Last Man Standing ... Falls

Captain Video, North Amherst.  Last of a kind

Sad:

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(Just Another) Manic Monday

AFD Engine 2 blocking entry to Cottage Street

Now that higher education, our #1 industry, is on hiatus it's tempting to assume Amherst can roll up the streets, businesses downtown can put up "gone fishing" signs on their front door and AFD can while away the hours washing their big bright trucks.

Well, no.

This morning for instance two calls unrelated to college aged youth occurred almost simultaneously on opposite ends of town:  a dumpster fire at the Pomeroy Lane Co-operative Housing complex and a gas leak on Cottage Street caused by a backhoe hitting an underground line.

AFD Engine 1 on scene Pomeroy Lane, South Amherst

Neither incident turned out to be a step above routine but still the on-duty crews were stretched enough so that two off duty firefighters had to be called in for "station coverage." 

Last year AFD handled 5,914 calls or an average of 493 per month.  Thus far this year (as of May 1st) AFD is running at a record breaking 2,200 calls, or 550 calls per month.

Overpowering Symbol

Kendrick Place: 5 story, mixed use (mostly residential) building opening by September

If the pro-development warrant articles #21 & #22 fail and the anti-development articles #24 & #25 acquire a majority vote (shy of the two-thirds required for passage) on the floor of Amherst Town Meeting Monday night, the shadow cast by Kendrick Place will have loomed large in that nightmarish outcome.

At the moment the building, unfortunately, is still ensconced in its protective exterior winter coat -- so it indeed looks a lot less inviting than it will two or three months from now.  Critics will argue it's downright ugly.

Those same critics point to perceived insider concessions bequeathed to the local developers, Archipelago Investments.  The Planning Board granted Special Permits that allowed an extra 10 feet in height and lot coverage pretty much out to the public street.

Since Kendrick Place is located in the Municipal Parking District no off street parking is required for the 36 units which will house 104 tenants. Such a building outside the MPD would require 2 parking spaces per unit. 

And since it is a "mixed use" building (some commercial on the 1st floor) the town's Inclusionary Zoning bylaw, mandating 10% of the units being "affordable," doesn't apply.

Throw in the recent $1.5 million state grant the town acquired for burying ugly above ground utility wires in and around Kendrick Place and you have a full blown conspiracy theory worthy of a Hollywood movie.  

Of course the other way to view Kendrick Place -- which will be a lot easier to do a few months from now -- is it represents the derring-do of the private sector, who were willing to risk the expensive development costs and work with local boards and committees to bring a desperately needed project to fruition.

While the beleaguered downtown businesses, who could use the walk-in traffic from those 104 tenants, will see Kendrick Place epitomizing the most powerful symbol of all:  hope.

A Long Range Plan

Jones Library, downtown anchor and the town's "Living room"

Thursday's meeting of the Jones Library Board of Trustees became a bit more spirited during the "Long Range Plan Approval" item on the agenda, which was scheduled for 20 minutes.

   Jones Library: 5 year Long Range Plan

The discussion lasted perhaps twice that long, mainly because Trustee Bob Pam wanted to do a line by line review for possible changes of the document -- both substance and style -- while Tamson Ely and Chair Austin Sarate most definitely did not.

 Jones Library Board of Trustees in the homey Goodwin Room

Pam had sent an email to the group earlier suggesting changes that go somewhat beyond simple editing of typos or style.  And he stated firmly at the meeting that, "It is the long range plan of the Board of Trustees, not the Director."

The Trustees did vote 5-1 (Pam voting No) not to wordsmith the entire document for style or typos but whatever "policy" issues they wish to add or change should be sent to Director Sharon Sharry, and they would then discuss and vote the entire document at their next June 4th meeting. 

The "Long Range Plan" is required for the state grant covering building renovation/expansion project the Jones is now busily moving forward on.

Interestingly the Long Range Plan compiled extensive customer survey results -- 86% of them Amherst residents -- with "lack of adequate parking" being the main complaint (66%) and customer service being the main compliment (63% "extremely helpful.")

  CVS & Town parking lot located close behind Jones Library (bottom front) and could someday be the site of new (real) Parking Garage

Sunny Sayonara

McGuirk Stadium 4:25 PM

Things seemed to be going smoothly at the packed McGuirk Stadium as 5,500 graduates will now bid our town farewell.  Well at least the vast majority of them.

For four years (or more) they called Amherst home, helping to make us the vibrant town that we are.  And come this September that small cycle of life, in our little college town, starts all over again.

Thankfully.

Looks better/fuller viewed here  (Note flag flapping in breeze, but video is steady)

Historic Halt?

Old Chapel, UMass Amherst

A group calling itself UMass Alumni for Campus Preservation is calling for a mid-course correction on the $30 million Old Chapel preservation project, citing specifically the "trendy modernization" usage of glass entry doors.

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Arguably no other structure on the sprawling campus has such a recognizable iconic stature, borne back ceaselessly into the (distant) past. 

Scenery vs Safety

This double pine will come down on Monday

After a thoughtful 45 minute discussion deliberating the fate of ten trees along both sides of Pine Street the Planning Board and Tree Warden came to the unanimous conclusion that 9 of them be removed immediately and more efforts will be forthcoming to save the remaining one.

Unfortunately the twin pine is not the one.

The trees are all in the later stages of their lifespan and most of them show their age.  The discussion among Planning Board members and neighborhood residents who attended the meeting centered on the safety issue.

Pine Street is in dire need of a sidewalk and the trees, unfortunately, are rooted firmly in the way.

The Amherst Shade Tree Committee had voted in March to "save as many of the trees as possible," but in the end only one of the ten earned what may be only a temporary reprieve.

Tree Warden Alan Snow was going to take extra measures to try to save a 30" Silver Maple, but did not seem confident it would last for long after the sidewalk is installed.

 30" Silver Maple not coming down ... yet

The hearing Wednesday evening was required by state law since Pine Street is a "scenic way".  And yes, even with the loss of all these trees will still be considered so.

In 2012 Amherst Town Meeting approved borrowing $612,000 for the purchase of 2,000 trees, an inventory that has not yet been depleted.  So replacements will go back in the ground over the next few months.