No Means No!

Fade post (needs more up votes!)

In the early morning hours of Saturday, March 28 UMass police responded to a reported sexual assault that occurred on Phillips Street, immediately adjacent to the campus.

Because the victim, a college aged female, was also ETOH (overly intoxicated) she ended up at UMass Health Services and, as a result, required transportation by AFD to Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

Since the (alleged) assault occurred on Phillips Street, which is town jurisdiction, UMPD instantly turned over the matter to APD.   Although my reliable source seemed to doubt the victim would file a criminal complaint, partially because of the alcohol involvement.

And that's seems to have been the end of it.

   APD Public Doc Rejection

Yes, this horrendous act occurred on the very weekend the jury was still out deliberating the fate of Emmanuel Bile, accused of participating in a gang rape at a UMass dorm, where the victim was clearly intoxicated but could still telegraph the concept, "No!"

After an outstanding job by the prosecution Bile was found guilty, in spite of the prominent role alcohol played in the horrific incident.

So I find it beyond appalling that a major corporation with an advertising budget as BIG as a third world country's GDP would highlight/promote the more nefarious aspects of alcohol consumption.

An insulting ad campaign that endangers women by painting a giant target on them, with Bud Light being used as the weapon of choice.   

And even insulting to men by suggesting the only way they can successfully find a sexual partner is if she's out of her mind drunk.

#Fail

Party House of the Weekend

20 Allen Street

The first really nice weekend of the year after such a miserable winter is bound to bring out the most hardy of the party boys.  Around midnight Friday one of the usual suspect streets -- Allen Street -- produced a BIG winner.  20 Allen Street to be exact.

Party goers flooded onto Phillips Street after police broke up the party after midnight

After clearing the house of over 200 "guests" APD arrested seven residents for both Noise and Nuisance bylaw violations or other alcohol related charges:  Curtis Anderson (19), Luke Dowley (22), Devon Farrell (20), Nicholas Defusco (21) Gabriel Follettie (21), Timothy Orton (20) and Anthony Spano (19).

 Click to enlarge/read

In addition to five physical arrests APD also issued 3 summons arrests for liquor law violations

All the offenders took the standard "diversion" plea deal offered by the Commonwealth.  Pay one of the $300 tickets plus $100  in Court costs and stay out of trouble for the next four months.

Curtis Anderson

Devon Farrell

Luke Dowley

Nick Fusco

Gabriel Follettie

Timothy Orton

Party House of the Weekend

19 Phillips Street

I almost don't want to file this story under Blarney Blowout since Phillips Street is the most notorious party street in Amherst, with any given weekend having incidents like this -- usually more than one.

 Click to enlarge/read

In fact the overall number of arrests this past weekend was less than an average weekend with schools in session during 2013 or 2014 leading up to that year's riotous Blarney.

Which is of course a good thing.  A very good thing.

Matthew Crosby stands before Judge Poehler

In Eastern Hampshire District Court this morning Mr. Crosby took the typical plea deal offered by the Commonwealth, a "diversion" from criminal to civil with payment of the town's $300 noise bylaw fine.  Plus he has to stay out of trouble for the next four months, aka the rest of the semester.

His partner in crime, Jeremy McGarry, who made the mistake of messing with Sgt Ting, was not in court today but he is expected to be arraigned tomorrow.

Blarney Blowout 2015

Sagacious Fade user figured it out well before noon

UPDATE Sunday afternoon:

Ultra-reliable source confirms the total number of Law Enforcement Officers involved with snuffing out the Blarney Blowout yesterday was 225.

Since the Western Mass Mutual Aid regional agreement calls for the "host community" to cover the bill for a "pre-planned event," UMass has graciously stepped up to accept full responsibility, rather than the town of Amherst.

Classy move UMass/Amherst!

#####

A sea of uniformed officers strategically stationed in all the usual trouble spots snuffed out the Blarney Blowout.  Decisively. With very few arrests and NO violence.

 Brisk start to the morning

The main difference this year was advance planning, a seemingly endless supply of police personnel and of course THE WEATHER.  Townhouse Apartments, ground zero the last few years for rowdy behavior, remained a cold barren tundra.

 Hard to miss contingent of state and local PD at Townhouse and North Village Apartments

Hobart Lane

Lincoln Avenue/Fearing Street intersection near UMass Southwest

Puffton Village

Police also blocked off the main entrances to these trouble spots and allowed only residents entry.  A modus operandi that was also used at North Village, Puffton Village, Phillips Street, Nutting Ave and of course Hobart Lane.

Phillips Street

 No guest policy at UMass and no visitor parking at apartment complexes kept down the crowds

The MSP helicopter paid a visit bright and early to North Amherst and maintained a highly visible -- and auditory -- presence.

 MSP Air One

The Mullins Center concert attracted thousands of students off the streets so that too was a BIG help.

  Long line of students waiting to get into Mullins Center concert 11:30 AM

And yes, maybe having the half dozen downtown bars not open until 4:00 PM also contributed since it certainly kept college aged youth from swamping town center like they did in previous years.

Long line waiting for Stacker's to open at 4:00 PM

Girl Scouts cookies for sale town center

Equipment:

UMPD Incident Command vehicle set up at Puffton Village Apartments

 

APD Personal Transport Vehicle 

 Mass Fire Services Special Operations vehicle staged at Wildwood School

Many police vehicles staged at Wildwood School 

 

The price tag for all the additional personnel and equipment plus the free concert at the Mullins Center is indeed sizable. But the damage done last year to the town, University and student body is incalculable.

Whatever the cost for today ... it was worth it!

Only 365 days until Blarney 2016.
— ZooMass (@ZooMass) March 8, 2015

Net Zero Building Approved

Red oval location Crotty Hall, Phillips Street red underline, Gordon Hall above oval

After surprising setbacks at earlier municipal meetings the new Crotty Hall, somewhat a twin to Gordon Hall at the Gateway to UMass/Amherst, received unanimous Site Plan Approval at the 2/18 Planning Board public hearing.

 Rendering from North Pleasant Street

Building Commissioner Rob Morra had determined the 10' side setback bordering Phillips Street was not in compliance (should be 20') with one of the few zoning regulations that can apply to tax-exempt educational institutes protected by the Dover Amendment.

That order was appealed to the Zoning Board of Appeals and at their 1/29 meeting a two-hour discussion ensued with neighbors complaining about noise from the current Gordon Hall and the new building possibly stealing a sliver of land from #23 Phillips Street.

Phillips Street is the most notorious street in all of Amherst mainly because it's almost entirely non-owner occupied.  Jim Turner, #23 Phillips Street, and main complainant to this new building is the only owner occupied unit on Phillips Street which directly abuts the proposed Crotty Hall.

Mr. Turner also pointed out that Crotty Hall will be tax-exempt and perhaps the Planning Board could work out a deal for Payment In Lieu Of Taxes that could go toward the forever talked about new fire station in South Amherst.

At the ZBA meeting last month some critics pointed out the  building was not directly under the control of UMass and portrayed it as almost a rogue development.  My usually reliable UMass sources could provide little information at the time because  Political Economy Research Institute is a tad hands-off from UMass proper.

But at the follow up ZBA meeting 2/12 the three member board unanimously overturned the decision of the Building Commissioner on the side setback issue.

And this time with the Planning Board they took no chances and had rookie Deputy Chancellor Robert Feldman show up to tell the PB UMass was "extremely excited" and that the "innovative building fits into their long range plans."

The Planning Board then voted unanimously (5-0 with 2 absent) to approve the Site Plan for Crotty Hall.  To the celebration of the UMass crowd in attendance. 

Baptist Church (rt), Gordon Hall (center) Phillips Street (left)

ZBA Drones On

Crotty Hall rendering looking from the Northwest

As usual the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting last night went on for over four hours, and as is also somewhat usual they did not come to a final vote on any of the three major items discussed.  And you thought Amherst Town Meeting took forever!

First up was Stephan Gharabegian, arguably the most notorious absentee landlord in the town of Amherst.  Mr Gharabegian owns almost half the houses on Phillips Street, the most notorious street in Amherst.

33 Phillips Street

In this case he wishes to expand capacity for 33 Phillips Street, probably the most notorious house in all of Amherst.

The house is a 3-family unit meaning it can have 12 "unrelated" tenants.  But Mr. Gharabegian had, without official permit, refinished the basement for a 4th unit, thus increasing monthly rental income significantly.

And since the bootleg apartment had major health/safety violations -- no second means of egress in case of fire -- it came to the attention of Building Commissioner Rob Morra who shut down the basement apartment until the ZBA hears his case.

Which started on October 2, continued to November 6, continued to last night, and now continued yet again until June 11.

 Stephan Gharabegian addresses 3-member Zoning Board of Appeals last night

Neighbors repeatedly pointed out the detrimental impact that 33 Phillips has already had on the surrounding neighborhood (Fearing Street and Sunset Avenue) as a 3-family, so allowing it to become a 4-family will only make matters worse.

Besides, town officials should not be rewarding bad behavior, since the 4th unit was illegally created to begin with and only comes before the ZBA because he got caught.  Member Tom Ehrgood, waiving a police summary report, said the location was a "magnet for police attention."

The board was a little more receptive to another rental property with a less than sterling reputation, 164 Sunset Avenue.  They generally came to the conclusion that formalizing the house as a two family unit was reasonable, with some conditions that will be hammered out at the hearing continued to February 12.

The most surprising event of the night was a 2+ hour discussion (borderline heated) over Crotty Hall, a sleek new building proposed for 418 North Pleasant Street at the very gateway to UMass.

The Dover Amendment allows religious and educational institutes to pretty much run roughshod over local oversight except for the setback zoning requirements, which are enforced by the Building Commissioner.

In fact they are made even more stringent as the requirements in the Amherst Zoning Bylaw have to be doubled since educational and religious buildings are oftentimes HUGE and can be plopped down in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

In this case the designers did not realize that the 10 foot side setback touching Phillips Street needed to be doubled to 20 feet.  But the Amherst Building Commissioner did. 

Gordon & Crotty Hall. Dotted line top right Phillips Street property

Thus the building was totally designed, at a current investment of $222,000 (85% of which is lost if the building requires redesign), with a 10 foot side setback in mind.  Neighbors on Phillips Street are not happy.  The ZBA is caught in the middle.

Neighbors also complained that the twin building, Gordon Hall, has a noisy HVAC system that drives them crazy from April until October, and the new building will be much closer to them.

Sounding troubled, ZBA Chair Eric Beal said, "This is a hard case for me.  You relied on the 10 foot setback in good faith."

The proposed building is named for Jim and Pam Crotty, who have lived in Amherst for 40 years.

Mr. Crotty, UMass Professor Emeritus of Economics and Sheridan Scholar, spoke about bringing faculty who now work in Thompson Hall to the new building to work alongside colleagues in Gordon Hall:  "It would be superb to get this synergy between faculty and grad students."

Two members of the ZBA, Mark Parent and Tom Ehrgood, seemed convinced the extra intrusion into Phillips Street was not  "unreasonable", especially since the main UMass campus is only a snowball throw away.

Chair Eric Beal was not 100% convinced, however, and wished to see "renderings" of the new building.

The board took a five minute break so architect Sigrid Miller Pollin could pull them up from her computer.  But when the meeting resumed the renderings only showed the impact from North Pleasant Street and not from Phillips Street.

The appeal hearing was continued until February 12.  The building plan will also need review by the Amherst Planning Board for a Site Plan Approval.

Mini Hobart Hoedown

Matthew Langford stands before Judge O'Grady

Hobart Lane is kind of like Phillips Street in that it will probably never live down its (well deserved) party reputation, even though there has not been a "Hobart Hoedown" in many years.

For you nubies the Hoedown preceded the Blarney Blowout, but of the same basic idea:  day drinking until you get completely out of control, and when police arrive throw dangerous objects at them.

Amherst police encountered two rowdy party goers very early Sunday morning trying to force their way into #29 Hobart Lane.  When they refused to comply with instructions to leave -- and physically resisted police -- officers had no choice but to arrest Kyle Bisceglia and Matthew Langford, both age 20. 

 Click to enlarge/read

Matthew Langford (6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 200 pounds) was charged with Disorderly Conduct, Resisting Arrest and Assault and Battery on a police officer.

 Kyle Bisceglia arraigned before Judge O'Grady

Kyle Bisceglia was charged with Resisting Arrest and Disorderly Conduct.

Both are hiring their own attorney and they will return to Eastern Hampshire District Court in mid-December.

Steering The Right Course

UMass/Amherst:  A city within a town

The Town Gown Steering Committee held their first public (working) meeting since hearing the final report from their $60,000 consultants, U3 Advisers.

Co-Chair of the 23-member committee, Dave Ziomek, who is also the Assistant Town Manager, set the stage with three simple questions:  "What did you like; what didn't you like; and where do we go from here?"

It didn't take long for black sheep member Rolf Karlstrom to jump in with what he didn't like, proclaiming he was "extremely dissappointed" in the final report.

The neighborhood activist said the report did not follow up on the U3 Advisers preliminary report which seemed to indicate some concern with the impact of developments on peripheral neighborhoods such as Fearing Street, where he lives.

He told his fellow committee members that it is legally possible to define "student rental" without violating Massachusetts strict fair housing laws.  Once so defined zoning ordaninaces could be enacted that would require setback distances from owner occupied, family-oriented housing, thus keeping neighborhoods from being absorbed into a Borg collective of student slums, like Phillips Street for instance.

Others described the document as "visionary" adding they didn't like "dense documents" with too much verbiage.  The idea of a University Town of Amherst Collaborative (UTAC) a downsized offshoot of the 23-member Steering Committee seemed to garner universal support.

Although there was a brief firefight when town Finance Director Sandy Pooler said UTAC should avoid taking on "affordable housing" as a mission since other committees are working on that.

Late arriving member Amilcar Shabazz pointed out that's exactly what UTAC should be discussing -- the plight of the have nots -- rather than just trying to stimulate business development to make the rich, even richer.

Former Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe cited the camaraderie of  town and University officials coming together at a (large) table to discuss their future as, alone, being worth $60,000.  Kind of like the economic urban myth that it's worthwhile for government to hire employees to dig a ditch while another group fills it back in.

Using Public Private Partnerships (the 3 Ps) whereby private developers would site projects on land owned by the University, thus generating tax revenues to the town also received overwhelming support although some expressed concern that U3 did not better explain how to make it happen.

John Kennedy, Vice Chancellor for Community Relations,  did reassure the group, "The University is actively investigating Public Private Partnerships ... we're hard at work on that."

The U3 recommendation that the town hire an "economic development director" also received strong endorsement (an idea already popular with Town Manager Musante) from the Steering Committee as did the idea of having a broader overall target for where development occurs.  In other words, none of the 5 areas cited U3 should be ruled out (even though they seemed to really favor only two).

The full Steering Committee will meet one last time in the coming weeks to flesh out their final letter of transfer with recommendations to Town Manager John Musante and UMass Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy.

The Best Laid Plans ...

 Town Gown Steering Committee:  high ranking UMass & town officials, and other stakeholders (although Chancellor Subbaswamy was MIA)

After almost exactly one year from their inaugural meeting (10/30/13) the sprawling 24 member Town Gown Steering Committee tonight heard the "final presentation" from U3 Advisors, their $60,000 consultant charged with honing a vision for joint development of the economic and housing kind.

 Standing room only crowd for the presentation

Essentially what we got was a repackaging of the ill fated Gateway Project, another one-year endeavor that used a $30,000 consultant to put forth a vision of a grand mixed use development with student housing along the North Pleasant Street corridor, using the University's two acre parcel, the former Frat Row.  A project resulting from a public/private partnership that would house students, provided commercial amenities, and pay property taxes.

 

Former Frat Row North Pleasant Street at the "gateway" to UMass

Now called by U3 the "North Pleasant Corridor"

Mass Ave plan uses UMass parking lots and Phillips Street, the slummiest street in Amherst,  for a mixed use development

 

Current map of the North Pleasant Corridor/Gateway area

Study after study and now again this final report have concluded that Amherst does not have enough housing, driving up prices and driving out low and middle income workers. And our demographic is obviously studentcentric, reflected by the fact that Amherst has the lowest median age in the state.

You simply cannot talk about housing without including students, but when you do that -- because of the rancid reputation fostered by an irresponsible few -- neighbors bristle.

That bristle helped to kill the Gateway Project, The Retreat student housing project in North Amherst and they seem overly determined to kill the 1 East Pleasant Street project in the downtown because it dares to embrace student renters.

Simply put the town and University need to come up with a public/private partnership that can build a development to house STUDENTS without being torpedoed by the Pachecho Rule.

Amherst resident Stan Rosenberg, a proud UMass graduate and l-o-n-g-t-i-m-e unabashed cheerleader for our flaghip University, is about to become President of the Mass Senate.

Surely he can steer a bill through the legislature to get not only approval for a public/private partnership, but an equally important component to any deal:  financing. 

No more studies, no more talk.  Just do it.