Bright Lights, Small Town

May is one of the most exciting months of all in our little college town.  The weather becomes more user friendly, our institutes of higher education go on hiatus, and -- best of all -- a 50+ year tradition returns to our bucolic Town Common.

The Amherst Rotary Town Fair is coming to town! 

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Almost Gone

UMass Amherst about to become Tranquility Base

The final weekend before graduation at our Goliath institute of higher education went well, with only one usual hot spot (okay, maybe one-and-a-half) for a large outdoor gathering, Hobart Lane.

 Hobart Lane 3:30 PM Saturday

Fortunately it did not turn into a Hobart Hoedown.

 Hobart Lane Sunday morning

Amherst police monitored the festivities all day, made a few arrests for "liquor law violations" (underage drinking, open container) but pretty much let the steam blow off.  Safely.

 Meadow Street, Saturday afternoon

Extravaganja last year

Of course both APD and AFD would have been a whole lot busier if Extravaganja had not moved over to Northampton where it attracted a crowd of 12,000 -- twice the size of last year's overcrowded event on the Town Common.

 Meadow Street Sunday morning

Fearing Street Sunday morning

Where Have All The People Gone?

Amherst Town Common last year with Extravaganja

 Amherst Town Common this year without Extravaganja

The High Cost Of Education

Wildwood Elementary School, built 1972, 108,000 square feet

The first of four major building projects will come up for a vote this fall where a debt exclusion override will require a two-thirds vote of support from Town Meeting and then ballot approval by town voters at the  November 8th Presidential election, which always has a huge turnout.

School officials and concerned parents will get a preliminary glimpse, however, of how those votes will go by watching the fate of Article 38 coming up on the Annual Town Meeting that starts May 2nd.

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Fort River School, built 1973, 108,000 square feet

If Town Meeting approves the $40,000 to go back and restudy the costs of renovating Fort River and Wildwood Elementary schools rather than simply supporting the new $66 million mega school it will certainly send a message of distrust about the way the building project has been handled thus far.

 Crocker Farm School, built 1974 but renovated 2002 to a total of 90,800 square feet

And if you don't trust officials trying to sell you a $33 million building Override by raising your taxes for the next 30 years, that alone becomes reason to vote no.

   Amherst School Renovations Costs?

Conflagration

Forklift ablaze backlot of Leader Home Center

A forklift caught fire INSIDE a lumber yard at Leader Home Center on College Street but employees managed to get it safely outside the building, and AFD quickly snuffed it out.

Catastrophe avoided.  Barely.

Coming Full Circle

Paul Bockelman Mass Municipal Association Director of Finance

For Paul Bockelman winning the position of Amherst Town Manager would be something of a coming home, having spent four formative years here in the free wheeling 1970s as a student at Hampshire College.

But our downtown was a lot different back then.  Faces of Earth shortened their name to Faces and moved to Northampton, our hardware and grocery stores are long gone and book & music stores are no longer as ubiquitous as spring dandelions.

There's no doubt, however, his MMA background provides the financial and business savvy to be a strong ally of the downtown revitalization movement.

Although wading into the rough and tumble Amherst town politics, a little Mixed Martial Arts training probably wouldn't hurt.

And his experience as a long time School Committee member would come in handy dealing with our Elementary and Regional School budgets that consume the lion's share of town spending every year.

All in all a pretty complete package.

Full formal interview

When asked about diversity Bockelman replied, "Think about who is not in the room."

What's In A Name?

Mill River Recreation area 4/17/16

Well the pavilion rental form filled out by "Corey Smith" is not overly helpful identifying the large group of college aged youth responsible for the Mill River Recreation area debacle last week, where North Amherst neighbors continuously complained about blaring music, overflow parking, public alcohol consumption and a major mess left behind.

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Leisure Services & Supplemental Education Commission will be reviewing their pavilion rental program at a meeting tonight.

Requiring a damage deposit would be helpful.