When NIMBYs Attack

Proposed mixed use development would replace closed saw mill (top center)

In Amherst no building project bigger than a dog house is safe from coordinated attack by concerned neighbors worried about the destruction of their neighborhood, even though some of them have not been living there long enough to really know the neighborhood.

In South Amherst, Butternut Farm, a "friendly 40B" 26-unit initiative, was bitterly opposed by neighbors, including a failed lawsuit that only served to delay the project an extra half-dozen years and increase costs to the non-profit developer, HAPHousing.

 Clark House, 100 subsidized units.  About to be sold to a "qualified Preservation buyer"

And the Clark House, the first six story building in town center,  was also fought over almost 40 years ago and would never have happened if not the for Amherst Redevelopment Authority, a quasi state agency with the power of eminent domain.

So I'm hardly shocked the usual suspects in North Amherst are now sharpening their pitchforks and fueling up the turbo charged torches to oppose the badly needed subsidized housing mixed-use proposal to help complete the Mill District vision.

Beacon purchased Rolling Green for $30.25 million ($1.25 million of town CPA $)

Ironically if not for Beacon Communities purchasing the 204 unit Rolling Green Apartments in East Amherst our Subsidized Housing Inventory would have fallen below 10%, so a Chapter 40B in the Mill District -- build whatever you want as long as it's 25% affordable housing -- would now be a slam dunk.

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