Library Expansion Moves Forward

A gregarious Jones Library Trustees moment this morning

The Jones Library Board of Trustees voted unanimously this morning on a bevy of issues relating to the future expansion/renovation of the downtown icon, including approval of the 5-year "long range plan", Request for Qualifications approval (leading to an Owners Project Manager) and giving a "museum quality" home to the recently refurbished Civil War tablets. 

Trustee Chair Austin Sarat called the idea of housing the sacred historic tablets "an unbelievably cool thing," but he was a little concerned about the installation and upkeep costs.

Direct Sharon Sharry replied the state grant would cover half the cost of constructing the roof over their heads as part of the routine renovations and the town, using Community Preservation Act funding, was going to pay for the actual installation costs and what little upkeep would be required.

The town will now craft a legal agreement guaranteeing the tablets go to the Library, as Director Sharry did not want to have a special custom spot built for them and then have the town change its mind.

A second agreement would stipulate that the tablets are on "permanent loan" but remain town property. 

Streamlining A Sloth

Amherst Town Meeting 5/13/15

This past session of the 257th Annual Amherst Town Meeting ran eight sessions, but two of those sessions would have been unnecessary if the ancient body had been using time saving electronic voting devices.

With Tally Votes averaging close to 11 minutes to complete and even simple standing votes requiring 5 minutes, it's not hard to do the math.

In Brookline, which has a Town Meeting the same size as Amherst, using electronic voting reduced the time for those types of votes to less than a minute and a half per vote. 

Yesterday the Town Meeting Electronic Voting Study Committee heard a remote presentation from Options Tech International a company who supplies electronic devices to New England town meetings for the past five years.

 Base unit in center

The small hand held battery operated units register a yes/no/abstain vote instantly and gives the user confirmation that their vote has been received and confirms how they voted.  One small base station can handle up to 500 individual voting units and it runs on 2.4 gigahertz radio frequency.

 Votes are projected on screen for entire body to see

The idea is to keep Town Meeting operating as close as possible to current customs simply inserting the use of the electronic devices for the time consuming verification of votes and possibly attendance and quorum verification.

 Study Committee was appointed by Town Meeting Moderator Jim Pistrang

The committee hopes to have a warrant article ready for the Fall Town Meeting requesting the funds necessary to purchase the package, expected to be in the $20,000 range. 

Sad thing is obstructionism will only become more efficient.

The Jawbone Of An Ass

Click to enlarge/read

The ironic thing is Mr. Geryk proves my point about why school survey respondents who may dare to criticize his Superintendent wife would wish to remain anonymous.

This bullying, borderline threatening comment he left on a woman's Facebook page late last night -- a person he has never met -- really has to make you wonder.

And it's certainly not the first time he's gone this obnoxious route.  Maybe we should start annual evaluations of the Superintendent's spouse.

This year:  #FAIL. 

Historic Preservation Via Duplication

Amherst History Mural overlooks sacred West Cemetery

"If you can't save it, repaint it" should be the motto for the One East Pleasant Street 5-story mixed use building coming soon to the northern end of downtown Amherst, within the shadow of Kendrick Place (set to open in August).

The 16' by 140' Amherst Community History Mural painted on the back of the Carriage Shops overlooking West Cemetary by Cambridge artist David Fichter ten years ago will be repainted by the original artist on the back of the new building.

   New Amherst History Mural Agreement

Last night the Amherst Historical Commission voted unanimously to accept an amended easement agreement, thus guaranteeing a new and brighter mural will continue to overlook Miss Emily's final resting place.  Forever.

One East Pleasant Street as seen from historic West Cemetery

West Cemetery from Triangle Street side

Polishing The Emerald

Kendrick Park:  3 acres of greenery anchoring the north end of downtown

 

With all the construction going on in the north end of the downtown it's no great surprise town officials have retrieved from the dusty shelf a study completed five years ago outlining options for Kendrick Park, an island of green in an otherwise drab sea of concrete.

Tree Warden Alan Snow took the Public Shade Tree Committee on a guided tour yesterday morning pointing out trees that would be impacted.  For now it appears the southern end of the park closest to the heart of downtown will be "phase one" in the overall renovation which could take years.

The town received a $1.5 million state grant to bury utility wires in and around the Kendrick Place development and originally the electric company had planned to cross Kendrick Park, but that is no longer in the cards.

But that project will provide plenty of electrical capacity for the lighting and other upgrades expected to occur in the park.

Alan Snow pointing out five trees in the target zone

The walking tour did not get off to an optimistic start as the first thing Mr. Snow pointed out was five trees at the southern most tip that would be removed to accommodate a circular ornamental concrete paved area.

The committee instantly suggested the structure be made smaller or situated in such a way as not to require tree removal.

 Large Sugar Maple possibly endangered by expanded parking

Next up was a very large Sugar Maple on the western side of the park that could be endangered by expanded parking on that side of the park.  The plan is to change the configuration to diagonal nose in parking which would increase the capacity from current 7 spaces up to 11.

Shade Tree Chair Henry Lappen suggested perhaps sacrificing three spaces in order to save the tree.

The first hedgerow that cuts across the park east to west will also be removed to open up the greenspace and to accommodate a crushed stone walkway and pergola.  In fact pretty much all the hedgerows of trees running east/west will be cleared, but of course new trees will be planted around the perimeter of the park to replace them.

 Click to enlarge/read

Kendrick Park was once the site of 11 homes.  George Kendrick, an influential banker, did not like the looks of one particularly run down tenement house owned by an absentee slumlord so he and his wife set up a trust in 1930 to buy all the homes and have them removed.

When the last home left the site the park was officially turned over to the town. 

Old driveway in middle of park will be removed and reseeded

The northern tip of the park may also be impacted piecemeal by the installation of a roundabout at the East Pleasant/Triangle Street intersection next year where the controversial new Kendrick Place sits. 

New roundabout construction next year could impact small clump of trees

Trees on northern tip may require removal for roundabout

Some of the trees are unhealthy and will have to be removed regardless of the various construction projects:

 

Dead Norway Spruce

Sick Cherry Maples

Nonny Burack standing on long dead remains of Elm tree

Although a couple of mostly healthy trees will be taken down very soon as part of the electrical project that is now going on.  

Crab apple and Linden will be removed soon for electrical work

But overall, just a few years from now, Kendrick Park will be a more beautiful natural resource that will rival the Town Common for public usage. 

Soothe The Savage Beast

Maria Geryk keeping a moose in line

The long awaited -- at least by some -- annual review of School Superintendent Maria Geryk, the town's highest paid employee, is now underway.

And one tool being used is an internet survey that allows the general public to weigh in on how well she and our venerable public schools are doing from the comfortable confines of their keyboard.

Except, from my all too encompassing experience with internet commenters, me thinks the survey will get dramatically skewed results because it cannot be submitted anonymously.

Folks are far more likely to give negative feedback from under the comfortable cloak of anonymity.

Unless of course it's positive feedback you're fishing for.

Over the past seven years I've published 47,635 comments of which I would guess 45,000 of them were Anonymous.  And yes I can tell from I.P. addresses that it's not just a few people making many, many comments (other than the one who leaves his name).

Belchertown, on the other hand, is also doing a public school survey but notice they do NOT require a name.  Hmm ...

Rollover

So when I first heard "one car rollover" on cramped South Prospect Street crackle over the scanner somewhat late last night  I instantly suspected alcohol may have played a contributing role.

Townies know all too well how cramped South Prospect is and of course that's why it's a one way street with 30 MPH speed limit.

 South Prospect is a one way street with plenty of parked cars

The incident occurred around 9:40 p.m. and required an AFD engine, ambulance and numerous police vehicles as the street was shut down for around 45 minutes. 

The driver safely got out of the car under his own power and was transported to Cooley Dickinson Hospital by AFD.

The offending vehicle had ricocheted off a legally parked vehicle on the side of the street just before the roll over.  Both vehicles had to be towed from the scene.

Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone confirms that the incident is "still under investigation."  I could, however, "anticipate motor vehicle charges, but not criminal OUI (alcohol) related."

He knows how I think.