Sunday, March 22, 2015

If You Can't Stand The Heat




Anytime you pack a room with town officials, board and committee members -- appointed or elected -- you're bound to have a few grumps.

So I didn't really mind so much the venom spewed towards the media by Shelburne Board of Selectmen Chair John Payne -- it was more the ovation he received from the rest of the crowd.

Although I did notice Stan Rosenberg, who organized the Hampshire & Franklin Municipal Conference, calling his speech finale, "fighting words."

What the Attorney General needs to do is put more teeth into the Open Meeting Law.  Make an example of offenders who knowingly violate the law, not by fining the committee or board $1,000 so the taxpayers get stuck paying it.

Fine every individual member of the board $1,000 that must be paid out of their own pocket.  Then you will see a dramatic improvement in compliance.  If that doesn't do it, then try a jail sentence.

Making the job of the media a little easier via a strong Open Meeting Law only brings better enlightenment to the multitudes of citizens who rely on the media for vital information about their local government.  

If you can't deal with transparency then don't volunteer or run for public office.

Where There's Smoke



Extravaganja 2013 attracted typical crowd of 6,000 fans to the Amherst Town Common

Now I know it's Spring!  The preliminary paperwork for the town common pot rally is in the pipeline.  Or maybe I should say bong line. 

The Amherst Select Board will discuss parking approvals Monday night for the 24th annual Extravaganja festival coming this April 18th to a bucolic town green near you.

The event is promoted by the UMass Amherst Cannabis Reform Coalition and every year manages to attract many thousands of aficionados to Amherst town center for an afternoon of live music, food, and camaraderie all punctuated by the pungent fragrance of pot.

Some of the original adherents from two decades ago have probably gone on to high profile positions in the state legislature, paving the way to legalization in the next year or two.

Considering the awful toll legally ubiquitous alcohol wreaks on our little "college town", perhaps not such a bad thing.

The pot rally coexists with the Amherst Farmers Market

Saturday, March 21, 2015

North Amherst: Can't Stop Progress

 The sun also rises over entrepreneurial rebuilding

The renovation of a former cow barn for Atkins North is moving along at flank speed and may actually see satisfied customers before the end of August, in time for when the swallows, err, students return to Capistrano, err, Amherst.

Not that a chic operation like Atkins needs to rely on students.

 Helpful that Cowls President Cinda Jones husband can operate an excavator

Large windows are framed in the south wall

South east corner needed the most work

Adjacent abandoned barn is almost contigious

The immediate neighboring barn, however, may not be as fortunate as the cow barn.  Last July 22nd the Amherst Historical Commission placed a one year demo delay on the ancient structure, but no plans have been forthcoming for its revitalization.

W.D. Cowls President Cinda Jones would like to save the barn and is willing to lease it for $1/year for 20 years to anyone who can renovate it with a business plan that's complimentary to the The Mill District.  

 Roof is starting to collapse
And has plenty of holes

Otherwise, in the interest of public safety -- especially Atkins North customers -- the building will come down.  The clock is ticking.

Currently the barn screens the Mill District from neighbors along Montague Road

Affordable Housing Incentives

Boltwood Place (12 units) valued at $1.7 million could have saved $34,000 tax bill 1st year

Town officials are busy crafting a Special Act Home Rule Petition article that must pass Amherst Town Meeting before it goes to the state legislature for their approval to allow the Select Board to give property tax breaks to developers -- especially in areas where such development is cost prohibitive.

The tax incentive -- which could hypothetically zero out property tax for the first year or two and then phase in over the next eight years -- is seen as complimentary tool to work alongside the Planning Board's new Inclusionary Zoning article, which also requires Town Meeting approval ... two-thirds no less.

Because of irregular lot sizes and high cost of land the downtown and other village centers are especially problematic for developers to create far less profitable affordable units in their projects. 

According to Planning Board Chair David Webber:

In exchange for the 10% requirement and to make the resulting developments more economically viable the Inclusionary Zoning article gives certain “cost offsets.” These include increased height, floors, and lot coverage among other things.  

The Planning Board supports this article even without tax incentives because we believe it will be a substantial improvement over the current bylaw which has not resulted in any constructed affordable housing units. 

It is the downtown (BG) and adjoining areas that are already built out to the lot lines where the proposed non-zoning article will likely be needed.  That consists of a home-rule petition to allow discretionary tax incentives for affordable units (i.e. not tax them for up to 10 years) where the IZ incentives are not enough.  

Together these provisions should result in new, deeded affordable units without stifling new residential development.
The Planning Board has been diligently planning their Inclusionary Zoning article for the past year, and town officials have used tax incentives in the past with Atkins Farms Country Market in South Amherst and the Cushman Village Store in North Amherst to stimulate development.

Amherst has one of the highest housing costs in Western Massachusetts because of the presence of UMass Amherst, which also causes our "college town" to have the lowest medium age in the state.

The average working middle class family is priced out of the market because they can't compete with the per bed rental model absentee landlords rely on to market property to "college age youth." 

And NIMBYs are nothing if not organized -- fighting housing developments an all fronts like Muhammad Ali in his prime.

The simple formula is as old as capitalism itself:  supply must at least come close to satisfying demand.


Friday, March 20, 2015

Racial Profiling?

Victor Nunez Ortiz appears before Amherst School Committee 3/17/15

If Amherst police had paid me a visit because a Crocker Farm School (where my daughter does attend) employee had given them a description of an gray-haired chubby Irish guy, I would probably be a little unhappy with the reality check, but would not argue that I don't fit the profile.

In fact Victor Nunez Ortiz seems to argue that he did fit the profile and as a result was being profiled.



Which becomes a chicken and egg scenario. If police stop you simply because you're not white and they had no lead whatsoever on the race of the Perp, then that strikes me as profiling.

But if police stop Kareem Abdul-Jabbar because they have a description of a very tall black man, that strikes me as being good police work (as long as they let him go after finding out who he is).

 Last nights League of Women Voters Candidates night

A League Of Their Own

Amherst League of Women Voters Candidates Night

If last night's turnout for the annual League of Women Voters Candidates Night is any indication the voter turnout for Amherst's 256th annual spring election March 31st will be pretty darn good.

But by usual standards -- 13.6% last year and a pathetic 6.6% in 2012 -- it really doesn't take much to deem a local election turnout as "good." In fact my threshold for a "good turnout" is a pretty modest 15%. Even the recent UMass Student Government Election managed to muster that.

 Standing room only crowd last night almost none "college aged"

Although to be fair (and balanced), I suppose UMass SGA was a "presidential" election, and when it comes to the once-every-four-years presidential election Amherst falls all over itself to vote:  turning out 69% in 2012 and a whopping 89% in 1992 when Slick Willy was at his peak.

With no controversial ballot questions (aka Charter vote to dump Town Meeting or Proposition 2.5 Override) and no contests for Select Board -- the top executive position in town -- the turnout will be low. Very low. As in maybe not ever double-digit.

While the School Committee technically does not have a race according to the official ballot, the write in candidate, Victor Nunez-Ortiz, certainly has a chance to ride a wave of discontent over racial issues which have roiled school operations over the past few years.

The League of Women Voters Candidates night still has that old fashioned meet and greet, press the flesh campaign feel to it.  Something that's starting to get lost in the digital age of Facebook, Twitter, blogs and of course in the national Big Leagues of campaigns, radio and television ads.

Perhaps the clearest loser last night was Emilie Hamilton, who failed to show up to state her case for being elected to the Amherst Housing Authority, thus leaving candidate Tracylee Boutilier even more time to speak directly to the voters.

And if I had to guess, of the 75 people in the room last night almost 100% of them will show up at the polls March 31st.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Pothole Relief

When filled with water, potholes act as landmines for unsuspecting drivers

Governor Charlie Baker announced yet more good news for drivers across the state:  A $30 million reimbursement program to fill those pernicious potholes.  And since the road repair work has to be completed by June 15th to qualify, municipal officials can't afford to procrastinate.

The money is being apportioned using the same Chapter 90 distribution formula, so Amherst will be getting $126,035.  That's in addition to the extra $400,000 announced in Chapter 90 money a couple months ago.

DPW Chief Guilford Mooring reports that at $74 ton he should be able to purchase around 1,500 tons of asphalt.   A pothole 6" deep, one square yard around requires about a quarter-ton to fill,  so that's enough for 6,000 potholes.

Although there's other expenses for asphalt tack coat, prep tools, equipment rental and the hiring of a some part-time help. 

All in all, a good start for spring.

Just one of the many benefits of a Republican Governor.   Not that it will win him many votes in the People's Republic of Amherst.