Finally: Secret Documents Revealed

Regional School Committee meeting September 7

After a nitpicking hour and a half that seemed like FOREVER the Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee voted 5-3 to release the executive session minutes spanning almost 15 hours of behind closed doors meetings, culminating in a $309,000 payout to former Superintendent Maria Geryk. 

But then member Vira Douangmany Cage changed her mind and switched to "abstain." Either way clearly Ms. Cage, Stephen Sullivan and Trevor Baptiste were unhappy with the release of the minutes and associated documents.

The key puzzle piece missing, however, are the Pelham School Committee minutes of the executive session that Maria Geryk used in her initial demand letter claiming breach of contract and defamation of character, which led to "emotional distress".

Mr. Baptiste said her characterization of what went on in that meeting was wrong, and she uses that to trash his good name as well as Dan Robb and Vira Douangmany Cage.

But at least we now know most of the real story:  Maria Geryk panicked after issuing a stay away order on March 17 to Aisha Hiza  without due process, realized after the May 5th Pelham School Committee meeting that she would not get away with it, so then desperately decided to hit the road in a new Mercedes.

And who better to know how to game the system than someone who once led that system?

This is a pretty good intro to the documents package below

   Secret Documents Dump

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

Atkins Reservoir September 4th, down 8' 5" with 80 of 200 million gallons remaining (40% of capacity)

Quabbin Reservoir September 6th, now at 85% of capacity

Proving that nothing brings folks together like the threat of catastrophe the UMass community and their host community the town of AMHERST managed to conserve vital water supplies at an impressive rate.

Although yes, beer consumption was probably up a tad.

 Townehouse Apartments 9/4:  Not much water being consumed here

Last year peak usage occurred on September 6th, a Sunday, with 4.2 millions gallons of water consumed.  This year, with the water ban in effect, town officials were hoping to keep it to 3.5 million gallons.

But we managed to keep this year's peak to only 3 million gallons of water.

UMass bathroom

Way to go UMass!

 Atkins Reservoir sandbar 8/21

Same Atkins Reservoir sandbar 9/4

Sometimes A Gorilla Is Just A Gorilla

So I almost feel like I should send this to Snopes to check out if it is real or not.  But I do follow a lot of kids on social media and I do know there's a sort of morbid fascination with Harambe these days, so maybe it's legit.

Click to enlarge/read

 Those damn "micro aggressions"

If so:   Yikes!

Never Forget: Never, Never, Never

Town broke out the BIG flag for Labor Day, and will again for 9/11

After 15 years you would think the words would come easier, with feelings less raw after the memories -- as searing as they were -- start to fade.

But no, at least not yet anyway.

Maybe for the 25th anniversary ...

(Probably not.)

Tunnel To Towers Amherst Facebook page

Click to enlarge/read

They're Ba-Ack

Townehouse Apartment east quad Saturday 4:30 PM

Townehouse Apartments east quad Sunday 6:30 AM

Townehouse apartments west quad Sunday 4:30 PM 

Townehouse apartments west quad Monday morning 6:30 AM

 click photo to enlarge

Now this is how you're supposed to party:  UMass Welcome Back BBQ (Monday 4-7 PM):

 

Drawing Fire

Sawmill will be demolished to make way for project

It didn't take long for NIMBYs to voice their public comment about Beacon Communities proposed 130 unit development in North Amherst and as usual complaints included traffic, noise, and the fear of more college aged youth moving to their neighborhood.

 NIMBYs invaded 8/29 Select Board meeting

The main suggestion was to downsize considerably the number of housing units by as much as 50%. Since the project includes a significant affordable housing component it has to be a sizable number of total units to make up for the low cost ones.

And since Amherst has an across the board housing shortage, any increase is a good thing. Beacon is using a "friendly 40B" approach to get needed concessions on height, set back and lot coverage in order to make the project work.

If the state grants them clearance they must still get approval from our Zoning Board of Appeals but unlike a normal hearing where a Special Permit requires a unanimous vote this would only require a two-thirds vote.

Yesterday the town filed a MassWorks grant proposal for $1 million to redo the funky North Amherst main intersection of Montague & Sunderland Roads with Meadow Street, North Pleasant and Pine Streets.

Sunderland and Montague Road branch off after intersection of Pine/Meadow/North Pleasant

And the state does heavily weigh future economic development before issuing the grants.

Neighbors are concerned that the town has formed an unholy alliance with Beacon and Cowls (the landowner) in order to acquire the grant and that will unduly influence the ZBA.

 Click to enlarge/read

A few years ago these same NIMBYs successfully shot down zoning changes that would have led to more development in North Amherst and as a result the state twice turned down our $4 million MassWorks grant to rehab Pine Street.

A King Is Born

233 North Pleasant Street (between former Carriage Shops and Kendrick Place)

The north end of downtown has a new destination spot for fine dining and you don't have to be Lebanese to appreciate their fresh offerings. 

Malek Shawarma (meaning "king" of the Shawarma sandwich) Mediterranean Cafe opened today just in time for the reawakening of our little college town.  The business is owned by Eliana Dabbous who operates a barber shop next door and her son Ali will be managing the restaurant.

 Ali Dabbous (right)

Anyone who has ever run a small business knows it's a full-time + commitment, and the odds of success are increased dramatically if you have a partner who shares your enthusiasm for serving the general public and the onerous work ethic that requires.

It also helps if you have a great product.

Beef slow cooking