Judge: Go Ahead & Build It

Kendrick Place (left) proposed One East Pleasant site circled in red

Hampshire Superior Court Justice Richard Carey allowed the town of Amherst and Archipelago Investments LLC "Motion for Summary Judgment," ending a lawsuit filed by abutter/competitor Joel Greenbaum over the proposed construction of a five-story mixed use (mostly residential) building on the site of the former Carriage Shops, in the north end of the downtown business district.

 

Amherst Carriage Inn circa 1960

   One East Pleasant, Amherst by Larry Kelley

The Amherst Planning Board, after five public meetings, gave Site Plan approval with two Special Permits allowing the building 5' extra height and 10% extra lot coverage.

Greenbaum filed suit claiming the proposed structure was a student dormitory, had too little parking and would cast an evil shadow on his property.

Essentially Judge Carey found that Mr. Greenbaum, with two nearby private parking lots, did not prove the new building -- which does provide 36 parking spaces where none are required -- is not a an injury "special and different from the concerns of the rest of the community."

   Greenbaum vs Archipelago

And Judge Carey was not at all impressed with the testimony of Rolf Karlstrom, finding he's "not an expert authority on parking."

The Judge goes on to declare, "Karlstrom, as a biology professor and town resident, does not possess the knowledge necessary to evaluate city parking.  As such, any opinion in Karlstrom's affidavit will be stricken from the record."  Ouch!

Kyle Wilson (standing), Dave Williams (seated) aka Archipelago Investments LLC

While Mr. Greenbaum can appeal the decision it's unlikely that a panel of three judges would overrule such a strait forward finding from Judge Carey, who is known and respected for his thorough grasp of land use law.

Recycling Dirt

Dirt pile on South East Street

That rather large dirt pile growing off South East Street on the grounds of Colonial Village Apartments in East Amherst is from the Presidential Apartments expansion project in North Amherst.  Both complexes have the same owner (Allen Cohn).

Presidential Apartments:  Nine new buildings opening September 1st

The Zoning Board and Conservation Commission both gave permission for temporary storage of 4,000 cubic yards of material and the Con Com will need to approve any future use of the dirt at the Colonial Village site.

Have dirt, will pile

10/18/15  Job complete

School Superintendent Individual Evaluations

ARPS Superintendent Maria Gery answers to Amherst & Pelham School Committees, Regional School Committee (4 towns), and Union 26

They say a doctor who treats oneself has a fool for a patient.  But apparently in the operations and management world it's not uncommon to do a self-evaluation for your supervisor -- especially when those overseers are elected unpaid volunteers.

In her personal self evaluation School Superintendent Maria Geryk answered "needs improvement" to only one of 24 statements/traits, "Shared Vision".  She checked off "proficient" for another 18 and the highest rating,  "exemplary,"  5 times.

   Maria Geryk Self Evaluation 2015 (click link to better read)

Interestingly, School officials who evaluated her think "Managing Conflict" was her weakest performance.  Five of 13 checked off "needs improvement" and one (Vira Douangmany Cage) gave her the sole "unsatisfactory" of her entire evaluation.

   Maria Geryk Eval by 13 school officials

Of the 15 current and recent past School Committee members invited to evaluate the Superintendent, 13 responded and two -- Amilcar Shabazz and Sarah Dolven -- did not.

Maria Geryk's self evaluation last year

3-out-of-4 Ain't Bad

Superintendent Maria Geryk listens to three School Committees evaluation of her

Last night the Regional School Committee, Pelham and Amherst School Committees and Union 26 sat in final judgement of Superintendent Maria Geryk's performance over the past school year. The final verdict was a good one. Mostly.

Overall they gave her a 3.08 out of 4 which is described as "proficient". But the document was quick to point out, "This is the rigorous expected level of performance."

Interestingly the Superintendent's lowest score, 2.8, came under "Management and Operations" which was probably negatively impacted by all the racial turmoil created in the wake of the Carolyn Gardner affair.

   Amherst School Superintendent Evaluation

The joint committees voted 10-1 in favor of the condensed summary of 13 individual evaluations with only Amherst School Committee member Vira Douangmany Cage voting "No".

Ms. Cage had earlier asked why Pelham School Committee Chair Tara Luce -- an Amherst Regional School employee -- was allowed to evaluate her boss?

The Mass State Conflict of Interest law holds public officials to a very high standard and strongly suggests avoiding even the "appearance of a conflict."

Superintendent Geryk stated the School's attorney had looked at the situation when Luce was first elected and opined that as long as she did not vote on (her own) salary contract, it was not a conflict.

Currently Maria Geryk is the highest paid public employee in town with an annual salary of $158,000 plus $840 cell phone allowance and $10,000 for annuity/life insurance policy.  She does not get a monthly car allowance.

Mediation Vs Facilitation

Amilcar Shabazz addresses his former colleagues on the Regional School Committee

After an hour and 15 minutes of sometimes heated discussion the Amherst Regional School Committee voted unanimously to support a motion calling for them to enter into a discussion with the NAACP regarding their concerns over discipline disparities with a  "facilitator" rather than entering into formal mediation.

Last week the Regional School Committee voted to allow three of their members to do exactly that, but the NAACP turned them down saying they wished to abide by the 1993 legal agreement and enter into formal mediation with the entire Committee.

 A dozen spectators including three former Regional School Committee members in attendence

The original motion from Dan Robb called for exactly that, but was amended by Rick Hood to change the word mediation to facilitation.  That amendment passed with five of nine supporting it: Katherine Appy, Kathleen Traphagen, Rick Hood, Kip Fonsh and Phoebe Hazzard, who was using remote participation via computer.

 Amherst NAACP President Kathleen Anderson:  "Mediation" or federal lawsuit

A few minutes before that NAACP local President Kathleen Anderson clearly told the committee that it was either "mediation" or a lawsuit would be filed in federal court.  Former Regional School Committee member Amilcar Shabazz also passionately urged his former colleagues to enter into mediation to avoid just such a lawsuit.

RSC member Vira Douangmany Cage pointed out the school's attorney Giny Tate makes $225 per hour and her staunch advice about the Consent Decree being a simple "contract" that was null and void could lead to a lawsuit that would only serve to give her many more hours of lucrative work.

Kathleen Anderson reads statement of Mary Lou Conca in support of spending $5,000 on mediation.  Investigation of her complaints against Schools cost $15,000

But Katherine Appy asked why would the committee listen to the NAACP attorney (who claimed it was a Consent Decree still in force) and not their own?  So why waste taxpayer money on a Mediator when it's clearly not required?

When all was said and done the Regional School Committee voted 9-0 to go into "discussion" with the NAACP with a facilitator rather than entering into formal mediation.

The ball is now squarely in the NAACP's court.

 Bulletin board on wall just outside RSC meeting

NAACP Legal Action Too Late?

Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee last week

At a joint meeting this afternoon between the Amherst, Pelham,  Amherst Regional & Union 26 School Committees the NAACP threatened legal action for breach of a 1993 agreement concerning disproportionate discipline actions against minorities will once again be a (hot) topic of discussion.

But in a letter dated August 7 the School District's Attorney Giny Tate pretty much destroys the legal standing of the current threat due to a statue of limitations being l-o-n-g expired.

According to Ms. Tate the original "agreement could only be enforced through a breach of contract action."  Therefor the consent decree was really not a "consent decree" but was nothing more than a simple "contract" between the NAACP and the Regional School Committee.

According to Ms. Tate a "breach of contract in the state of Massachusetts must be brought within 6 years of the breach" (expired 1999).

Attorney Tate continues to pile on:  "Failure to file a breach of contract within the statute of limitations terminates the NAACP's  rights to persue any actions now. The case is dismissed, and the School Committee has no further contract obligations under the agreement."

   Amherst NAACP Too Late

To sum it up succinctly Attorney Tate concludes, "The NAACP had no current right to enforce any terms of the agreement."

Click to enlarge/read

In 2013-2014 White students (60.6% of population) received 29.9% suspensions -- or half their average make up, while Black students (7.4% of population) received 28.6% suspensions -- more than three times their average make up.

Amherst (Selectively) Remembers

First Congregational Church 1:00 PM

In addition to the usual 40+ year Sunday Peace Vigil in town center Amherst's oldest established house of worship, the First Congregational Church, put on their own public display for peace this afternoon by remembering the devastation unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 70 years ago.

Of course they don't anything special to remember December 7,  "A date which will live in infamy."

And thus far, 70 years later, has probably only been exceeded in infamy, by that Tuesday morning almost 14 years ago when death rained down from a crystal clear blue sky ...