A Matter Of Trust

West Experiment Station, 682 North Pleasant Street

The mistrust created by the unfortunate demise of the Trolley Station three years ago continues to hang over UMass:

Statement from Joe Larson, Preserve UMass

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Trolley Station on North Pleasant Street, built 1911 trashed June, 2012

 West Experiment Station sits on busy North Pleasant Street

682 North Pleasant Street

FADE To Black

Fade:  "Nothing lasts forever"

Well I suppose when "Nothing lasts forever" is your tagline, users should not be surprised when the service itself disappears after only a little over a year.

FADE is/was one of those location based smart phone apps that pretty much acts as an anonymous bulletin board.

Unlike competitor YikYak it relied on memes (photos) with a simple headline to which users could respond with comments and  vote it up or down.  Up votes gave it a few more minutes of life before it would "fade" into oblivion.

Although like Snap Chat  the downside of posting something personal is users can simply do a screen grab as I did with their farewell. 

The app targeted institutes of higher education so UMass had its own chapter so to speak.  It required 500 downloads for the app to become activated and I'm sure at peak UMass had thousands of users.  Plus a few old grumps like me.

During the lead up to the Blarney Blowout (that also ended up going poof) I had fun interacting with the pro party crowd.  A few of my Tweets were reposted on FADE, and occasionally some nitwit would give away interesting information in their response comments.

 Even in its final hours ...

Oh well, maybe now this will free up time for kids to -- you know -- study?

 Maybe there's hope for our youth yet

Preserving The Priceless

Amherst College Pratt Field this morning

When Amherst College went about a $12.5 million major renovation of Pratt Field a couple years ago a tree as old as the athletic field itself ( circa 1891) stood in the way of that progress.

Rather than taking the simple, cheap way out -- destroying the tree and replanting a new one -- the College spent $100,000 to move the majestic Camperdown Elm 30 yards to safety.

 Camperdown Elm this morning

Sure they are a private college with a decent endowment (although an Anonymous benefactor paid for most of the renovations, including the tree move) and UMass is a public University with a small endowment.   But when it comes to protecting your historic heart and soul, cost is secondary.

West Experiment Station 682 North Pleasant Street this morning

West Experiment Station is one of the original buildings on campus from W-A-Y back when UMass was known as Massachusetts Agricultural College (1887).  It is also highly visible located directly on North Pleasant Street, which cuts through the heart of the sprawling campus.

When I asked the UMass Facilities & Campus Services folks via their Facebook page if they were tearing down West Experiment Station I received (rather quickly) the following reply:

Demolished? No! Moved (slightly)? Yes! And this is great news for WES all around. Actually, the building isn't technically being "moved" (because the age/fragility of the mortar work won't allow us to just pick it up and plop it down); rather, it will be completely *deconstructed* and then completely *reconstructed* a couple dozen yards west and a bit south of its current location. Completely new (and deeper) foundation, brand new building systems (MEP), and about 50% more of the building wheelchair accessible, too. We're achieving this by "buddying" the renovation, especially with respect to utilities, with the Physical Sciences Building project going up just behind/north of WES. The building is also being moved in order to anchor a return of Ellis Way --the reestablishment of which is part of the Campus Master Plan.

However, Preserve UMass point man Joseph Larson is not overly happy with the situation and after the fiasco with the Trolley Stop three years ago, I can't say I blame him.

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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

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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