But Will The Residents Complain?

 West Cemetery:  The most historic/sacred ground in Amherst

The Agricultural Commission was receptive to DPW Division Director of Trees & Grounds Alan Snow's  proposal to allow sheep grazing in town cemeteries, an all natural way of keeping the green green grass at an acceptable height.

Ideally the town would use a mix of sheep and goats, since the latter "browse" and would consume weeds, shrubs and invasive species.

 Our Civil War dead are buried in West Cemetery

The proposal is still very much in the preliminary stages.  The next step is to seek permission of the Historical Commission.  Snow believes there may be grant money available to help pay for the experiment, and if all goes well the critters could be munching away next spring.

This section of West Cemetery kept in a more "natural" state

Historic West Cemetery, where the older area is already kept in a more "natural" condition  (cut only once per year) is envisioned as a test site.

Don't worry, the critters would not be given a key to the Dickinson family plot.

Emily Dickinson, "The Belle of Amherst," 2nd from left

DUI Dishonor Roll

Drunk driving costs each adult in the United States almost $800/year

Last weekend, with beautiful but hot weather and our little college town suddenly doubling in size, and APD still engaged in "Drive Sober or get Pulled Over" campaign, the conditions were all too good for a bevy of impaired driver arrests.  Especially since the previous weekend had a whopping five arrests.

But I'm relieved to say there were only two arrests.  Only two potential killers. 

May the odds be ever in our favor.

 Samuel Hurst-Macdonald, 21, arraigned before Judge John Payne

 Click to enlarge/read

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Tuesday Mr. Hurst-Macdonald, a UMass student, took a standard 24D plea deal disposition.  He will lose his license for 45 days, pay $650 in fines and be on probation for the next year.  But at least he saved himself the hefty legal fees. 

#####

Gary Hochron, age 57, had his case continued until next month

A Bridge Too Far

CPA Committee was unanimously in sync last night

North Town Common in front of Town Hall will see major renovations

The Community Preservation Act Committee voted unanimously last night to recommend funding two major capital projects to the fall Town Meeting, including $190,000 -- contingent on a state grant of $400,000 -- to renovate the North Town Common and $240,000 to  expand/renovate the Crocker Farm Elementary Playground and make it handicapped accessible.

 Crocker Farm's sad little playground will expand by 33% and become ADA compliant

Vince O'Connor's pitch to spend over a million in town money, including hundreds of thousands in CPA historical preservation funds, to renovate the Mill Street Bridge (scheduled for state renovation at no town expense in 2017) was firmly rejected by the Committee.

 Mill Street Bridge this morning

When member Marilyn Blaustein made a motion to "not recommend" the crazy proposal other members said simply not taking a vote is the same thing.  So the Committee unanimously pocket vetoed the proposal by not taking a vote.

 Little Red Schoolhouse will be demolished by Amherst College to make room for new Science Center

And Carol Gray, a mother on a mission to save the pre-school building her child attended, sent a letter of withdrawal to the committee for her $200,000+ request saying she could not find a location for the building after it's moved.  At the last CPA meeting she stated she was in negotiations with UMass.

 Carol Gray email to CPA Committee (click to enlarge/read)

When CPA Chair Mary Streeter quipped that UMass officials do not move as quickly as Ms. Gray, Assistant Town Manger Dave Ziomek confirmed that UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy made it very clear to him that UMass was not in the least bit interested in the structure. 

 Crocker Farm pre-school playground

Chestnut Hill Elementary School playground, Belchertown

Regionalization Round Up Continued

Regional School Committee voted last night to get busy in October with Regionalization

The cattle drive merging the four-town Regional School District from current grades 7-12 all the way down to pre-Kindergarten, after four years of pretty much behind closed doors discussion, will pick up the more public pace in October.  Somewhat dramatically.

Last night the Regional School Committee voted to ad an October 1st meeting to their busy schedule and to form a sub committee (Kip Fonsh, Trevor Baptiste and Stephen Sullivan) to create a Public Relations "Presentation" to sell Regionalization to the general public.

The idea is to have "Public Forums" in all four towns -- Amherst, Pelham, Leverett and Shutesbury -- with each of the forums being an official meeting of the Regional School Committee (thus requiring at least 5 of nine members present).

The presentation will be the standard powerpoint variety based on the document to amend the current Regional Agreement, and school administrators (Superintendent Maria Geryk and Assistant Superintendent Mike Morris) will be on hand to answer questions.

All the public forums will be held close together in October to create, according to Chair Trevor Baptiste, "A rolling momentum of the scuttlebutt of Regionalization."

The Regional School Committee has also kicked around the idea of hiring a PR firm to handle outreach although member Vira Douangmany Cage keeps reminding members the in-house 'Amherst Together' initiative should be assisting with the public relations.

Long time audience observer Marylou Theilman suggested the proposed Regional Agreement be posted on town and school websites ASAP and also pointed out the current document lacked the stamp identifying it as a "draft".   It would also be helpful if the pages were numbered.

After the four public forums in October the Regional School Committee will have a few months to discuss any changes and resubmit the proposal to the School District's attorney for a final rewrite in time for presentation to all four Town Meetings in the spring.

In order to amend the Regional Agreement and make this happen all four towns must vote yes.  Shutesbury officials, however,  continuously telegraph they will vote "no."

   Regional Public Schools expansion

So Far So Good

APD having a chat with college aged youth carrying a 12 pack Townhouse Apartments

The long weekend went a l-o-t better than I thought it would as far as (serious) rowdyism goes.

Sure there were the usual problems associated with our annual spike in population, returning Amherst to a "college town" after a quiet summer:  zombie herds traipsing up and down Phillips Street, North Pleasant and Fearing Streets, large gatherings in the west quad of Townhouse Apartments and of course old standby Hobart Lane.

Townhouse Apartments Saturday afternoon

But there were no serious incidents of drunken mob mentality manifesting itself in the form of rocks, bottles and cans being hurled at police officers, aka Blarney Blowout.

Although Amherst Fire Department had the usual tie up in services due to drunk runs with ETOH students. 

Amherst police stepped up their game as they always do.  APD Neighborhood Liaison officer Bill Laramee worked with UMass Neighborhood Liaison Eric Beal to keep a lid on the usual pressure cooker areas.

The Rental Permit Bylaw ordinance that went into effect 18 months ago is making a significant difference by holding landlords accountable for the (late night) activities of their tenants.

And UMass, by building newer plusher accommodations on campus -- North Apartment (800 beds) and Commonwealth Honors College apartments (1,500 beds) -- gives young tenants a reason to be proud of their humble abode and much more likely to treat it with respect.

Revived my Twitter audience

We're #7!

Umass Library was once the tallest in the world

I suppose this is one ubiquitous Internet top ten listical you will not see UMass Office of News & Media Relations extensively hyping.

 Southwest Towers (a 6th was planned but never materialized) built circa 1963 for high density housing

Towers look prettier at night

But hey, if you have traversed the UMass campus much at all you certainly have developed a sense of humor about some of the "brutalist" cold war East German architecture.

 Fine Arts Center goes long rather than up

I'm reminded of the Barnes Air National Guard A-10 warthog jets that used to routinely fly over Amherst:  exceedingly functional, but ever so ugly.

So ugly they are kinda cute.

A-10 warthog, brtttttt, doing its thing

Of course it could be worse: Hampshire College made #3!

 Hampshire College:  With that counter-culture 1960s and 70s style of architecture 

 Safe bet Amherst College will never make this list

Can't Forget

 Commemorative flag flies from downtown utility pole

The commemorative flags went up in the downtown yesterday at the crack of dawn to mark Labor Day, and for the first time in 14 years I hope they come down on Tuesday.

That way, when they go back up on Thursday or early Friday morning it sends the clear signal that they are returning to their perch to remember 9/11, a morning unlike any in our history.

Today is one of those 9/11-like days: late summer, our little college town swelling in size with an influx of college aged youth, all under a severe clear blue sky.  The bright yellow sun slowly arcing east to west.

Perhaps if the weather had not been so stunningly beautiful that morning the untested kamikaze pilots may have had a tougher time hitting their otherwise hard to miss targets.

Yes, we could probably come up with a few "what if" scenarios that could have changed the outcome that fateful morning, which only adds to the sorrow. Life moves on -- it always does.

So when you see those 23 commemorative American flags in town center on Friday (no matter what the weather is like) pause for moment to remember our innocent dead, perhaps say a prayer.

And hope it never happens again.

The main town flag will fly at half staff on 9/11 as will all municipal flags nationwide