Let's Put On A Demonstration!

Wildwood School Building Project: Back to the drawing board

Parents and their children demonstrate in front of Middle School auditorium

Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney always had the perfect answer to a social problem requiring a sudden infusion of cash:  "Let's put on a show!"  And with talent like Ms. Garland, how could it fail? 

Last night almost 200 Town Meeting members had to negotiate a gauntlet of Mega School supporters numbering over 100 but all confined into a rather small space directly in front of the entry to the Middle School auditorium where Town Meeting convenes.



Had this been an election and the auditorium a polling place they would have been required to stand a lot farther back as election law bans demonstrations within 150 feet of the polling booth.

Last night was our 4th and thankfully last session and since no Town Meeting member made a "Motion to reconsider Article 2," the only chance for the $67 million Mega School is for the Select Board to call a Special Town Meeting by a simple majority vote or for citizens to collect 100 signatures to call one by petition, either of which has to happen before February 2nd.

But it's not like the make up of Town Meeting is going to change over the next two months so the likelihood of another Special Town Meeting suddenly supporting the school project borrowing with a two thirds vote is pretty much zero.

Town Meeting was criticized yet again for ignoring "the will of the voters" who ever so narrowly supported the new school at the November 8th election.  But it did fail to even garner a majority since 10.4% of the voters did not bother to weigh in on Question 5.

Amherst had a 68% turnout for the Presidential election and Question 5 passed 45.21% to 44.38% or less than one percent. 

Town Meeting on the first night had a 88% turnout and Article 2 failed by 50.47% to 49.53% or less than 1%, which sounds pretty identical to the "will of the voters" to me.

Unless you think a demonstration of will is washing down that second slice of chocolate cake with a diet coke. 

And Our Flag Was NOT Still There

Barren flagpole at Hampshire College this Sunday morning

Hampshire College has symbolically seceded  from The Union, although I'm sure the Governor or President will not bother sending in troops to bring them back into the fold.  No great loss.

Last week Hampshire College acquiesced in the best Neville Chamberlain fashion to the vocal minority and lowered the flag to half staff as a sign of mourning over the surprising election of a Presidential candidate not of their choosing.

Since our flag is only lowered to honor and remember the dead, doing so for petty reasons only demeans the sacred act itself.  A better choice would be to fly the flag upside down as a symbol of distress.

Then after miscreant students burned the flag they put up a new one in time for Veteran Day, but still at half staff.

But now they have sunk even lower by removing the American flag entirely.  Although the brave bureaucrats chose the perfect time as area colleges and UMass take a Thanksgiving break and then we're on a fast track to Christmas, err, the "Holiday Season," and the end of the semester.

 Although as of Monday morning a flag is still flying at Hampshire College PD

It would be one thing if Hampshire College were an upstanding good citizen of Amherst but they are the only tax exempt institute of higher education  who pays nothing for our vital ambulance and fire department protection and yet continually tie up AFD with "cooking smoke" false alarms.

And they loved getting all the free press from the left leaning bricks and mortar media for their scholarship program for undocumented students who do not have official citizenship.  

So yeah Hampshire College, by all means, lets welcome those who come to this great country to make a better life for themselves through education but at the same time show disrespect for the ultimate symbol of who and what we are:  the American flag.

And so it begins 

Amherst College flag atop Johnson Chapel.  That's the way I always heard it should be

DUI Double Dishonor Roll

Matthew Dupont, age 38, stands before the Judge

Let's hope this weekend closes out one better than last weekend, although only one drunk driving arrest was still better than average.

But in the case of Matthew Dupont, his second offense, and with a Blood Alcohol Concentration of .23 -- almost three times the limit -- he was a deadly event waiting to happen.

And we already had one too many of those this year.

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Friday Follies

Craig's Place Homeless Shelter at First Baptist Church opened November 1st

Maybe it was the nice weather combined with the recent reopening of the Homeless Shelter but in the span of just a couple hours APD responded to three separate calls relating to our less fortunate denizens who call "the streets of Amherst" home.

Police had to respond to Town Manager Paul Bockelman's office because one irate homeless man was angrily confronting Mr. Bockelman about a perceived injustice in his treatment by either APD or District Court.

But police did not have to go far to find him because as they headed to Town Hall he left and headed to the police station to yell at them.

Kind of funny in one respect I suppose.  But the real problem with these types of antics is it diverts police from potentially mores serious activities.

About a minute before the Town Manager called, Dispatch sent two units to an apartment complex in East Amherst for a possible domestic abuse in progress.

Since these calls can be very serious (a leading cause of death for police officers) you always send in more than one unit.  But since no other units were available one of them had to break off and divert back to Town Hall to assist the Town Manager.

 Homeless man angrily walks away from APD

Fortunately the domestic situation was nothing serious and after blowing off steam yelling at the Town Manager and police the homeless man stomped off towards town center.

A few minutes later police responded back to town center because another group of homeless individuals loitering in front of businesses were hassling a UPS delivery man and other store patrons.  Officers quickly "moved them along."

 Police moved along a gaggle of homeless folks from in front of downtown businesses

And over the course of the day Dispatch fielded a few calls for "Football Phil" walking in and out of traffic holding his nasty anti-Hillary sign.  You may remember Phil as he also did the same last spring holding a nasty anti-Bernie sign.

 Football Phil with a political sign instead of his football in front of AFD Central Station

Like an Internet troll, Phil loves to rile people up.  He also came close to being arrested for aggressively confronting Amherst Regional High School students who walked out of school in protest on Monday and marched to the downtown, which is of course his personal playground.

Saturday 2:00 PM.  The entire APD shift called to town center after woman calls 911 saying Phil punched a woman.  My guess is she got physical with him first.  Which is of course exactly what he wants.

Kickin' Kurt Strikes Again

Kurt Geryk, age 51, stands before the Judge

It's been a bad week for the Geryk household. 

On Monday night Amherst Town Meeting killed the $67 million school building project almost singlehandedly hatched by (former) Superintendent Maria Geryk that would have somewhat salvaged her legacy in spite of the $309,000 she coerced out of the diffident Amherst Regional School Committee three months ago.

Just as President Obama's legacy is already somewhat under a cloud because you-know-who became President instead of the anointed Queen.

Over the weekend Geryk's often volatile but always behind-the-scenes husband Kurt was arrested for assaulting a church door, messing with the last guy on APD you would want to get physical with -- Lt. Gabe Ting -- and even somewhat assaulting a Catholic priest.

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Tuesday Kurt Geryk accepted the somewhat standard plea deal for this somewhat unusual incident:  Count One (Assault & Battery) was dropped and he was found "responsible" for Count Two (Trespassing), but it was diverted to a civil rather than criminal complaint. 

He was fined $100 which he paid immediately (probably out of the $309K).

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The Best Laid Plans

Town Meeting redirected the preliminary path hatched by town officials to deal with four major building projects by turning down the two-for-one $67 million Mega School that would have orphaned Fort River, a preferred site for the new DPW thus allowing the new South Fire Station to occupy their former (really) old site next to my house.

Fort River Elementary School

Last night Town Meeting added more delay by voting down the $350,000 for Schematic Design of the DPW a kind of stage 2 process, but did approve $75,000 for South Fire Station stage 1 study.  But if that study shows the DPW site to be the best choice for the new Fire Station then that confirms the additional delay of a at least a year.

 Current DPW is located in 100 year old former Trolley building

And the town has already squandered 50 years delaying the new South Fire Station.

Preliminary figures bandied about for the new Fire Station are in the $12 million range and the new DPW three times that with no state reimbursement.   The Jones Library expansion/renovation in the $32 million range with the state paying $15 million, private donations of $5 million, and a taxpayer Debt Exclusion Override of $12 million.

And the just torpedoed $67 Mega School was to be 50% state funded the other half a Debt Exclusion Override.

AFD Central Station a sardine can for expensive equipment

If the town really wanted to score points with some of us curmudgeons they would tap our $12 million in stashed away reserves and light a fire under the new Fire Station process.

With that vital necessity out of the way the other projects stand a better chance because the town would have demonstrated it knows how to set priorities. (For a change.)

Sour Grapes

Amherst School Committee 11/15/16

Rather than accept the losing vote as an indication that something was not right with the exceedingly expensive building project, three-fifths of the School Committee chose to bitterly blame Town Meeting for not upholding the "will of the people" from last week's ballot vote.

But you have to wonder if those three are math challenged since the two votes mirrored each other almost identically ... except for the outcome.

In 1968 President Johnson beat challenger Gene McCarthy by 7% in the New Hampshire primary but not nearly the margin he should have won by.  So he quit the race.

A 50.47% margin is fine when only a majority is required but still, to quote Eric Nakajima, "indicates the town is deeply divided."  But when that same measure required 66.67% a razor thin majority is NOT EVEN CLOSE.

In fact even the "popular vote" last Tuesday they are so quick to cite the question DID NOT GET A MAJORITY.  Out of the 15,089 votes cast 1,571 (10.4%) left the Mega School question blank.  So the overall vote carried by only 45.21% in favor to 44.38% against or less than a majority.

Perhaps Mr. Nakajima is showing his experience with elections.  He told his fellow committee members that he voted for the measure in Town Meeting, "but was not surprised by the result".

And now it's time to move forward to address those two buildings shortcomings in a manner that will win broad support.

"Everyone in town owns the solution."

Marla reads SASS statement.  Select Board Chair Alisa Brewer sits behind her.  Rockwell Town Meeting iconic illustration top right

Marla Goldberg-Jamate read a statement to the Committee during public comment from the winning side, Save Amherst Small Schools:

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Acting Superintendent Mike Morris told the Committee he has ten days to ask the state for an extension but will not since Town Meeting, "Emphatically said no."

And he would start the process to reapply to the MSBA as soon as possible but would do so under the "core program" and not the "accelerated repair program" since both buildings needs extensive work.

Since Wildwood has been updated more over the recent past it may very well be Fort River that will now step up to the plate for MSBA funding.  Fort River is in need of a  $1+ million roof replacement while Wildwood is in need of a $400,000 new boiler.

Ironically Town Meeting appropriated the $400,000 for the Wildwood boiler a few years ago but then that money was diverted into the $1 million schematic design that came up with the just defeated Mega School.

 Vince O'Connor tells School Committee the $350,000 Town Meeting will vote on tonight for DPW schematic design should be redirected to school building issue