Shame & Disgrace?

Vince O'Connor told SB the school controversy brought "shame & disgrace" to Amherst

The Amherst Select Board received an earful of pent up frustration from speakers decrying the Aisha Hiza affair, the single mom banned for ten weeks from public school property for standing up in a forthright manner for her 7-year-old bullied daughter.

 Aisha Hiza (center) Vira Douangmany Cage (far right)

This was their first session in six weeks back at Town Hall since they had been meeting in a hard to find back room in the Middle School while Amherst Town Meeting is in session, something that takes up way more time than it should.  And because of time constraints on their agenda they did not take Public Comment during those abbreviated meetings.

But last night they got back into the swing of regular meetings in a five-hour marathon that started on a somber note with a moment of silence for the victims of the Orlando massacre.

Connie Kruger led the SB into a moment of silence

Then they moved to an upbeat celebration of two new AFD firefighters and Steve Gaughan's  promotion to captain, as well as announcements of our public school students winning the Human Rights Commission "Heroes award."

Chief Nelson welcomes Joshua Steininger (left), Michael Sawicki

Steve Gaughen promoted to Captain


But then things became contentious when Chair Alisa Brewer announced the next item would be the Select Board response to Vira Douangmany Cage's fiery email from a few weeks backs asking if we are "in the deep Jim Crow South," because the Select Board had been silent on the Aisha Hiza affair.

Connie Kruger read to the board her reworked letter response of last week's draft version that board members were unhappy with me for releasing.  

It played out along the same "not my problem" theme:  The controversy was a school issue and the Select Board has no jurisdiction over the public schools.  And they had complete faith in APD Chief Livingstone (who attended but did not speak), Superintendent Maria Geryk and the Amherst School Committee (neither in attendance).

Moreover,  they were not privy to all the details of the matter so could not make an informed judgement in the particular case of Aisha Hiza being banned for over ten weeks via the stay away order.

Click to enlarge/read

Temporary Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner took some heat for his statement two weeks ago that he knew more than the Select Board and based on this secret knowledge deemed the situation not a matter of social justice.

Aisha Hiza was the last to speak from the floor, directly asking Mr. Hechenbleikner if he would blindly sign a legal release without knowing what that allegedly incriminating information was?

And if the School Superintendent wanted to have a signed okay to release said information, why can't she release it to the person in question first?



The board voted unanimously to support Ms. Kruger's response and the letter will be mailed to Ms. Cage today.

The Select  Board then, appropriately enough, went on to an extended discussion of medical marijuana.

Dealing With "Hateful"

 Carol Ross, John Musante, Maria Geryk 

The only thing surprising about Carol Ross's sermon addressing the ongoing controversy in the Amherst Regional Public Schools is how long it took for her to write it.  And, for someone who is a paid public relations flack, how hard it is to find on the evil Internet.

One of the reasons I requested via Public Documents Law and published the Executive Session minutes of the Select Board discussions (way before the Daily Hampshire Gazette) about hiring a new Town Manager is because the last minute withdrawal of chosen candidate Maria Capriola was somewhat blamed on me.

You know, the toxic blog that gives the town a bad name and scares away potential top level employees.

But clearly she withdrew over concerns about the Charter Commission proposing -- and the voters supporting -- a new form of government that does away with the Town Manager as highly paid Chief Executive.  And the Select Board refused to give her a platinum parachute.

Six years ago when Amherst School Committee member Catherine Sanderson was documenting the controversies de jour in our public schools five School Committee Chairs signed a letter requesting the District Attorney investigate her and her evil blog.

That was right about the time the state was revamping the Open Meeting Law process which took oversight away from the District Attorney's office so nothing ever came of it.  Besides, when a state law even remotely competes with the First Amendment the sacred federal law triumphs.

The position of Media & Climate Communications Specialist aka "Amherst Together" was created two years ago in direct response to high profile racially charged incidents like the Carolyn Gardner and Dylan Akalis affairs.

   Amherst Together Update

Obviously she has not made much of a difference preventing these types of incidents.   Although she seems good at diverting attention away from the administration, who certainly could have handled this most recent Aisha Hiza affair in a less draconian way.

Or as Oliver Hardy would say, "Another fine mess you've gotten us into."

Maybe the schools (and town) should have invested that $48,000 annual salary into an anti-bullying program.

Another parent also had similar bullying problems at Pelham Elementary School

Carol Ross preaching at November, 2014 Regional School Committee meeting

Surreal Sunday

God was on our side this morning

So it's a little hard to enjoy a leisure Sunday breakfast celebration for Kira's recent class president victory when the restaurant's large screen TV is constantly showing scenes of the massacre in Florida, with subtitles no less.

And Jada keeps asking "What happened Daddy, what happened?"  You would think by now even a 9-year-old would be all too familiar with what happened.  Maybe it's better she doesn't understand, not that I can fully explain it anyway.

 Jada and my drone helping with Kira's campaign (sort of)

Then on the way to dropping them off at the horse farm a few minutes before 11:00 AM just over the Amherst town line into Belchertown I hear a call for a "man down, possibly not breathing, CPR in progress" at an apartment complex very near the horse farm

Before long four police vehicles, an ambulance and Engine 1 scream by me enroute to the scene.

 APD on scene for "unattended death"

Since it was less than a mile from my destination I decide to stop by after dropping the girls off so I'm in no particular hurry -- but I am doing all of the 55 mph allowed by law on that particular long straightaway.

Suddenly a vehicle coming in the opposite direction (towards Amherst) less than 100 feet away tries to take a left turn into the large Christ Community Church parking lot, but stops dead in my lane at the last split-second sight of me, with my mouth probably wide open in amazement.

Fortunately, I still have karate reflexes as I instinctively knew brakes alone would never stop me in time.

I swerved to the right smacking and going slightly airborne over the curbing (the black rounded kind not the square granite blocks that would have done significant damage) onto a greenway and came to a controlled stop after rolling about 150 feet.

Jada, buckled in the back seat, thought it all was pretty exciting, but Kira -- buckled in the front seat so much closer to the action -- was practically hyperventilating.

After a deep breath and talking with the elderly woman who profusely apologized, I realized something that has always bothered me about public safety understaffing.

Since I was driving a little Nissan Juke and she was driving one of those big old Daddy's kind of Buick there's no doubt in my mind that a collision avoided by only a centimeter and a split second would have resulted in the need for two, possible three ambulances.  Or a Medical Examiner.

And almost at that exact moment Dispatch (the "729") was toning out to off duty firefighters to come in "for station coverage."  The unattended death at the nearby apartment complex and at least one other medical call had once again overwhelmed on-duty staffing.

So that means my daughters and I would have had to await ambulances responding from Belchertown, Northampton, or South Hadley.  Adding agonizing minutes to a response where  additional minutes could spell the difference between life and death.

Only minutes after Engine 4 Call Force personnel reported in for "station coverage" they were called out to 5-story  Clark House for "smoke in the building" which fortunately turned out to be due to pot left on stove

 

Pot Profits

Pot row on University Drive

Former Auction Barn in North Amherst another possible pot dispensary

If all four proposed Medical Marijuana facilities blossom in Amherst the "host community agreements" could result in $250,000 in annual payments to the town coffers.

Enough to hire additional Public Safety personnel that are badly needed now, even without any problems the facilities could bring.

But based on Northampton's experience to date, problems should not be an issue.

So far three of the proposed projects have garnered Select Board approval although the 4th has yet to appear on the agenda.  And that is the one that could have a negative impact on iconic sports bar Rafters.

Rafters Restaurant & Sports Bar 422 Amity Street

Our Select Board is weighing its options as to whether they can deny a Letter of Support simply based on number of facilities (three) already approved.

If so the new owner of Rafters property may have a long wait for a return on his $2 million investment.

   Rafters Sell Out by Larry Kelley

Pay The Piper

Mill River Recreation 4/17/16

The town has finally gotten around to sending the "Smith Family" a $449.41 itemized bill for damages out at the Mill River Recreation area two months ago. 

The party attracted hundreds of (mostly minority, which some people thought impacted police response) college aged youth and received numerous complaints from neighbors throughout the day for noise, parking and vandalism.

 Click to enlarge/read

It will be interesting to see if "Mr. Smith" pays up.

The Ghosts Of Charters Past

Amherst:  A unique college town

The 9-member Amherst Charter Commission (V3) heard a post mortem analysis from two previous Charter Commission members last night on what went right and not so right with their individual Charter efforts circa 1996 and 2003.

 Bryan Harvey (left) Michael Greenebaum (right)

Bryan Harvey and Michael Greenebaum agreed a common thread running through both Charter efforts was the dissatisfaction with Town Meeting.

Greenebaum chuckled saying their response "gave everyone something to hate," because Town Meeting loyalists didn't like the reduction in size from 240 down to 150 and anti-Town Meeting voters didn't like that they maintained it at all.

The 1996 Charter (V1) came up with a "hybrid government":  a 150 member Town Meeting and 7-member Town Council a Mayor AND a Town Manager.  Yikes! It failed fairly resoundingly 54%/46%

Whereas the 2003 Charter (V2) terminated Town Meeting but confusingly maintained a full time Town Manger and added a Mayor/Council.  It failed narrowly the first time 50.1% to 49.9% and by slightly more the 2nd time 52.2% to 47.8%.

When asked about regrets or "do over" Harvey said he would have articulated better to the voters the roles of mayor and town manager.

His Commission had taken pains to clearly give each position defined roles and powers but some voters were concerned about overlapping responsibilities aka stepping on each others toes.

Although that fateful decision was barely supported by the full Commission in a 5-4 vote with the minority more interested in a strong Mayor/Council.

Neither of the previous Charter members said they used surveys although Harvey said they had invaluable information from a non-binding ballot question the Select Board placed on the same 2001 ballot as the Charter question asking voters if it's time to do away with Town Meeting.

At the time Harvey was Chair of the Select Board and had become disillusioned with Town Meeting.  

That question passed handily 1,832 yes to  1307.

Both Greenebaum and Harvey said this current Charter Commission is off to a good start with members first trying to ascertain the big picture, what people like about our current town government and what could change for the better but still maintain the unique cultural values of our town.

At the end of their one hour presentation the Charter Commission thanked both parties for their illuminating presentations.

 Charter Commission (V3) last night

Bryan Harvey quickly responded, "Thanks to you.  We know what you're in for! But it was one of the most interesting experiences I ever had."

The Charter Commission and about a dozen audience members applauded as the two left the room.

Party Central Registry

UMass is the town's largest employer and a city unto itself

The town and University of Massachusetts will most likely start a one year "pilot program" in September to register off campus parties to help reduce the burden noise complaints place on the police department thus freeing them up to do more important work like taking drunk drivers off the road.

Forum this evening only attracted three neighbors but another one is scheduled for 6/15

A registered party that  receives a complaint from a neighbor called in to Dispatch will get a phone call from APD warning them of the violation and giving them 20 minutes to end the party.

If they comply no arrests are made and no $300 tickets are issued for "noise" or "nuisance" or both. Thus saving the tenants money and the major hassle of being arrested while making it unnecessary for two APD cruisers to respond.

   UMass Amherst Party Registration

The program will cost the town nothing as UMass will do the paperwork and getting the word out by social media, advertising and messaging.

And in fact could save the town significantly in reduced calls. The program has been very successful in fellow college towns like Boulder and Fort Collins, Colorado.