Growing In The Way Of Progress

Linden Tree will be removed for a sidewalk/crosswalk project

At the joint meeting of the Planning Board and Tree Warden last night all six trees scheduled for demolition received a stay of execution, but not because of any of their actions.

Because of Mass state law if one person files a letter of protest over a tree removal then the matter is automatically diverted to the Amherst Select Board our "keepers of the public way."  And by last night there were two such letters filed.

The Planning Board did vote anyway and unanimously approved removing the Linden tree in front of the Jones Library for placement of a sidewalk and all but one of the trees along the north border of Kendrick Park.


Three of these four on Kendrick Park will go to make room for a new roundablut

This entire island will be removed for new roundabout

But not without some badgering of DPW Chief Guilford Mooring concerning the roundabout approved to go in that location.

New PB member Michael Birtwhistle more than once demanded to know if the town has a funding source in place for the new roundabout, to which Mooring responded he honestly did not know.

The motion that passed unanimously (but cannot be carried out until Select Board decides) allowed for the removal of three of the four trees, but only after a funding source has been confirmed for the construction of the roundabout.

 A roundabout has been approved by Public Works Committee and Select Board

Just Another Day For Public Safety Dept

AFD & APD on scene Brandywine Apartments

Who said summers in Amherst are boring?

Our first responders rushed to Brandwine Apartments in North Amherst for a complaint about a resident "cooking chemicals on a stove."

  Nikolai James being escorted to ambulance

Before it was over almost eight hours later APD, AFD, a State Police helicopter and a HazMat team coordinated a response.

The perp, Nikolai James, was apparently cooking his own urine and that was only one of many unidentified chemicals found in his apartment.  And yes, ammonia/uric acid is an ingredient for crystal meth.

He was transported by ambulance to Cooley Dickinson Hospital but then flew the coop. 

Click to enlarge/read

They've Got A Secret

Regional School Committee and their attorney Tom Columb this evening

The joint meeting of the Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee and Union 26 met in open session this evening at the Regional Middle School from 6:00 PM until 6:04 PM and then retreated into Executive Session until 9:34 PM, even though the published agenda called for only 55 minutes.

Last week they also went into Executive Session for two hours and fifty minutes for the same stated reason:  "To conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel."

 Which is of course Superintendent Maria Geryk, the highest paid employee in the town of Amherst.

And yes she still has two years (with an option to renew for an additional year) left on her contract so obviously the "negotiations" they were discussing is not simply a contract renewal.

At last week's meeting the Committee was supposed to discuss and release the Superintendent's annual evaluation due June 30th,  but that was put off until Monday, a meeting that was then cancelled at the last minute.

Since Ms. Geryk was not present either last week or this evening (or at last night's Wildwood School Building Committee meeting) no discussion could take place -- in open or closed session -- of her job performance.

But something pretty darn interesting must have been discussed.  For over six hours now.  In secret.

DUI DIshonor Roll

MADD statistic:  Every two minutes a person is injured in a drunk driving crash

Only one impaired driver in the town of Amherst was taken off the road last weekend by UMass police, but statistically speaking a few more managed to escape the long arm of the law.

Hadley police bagged two.

All three individuals had a plea of not guilty entered in their behalf by Judge Thomas Estes in Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday morning and their cases were continued until next month.

Sam Tang age 20 is arraigned in Eastern Hampshire District Court

Click to enlarge/read

Ariel Barnett-Soleil, age 26, arraigned before Judge Estes

Click to enlarge/read

Aaron Braithwaite, age 50, arraigned before Judge Estes

Wildwood Gone Wild

Wildwood Building Project now expected to cost $33 million in town funds

 

Wildwood Building Committee yesterday afternoon

A day after the Select Board agreed to place a Debt Exclusion Override on the November 8 ballot the Wildwood School Building Committee heard what the possible amount would be:  A lot.

 Presentation to Select Board Monday night

$33 million to be precise, or perhaps the word precise is a tad too precise at this moment.

The Committee also heard about estimates that already came in almost $2 million too high, so the OPM and architects had to delete or reduce items.

 Recent cost cuts

When Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek questioned why the building will only be LEED Silver vs LEED Gold certified, he was told that too was a trade off due to cost constraints.

The November 8th ballot question will not have an actual amount but by then a more precise number will be known and the November 14th Town Meeting will need to vote a bond authorization for a precise amount.  That requires a two-thirds vote.

By then the project will only have a 6% contingency built in, so if in the final stages of construction  that gets overrun the additional amount needed will not be funded/reimbursed by MSBA.  Currently the overall reimbursement rate is projected at 50%-55%.

 Click to enlarge/read

The town will pay as we go the entire $67 million, but will also get the reimbursements within weeks of submitting bills for eligible costs bringing the total town spending down to, maybe, $33 million but that does not include interest.

Embattled School Superintendent Maria Geryk, a member of the Wildwood Building Committee, was not at the meeting and did not attend the Select Board meeting on Monday night.

The Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee meets later this afternoon in Executive Session for the second time in a week to discuss her future employment.

Yours, Mine & Ours

Hobart Lane Gilreath Manor (3 buildings on left)

Yellow shows town right of way property

The Amherst Select Board, acting as "road commissioners", voted to allow the Temporary Town Manager to negotiate an annual "license fee" for Gilreath Manor in North Amherst after officials became aware they borrowed land in the public way for a parking expansion over the years that will also require Zoning Board of Appeals approval.

Lincoln Real Estate attorney Tom Reidy suggested $100 per year but since the Lord Jeff in town center pays $8,000 per year for the same type of license the price may end up a tad higher.

Gilreath Manor was built in the early 1970s back in the good old days when UMass had e-x-p-a-n-d-e-d exponentially and housing was a gold mine market ... as it remains today.

The reason the Lord Jeff pays such a high fee is they are taking as their own seven metered parking spaces and ten permit parking spaces on Spring Street which formerly generated revenues to the town.

And Hobart Lane is a tad off the beaten path for parking meters, one of the reasons it has a party central reputation.

Crowd of 1,000 behind 17 Hobart Lane Sunday April 17, 2016

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow ...

Amherst College Johnson Chapel

The American flag is again in that unmistakable position of mourning, this time for three police officers in Baton Rouge gunned down in a cowardly ambush that would have take the lives of any of us.

 Click to enlarge/read

Over the past two weeks, after the mass police killing in Dallas and the truck slaughter of civilians in France, our flag has been at full staff for only a day.  

In this despicable time of terrorism it easily could have been any of us. If you target those who protect us from evil, surely we all could be next.

As we saw so graphically illustrated that terrible morning 15 years ago.