Party House of the Weekend

287 Grantwood Drive

In spite of the perfect weather that prompted large outdoor gatherings of alcohol fueled events over the long holiday weekend the individual party house scene was pretty tame, only one.  Although APD had a total of 20 arraignments in Eastern Hampshire District Court on Tuesday, mostly alcohol related.

 5 young ladies stand before Judge O'Grady but are not arraigned

Judge O'Grady insisted the Assistant District Attorney deal with all the students who did not have a record prior to arraignment in order to keep their records squeaky clean.  But the deals he made for all five residents who were arrested at 287 Grantwood Drive was the usual plea deal:

Pay the town's $300 Noise Bylaw fine, take the UMass "Brains at Risk" program, and stay out of trouble for the next four months and the original arraignment will not even take place although all of them have to return to District Court on August 19th. 

When Products Compete

William Fraser long time City Manager Montpelier Vermont

While it has now become somewhat of a joke the correct pronunciation of Amherst minus the h actually served a purpose a generation or so ago before social media and a t-shirt slogan let the cat out of the bag.

My Irish mother pointed out to me that it was a simple way of telling townies from outsiders, from folks who had roots in our little town (even back then a "college town") and folks who may not care as deeply as we do.

Last night the Select Board held an interesting public discussion of questions they will ask the three Town Manger wannabes next week.

 Amherst Select Board reading interview questions for 3 Town Manager finalists

Interesting because they were in open public session and did not want to divulge the actual questions since the three candidates could simply watch the Select Board meeting over the next few days on Amherst Media and prepare themselves for the questions.

But one word from one question was divulged --"outsider" -- because Connie Kruger wanted it changed to "newcomer."  Fair enough.  All three candidates are on level ground because, unlike Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek, none of them are townies.

 Click to enlarge/read

Mr. Fraser will by carrying additional baggage, however, since some people will see his recent actions as playing one community -- that he has served for 21 years -- against another.

Others will simply note he would be coming to our awesome community with a 50% raise, so more power to him.

Vermont Times Argus reports

High Tech By The Slice

Iconic Bank building bottom right adjacent to Jones Library

The stunning former First National Bank building located in the heart of downtown will soon be a beehive of entrepreneurial activity, as Boston based WorkBar is expanding to our little college town.

The bank building, owned by Barry Roberts, has been empty since last summer when TD Bank consolidated into their Triangle Street building in the north end of downtown.

WorkBar is kind of like a health club for entrepreneurs whereby you pay a membership fee to come in and use the facility whenever you need it.  They offer full and part time memberships payable by the month and will be featuring high speed wireless gigabit service.

The center of town is about to get a much needed shot in the arm!

Strike Two!

Panda East, in the heart of downtown

For the second time this year Panda East Restaurant will be hauled before the Amherst Select Board acting as Liquor Commissioners on Thursday evening, for the serious charge of serving underage patrons.

Made even more serious since this is the 2nd offense in only three months and the underage minor was only 17 years old!

Click to enlarge/read

Back in January the Select Board voted unanimously to suspend their liquor license for two days -- January 25 and January 26 -- for the 17 counts of serving minors brought by Amherst Police.

But they also gave them an additional 5 days worth of license suspensions if the infraction should happen again within two years.

Apparently, it did.

Downtown Gains A New Business

 35 South Pleasant Street, heart of downtown Amherst

Londonwest, which will be selling "specialty food products, sports memorabilia, gift-ware" and house a small cafe that serves coffee, tea, and soft drinks goes before the Select Board tomorrow night for approval to serve beer and wine.

In addition to being the town's Sewer Commissioners, Select Board members are also Liquor Commissioners.  The "Wine and Malt on premises" permit costs $1,000 annually, but since there are none available they will seek an "all alcohol license" that costs $3,500.  

The location, in the heart of downtown Amherst, has been vacant since September when Art Alive died and prior to that it was 35 South Cycle, a spin class studio.

Amherst has seen in increase in empty storefronts over the past few years, so it's nice to now see one coming alive.

UPDATE:  Tuesday night.  

 The Select Board continued the Hearing to May 11th due to concerns about how the retail portion of the store would be kept separate from where the alcohol is served, training of staff, and where the alcohol would be stored.

Chair Alisa Brewer was particularly concerned and at one point chastised the rest of the Select Board for not sharing that concern.

Party Potential Part 2

Crowd of 1,000 behind 17 Hobart Lane Sunday 3:30 PM like leaves on a tree

Townhouse Apartments Sunday 3:15 PM

The party scene on Sunday shifted from the west quad at Townhouse Apartments in North Amherst to Hobart Lane somewhat around the corner off North Pleasant Street.

As they did the previous day Amherst police made individual arrests for "liquor law violations" (open container and underage drinking) but pretty much let the crowd, who were gathered on private property, have their day in the sun.

 Mill River Recreation area Sunday afternoon

Police also responded a number of times to the Mill River Recreation area for noise and parking complaints from a large student related gathering that had a permit to use the town property.

The Spring Concert at the Mullins Center Sunday night was designed to keep students on campus so they would not be a burden on town first responders.

But the two extra outside detail ambulances that Chief Nelson requires of them were not enough to handle the slew of substance abuse cases, five of which happened within an hour.

All told Mullins Center Command had 30 patient contacts, with 8 transported to Cooley Dickinson Hospital (three by AFD and five by special detail ambulances) and another patron taken into Protective Custody by UMPD.

Although, sadly, these numbers were pretty much in the predicted range.

Monday Morning aftermath:

17 Hobart Lane

North Pleasant Street across from Hobart Lane

Mill River Recreation Area parking lot

 Townhouse Apartments (from Saturday)

There's a reason they call it @ZOOMASS 🔥 pic.twitter.com/6EGarnPt5l

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) April 18, 2016

Townhouse Apartments late Saturday afternoon

First Responders Day

Ironically enough our first responders are busy as usual on this day dedicated to them by the stroke of Governor Charlie Baker's pen.  Such is life for the dedicated men and women who have chosen to perform public service in a college town.

 APD station back lot

The folks who freely run into danger while everyone else is sprinting away, who see things not meant to be seen in an effort to help any and all citizens, even those who don't always appreciate them until suddenly they're needed.

 AFD Central Station

Thin red & blue lines, that stand squarely between chaos and order.