non-compliance.

Since it is now for sale, perhaps a moot point.