All In A Name

Amherst:  "A Welcoming Community"

Is Amherst a Sanctuary City?  Well, err, sort of, kinda, maybe ...  Depends who you ask.

If you ask Town Manager Paul Bockelman, as the Finance Committee did recently, he would say "No"; but, it's "complicated."

But if you ask Select Board Chair Alisa Brewer she would seem to indicate that we are but would avoid an outright yes or no answer.

   Is Amherst A Sanctuary City? by Larry Kelley on Scribd

Either way a Town Meeting petition is now circulating to officially designate Amherst a "Sanctuary City" or town or community or whatever the case may be.  Amherst also now shows up on internet articles as being a Sanctuary City,

Certainly the Town Meeting resolution passed in 2012 contains all the sentiments of a Sanctuary City but never actually strings together those two words.

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So if President Trump's executive order to cut off federal funding to Sanctuary cities and towns really gets enforced how much will it cost Amherst?

Town Manager Bockelman told the Finance Committee we currently get about $200,000 from Department of Justice Grants to APD for sexual violence and alcohol education programs.

 Town Manager Paul Bockelman (left) at 1/26 Finance Committee meeting

But APD has a pretty astute grant writer and they have received a number of federal grants over the past few years. 

And Amherst also gets upwards of $850,000 in Community Development  Block Grants, which is federal money distributed by the state.

So I would not go poking the bear so to speak with an in your face Town Meeting warrant article directed at President Trump.  This being Amherst we are already probably on his radar, if only for the recent embarrassing flag incident at Hampshire College.  

Anti Trump pro Muslim Rally Amherst Town Common 1/19

Fork In The Road

Vote was 123 yes, 92 no, 9 abstain (224 present)

Yogi Berra had the right idea although he could have been a tad more specific about which path to choose.  Perhaps he was suggesting how important experience and instinct are when making decisions, like that famous Supreme Court justice line about knowing porn when he sees it.

For Amherst Town Meeting last night the same path was chosen for a second time even though sternly forewarned it's a dangerous road.

In spite of unanimous approval of the Select Board, School Committee, Finance Committee (with one abstention) and a slew of vocal supporters the $67.2 million Mega School project failed to garner the two thirds votes necessary to pass a bond issue.

 Supporters rally at entry to Middle School last night

Perhaps the most devastating testimony came from member Russ Vernon Jones a retired long time Principal of Fort River School, which these days some folks try to portray as health hazard:

"The education plan (2-6) does not match what works best.  Grade configuration is BIG mistake.  Neighborhood schools build community.  This will dismantle K-6 for many years to come.  Of course teachers want a new school!  But previously they opposed it when other opportunities were available." 

And Maria Kopicki was her usual professorially articulate self, presenting persuasive statistics showing the wait for state funds on a new plan is not necessarily a generation away.

But the sooner Mega School supporters accept defeat and withdraw this project from the MSBA pipeline the sooner we can get started on a new and improved project that will attract widespread support.

A much needed step to make Amherst great again.

 Focus may shift from Wildwood (bottom) to Fort River School (top)

(And with the new 100 year flood plain maps, which FEMA may approve in the next two years, showing dramatic reduction in the overlay around Fort River that school site could get more buildable, although it would require Town Meeting removing it from Flood Prone Conservancy overlay.)  

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On A Wing & A Prayer

 Rolling Green fatal fire (photo by Stephanie Jernigan

If a terrorist bomb detonates in downtown Amherst during peak traffic period you would expect AFD to require nine or more mutual aid ambulance runs from surrounding professional departments over a four hour period.

In fact these days all professional departments practice for those unthinkable Mass Causality Incidents.

But when a routine late Saturday night into early Sunday morning this early in the semester requires nine mutual aid ambulances (mostly for intoxicated college age youth at UMass) something is dramatically wrong.

And the thought that keeps Chief Nelson awake at night is what happens if a major structure fire occurs in the middle of that EMS mayhem, such as we saw a few years ago at Rolling Green that left one UMass student dead?

   AFD Swamped by Larry Kelley on Scribd

Holyoke has come under fire for having one engine on brown out that could have been helpful in that fatal fire on New Year's Day.

But the staffing shortage at AFD is almost like an everyday brownout since Engines or ambulances can't drive themselves.

Yes the UMass funded "impact shift" with four extra firefighters was not on duty because officials felt it too early in the semester to be necessary.

 But even with two extra potential ambulances Mutual Aid would still have been required during that troubling four hour period.

You have to wonder how Northampton is going to feel when they send all their available ambulances to Amherst and one of their own citizens suddenly needs medical assistance?

Replacing Maria

Maria Geryk at 3/31 Finance Committee meeting with Mike Morris, Sean Mangano

The search to replace former school Superintendent Maria Geryk is off to an inauspicious start.  The survey of qualities folks wish to see in her replacement has not gotten very wide circulation.  And as surveys go that's not a great thing.

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One of the big criticisms of our public schools which we will hear again on the floor of Town Meeting tonight is a lack of transparency and outreach.

The hiring of a "Media & Climate Communications Specialists" (which is not funded in the upcoming fiscal year) did nothing to change that.  Obviously.

Tomorrow, & Tomorrow, & Tomorrow

Former industrial site near North Amherst center

Proposed transformation

On Thursday February 2nd the Amherst Zoning Board of Appeals will convene for the 6th and hopefully final time to support the Comprehensive Permit for Beacon Communities North Square mixed use development at the Mill District in North Amherst.

Yes, academic Amherst once had industry.  Old timers refer to that area of town as "the dirty hands district" because of those long gone industries.  Today industrial land makes up less than 1% of the town tax base.

The Beacon proposal will revive that former industrial site, which currently pays the towns less than $10,000 in property taxes, in a way that will stimulate all of North Amherst via the tenants and businesses it attracts while enhancing our town coffers with over $500,000 in annual property taxes.

In order to offset the losses they will incur from having 26 subsidized housing units in the 130 unit proposal, Beacon will be seeking a temporary ten year property tax break on those units, legislation that was championed by late Town Manager John Musante.

The state requires a town to contribute financially to a Comprehensive Permit project anyway and this method is far less painful since it does not take any money out of the treasury and simply forgoes collecting money over a ten year period.

But how much exactly?

When Beacon Communities came into town four years ago and saved our bacon by buying Rolling Green to keep all 204 units on the Subsidized Housing Index, the town contributed $1.25 million up front.

Forever activist Vince O'Connor, a North Amherst resident, was circulating a sheet at the recent ZBA meeting showing the total tax breaks Beacon is seeking over ten years coming to almost $5 million.

Vince O'Connor low tech tax guestimate

But the spreadsheet presented to the Select Board on January 23rd concludes it will be far less than that (although it is a tad complicated):

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According to Mollye Lockwood,  Cowls VP of Real Estate and Community Development:

It is a reasonable request for the town to contribute about $2 million in
tax relief (that is the approximate amount for the total 10 year period
and what I believe Vince was trying to calculate) to have not only the 26
affordable units but all of the other benefits related to economic
development, village center revitalization, smart growth, etc. (The town,
or anyone else, could not build 26 affordable units deed restricted into
perpetuity for very-low and extremely-low income households for $2
million.) 

This is a great value for the community and the opportunity cost
that will be lost by not doing it would cost the town exponentially more
in the long run.

Amherst continuously pays lip service to the idea of subsidized housing.  Now it's time for town officials to put their money where their mouth is. 

100%

Atkins Reservoir Friday, January 27: 100% capacity

Atkins Reservoir, which went back online a couple weeks ago, is currently at full 200 million gallon capacity.

A far cry from early this fall when it was down by two-thirds and had to be shut down early. 

 Atkins Reservoir October 7th, 2016:  34% of capacity

Amherst managed to survive an extended period using only the wells and the return of somewhat normal New England weather has now replenished our surface water supplies in Pelham and Atkins which is located in Shutesbury.

The town lifted the water ban that went into effect on August 19th back on December 19th and the consumption levels since then have remained below 3 million gallons per day.

Amherst is permitted by the DEP to draw 4.44 million gallons per day so in our current system there's still plenty of capacity left for new growth as long as Mother Nature does not throw a hot hissy fit.




NIMBYs have embraced the recent water woes as another weapon in their anti-development war using it to attack the proposed Beacon Communities 130 unit development at the Mill District in North Amherst.

Not the first time the usual knee jerk anti-development arguments  have been all wet.

Mayor Council Yes!

Nine member Amherst Charter Commission

After almost two hours of deliberation comparing a Mayor/Council to the current Town Meeting/Select Board the full Amherst Charter Commission -- with one member using remote participation -- decided not to change course on their 5-4 late December "straw vote " to ditch Town Meeting.

Although they did not take a formal (concrete) vote it was obvious none of the Commissioners had changed their minds and if anything are now only more firmly entrenched.

In fact Town Meeting loyalists Gerry Weiss and Julia Rueschemeyer threatened to write a "robust minority report" although colleague Diana Stein promised to work with the five to create the best Charter possible.

This was the second meeting in a row that stalled momentum although the first hour was particularly enlightening as the Commission heard from Northampton (strong) Mayor David Narkewicz and South Hadley Administrator Mike Sullivan.

Sullivan a former Mayor of Holyoke told the Commission mayor/councils are not a one size fits all because every community has a "different texture ... a different fabric -- but if you can adopt what Northampton has go for it because it works really well there."

Mayor Narkewicz pointed out he has a highly trained credentialed finance team in place to handle the complicated finances of a city and their charter -- which gives the mayor a four year term -- makes very clear distinctions between the legislative (Council) and executive (Mayor) branch.

Sullivan concurred adding, "Mayor/Council form expedites things."

 Mayor Dave Narkewicz (ctr), Mike Sullivan (rt)

When asked about corruption Sullivan thought, "The only safeguard against corruption is individual honesty, no matter the system."

Mayor Narkewicz said Northampton passed an ordinance restricting political contributions to $500 even though the state allows $1,000 and he pointed out the Open Meeting Law keeps folks honest since anyone could access his campaign contribution report via the web.

Narkewicz acknowledged he was recently surprised to learn Representative Town Meeting members are exempt from state Conflict of Interest and Open Meeting Laws and he thought that, "was a recipe for problems."

Charter Chair Andy Churchill asked if they had any final suggestions for his Commission and Mayor Narkewicz told them "Make roles very clear.  Don't come up with a diluted mish mash.  Know where the buck stops.  Don't go with a fake Mayor."

The Mayor/Council/Manager Charter proposal in 2003 lost by only 14 votes and one of the main reasons for failure was the (unelected) Manager had more power than the (fake) Mayor.