The Road Is Long

Runners line up in front of Rafters for 10:30 AM start

One of the great things about Amherst in late spring leading up to a lazy summer is all the neat weekend events that happen -- especially as it relates to outdoor activities.

Our institutes of higher education rent out facilities for summer camps which bring plenty of new young faces to our little town and there's usually a road race to benefit a worthy cause.



The Amherst Police Department in partnership with Rafters Sports Bar & Restaurant has successfully promoted this event for the past 23 years to benefit the Jimmy Fund and the Amherst Police Relief Association.

 Streaming towards our #1 employer UMass/Amherst

Let's hope the proposed medical marijuana dispensary for this location does not get in the way of a 24th year.

Pelham School Battle Escalates

Aisha Hiza and her darling daughter

Call it intuition developed over 40 years of martial arts training, or maybe just my Irish gut, but I find it hard to believe Aisha Hiza, a once proud graduate of the venerable Amherst Regional Public School system, represents a physical threat to anyone in that system.

   Pelham School Battle Escalates

But this issue of a rashly implemented stay away order IS a threat to the system, because it flies in the face of one of the highly valued goals of ARPS:  Social justice.

 Maria Geryk was appointed Amherst Regional Public Schools  Superintendent in 2011

Where's Calvin Terrell when we need him?

Pelham School Committee just before going into executive session May 5th.  Attorney Tom Colomb 3rd from right

Major Sale Pending

Clark House (center) Ann Whalen (left) Bangs Center (front left)

The 100 residential unit Clark House, a six story structure in downtown Amherst, is getting ready for a change in ownership.   Fortunately to a "qualified Preservation Buyer" so all the Section 8 tenants will probably not be displaced.

The Clark House was built in 1980 as part of the Amherst Redevelopment Authority's ambitious Boltwood Walk project.  The facility is currently 100% Section 8 tenants with 60 of the units Low Income and 40 units Extremely Low Income.

Click to enlarge/read

Amherst is in the minority for communities in the state with a Subsidized Housing Inventory greater than 10%, although housing in general is still in short supply.  As a result Amherst has higher prices which drives out middle income workers, seniors and young families.  

Because Clark House is already exempt from Amherst property taxes, the sale will have no impact on the tax base.

Forest For The Trees

Rolling Green Apartment, One Rolling Green Drive

If you ever wondered how to properly plant or prune a tree you're in luck: the Amherst Shade Tree Committee is holding their monthly tree planting demonstration this Saturday at Rolling Green Apartments on Belchertown Road (Rt 9) in the eastern part of town starting at 9:00 AM.

Public shade trees, which can last for generations, are all too often taken for granted because they blend into the background.

But when they are destroyed due to age or development we suddenly discover to our dismay, that they were the background.

SATURDAY morning update:

 Ten new trees going in the ground

Backdoor Sabotage

Jones Library needs property from Historical Society for preferred expansion

I always love it when somebody accidentally hits reply all and sends a telling message they think is only going to a very few like minded obstructionists.

Take former Jones Library black sheep Trustee Carol Gray for instance, who just sent a message to all 200+ members of the privately owned Town Meeting listserve.

Anybody who pays attention to Town Meeting issues -- which unfortunately does not include the vast majority of Amherst voters -- knows full well the plan is afoot to stop the Jones Library expansion/renovation right at the starting gate by denying them the ability to purchase land next door from a willing, highly respected, seller.

And as Carol so gleefully points out, it only takes a one-third super minority to kill development, no matter how reasonable it is.  Reason #1 for terminating Town Meeting.

Click to enlarge/read (but by all means do not forward)

Successful Mooooooove

Hope is designed to hold four football players (linemen no less)

Hope the cow crossed North Pleasant Street safely and has now taken up residence between Realignment (pocket) Park and (expansive) Kendrick Park.

Hope is part fundraiser for the homeless, part pubic art and mostly fun for kids (and adults) to hop aboard for a photo shoot.  The move was necessitated by the impending construction of One East Pleasant Street.

 Jada wishes Hope could fly

There They Go Again

North end of downtown, finally, getting infrastructure improvements

As usual the Town Meeting warrant article that made the most common sense for quick passage -- deemed a "no brainer" by one member --  created the longest discussion of the night, although it did easily attain more than a two thirds vote, 119 to 32. 

As "keepers of the public way" the Amherst Select Board has already unanimously approved a roundabout for the important East Pleasant/Triangle Street intersection, a main gateway to UMass.

 Bank of America ATM (red roof)

Land required in yellow

In order to make it safer for pedestrians via a sidewalk the town needs a sliver of land from Bank of America, who is willing to donate it in exchange for some help fixing a water pipe connection to their brightly colored ATM.

But naturally, fuddy-duddies in Town Meeting who prefer the old fashioned signalized intersection continue to engage in guerrilla warfare, trying to stop progress.

Fortunately a couple years from now they will figure it out -- after easily negotiating the roundabout on their horse and buggy.