Making The Naughty List

McMurphy's Uptown Tavern:  A college aged youth favorite

A little late for Christmas but just in time for New Year's Day the Boston Globe published a list yesterday of Massachusetts bars and restaurants named as the last place the perp had a drink before getting behind the wheel of a deadly weapon only to be taken off the street by a sagacious patrol cop.

Now I will have to make inquiries on Tuesday because the Globe states these were a byproduct of being "convicted" of drunk driving.

Because after a few years of covering Eastern Hampshire District Court I'm used to hearing the name of an establishment that served the last drink to a driver arrested for drunk driving but they were smart enough to take a plea deal known as a 24D disposition.

In other words they were not "convicted" of drunk driving and after a year the charge is dismissed.

But over the years I've observed perhaps a 100 or more of these plea deals and I have heard McMurphy's Uptown Tavern named more than a few times as the last place the driver was served a drink.

For instance (A BAC almost 2.5 times over the limit)

Sure the perp could by lying and just trying to get a particular bar in trouble because they once made them stand in line too long to get in, but I seriously doubt it.  Because that would be perjury -- and the Courts frown on that even more than they do DUI.

So I was not surprised in the least to see McMurphy's name appearing  on the list published by the Boston Globe.  After all, they were the architects of the infamous Blarney Blowout. 

The Other #1 Story Of 2016

A sea of flags at Hampshire College protest called by VFW Post 754

The Maria Geryk debacle that I declared the #1 story of 2016 was based on number of Blog hits and comments on the initial story that appeared a day or two before other media sources picked it up.

So it was a pretty easy call declaring it the top story of the year.  Mainly because it had such a far reaching impact over long period of time, which still has not concluded since the $67 million Mega School -- Maria's Folly -- comes up for a revote at a Special Town Meeting January 30th.

But the story that reached far more eyeballs than the Geryk affair -- mainly on Facebook rather than my Blog -- was the embarrassing deja vu incident with the American flag at Hampshire College. 

Or perhaps I should say the lack of an American flag at Hampshire College.

My Facebook post of B2 video showing the enormous flag waving crowd on the day of protest called by our local VFW had almost 30,000 views on Facebook alone.  Which goes to show the power of that website for news distribution.

Interestingly enough the first blog post I did on the flag controversy lamenting the initial idiotic decision to fly the flag at half staff to protest the election of Donald Trump was the first time I was banned by Facebook for 24 hours.

Maybe some of the Facebook moderators are Hampshire College grads.

2016 Story Of The Year

'Twas a story that played out over too many months, too many Regional School Committee executive sessions and a final payout of way too many tax dollars -- $309,000 -- before it came to an ignominious end.

The precipitous fall of School Superintendent Maria Geryk, the highest paid town employee, is a cautionary tale that serves to remind us of the old maxim about absolute power corrupting absolutely.

Mike Morris, Maria Geryk, Amherst School Committee at Town Meeting May, 2016

Sure, there were grumblings over her entire tenure about failed academic programs, a seemingly revolving door for school principals, the high average cost per student driving our taxes skyhigh  and the steady stream of students choosing charter schools over our hometown offerings.

But over the course of five years nothing seriously challenged her throne until Ms. Geryk made one fatal monumental error in judgment:  issuing a "stay away order" to a single mother simply trying to get the public school system do something about the somewhat racially charged bullying of her 7-year-old daughter.

A story I first broke on April 14th and published over a dozen follow ups over the next four months. 

But that first story was my highest read (20,000+) and most commented story (210) of the year and it set off a slow rumble leading to a major earthquake whose aftershocks will be felt for a very long time.

For instance the failure of the $67 million Mega School can be directly attributed to Maria Geryk's insistence on having it her way even though the vast majority of parents and teachers preferred a different academic model to solving the physical problems with Wildwood and Fort River Elementary schools.

And after almost four years of deliberations the attempt to e-x-p-a--n-d  regionalization from the current 7-12 system all the way down to K-6 went front burner to back burner to dead & buried as well as the idea of merging the Regional Middle School students into the Regional High School thus freeing up that building for other productive uses.

Now the schools are searching for a another Superintendent and a couple of Principals.  And of course I will get the blame for bringing down Maria Geryk and creating a "toxic" atmosphere that no sane bureaucrat will wish to endure even for the overly generous salary the position guarantees.

Eric Nakajima was appointed to Amherst School Committee by Select Board and School Committee vote

But the recent appointment of Eric Nakajima to the Amherst School Committee and his quick election as Chair of the Regional School Committee to replace Laura Kent, a rookie who couldn't handle the pressure,  offers the best hope we've seen in a l-o-n-g while.

2017 promises to be an interesting year -- hopefully not in the Chinese curse sort of way.

Amherst Coated In White

Sunrise to the east

 Town Center 

UMass our #1 industry (quieter than usual)

Click photos to enlarge

Amherst College (still under construction)

The Notch deep South Amherst

Hampshire College

The Lord Jeff

Courtyard Marriott in Hadley (close enough)

Sundown to the west

Runner Up Story Of The Year

A new Town Manager, a water ban to prevent the recurrence of the great 1980 UMass shut down, and an almost unheard of handgun murder at Southpoint Apartments all made my short list for top local story of the year, but not quite #1.

And perhaps I'm a little too attached to the story that comes in at #2, especially since I predicted one year ago around this time that it would be the #1 story of 2016.  Oh well, close enough for the internet I guess.

 9 member elected Charter Commission sworn in by Town Clerk April 5, 2016

In fact if the Charter Commission had not, finally, come to a (straw) vote on December 19 to ditch Town Meeting their doings over the past nine months would not even have made my top ten list. 

The previous Charter Commission came within a whisker of updating our antiquated local government from Selectboard/Town Meeting/Manager to Mayor/Council/Manager.   Their straw vote to ditch Town Meeting, however, came a little earlier in the process.

Our current Charter Commission has to produce a draft version of their proposal by July, 2017 and it will go to the voters at the March, 2018 annual election.  This recent vote to terminate Town Meeting was a h-u-g-e step in the right direction. 

Now they just need to avoid the fatal mistake made by the previous Commission keeping an unelected Town Manager with more authority than the Mayor, who was more figurehead than actual leader. 

Pot Delayed Is, well, Pot Delayed

It is still legal to grow your own pot and share with friends and family

So apparently only two State Senators can upend the will of the voters and enact a six month delay on the commercial sale of marijuana in our fair state, moving the original deadline (six months) from one year from now to 1.5 years from now.

The measure passed in Amherst almost as overwhelmingly as the town supported Hillary Clinton for President.

Originally municipalities had until January 1st, 2018 to line up their ducks for granting permits for recreational sales, or at that point any facility that had approval to sell medical marijuana could then start selling it to anybody over the age of 21 with no medical approval required.

Now that drop-dead deadline has been pushed back to July 1st, 2018.  The measure still requires the approval of Governor Baker but since he's an opponent of recreational sales I'm sure he will be happy to sign the delay.

In an unusual meeting this morning the Select Board met to call a Special Town Meeting to revote  the $67 million Mega School.

 Select Board met this morning and can place anything they want on town ballot

Chair Alisa Brewer also confirmed the SB would soon discuss the idea of placing on the Spring ballot a referendum question allowing Amherst to limit the number of permits for recreational sales to either 20% of the liquor licenses issued, or the same number of medical marijuana dispensary permits issued.

Either measure would limit the number of recreational pot facilities to three or less.  And it's a safe bet UMass will be arguing for less.

The Cost Of Delay

The Mill District

After innumerable public meetings before a bevy of boards and committees leading up to the all important Zoning Board of Appeals Comprehensive Permit hearings, Beacon Communities representatives must feel like one of those purported abductees taken aboard an alien vessel for a close up examination including pokes and prods of every pore.

At the outset the ZBA scheduled three dates for examining the mixed use $45 million proposal, with January 5th being the final one at which they would vote on the measure which requires a two thirds vote to pass.

But at last week's Select Board meeting Town Manager Paul Bockelman told the SB an additional meeting would be required and the next one on the ZBA calender was January 19.

Chair Alisa Brewer somewhat bristled at the news wondering why the extra meeting was necessary and why it was scheduled two weeks from the 3rd one rather than only one week which is the way the Select Board handles important hearings.

Turns out the ZBA has not yet posted the date for that final meeting as they are trying to come up with a night that works for all concerned but it would be sooner than January 19.

Since the 130 unit development is providing 26 units of desperately needed subsidized housing Beacon is seeking tax credits and financing from the state to make the project work and need to have all approvals in place by mid February.

Beacon will also be seeking Select Board approval for a property tax reduction on those 26 below market rate units under the "Affordable Housing Property Tax Incentive" passed by Town Meeting two years ago, an important legacy legislation championed by the late Town Manager, John Musante.

Click to enlarge/read

The usual NIMBYs have attacked the project with the usual complaints about being too big and leading to the destruction of the historic character of their neighborhood like Godzilla stomping through Tokyo.

More ominously they brought in a hired gun attorney to the last ZBA hearing, which of course brings up the prospects of a nuisance lawsuit hoping to delay the project, causing Beacon Communities untenable financial losses.

The same desperate strategy unsuccessfully used against One East Pleasant Street 18 months ago.

But NIMBYs never learn -- especially in Amherst.