Cutting Dangerous Corners

 45 Phillips Street

So you have to feel bad for the current owners of Bruno's Pizza who, through no fault of their own, suddenly had to shell out big bucks to safely deal with the three old gas storage tanks with old gas still remaining,  unexpectedly uncovered during the Main Street reconstruction project.

Since the conversion from gas station to food service happened in the 1970s the previous owner -- Bruno Matarazzo -- probably had no idea those tanks were there as well.

But the recent oil tank problem at 45 Phillips Street is another matter altogether.  When you pack more than the four unrelated tenants allowed by law into a one family wood frame unit -- especially a demographic that likes to party -- an extra amount of wear and tear should be expected.

And since Mr. Gharabegian's property card for 45 Phillips shows not a single permit pulled for any improvements since he purchased the mansion back in 2007, obviously he's not the neater half of The Odd Couple

While on cite doing a follow up investigation at the problem house, Amherst Fire Department Assistant Chief Don McKay noticed an oil stain in the basement and a hole in the floor that looked as though oil had drained down it, and a brand new oil storage tank, installed without a permit.

Apparently the original 275 gallon tank was damaged during a basement party.  

In addition to the the $400 in fines levied against Mr. Gharabegian for all the various infractions related to the dangerous practice of fly-by-night installation of a potentially explosive product, the Department of Environmental Protection is also investigating whether 45 Phillips will become Amherst's Love Canal. 

45 Phillips

Have a nice day Mr. Gharabegian.

Yet Another Underground Frat

45 Phillips Street: Broken Window (bottom left) theory in action 

If you are not zoned for it you probably should not create a public frathouse Facebook page and post to it pictures of a front porch full of residents in a "one family" house that can legally shelter only four (4) unrelated tenants.

Or, interestingly enough, register at UMass/Amherst as an RSO and use that illegal address for official contact information. Apparently UMass does not do much vetting for Fraternities and Sororities.

Even more interesting the photo shown of the house on the official town assessors card shows a "Grand Opening" banner across the upper floor!  Gotta wonder whether it was for the grand opening of Alpha Delta Phi, or a late night bar ... or both.

Naturally this bootleg building is owned by Stephen Gharabegian who also owns 11 Phillips Street currently under investigation for being an "underground Frathouse" and an "illegal bar" as well as being a Station Nightclub waiting to happen.

Frat paraphernalia on side porch of 45 Phillips Street this morning

No wonder this neighborhood is such a late night weekend attraction!

Town officials and UMass need to get serious about substandard housing on Phillips Street, which pretty much means the entire street.

The Amherst Redevelopment Authority should take the property by eminent domain, flatten it, and rebuild high-end housing that would attract more responsible graduate students and faculty with families and would pay way higher property taxes than the current undervalued properties.

UPDATE:  9:10 PM

So I just heard from Matt a "representative from the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity" stating that my post "constitutes libel, and if it is not removed immediately we will pursue legal action."  Of course he then goes on to admit that Alpha Delta Phi frat members did indeed occupy 45 Phillips Street but "we do not live there anymore"

He then goes on to rat out another unnamed frat:  "In regards to the paddles that you saw at the residence, those do not belong to the Alpha Delta Phi and are in fact a different fraternities paddles. Currently a few members of a different fraternity which is not associated with us in anyway live there."

Not that I keep score, but that makes the third legal threat this week (up from the normal one or two).  Truly, I'm on a roll.

Bermuda Triangle For Civility

The first weekend of renewed joint patrols between University Massachusetts PD and Amherst PD has yielded (rotten) fruit as officers on foot patrolling Lincoln Avenue/McClure Street had to dodge a bottle thrown from the bushes by John Moffitt of Andover, MA, age 19, who was arrested for underage drinking and disorderly conduct. 

"Disorderly conduct" is an apt description for that entire area, a kind of town/UMass DMZ border, although -- as usual -- problem houses made their presence known in other areas far from the UMass campus.  Take for instance 120 Amity Street, almost in the center of town.

120 Amity Street, Amherst

APD was called at 1:39 AM early Saturday morning to clear a crowd of 150-200 "uncooperative" guests from the "one family" residence and arrested two uncooperative party hosts: Nikoli Sotil, 209 E Granby Rd, Granby, MA, age 21 and Nick Freiter, 257 School St, Taunton, MA, age 21

Police were called to #25 Hobart Lane yet again for a party of 100-150 inside the apartment and another 200 milling around the road in front around 12:30 AM early Saturday morning.  Two residents were issued noise tickets and another cited for underage drinking.

A half hour later on North Pleasant Street, within spitting distance of Hobart Lane, Andy Thach, 7 Olympia Drive, Amherst, MA, age 22 was arrested for disorderly conduct and was noted to be "extremely ETOH" (drunk).

Around that time (1:02 AM) a patrol car was flagged down on Sunset Ave by a female advising the officer another very drunk young man was trying to fight with people and he appeared to have urinated on himself.   After running down Sunset Avenue onto UMass property, he was arrested by UMPD

In the furthermost reaches of North Amherst (1:10 AM) police were breaking up a party at 198 Sunderland Road because of loud noise and with 30-40 guests near the road a car barrelled by almost hitting some in the crowd.

Police chased the gray sedan and pulled it over on Rt 116 (yes, the same highway where a UMass student only weeks away from graduation was killed last year by a drunk driver going the wrong way) and arrested the driver Kevin Chan, 352 Silver Lane, Sunderland, MA for drunk driving.

Also in North Amherst  (2:21 AM) at the intersection of Meadow Street and North Pleasant the commercial center of N. Amherst police arrested Christopher Wade for drunk driving.


And of course what would a weekend of revelry be without Phillips Street?

 45 Phillips Street

Early Sunday morning (1:16 AM) police responded yet again to 45 Phillips for a loud stereo and guests up on the roof who were "very uncooperative."  One of the guests tried to prevent the arrest of his brother and he was also arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Arrested for both Noise and Nuisance House:
Ian Reeb, 285 Highland St, Dedham, MA, age 21
Alex Bazin, 112 Country Club Rd, E. Longmeadown, MA, age 20
Joshua Scott, 33 Portulace Dr, Spfld, MA, age 20
Matthew Scott, 33 Portulace Dr, Spfld, MA, age 26
Joseph Dingmann, 814 Shore Rd, Rocassett, MA, age 21

Late Friday around midnight police observed two youthful looking individuals exiting #19 Phillips Street carrying a 12 pack of beer, an address where police had visited previously to speak to tenants about civility.  Both were issued summons for underage possession of alcohol.  

 19 Phillips Street

Around midnight Saturday police were called to 84 Sunset Avenue, a one family home actually occupied by a family, for a Breaking & Entering.  Arrested for underage drinking, open container, and destruction of property over $250 in value:

Joseph Murphy, 6227 82nd St, Middle Village, NY, age 19
Amasith Phrommavanh, 5 Fawn Circle, Old Saybrook, CT, age 18

51 Phillips Street Monday morning. Rooftop party remains.

 AFD kept busy at our institutes of higher education with ETOH (passed out drunk) and  false fire alarms

AFD Mid October Weekend 

Let's get Physical

 45 Phillips Street

Student rowdyism escalated yet another notch late last night as Amherst Police officers had to physically defend themselves against combative college aged youth jet-fueled by alcohol, a danger to innocent bystanders, first responders and themselves.

Last week two drunk students unabashedly fighting in a downtown restaurant got physical with a female Amherst police officer who was attempting to break it up, and early this morning the violent response to APD officers continued unabated.

Around 12:30 AM an officer noticed a disturbance at 45 Phillips Street with about 20-30 males on the front porch yelling and throwing punches at each other.  In trying to break up the melee one of the perps "attempted to free his friend" from the cops hold and had to be pinned against a fence and placed under arrest.:


Officers later cited the house, owned by Stephan Gharabegian, with a $300 ticket for violation of the town's Nuisance House Bylaw.

Arrested for Disorderly Conduct and possession of liquor under age 21:

Kevin John Defusco, 5 Depot Road, Westford, MA, age 19  (UMass student)

Gilreath Manor, Hobart Lane 

 Around 2:00 AM police were called to Hobart Lane apartment #26 Gilreath Manor for reports of a fight involving ten individuals.  In breaking up the disturbance an officer was hit with pepper spray and required a response from AFD to rinse his eyes.

Arrested for Assault & Battery on a police officer, A&B with a dangerous weapon (pepper spray), Resisting Arrest, and Disorderly Conduct:

James M Robinson, 10 Truman Circle, Springfield, MA, age 19   (UMass student)

Around 2:45 AM police responded to 15/17 Fearing Street for reports of a "highly ETOH" (drunk) individual "throwing bottles at people."

 15 Fearing Street    (managed by Kendrick Management)

The responding officer was greeted by a dozen young men on the front porch who stated Jonathan Jacobs was "going crazy," throwing bottles and other items at them.  Due to his violent behavior they had evacuated the house.  Jacobs was located in his upstairs room but immediately became combative, assaulting one officer with his shoulder and knocking over another.  At APD headquarters he refused to identify himself and was held on $2,500 bail.

Arrested for Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (bottles), Disorderly Conduct, Resisting Arrest, A & B on a police officer:

Jonathan Daniel Jacobs, 225 Maryann Way, North Attleborough, MA, age 22  (UMass student)

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Meanwhile around 1:15 AM police responded to a report of a motor vehicle crash on Mattoon Street near Amherst Regional High School.  The driver reported swerving to avoid a pedestrian and lost control because of the "wet roads", but an eyewitness had another different version not involving a pedestrian.  The driver was given a field sobriety test and failed. 

Arrested for OUI Liquor and Marked Lanes Violation:

Daniel T. Kearney, 21 Wing Rd, Lynnfield, MA, age 21  (UMass student)

#####

Sadly, at 1:43 AM, UMass police, APD and AFD responded to a male who fell and hit his head near the Newman Center, UMass.  The first officer on the scene reported the male was on the ground surrounded by friends who confirmed he "had been drinking" and suddenly collapsed, hitting his head.  

AFD transported the unconscious young man to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, where he is reported to be on a breathing machine in the Critical Care Unit.

UPDATE (Monday afternoon): The young man was released from the hospital Sunday at 2:30 PM.  Let's hope he learned a lesson.

33 Phillips Street

 33 Phillips Street, Amherst

UPDATE: October 3
So poor Paul Markham must be feeling the heat, as he took his silly ode to UMass party culture, "Welcome to the Zoo" down after garnering 90,000 hits on YouTube.  Maybe his roomies were unhappy with him shouting out this address. 


UPDATE 5:15 PM original day of publication
This post just became my #1 of all time for single day reads.


On Monday morning at 6:45 AM, APD did a follow up visit to 33 Phillips Street, owned by Knight Properties LLC,  to hand deliver a nuisance house ticket for rowdy behavior that occurred late Saturday early Sunday morning.

Apparently it's one of those upstairs/downstairs problems where one floor does not wish to party as hardy as the other, but since the living arrangements are so, umm, close quarters that can make things a tad  difficult.  Especially at 1:45 AM.

The previous weekend APD responded to the same address, called  by a first floor neighbor concerned about hoards of kids -- like something out of the zombie apocalypse -- trying to get to the upstairs apartment, even if by climbing over railings and trying to break in via windows.  

Some of you younger hipsters may recognize the address, 33 Phillips Street (yes, one of my Party House of the Weekend frequent mentions).   Besides being the half-way party house in a row of party houses, 33 Phillips is also home to infamous white rapper Paul Markham.

So proud of the address that he immortalize it in his forgettable video "Welcome to the Zoo (UMass Amherst)" last year with a shout out (unfortunately you have to watch most of the video to hear it). 

Well if these $300 tickets keep accumulating, maybe Mr. Markham will drop his floundering rap career and start singing the blues.

 ETOH = Alcohol overdose

AFD Runs Late Sept:12

Party House runner up

The Enchanted Forest: 83 Morgan Circle

Nestled in a fairly solid, not-yet-overtaken-by-students residential neighborhood, 83 Morgan Circle made the police report this past weekend for the first time since last March . That may not sound like something to celebrate, but last year this address was party central, earning my "Party House of the Semester Award" for their repeated shenanigans.

Police responded early Sunday morning (1:45 AM) to a call complaining about a "loud party". When police arrived resident Ryan Good promised his remaining guests would "keep the noise down." Fair enough. APD issued a written warning.

Ryan Good's name did not show up last March when residents at 83 Morgan Circe were sited for the fifth separate occasion. So maybe we have had a turnover this fall with all new housemates who are not quite as outrageous as the Bad Boys who lived there all last year, but not exactly Mother Teresa types either.

Which makes you wonder what kind of background check the property owner does before turning over the keys to the front door?

Interestingly the house at 83 Morgan Circle is co-owned by Stephan Gharabegian who also owns almost half (4 of 9) the, errrr, dwellings on Phillips Street, arguable the worst slum in town. Which is why I dubbed him "King of the decadent street." One of the four he owns includes 33 Phillips Street, where white, pretty boy rapper Paul Markham proudly resides.

Mr. Markham's anthem "Welcome to The Zoo" perpetuates the party atmosphere that feeds the machine built around alcohol. Perhaps Markham will change his tune when some kid dies due to alcohol poisoning.

Former Amherst College Pres Tony Marx busted for DUI (driving a company car)

Another hectic weekend for APD

1057 North Pleasant Street, Amherst @ 6:45 AM Sunday

Saturday night as the witching hour fast approached, a half dozen squad cars and the large transport van (referred to as a "paddy wagon" way back in the day) converged on the center of Meadow Street directly in front of the main entry to Townhouse Apartments, where students had been congregating all night long--fueled by warm humid air and beer.

Like Old West cowboys, APD herded the massive crowd of students away from Meadow Street--which by then had become impassable to cars--back into the confines of the sprawling apartment complexes that consists almost entirely of UMass students.

Then they turned their attention to the large house on the slummy side of Meadow Street with all the cars parked on the lawn, which had been attracting overloaded taxis for most of the night--contributing to the gridlock on Meadow Street.

As the officers moved as a unit towards a side entrance where a few residents were still milling about I heard the clang of an empty beer can ricochet off the road at their feet.

This congested, claustrophobic--dangerous--scene of too many students and too few cops was replayed on Phillips Street, Hobart Lane, and upper North Pleasant Street between 10:00 PM and 1:00 AM. With students crossing those roads freely back-and-forth in droves, I'm amazed there were no people vs car incidents.

Meanwhile, back in Amherst center McMurphy's and Stackers had lines of young people waiting to get to the bar, while next door a friendly crowd formed in front of Antonio's Pizza, happily chowing down. Cell phones chirped, a street musician played the xylophone and an incessant car alarm was almost drown out by the cacophony of loud conversations coming from consumers all along the busy street, looking for something to do.

Just another late Saturday night in our little (college) town.

374 North Pleasant Street, Amherst @ 6:40 AM Sunday

King of the decadent street

Sunday Morning after a rough Saturday night

Decadence and student party houses go together like pizza and beer. Take Phillips Street for instance (and the Amherst Redevelopment Authority could), scene of a major disturbance last weekend--specifically 33 Phillips Street, where 11 arrests occurred on Saturday night starting as early as 6:46 PM.

The house is owned by STEPHAN GHARABEGIAN under protection of a Limited Liability Partnership KNIGHT PROPERTIES LLC (with his wife, Angela.)

In addition to this party house the pair own three others on Phillips Street (#11, #37, #45) thus making a total of 4 out-of-nine, almost half the housing for a street the ARA consultant deemed "decadent".

Color schematic of the Gateway area showing properties with decadent conditions (Phillips Street, where all but one wins the prize)
#########################################
To: Larry Kelley
Sent: Mon, May 2, 2011 8:43 pm
Subject: towns reputation...

Hi Larry,

My teen daughter had a soccer game on Sunday on the UMass campus against a team from Maine. As we waited for a game against a Rhode Island team to end, I heard the out of towners talking. They were going on about how disgusting it was on their way to campus and said they "would NEVER send their kids to school there." They were talking about the party remnants, beer cans, trash, etc. I started to defend our town and explain the Hobart mess and just stopped. It isn't just that weekend, and we all see it. I was actually embarrassed and didn't say another word. Do you think sharing this with someone at UMass or the town manager would make any difference at all?

Mary

Let's hope Mary...let's hope.