Not Worth A Bucket Of Warm Spit

Amherst Select Board at last night's Charter Commission Hearing

At least Vice President Garner played second fiddle to one of our greatest Presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Pity your basic Amherst Selectman as they are best described as "one-fifth of a Mayor" with all the real power vested in an unelected Town Manager.

Last night the entire 5 person Select "Board" appeared before the Charter Commission to give their take on our town government, and not surprisingly were kind of like the lookout on the Titanic ten minutes before she hit the iceberg proclaiming it "All clear.  Keep steaming full speed ahead."

All five were big fans of maintaining  a professional full-time Town Manager, although support for Town Meeting was not nearly so overwhelming.

Connie Kruger was her usual forthright self in describing Town Meting:

"About as polarized as I’ve ever seen it.  They distrust staff and board members and it got in the way of good decisions. Really uncalled for.  The number of nights presents a barrier to participation.  Acrimony over Library expansion last spring was particularly appalling."

Even Chair Alisa Brewer, who gets paid more than the other four but has no more real power stated:

"I fought to save Town Meeting last time. But now I’m concerned.  Public hearings attract the same people, with the same complaints.  Need to make the entire system easier for average person to engage. "

The Select Board members all reaffiremd that they are collegial and caring among themselves as a board and even try to act Mayor-like in attending public events.

But again the problem is each member has only a one-fifth official say in anything official. Which makes them hard to take seriously when anytime one of them is in room of heavy hitters from UMass, Beacon Hill or even a major business convention.

The big mistake the last Charter Commission made 15 years ago was keeping a powerful Town Manager and throwing in a weak Mayor to the mix.  The big thing they got right was dumping Town Meeting in favor of a full time professional town council.

Since Amherst is such an academic little college town lets hope this Charter Commission will not fail to learn from history, and doom this vital endeavor to repeat a monumental mistake.

Last Chance To Early Vote

Pro (green) and anti (red) new mega school signs created a gauntlet for student voters to negotiate

Friday at Town Hall is the last opportunity for Amherst registered voters to do the their civic duty in a most convient manner i.e. not standing in a long line. 

 Line at Student Union was consistent all day long

Today was the final day for UMass early voting and it was a pretty impressive turnout: 640 voters. Amherst Town Hall precinct handled 360. 

I couldn't help but notice advocates for and against ballot Question 5 -- the $67 million mega school -- were standing on the Student Union stairs, well within the 150 foot distance that is supposed to be maintained for campaign materials.

The Town Clerk said that rule does not apply for early voting although inside the Student Union a sign warned against campaigning "within the voting area."

Last chance Amherst Town Hall Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM

DUI Dishonor Roll

 

In 2014, three times as many males were arrested for drunk driving as females

Considering how many drunk runs AFD had over the Halloween weekend I was actually a little surprised there were not more drunk driving arrests. 

In all Amherst "only" had three total, two of them APD and the other one by UMPD.  All three took the legally admissible breath test and the results were not even close.

Only one however, Steven Ferry, came to an immediate pleas deal with the Commonwealth, a standard 24D disposition. 

 Steven Ferry, age 22, stands before Judge Thomas Estes

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Judge Estes was uncomfortable with him making such a quick decision so he assigned him a public defender who did not talk him out of it.  Probably a good thing, with a BAC three times the legal limit.

So an hour later he came back before Judge Estes. After the Judge accepted his signed plea -- aka "green sheet" -- he asked the standard question of "where did you have your last drink."   Mr. Ferry responded "Mission Cantina" in South Amherst. 

 Luke Toomey, age 22

 

Luke Wallace decided to hire his own private attorney and Keith Diaz had a public defender assigned to him.  Both will return to District Court next month. 

 

Keith Diaz, age 20

 

Fireground: Tamarack Drive

Fire appears to have started upstairs westernmost side of building

Fortunately there were no injures today but the house at Tamarack Drive appears to be a total loss.  Unfortunately two dogs did perish in the conflagration. 

 APD was also on scene in force to assist

The box alarm was struck around noon and only minutes after Assistant Chief Lindsay Stromgren arrived on the scene he requested a second alarm which brought mutual aid from Northampton, Hadley, South Hadley, Pelham and Belchertown EMS.

 Probably around 25,000 gallons of water was used

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

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Chief Nelson on the scene

And yes, B2 got a little too close to a tree and required rescue (but she's fine).

 Engine 1 and Engine 2 were first on the scene

I Hate Fire!

UMass is a safe campus.  But you can never be too safe with fire

And you should too. 

But that doesn't mean you should not prepare for it. 

Click to enlarge/read

Please join the Amherst Fire Department, UMass Environmental Health & Safety, Dunn & Phillips Law firm and two victims who survived a devastating fire to learn simply strategies to survive should the Beast come calling.

Ninja #Fail Police Report

Patrick Bemben, only one of four home invaders arrested (so far)

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Amherstworks Gets To Work

The main open space is big enough to fly a drone

The new shared co-worker space where entrepreneurs will huddle opened for business today in the former First National Bank building, a downtown icon for almost 100 years.

Back in the day bricks and mortar banks like First National were drivers of the economy.

These days it's the Internet, and with one gigabit WiFi at Amherstworks and coffee from Amherst Coffee, building a better mousetrap has never been easier.

The vault conference room

 Meetings will certainly be secure