Going, Going, Gone

Little Red Schoolhouse, Amherst College, Wednesday

In the end the much fought over Little Red Schoolhouse, which was granted a one year stay of execution by the Amherst Historical Commission, went down in a matter of days.

And no, surprisingly, Carol Gray did not chain herself to the building as the backhoes rumbled in to do their job.

Little Red Schoolhouse Thursday

 Finally, Little Red Schoolhouse Friday:

 Click photos to enlarge

Not A Glitch

Requires majority vote of 5 member Select Board to hire new Town Manager

With two of the final three candidates pulling out of the Town Manager search it's not overly surprising that some folks were concerned when the Select Board somewhat suddenly cancelled an executive session scheduled for today at 3:00 PM

So naturally I asked if we should be concerned that something had gone wrong in the 11th hour over negotiations with Paul Bockelman, and received this reply from Chair Alisa Brewer:

"Actually, it's the opposite: we scheduled today just in case something weird came up -- and it did not.  We are hoping to go over final proposal Wednesday 06-01-16."

Then I asked about the confusing agenda for June 1st which makes it look like they are approving the new Town Manager contract in Open Session before going into Executive Session to discuss the contract.

Click to enlarge/read

To which she replied:

 "Our Agendas are not in chronological order these days. We will start in open, go immediately to exec, decide in exec if terms are agreeable, get finalist on phone if necessary (that's why 2 sections of MLG exec cited) also see if exec session minutes are complete and can be approved if not actually released, or maybe released, then come out to open, announce the result, and vote to execute a contract.

Alternatively: if something surprising comes up in exec, we have some unanswered questions but can't fix it over the phone, need more time, we'll come back out to report that.

Hopefully won't happen since we don't have any extra meetings posted between Wed 06-01-16 and Monday 06-06-16 at 6:00."

Protectionism Or Preservation?

North Pleasant Street on west side of Kendrick Park is a big concern

As former Chair of the Dickinson Local Historic District Commission and a petitioner before them (not while Chair) of the most complicated project they reviewed -- a $500,000 renovation of historic Hills House on Main Street -- Jerry Guidera has a unique perspective on how Local Historic Districts work and he deemed his overall experience "onerous".

 Historic Hills House on Main Street

Jerry Guidera and Tom Ehrgood present to Linclon Sunset Local Historical District Commission last night

Even Steven Bloom Chair of the Lincoln/Sunset Local Historic District Study Committee freely admitted to the 25 or so people at the public hearing that it would be "Another layer of bureaucracy, another hoop to jump through."

 Bill Gillen (right) Steven Bloom (left)

Committee member Bill Gillen, a long-time architect, thought the hearings would be good for developers as it would give them an early insight into what the general public thinks of their project, kind of like acting as a canary in a coal mine.  

Although in Amherst, ANY project is opposed by somebody.

About two dozen attended the public hearing

During his original presentation Dickinson Local Historic District Chair Tom Ehrgood ruled out simply adding this new proposed district to his Committee's oversight as they are already overburdened and could not handle a 500% increase in jurisdiction area.

Only seven audience members chose to address the Committee and barely a majority favored forming the new Local Historic District, and not all that passionately.  

The Business Improvement District and Chamber of Commerce strongly oppose the inclusion of North Pleasant Street along the west side of Kendrick Park as it is contiguous with the downtown and the last remaining area ripe for development.

After hearing from prominent local developers earlier in the week over that particular concern, Bloom told the crowd the current proposed area "Is not set in stone, it's a trial balloon."

If the Committee decides to move forward with the project it could come before Amherst Town Meeting next year where it would require a hard to achieve two-thirds vote.

Art Is In The Eye

Hope The Cow was privately funded

Despite the best efforts of Selectman Jim Wald, who managed to invoke President Kennedy, Robert Frost and deceased Town Manager John Musante all in one presentation, Amherst Town Meeting voted to refer (89 to 72) "Percent For Art" back to the Arts Commission, a nice way of saying No.

The article was changed at the last minute many times but the main change was to reduce the amount of the diversion from public construction projects from 1% to .5%.

That still comes to $500,000 if you consider the $100 million in town money on just the four main building projects coming up: Wildwood Mega School at $30 million, Jones Library $20 million, new DPW $30 million and the forever talked about new South Fire Station at $20 million.

"Portal" in Kendrick Park.  $10,000 covered by private fundraising

Thus the town would have gone from spending zero tax dollars on public art over the past six or seven years to spending $500,000 in the next six or seven years. Yikes!

But the main reason it did not pass is because the bylaw would not fund performing arts because they are too ephemeral. And apparently Hell hath no fury like a pissed off performing artist.

Others also had concerns about who would be the Art Czar.

The bylaw gave the Town Manager final authority on what project goes where and since art appreciation is not part of a Public Administration degree program those decisions could be controversial.

Although when the Select Board announces they have come to terms with new Town Manager Paul Bockelman, they should do a photo shoot of him riding aboard Hope.

Economic Development Czar On A Roll

Geoffrey Kravitz addresses Town Meeting

The town's relatively new Economic Development Director Geoffrey Kravitz is two for two with Town Meeting issues, speaking against a Planning Board article on Monday and a Vince O'Connor (who is a one man Planning Board) "citizens petition" article last night, in both cases on grounds it could stifle development.

Planning Board lost another one 

The Planning Board wished to tweak the rules governing a "mixed use" building which allows a little more leeway on the part of developers and Mr. O'Connor wished to close what he views as a loophole allowing developers of mixed use buildings to avoid the town's Inclusionary Zoning bylaw that mandates 10% of residential units be "affordable."

 Vince O'Connor lost another one

Of course Mr. O'Connor's article only failed because it requires a two-thirds vote. Since the article did garner way more than a majority (100 yes to 61 No) Mr. Kravitz had better remain vigilant.

The Shunning Continues

Black Scholars Rising Celebration

Last night's Black Scholars Rising celebration in the Amherst Regional Middle School auditorium was better attended than the most recent Town Meeting sessions held there as hundreds of friends, families, students, civic leaders and school officials came together to celebrate the miracle of education.

Notably absent, however, was a proud black single mother trying to do her best for a young daughter.

The stay away order issued against Aisha Hiza on March 15 is still in effect, although apparently some school officials were not overly concerned that she would turn into a ninja/zombie with an AK47.

Either way, Superintendent Maria Geryk didn't go out of her way to make Aisha comfortable ... and an opportunity for healing was lost.

"It's just one more thing," said Aisha.

Aisha Hiza Emails to ARPS

There Goes The Beer Money

APD & AFD on scene West Cemetery yesterday for intoxicated mid-40s male

Amherst police arrested five homeless individuals -- Mark Jarrott, Angel Rivera, Matthew Roy, Paul Scace, and Troy Ward -- on Friday night behind the Jones Library on "open container" town bylaw violations.

 Mark Jarrott stands before Judge O'Grady

Click to enlarge/read

Now on any warm fall or spring semester weekend on the outskirts of UMass, it's not unusual for APD to make two or three times that number of arrests for the same infraction.  But kinda of a big difference between college aged youths and these gentlemen, who are pretty much repeat offenders. 

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday all five had their charges converted from criminal to civil and were assessed the town's $300 bylaw fine fee.  They were, however, credited $90 for "time served," three days at the Hampshire County House of Correction.

Usual suspects at Strong House Historical Garden