Raw Sunday report with a (very) delayed lead

 51 Phillips Street (Sunday morning) note stolen sign

Just some of things I'm working on for tomorrow's start of the news cycle.  Cruising about late Friday and Saturday nights listening to the scanner confirms a bevy of "Party Houses of the Weekend" will rear their ugly chimneys at tomorrow morning's APD press briefing that condenses a weekend of controlling chaotic activity into tidy public log entries.

Poetic irony of course is 51 Phillips Street will make the list.  Yes, the address I posted a photo of last week because of beer debris on the roof and Cowardly Anon Nitwits have been complaining about in comments ever since, because the house was not actually cited for anything ... (except existing on a street the Amherst Redevelopment Authority consultant deemed "decadent.")

Sure enough APD was called there, 51 Phillips Street, for a noise complaint around 9:00 PM last night (so early I was not even in my car) and residents were cited for Noise and/or Nuisance violations.  Tomorrow at the APD press briefing I will get the details as to whether folks were arrested or simply cited civilly, but if I had to guess, probably arrested.

A DUI arrest showed up fairly early last night: a motorcyclist was pulled over on the access road from Mill Valley Estates leading into East Hadley Road early last night, about a quarter mile from my house. 

Officers arrested the driver, a young black male, and Ernie's towing carted off the motorcycle.  You drink and drive they tow your vehicle (and put you in jail).

Friday night one ranking member of APD was on taxi patrol, pulling them over left and right for sudden inspections.  Sounds like a few did not pass and received citations or had to be towed.  The Amherst Select Board has on their agenda Monday night a discussion about taxi regulations, so chances are they will hear a full report on what happened Friday night.
 

 167 College Street, late Friday night

Around midnight Friday police descended on 167 College Street for a large party.  You may remember this address from last year where a major brawl occurred that resulted in stabbings.

Interestingly Amherst College issued a public statement saying none of the students involved were from Amherst College (the property borders the campus and Amherst College police had to help back up APD in dealing with the melee).

Which leads me to me to just one more, exceedingly sad and no less shocking, thing.  According to reliable sources, UMass/Amherst will issue a public statement at UMPD HQ tomorrow @ 1:00 PM  concerning the arrest of four individuals for the most heinous crime to occur on campus in my exceedingly l-o-n-g memory:  gang rape. 

Anatomy of a Bust

Returned Search Warrant, 11 Phillips Street, Amherst

So I guess you could argue this well publicized APD operation was a waste of time and resources since no charges were ever brought before the District Attorney concerning the operation of an  illegal cash bar in the basement of 11 Phillips Street.

  

11 Phillips Street, Amherst

Just as you could argue the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong never won an individual battle large enough to have a name during the US intervention in Vietnam.

But in the end what matters is, well, the end.

By most accounts Vietnam cannot be chalked up as a US victory; and I would argue the raid on 11 Phillips Street turned out to be a turning point in the battle against rowdy student party houses.

For  that particular house at least.

   Search Warrant, 11 Phillips St, Amherst

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 E-X-P-A-N-S-I-O-N?

33 Phillips Street

Stephen Gharabegian, one of the more notorious absentee landlords in town, will go before the Amherst Zoning Board of Appeals on September 25 to request a Special Permit to "Change a 3 family house to 4 family house."

Of course these days "family" simply means four unrelated tenants, and on Phillips Street -- where Mr. Gharabegian (aka College Street and Knight Properties LLCs) owns four-out-of-nine dwellings -- that means UMass undergrad students.

Interestingly one main criteria for the ZBA in allowing such requests is, does it fit into the general character of the neighborhood?

And in this case, where 95% of the (supposedly) 64 tenants along the entire street are "college aged youth"-- many of them drawn by Phillips Street's rowdy reputation -- it's hard to imagine an increase of four residents can make a huge difference.

Kind of an "Escape from L.A." scenario where all the refugees are safely secluded in a giant makeshift holding area.  

Still, on general principles the ZBA should deny the permit.  Especially since the proposed expansion trips newer building codes that require a sprinkler system.  And thus far Mr. Gharabegian makes no mention of installing such a lifesaver. 

After the recent major fire at Southpoint Apartments or the fatal one at Rolling Green Apartments, where lack of sprinklers are grandfathered, who would argue that a such a safety system is too much of a burden?

   Mangaement Plan Lease 33 Phillips

Blarney Blowout 2016

Morning briefing 7:15 AM  100+ police vehicles and AFD on scene

 #####

Parking ban prevented extra thousands from attending

8:25 AM:

Townhouse quads in North Amherst are quiet as police are blockading both entrances 

Police blocking entrance to Townhouse Apartments

Parking lots near Southwest still have plenty of room

 Ch 22 with their hard to miss camera

High Noon:

UMPD at Mullins Center concert:  "Still under 1,000 patrons and we have more leaving than coming." #blarneyblowout

— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) March 5, 2016

2:30 PM:

Townhouse quads quiet like a church mouse, although party activity in the front yards along Meadow Street

PD blockade was extremely effective 

PD blockade at Puffton Village, another usual flashpoint

 State Police Helicopter Air 1 flew lazy loops all morning into early afternoon 

 AFD responding for the 2nd time to 11 Phillips Street for a false fire alarm

APD K9 "Dash" assisted with party control on Shumway Street and College Street

Police broke up noisy gathering on Amity Street near town ctr

 
8:00 PM:  Good night Blarney:

6:30 AM The Morning After:

 Meadow Street

Phillips Street

 Fearing Street

The Morning After ...

166 College Street, Amherst

166 College Street, parking

263 College Street, Amherst

26 Allen Street, Amherst

 

45 Phillips Street, Amherst

27/29 Phillips Street, Amherst

19/21 Hobart Lane, Amherst

Public Safety Crackdown

11 Phillips Street

The Amherst Fire Department is getting serious about public safety.  Well actually, they've always been serious -- but now they are getting deadly serious about public safety in a pro active way.

Or as my Irish mother used to say, "A stitch in time saves nine."  And in this case it's lives that are saved.

On Monday in Eastern Hampshire District Court before Clerk Magistrate Bill Nagle,  fire safety officer Mike Roy won a $1,040 judgement against a leaseholder at 11 Phillips Street, perhaps the most notorious Party House in all of Amherst.  Owned, naturally, by the King of the Decadent Street, Stephan Gharabegian.

Party House Fire Complaint by larry_kelley_1

The house was being used as a "rooming house" with W-A-Y more than four unrelated tenants packed into the 10-bedroom abode.  Once that was exposed, resulting in a town crackdown, the landlord -- Stephan Gharabegian -- padlocked six of the rooms.

But the occupants of the four remaining rooms have removed all the furniture and use the open space as a giant party room.

11 Phillips Street, interior view

And the kids engaged in Russian roulette by covering  the windows with black plastic (which in a fire instantly gives off deadly fumes) and covering the smoke detectors with bags as well, probably so the cigarette or  pot smoke does not set them off.

The most recent major structure fire that resulted in a death  at Rolling Green Apartments last year could have been far, far worse if the smoke detectors had not done their job.

In fact, AFD responded a few days after the deadly fire for reports of an alarm sounding.   Turns out smoke detectors from the damaged building had been thrown in a dumpster and some of them were still sounding the alarm.

Previously AFD would issue a $100 civil ticket and if you ignored it, they would have to take you to Land Court in Northampton.  Now they will be issuing criminal complaints which could result in six months in jail.

Or most likely, as with this plea bargain case, the court converts it to a civil infraction with the $1,000 fine. 

Complying with these common sense safety regulations is far less a hastle than dealing with District Court ... or planning a funeral. 

There He Goes Again

33 Phillips Street

The poster boy for lousy upkeep of student rental housing, Stephan Gharabegian, is at it once again.  On good old Phillips Street naturally, where he owns almost half the houses on the slummy street. 

Building Inspector Jon Thompson has given him until June 24 to either demolish a bootleg four bedroom basement apartment or file for a Special Permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals, where he's been turned down in the past.

And since the illegal basement apartment did not have a second means of egress in case of fire Gharabegian is lucky the town did not file endangerment charges!

   33 Phillips Street - Cease and Desist

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)

#####

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.

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