Parking Report

Not hard to find parking on a Sunday morn after UMass lets out

Senior Town Planner Jeff Bagg has become the de facto Parking Czar having helped organize three public forums on the issue over the past year co-sponsored by the Select Board, keepers of the public way, and the Planning Board.

 On Monday night he presented a "draft report" to the Select Board thus kick starting a process that will hopefully lead to solutions that can be implemented in our lifetime.

 Jeff Bagg presenting parking study draft report to Amherst Select Board

By far finding #1 was "Begin planning process for new parking facility now" with 84% of respondents supporting the question (all of them drivers no doubt).  The other major finding is for the town to figure out a way to "maximize the efficiency and availability of existing parking supply."

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And the key suggestion is to do both simultaneously, since constructing a parking garage takes more time than some downtown businesses have to spare.  The "100 years war" was named after the first fiasco erecting the Boltwood Parking Garage 15 years ago. 

Existing parking lot behind CVS is perfect spot, but half privately owned

De Facto Monopoly?

The lucrative cable license for Comcast expires in October, 2016 so the town has revived the Cable Advisory Committee, kind of like locust that spends most of their life time in hibernation before noisily coming back to life.  

The Committee met yesterday for the 1st time in almost ten years.  Town Manager John Musante and legal consultant, Boston attorney Peter Epstein, also attended.  Epstein told the committee he was the attorney who wrote the cable agreement 3 cycles ago in the mid-1980s.

 Kris Pacunas was voted Chair

Since cable franchise is such a special field we are not using our regular town attorney from the firm of Kopelman & Paige.  Mr. Epstein is being paid $200/hour and will probably cost in the neighborhood of $20,000 total.

 Attorney Epstein (2nd from left) meets with Cable Advisory Committee 6/16

This year the contract is worth $6.3 million to Comcast and the town's 5% cut comes to $317,000 so not a lot of money to spend making sure the town doesn't get taken to the cleaners in the next contract.

Amherst provides 7,000 total subscribers, the vast majority of them using cable TV -- but that number also includes Internet and phone subscribers, which does not provide any revenue to the town.

 Virtually all of the money ($317,000)  generated by the 5% cut  -- which attorney Epstein said is "written in stone" -- goes to local cable access entity, Amherst Media.

The money issue that could be a tad more negotiable is the one-time payment for "technology upgrade."  At the start of the previous ten-year contract that came to $450,000.  

The current contract expires in October of 2016 but the renewal could theoretically be signed early.  Right now the job of the Cable Advisory Committee is to perform "ascertainment", in other words what do the subscribers want, aka a wish list?  Unfortunately cost of service and programming is not negotiable. 

Cable Advisory member Adrienne Terrizzi said "raising awareness" is, for now,  job number one.

The Amherst Select Board is the final authority and state/federal law mandates at least one Public Hearing which attorney Epstein suggested should happen after Labor Day.  He would like to send Comcast the initial contract by November 1st and they then have two months to respond.

That triggers an additional four months of "negotiations," which hopefully result in a contract both parties can live with prior to October, 2016.  The RFP is specifically written for Comcast and is not a general RFP that could be bid on by Verizon, Charter or any other provider.

Since Comcast owns all the infrastructure required to serve Amherst it is unlikely any other company would want to come in and try to replicate that.

The Internet is not only killing newspapers but cable TV as well, so the next contract (be it 5 or 10 years) could be less lucrative with each passing year. 

DUI Do Over

Richard Sherwood stands before Judge Payne ... again

Richard Sherwood, age 30, was arraigned before Judge John Payne on Monday morning for a drunk driving arrest in Amherst on Saturday night May 9th.  Or perhaps I should say "rearraigned."

 Originally Mr. Sherwood was charged with "OUI 3rd offense" and as it turns out that was his 4th offense!  And when it comes to the American system of justice, details are important.

Sherwood was released on the original $5,000 bail he posted five weeks ago and the conditions remain the same:  no driving, use of a sobrietor, and report to probation officer twice per week.  His case was continued until July 13.

DUI Dishonor Roll

Amherst Police intercepted two drunk drivers on both ends of Saturday, one in the very early morning hours (what most of us would consider late Friday night) and the other one very late Saturday night just before the bewitching hour.

 Geeth Gulavita, age 21, stand before Judge Payne

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In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday morning both men were arraigned before Judge John Payne.  Both had their cases continued to July 14.

 Jeffery Lowe arraigned before Judge Payne

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Just Say NO (To No Parking)

Lincoln Avenue/Amity Street intersection outskirts of town center

The Amherst Select Board meeting was invaded last night by a brigade of concerned Lincoln Avenue residents upset about the initial proposal to ban parking along both sides of their street.

Almost all of them agreed there were problems at the Amity Street/Lincoln Avenue intersection and Gaylord Street/Lincoln Avenue, mainly with sight lines.

But those remedies should only impact the immediate area around those intersections and not the length of the entire road which connects Northampton Road (Rt 9) to UMass Amherst, the largest employer in town.

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 Proposed parking scenario widely panned by residents

By removing parked cars entirely neighbors fear it will increase speed along their street by commuters enroute to UMass.

And many of them pointed out they have small driveways and the on-street parking is needed for visiting friends and family.

Concerned neighbors pack Select Board hearing (eleven spoke, all of them opposed)

The Select Board, keepers of the public way, seemed almost embarrassed by the controversy.  Connie Kruger said it was "premature to vote on this", that it required a "more comprehensive look," and the town should go "back to the drawing board."

 Gaylord/Lincoln Avenue intersect

The Select Board wisely retreated and continued the public hearing until their next meeting July  27.  (During the summer months the Select Board meets infrequently).

Here Comes The Solar

Robsham Visitor's Center

Work has begun on the nifty new solar parking lot canopies -- the first of their kind in our area --at the Robsham Visitor's Center parking lot across the street from Haigis Mall in the heart of UMass campus.

The solar units will cover six rows of parking spaces, producing a total of .576 megawatts of electricity. In addition UMass will install three Level Two dual charging stations for electric vehicles to plug in.

The town of Amherst, as part of their "green initiative" is installing a charging station in the lower level of the garage for the town's electric vehicle and a duel system for the general public in the parking lot behind Town Hall.

The Town Manager is also going on a fishing expedition by preparing a broadly worded Request For Proposals for companies to use town property for solar installations. Of course if NIMBYs see ye old landfill mentioned they will be quick to pull the plug by threatening yet another lawsuit.

Anyone remember when going "green" simply meant nice plantings?

 Town Hall greenspace

Amherst Police station plantings

Worth The Wait?

Metacomet Cafe, 27 South Pleasant Street, downtown

After probably the longest delayed opening in the history of the downtown, the Metacomet Cafe, finally, opened their doors for business yesterday -- just in time for a sizzling summer.

Fortunately Amherst no longer rolls up the streets once UMass and the Colleges are no longer in session. 

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