Fab Friday Over Amherst

 Always colorful downtown Amherst

Not nearly as much going on this weekend vs Homecoming last weekend, but the weather is certainly hospitable other than a little wind.

This is of course the weekend before Halloween which this year falls on a Saturday and coincides with daylight savings end.   One more hour to party or for us old fogies an extra hour of sleep.

This weekend will act a little like the canary in the coalmine as an indicator of how bad things could get over Halloween.

So far the the past two months have been extraordinarily quieter than the past three or four years for the same comparative time period.

Let's hope it stays that way.

Puffer's Pond still showing color although today's wind may loosen lots of leaves

Cowls Road in North Amherst finally getting repaved at a cost of $172,000

Hampshire College R.W. Kern Center (middle left)

Hampshire College recently hosted a tour to show off their new to the South Amherst skyline R.W. Kern Center "Living Building".  Which of course costs more than your average bear, projected at around $11 million.

Thus if Stephen Kulik's legislative bill to allow municipalities to tax private education institutes at 25% of their assessed value, this building alone would generate $55,000 annually.  ($20.54/$1,000 times one-quarter of $11 million assessment)

Currently Hampshire College, who requires Amherst Fire Department services about as often as Amherst College, pays the town nothing in Payment In Lieu Of Taxes.  Amherst College, on the other hand, paid the town $130,000 this year.

Hampshire College will also be hosting next weekend their traditional but decidedly offbeat  Hampshire Halloween (with a tagline of "Trip or Treat") that always seems to require extra AFD medical coverage.

And We Have A Winner

Commonwealth Honors College Complex bottom right

The Commonwealth Honors College Residential Complex, a $192 million mixed residential and teaching facility that opened in the fall of 2013, was just awarded  LEED Silver Certification for its energy efficient design standards.

The other really nice thing about the complex is it provides 1,500 beds to keep students on campus, and because the rooms are so nice the occupants tend to take good care of them.

The complex also has nary a response from UMass police for problem behavior with only the occasional "burnt popcorn" fire alarm response handled by Amherst Fire Department (since UMass does not have its own fire department).

Now if we could just get UMass to partner with a private entity to construct something like this on the Gateway open field -- one that would pay property taxes -- I would really do an Irish jig.  

Gateway Area.  Fearing & Phillips Streets on left with former Frat Row on right.  

Bring A Knife To A Knife Fight

Butternut Farm, South Amherst

So as usual there's two sides to a story -- sometimes WAY more than that.  But I'm not going to go all Kurosawa on you. 

The Amherst community was somewhat taken aback on Monday late morning over reports of a stabbing in South Amherst perpetrated by Quintin Tyler, a 44 year old male.

Even worse, his victim was a teenager.

Turns out the teenager attacked Tyler first with a kitchen knife while one of the other (female) roommates had unsuccessfully tried to restrain him.

Tyler used a "folding knife" to stab the teenager, which by and large are not overly large.

 Click to enlarge/read

Tyler was not found to be a dangerous person (Chapter 58A) and was released on $200 bail.

Judge Payne also issued "stay away" order from his (former) apartment at Butternut Farm and the victim, although Tyler did contact Amherst police to accompany him so he could retrieve his belongings.

Stay away order issued by Judge John Payne

High Cost Of Education In A College Town

Wildwood Elementary School

One important aspects of the major shake up proposed by school officials in the bricks and mortar make up of public education in our highly educated town is financial.  A burden of course that falls on the taxpayers, which includes ALL residents -- not just homeowners.

For instance the Massachusetts School Building Authority is financed directly out of the somewhat high 6.25% state sales tax.

Therefor renters in town who purchase goods and services pay into the MSBA budget.  And of course when property taxes go up landlords tend to pass that along via rent increases.

At $20.54/$1,000 Amherst already has one of the highest property tax rates in the entire state, ranked #14 out of 351.  Well over the nearby city of Northampton, ranked #158,  at $15.80/$1,000 or Hadley, the hardworking farm town next door, ranked #299 at $10.86/$1,000.

The statewide median average is $15.69/$1,000

 A $200/year tax increase could vault Amherst into the top ten in the state

Since the proposed funding mechanism is a "Debt Exclusion Override" it will require a two-thirds vote of Amherst Town Meeting, a majority vote of the Select Board to place it on the town ballot and a then majority approval of town voters, all before January 1st, 2017.

And the geriatric average age of Town Meeting could work against the proposal since most of the members no longer have children in the public schools.

The financial chart presented above is designed to show how fiscally responsible the proposal for a new mega-school is compared to the alternative at twice the amount.

But it's a tad disingenuous since it assumes Fort River would be renovated/replaced at 100% town taxpayer cost with Wildwood being renovated/replaced with a 50% reimbursement from MSBA.

And School Committee member Vira Douangmany Cage did point out last night that MSBA does pay for renovations short of complete overhauls via their "Major Repairs & Accelerated Repairs" programs, so if Fort River could be partially renovated with their assistance the overall cost would go down dramatically.

But there's no doubt consolidation saves money.  Last night Superintendent Maria Geryk once again cited the $850,000 cost savings that resulted from the bitterly contested closing of Mark's Meadow Elementary School on the UMass campus.  

Interestingly the Town & Schools had signed a five year "Strategic Partnership Agreement" with UMass in 2007 acknowledging the value of free use of Mark's Meadow.

UMass clearly stated they would return to the negotiation table should Mark's Meadow ever close, which of course it did prior to the ending of the five year contract, which is now three years overdo for signing.

Currently Amherst public schools are educating 56 children emanating from UMass tax exempt family housing at an average annual cost of just over $19,000 per student, or over $1 million.

 Click to enlarge/read

Yet UMass is now withholding the local option room tax at their Campus Center Hotel in an attempt to strong arm the town into signing a new Strategic Partnership that probably does not include reimbursement for the high education costs of their children.

So before Amherst taxpayers pass an Override for the schools they should require town officials get UMass to pay its fair share.

In addition the Select Board should show strong support for Representative Stephen Kulik's bill to require tax exempt institutions like Hampshire College (who pays the town nothing for AFD services) and Amherst College, who paid $130K this year, to pay 25% of their assessed value as a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes.

Mega-School It Is

Amherst School Committee will vote on this new proposal on November 3

After an hour of public comment by 17 parents and teachers, many of whom asked the School Committee to slow down and better engage with the general public on this important decision, and then another hour of formal presentation by Assistant Superintendent Mike Morris the BIG decision was, finally, unveiled.

Close down Fort River and Wildwood Elementary Schools and replace them with one large new elementary school (grades 2-6) that will essentially be two schools under one roof.  And turn Crocker Farm, currently preK-6, to PreK-1.

Public Forum on this decision will be held October 26th

 A large crowd attended tonight's SC meeting

 Projected cost for 750 student mega-school $20-$22 Million

Renovating or rebuilding Wildwood alone (K-6 Model) would leave Fort River, which was described as "decrepit" and not ADA compliant, as the black sheep of the public school system.  

New mega-school demographics (click to enlarge)

A Viable 2nd Emergency Exit

Rolling Green Apartments, East Amherst

Disability Access Advisory Committee Chair Gerry Weiss summed up the public safety situation with two simple questions, one to his committee, "How safe would you feel if your main safety feature in a fire was an intercom?"; and then the 2nd directed to Dominic Marinelli, an accessibility consultant, "How far from a burning building would you like to be?"

Mr Marinelli consults for Beacon Industries who purchased Rolling Green Apartments last year for $30 million and was engaging in a conference call this morning with the committee.  

Amherst contributed $1.25 million in Community Preservation Act money towards that purchase in order to keep all 204 units on the Subsidized Housing Inventory, even though only 41 of the units are actually (slightly) below market rate.

At the time Amherst had an SHI of 10.8% so the loss of Rolling Green would have put us well under the 10% threshold, and then subject to a Ch40B development.

But now Beacon Industries wishes to do major renovations at the property costing 30% of assessed value, thus Americans with Disability Act standards kick in.  They were already turned down for a variance by the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board and are currently trying to get the blessing of the Disability Access Committee for a second attempt.

Since Rolling Green does not have any 3 or 4 bedroom units on single floor flat ground (all of them are townhouses) the committee had no major concerns about keeping the accessible units to 1 and 2 bedroom.

The major, major concern was a viable second means of egress from those units, and that's where the sparks started to fly.

The 2nd means of egress was not fully handicapped accessible but would -- stated Mr. Marinelli enthusiastically -- bring the tenant to a "landing" just outside the building as an "area of refuge".  The tenant could then use the intercom to contact help.

 DAAC Chair Gerry Weiss (top center) Senior Planner Nate Malloy (bottom right)

But when asked by town planner Nate Molloy how big was that landing, the response drew disbelief:  30" by 48".  NEXT TO A BURNING BUILDING.

Marinelli instantly said, "I can try to get whatever size you want.  How big do you want it?"

That's when Mr. Weiss asked him "How far from a burning building would you like to be?".  And a few other members murmured, "In a wheelchair!"

The Disability Access Advisory Committee decided they would contact AFD Chief Tim Nelson for his recommendations and talk with Mr Marinelli again at their next meeting.

Rolling Green Apartments 1/23/13  (photo: Steven O'Toole)

That Rolling Green fire was fatal

Home Is Where The Alcohol Is

AFD North Station, overlooking UMass

If UMass needs alcohol to sell the football team then perhaps they should think twice about how viable the game is as a stand alone enterprise.

Homecoming weekend should be about more than just alcohol.

 Lot 22 was ground zero for tailgating

McGuirk Stadium 6:00 PM Saturday

AFD Homecoming runs

17 out of 27 "emergency" runs (63%) to UMass were for excessive alcohol intake, aka ETOH