Yeah, I'm still teed off!

So I hate to move on, but move on I must. The flag issue will never, never, never go away; and by this coming 9/11 highlights of the Town Meeting vote that turned Amherst into the Village of the Damned will be available on Youtube.

So what better subject than the beleaguered Cherry Hill Golf Course (to steal Mary Carey’s lead in this morning’s Gazette) for shifting gears?

Sounds to me like the rookie Town Manager is getting a tad testy about our municipal albatross: “It’s really a red herring, a straw man. It’s taken on a dimension and scale it doesn’t deserve. I’m sick of Cherry Hill being put on the Cherry Hill Cross.”

Of course Mr. Shaffer also insists giving up on Cherry Hill will have “zero effect” on this years budget. Really? First off, Shaffer must not have read the Special Town Meeting warrant article because it “strongly urges” him to accept $30,000 a year for the next three years to lease out the White Elephant.

Thus, rather than losing $59,000 like Cherry Hill did last year we could gain a guaranteed $30,000 or an $89,000 turnaround that could fund police, firefighters or teachers.

The Finance Committee told department heads to stick to a 1% budget increase. Cherry Hill’s FY08 operation budget increases $15,000 but that increase does not include another $15,000 in capital improvements hidden elsewhere in the General Fund budget. So while public safety and school budgets are limited to 1% increases, Cherry Hill bloats by 15%.

Cherry Hill is a symbol. It’s a symbol of waste, highlighting a ludicrous and irresponsible attitude about priorities.

Hall Of Shame!

Politicians Who Voted Against The (American) Flag:
Nancy DeProsse, David Robson Gillham, Patricia Holland, Peter Jessop, Mark Jackson, Stephen King, Randa Nachbar, Vince O’Connor, Kenton Tharp, Carolyn Bentley, Anne Sterling Bush (obviously no relation), Howard Ewert, Irene and Seymour Friedman, Irwin Friman, Grace Griecci, Joesph Lynn, Patrick Robert McCarthy, Judy Simpson, Robert Biagi, Barbara Ford, Lynn Griesemer and Bryan Harvey (Umass should be so proud), Edih Nye Macmullen, Renee Moss, Kristin O’Connell, Fil Valunas, Sharon Vardatira, Alice Allen, Leeta Bailey, Dorwenda Bynum-Lewis, Steven Dunn, Thomas Vlittie, Janet Lansberry, Larry Orloff, Catherine Porter, Marcy Lala, Patricia Blauner, Michael Giles, Alan Powel, George Ryan, Baer Tierkel (sensible center, eh?) Cheryl Zoll, Donna Zucker,Florence Boynton, Pat Church (flag thief), Fred Levine, Leo Maley, Margaret Nunnelly, James Oldhan, Alan Root, Christina Rose, Merrylees Turner, Mary Wentworth, Jeff and Maralyn Blaustein, Silvia Brinkerhoff, Harry Brooks, Gloria Chang-Wade, Gordon Freed, Michael Greenebaum, Mary Kersell, Lisa Kleinholz, Constance Kruger, Joan Ross Logan, Andrew Melnechuk, Faythe Turner, Marilyn Gonter, Carol Gray, Jeffrey Lee, Alice Morse, Robert Quinn, James Scott, Andrenne Terrizzi, Jane Ashby, Bart Bouricius, Pamela Crotty, Robert Todd Felton, Frank Gatti, Ruth Hooke, Jennifer McKenna, Eric Nakajima, Sonya Sofield, Mary Streeter, Barbara Berlin, Joseph Bodin, Felicity Callahan, Ben GROSScup, Mangala Jagadeesh, John and Peg Roberts, Amanda Singer, Molly Whalen, Edith Wilkinson, Anne Awad.
And to the other 50 Town Meeting members who checked in that night but abstained from this vote: If you don’t have the courage of conviction on this issue, how can we trust you to handle the mega-million budget discussions coming up next week?

So typically Amherst, so very sad

Only in Amherst would town officials fly the rainbow flag in town center to celebrate gay marriage but reject flying American flags in the downtown on 9/11 to commemorate the 3,000 Americans killed (many of whom were gay) on that awful day.

On May 10, with no discussion, the Amherst Select Board voted unanimously to replace the United Nations flag (Yes, Amherst is one of a handful of municipalities that routinely flies the UN flag) in front of Town Hall with the Rainbow flag to celebrate the second anniversary of the State Supreme Court decision legalizing same sex marriage in Massachusetts.

Last night over two-thirds of Amherst Town Meeting voted down the following resolution:

“To see if the town will strongly urge the Select board to allow the 29 commemorative flags to fly downtown (at half-staff) every 9/11 for as long as the Republic stands to commemorate the most devastating attack in our history.”

On the night of September 10, 2001 when the Amherst Select Board was setting the policy for when the commemorative flags could fly, Umass Professor Jennie Traschen branded Old Glory“…a symbol of terrorism and death and fear and destruction and repression.”

As she ambled back to her seat, Phyllis Daley said in an angry motherly tone: “Shame on you!”

A sentiment that now applies to Amherst town government.

Let the Invasion begin...

After twenty years of mostly sniping interspersed with an occasional all out battle I’m used to reaching down deep for a little extra determination when the going gets tough, so having the Town Clerk reject a dozen or so names out of just over 200 on a Special Town Meeting petition article was no big deal.

Yesterday morning I turned in more than enough to cover what I thought was the remaining 11 needed. So I called the town clerks office at 1:30 figuring it should not take long to check the dozen names submitted, but was told they were busy and to check back the next day (today).

Then I get an email from the Select Board executive assistant Gail Weston saying the Special Town Meeting to discuss the deal the town manager rejected on the Cherry Hill Golf Course is set for June 6’th.

I called back the Town Clerk’s office and ask for verification that the names were okay and I’m told they cannot confirm or deny anything and to ask Gail Weston. Now that was weird.

Gail then confirms that since the Select Board had scheduled a Special Town Meeting or two anyway all I needed to get on the warrant was 100 signatures, not the 200 eventually turned in.

Oh well, the hotter the fire the stronger the steel.

The warrant article (sponsored by Amherst Taxpayers For Responsible Change) for the special town meeting reads:

To see if the town will strongly urge the Select board to strongly urge the town manager to accept the recent bid of Niblick Management for privatization of the Cherry Hill Golf Course with a new condition allowing for a three year contract; and if Niblick is no longer interested, to reissue the new RFP (with the three year provision) before September 1, 2007
####################################################################################
From: Weston, Gail Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 3:01 PM
Cc: Musante, John; weissg@comcast.net; Harrison Gregg; Shaffer, Larry; Chalfant, Linda; Carlozzi, Alice
Subject: Special Town Meeting Petition Article

Your Cherry Hill petition has been inserted on the STM scheduled for 7:30 p.m., June 6, 2007.


From: hlgregg@amherst.edu
Sent: Tue, 15 May 2007 3:09 PM (reply all)
Subject: Cherry Hill Petition

Larry Kelley --

I'm sure you'll make something of D-Day the sixth of June.

Please be aware that articles 39 and 40 will definitely come up this Wednesday night.

Harrison L. Gregg
Moderator, Town of Amherst


From: amherstac@aol.com
Wed, 16 May 2007 8:53 AM (reply all)

Yes Mr. Moderator, I do consider the historically significant date of June 6’th a good omen in my 20 year war against the public subsidy of an expensive recreational endeavor.

Larry

Suicide is Painless

Last night as the economic summit between the Select Board, School, Library, and Finance Committees met next door (they got the bigger room) the Amherst Redevelopment Authority voted 3-1 not to commit suicide by passing my motion to oppose Town Meeting Warrant Article #32, calling for our “abolishment.”

Vince O’Connor, who crafted our death sentence, showed up fashionably late and insisted he had no personal feelings one way or the other about the ARA. But, of course, he also insists he did not know anything about acquiring 18 write-in votes in the March 28 election where I knowingly ran a successful last minute campaign with 67 write-in votes.

Mr. O’Connor thinks the ARA (4 elected and 1 governor appointee) has “too much power for folks to get elected by write in." I pointed out that the two most recent examples (going back a decade) consist of Curt Shumway, who was originally elected with over 1,000 votes but then forgot to get his nomination papers in on time for reelection; and little old me who was the governor's appointee for over 10 years.

Mr. O’Connor also thinks that since the ARA has not met in two years to exercise all that “power” we should be put out to pasture.

Let’s hope for consistency sake Mr. O’Connor’s next target for extermination is the Cherry Hill Advisory Committee, who have not met in THREE years (when the ailing Golf Course is critically in need of “advisory” help) and currently has SIX vacant positions out of seven.

Interestingly the town provided legal council for the meeting and we were informed that the ARA powers likely extend beyond only the downtown. So we could get involved in Village Centers in North or South Amherst or that somewhat run down area coming in to Amherst from the east.

But even is we simply stick to town center, there’s lots to be done. And with the Town Commercial Relations Committee now revived we could make a potent one two combo for commercial development—something Amherst desperately needs.

Where have all the flowers gone?

Darkness descended on our contented neighborhood. Ann, affectionately known as Annie, John Gedmin’s wife of 57 years, and somewhat lesser years in other roles: Mark’s mother for 52, Amherst Farmers Supply bookkeeper for 44 and my neighbor for 16, is gone.

No longer will she perch on that seasonally enclosed front porch in her rocking chair and watch the world go by, or shout her unmistakably warm greeting to me as I cycle past returning home after another tour of our Happy Valley.

And at age 81, having lived her entire life in that house, she witnessed so many changes…some good some not so good.

Originally our house in back was the storage barn for the 19’th century Trolley that connected Amherst to Sunderland, Northampton and Holyoke. Currently the brick building is occupied by Amherst’s Department of Public Works. Just after the War (WW11)Ann’s brother converted the barn to a residence. We are only the third family to call it home.

John Gedmin spent his working career as an Amherst Police officer. Between the wake and funeral almost the entire Amherst police department turned out to pay their respects. Former Chief Don Maia and current Chief Charlie Scherpa acted as pallbearers, and as the motorcade crossed the intersection on the Hadley border officers directing traffic stood at attention and snapped off a salute.

Yes, Amherst has grown and changed dramatically since Annie commenced and concluded her life nurtured within those comfortable, safe surroundings--now left so hollow by her departure.

But the lilacs she so loved were in bloom, as their radiant lifecycle continues…

A road runs through it...

The most expensive lawsuit in the history of the town is, finally, finished. Last week the Supreme Judicial Court denied the application of Leigh F. Andrews for Further Appellate Review of the Appeals Court overturning his expensive, longshot victory against Amherst in Boston Land Court for Spot Zoning.

The good news for Amherst taxpayers is Mr. Andrews separate million-dollar damages lawsuit in Hampshire Superior Court is now moot. The bad news for Amherst taxpayers is that NO property owner is now safe.

If the part-time, do-gooder, too-much-time-on-their-hands Amherst Town Meeting can rezone land that floods after once-in-a-lifetime Hurricane Floyd, they can now “protect from development” almost anything.

With costs like this nobody came out a winner: Amherst taxpayers lost $125,000 in legal bills and Mr. Andrews’s tab, astonishingly, topped $500,000.

This even longer shot of taking it all the way to the Supreme Court (they agreed to review only 2 of 57 cases recently) cost a couple thousand more. But, after you hit the half-million mark, you have nothing to lose.

And Mr. Andrews had powerful allies--known as “Amicus Briefs”-- in this attempt: The Greater Boston Real Estate Board, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and Attorney William Hovey who literally wrote the encyclopedia of Massachusetts Real Estate Law.

With the legalization of FPC Zoning (Flood Prone Conservancy) NIMBY’s now possess the ultimate WMD. Somebody call in the Marines!