154 acre parcel targeted for eminent domain taking
The Retreat, a badly needed student housing development in northeast Amherst managed to dodge the first scud missile launched their way as the Conservation Commission last night abstained from making a recommendation on Amherst Town Meeting article #43, the unAmerican use of eminent domain to steal the property development rights from W.D. Cowls, Inc, the largest private landowner in the state with local business roots predating the American Revolution.
Last night's thunderstorm took out our really BIG town center flag, which was recovered down by the Police Station. Disadvantage of large size is strong wind has more to work with. Alan Snow is hoping to have it back up and flapping by the weekend.
Larry Kelley, Amherst Town Meeting member, Precinct 5
So yes, I consider myself a digital first reporter who mostly uses Blogger as a publishing platform, although these days strongly supplemented by Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Basic principals of journo are sacred: Seek truth and report it -- especially when the powerful wish it kept secret -- mitigate harm to the innocent, and protect with your dying breath confidential sources.
But I can assure you other roles on occasion override my role as reporter. For instance, if a tornado hit Crocker Farm School this morning my role as a Dad would come first should I be early on the scene. As a matter of fact even if it was not the particular school my daughters attend, my initial actions would be to help rather than report.
Landlord Richard Gold who spoke against article #29 (Rental Registration Permit bylaw) Monday night bitterly complained about my actions on the floor of Town Meeting and called into question my journalist ethics:
"As a so called reporter who chooses to
sit in the front row designated for the press it is your obligation to
keep your opinions to yourself and your mouth shut. Not to interrupt
speakers so as to disrupt and discredit what they are saying. It was
your voice alone that first objected to a portion of my speech."
First off, the moderator clearly states at the beginning of every town meeting the front row " may be used by members of the press or town staff" (with special ID showing they are "non voters") but does not suggest regular town meeting members should not sit there, as about a dozen usually do.
In fact I have been in that location for almost all my nearly 20 years as an Amherst Town Meeting member.
As to my "point of order" (which yes, a few savvy members of Town Meeting use as a weapon to distract speakers), I was invoking the Rule of Decorum that clearly states a speaker should "refrain from characterizing a member's motives or impugning the character of other members."
And as you can clearly see it was not long after that the moderator himself interrupted Mr. Gold for that very reason. Twice. So I think his real problem is what most people refer to as "sour grapes".
Over on the Town Meeting listserve Amherst landlord and ZBA member Hilda Greenbaum who was a staunch opponent of article #29 wrote: "Where were the unhappy folks last night against a well-oiled
neighborhood? Everyone (including myself) seemed to be cowed by their
persistence. "
Mr Gold also lamented "Most of my landlord colleagues were
unhappy with Article 29 and it went beyond self-serving. In the end
they turned out to be summer soldiers when it came time to speak out
publicly."
After all the sound and fury leading up to the epic vote, it was almost anti-climactic. Notice the somewhat stunned silence immediately after the resounding voice vote:
Ah yes, that brief period when Amherst town center is transformed back to a simpler time, before the University became a bustling big city -- bringing our small town with it.
When you could leave your doors unlocked at night, buy a hammer in the downtown, or when most families in town had milk delivered to their front porch.
So while the addition to the overgrown front yard is kind of cute -- after all, who does not like bear statues? -- I would guess it's the Bad Boys of BabeTown symbolically extending the middle finger to the town after recent repeated $100 citations for parking on the lawn.
In 2010, 211 children were killed in drunk driving crashes
How can you tell UMass is no longer in session? Zero party house arrests or citations over the weekend.
How can you tell drunk driving is not predominantly a student issue? Four-out-of-five of this weekend's Dishonor Roll winners (and yes I still consider "thirsty Thursday" start of the weekend) are NOT students ... although two are UMass staff, not setting a very good example for students.
Although the one student among them, Chiara Rose Raponi, did distinguish and draw attention to herself by crashing her car with two occupants on board.
Stephanie O'Keeffe, Select Board Chair and strong proponent of Rental Permit Bylaw
While it was unseasonably hot outside the Amherst Regional Middle School, the auditorium where Amherst Town Meeting convenes was even hotter as the issue of the decade, perhaps a generation, Rental Registration Property Bylaw (permit system) came to a final head.
The vote was overwhelmingly in favor, sounding like a clear two thirds majority. So decisive in fact that no one thought to call for a Tally Vote, since the measure only required a simply majority.
With unanimous support of the Planning Board, Finance Committee, Select Board and Town Manager and more than a majority of speakers who addressed the issue from the floor, the discussion carried on for just over two hours. A motion to refer back to the Select Board made by Town Meeting member and landlord Richard Gold failed miserably.
Landlord, lawyer and town officials wait in front row for possible call to speak
Another motion offered by Coalition of Amherst Neighborhoods to exempt owner occupied units from the new regulation also failed by a tally vote of 116-74.
Speakers against the ordinance cited costs ($100/year), constitutional issues (unreasonable search by town inspectors), and suggested Amherst is already known state wide for being over regulated.
But common sense won the day, by a very wide margin. Not something you see all that often on the floor of Amherst Town Meeting.
