Vote early, vote often.

So once again activist Amherst will turn out a pathetic 15 to 20% of the vote to cast ballots in the annual town election. Last November it was closer to 80%. And it’s not like the President of the United States has a big impact on little old Amherst.

The Schools spend the vast majority of our $60+ million budget so the School Committee race will be telling. Rhodes is a shoe in, as he will most likely be almost everybody’s second vote (providing they don’t “bullet vote”.) So the only question is will reformer Rivkin or maintain the status quo Rosa get in.

The Amherst Redevelopment Authority race between tree hugger Rob Kusner and former Chamber of Commerce director John Coull should also be interesting. With the power of eminent domain the ARA can be a formidable tool for development not just in the downtown but also in the North and South Amherst Village Centers.

In the League of Women Voters insert in the Amherst Bulletin Mr. Kusner highlights his experience as committee chair for the Norwottuck Rail Trail, but fails to mention his recent three year stint on the Amherst Select Board (not that they were all that distinguished.)

And as usual, nobody cares about Town Meeting as no contests exist for 3-year-seats in eight out of ten precincts, meaning 64 do-gooders (over one-quarter of the body) are guaranteed election.

Let’s hope none of these folks get to serve out their full term. Charter change for accountable government. Coming soon.

Dim all the lights sweet darling

Since the People's Republic of Amherst is the center of the universe, I'm surprised the Earth Hour folks did not use an Eastern Standard Time zone for their worldwide hour of activism.

So tonight at 8:30 PM lights will go out in Town Hall to show solidarity and fight Global Warming. Unfortunately...Town Hall is closed tonight at 8:30 PM; so maybe we will bring in a Custodian (at time-and-a-half) around 6:00 PM to turn on all the lights and then shut them off at 8:30 PM and then back on for a moment at 9:30 PM and then back off till Monday morning.

Per your request...

Poor Mr Kendrick. His altruistic trust spends over sixty years to clear a three acre parcel of all structures so the town can have an open landscaped park (now worth well over $1 million), but the town manager wants to construct a “comfort station” with $100,000 grant from the PVTA so bus riders will have bathrooms on the outskirts of town center.

Perhaps Vince O’Connor can tweak his presentation to Town Meeting about taking by eminent domain the Fiber Arts Building from Amherst College (at half price no less.)

That building is located directly on a bus route in the heart of the downtown. And the $100-K from PVTA could spruce up the bathrooms.

Citizens to School Committee: Et tu, Brute?

Nero fiddles while Rome burns

Closing Marks Meadow Elementary School, thus saving $600,000 annually combined with teachers pay raise giveback this coming Fiscal Year, thus saving $1.2 million, are simple solution to the current School budget crisis.

Yes, closing an entire school is not easy.

And after teachers discover that the proposed new Superintendent is being offered almost 20% more than the previous superstar Jere Hochman, the chances of a pay raise giveback are almost impossible.

And of course that also has a ripple effect swamping the chances of a townside (police, fire, DPW) giveback as well, which the Town Manager has already requested in writing.

Outgoing School Committee member Elaine Brighty said that Mr. Hochman was a “rare event” and the town was “spoiled” by his divine presence. He came in at controversial $135,000 to replace Gus Sayer who was making $104,000 before his sudden “retirement.”

But to his credit Hochman never accepted a raise over his five-year tenure, although he did leave rather suddenly for twice the pay to Bedford N.Y.

And Town Manager Larry Shaffer has already stated he will not be accepting a raise this coming year --although he will not be happy that the new Super will be making W-A-Y more money.

When Hochman came in with his pay boost for the position the first thing previous Town Manager Barry Del Castilho did was whine for a pay raise, which the Select Board granted mid-year, because his ego was bruised.

Considering this is the same School Committee who hired acting co-superintendents Alton Sprague and Helen Vivian for the same $135,000 we were paying Hochman and did not even bother to put in the one-year contract that if you resign your pay ends that day. So as a result taxpayers had to give them $22,500 after their sudden resignation.

One parent has already threatened that if Alberto Rodriguez’s contract is greater than $135,000 she will organize a Boston Tea Party and burn tax bills in a hibachi in front of the Superintendents office.

I’ll be there with my camera and some hot dogs—tofu dogs of course.

The Bully Reports (faster than ever)

Signs, signs--everywhere sign.

The Amherst Cinema added time and temperature to their marquee. So even if you don't care about the avante-garde film offerings, still worth looking up.

Paved paradise...

UPDATE: 11:55 AM Now I'm told by my reliable source that the current structure was only about $1,000 in labor and material costs for the concrete slab. The town has tons of bike racks in storage and the plastic shelter was donated by PVTA. Mr. Shaffer is trying to get BIG bucks from the PVTA, who already received a large sum from the Feds. Of course, if the money does come through we tear up the new structure and put in the newer and BIGGER one. At some point you have to wonder what Mr. Kendrick thinks of all this as his Trust decree states:

“…to convert the land so acquired into a landscaped park to be known as ‘Kendrick Park’, for the use and the benefit of the general public, and to maintain said park for enhancement and beautification of that area of Amherst, and to erect thereon a suitable marker commemorating its benefactors.”

This is the new "Comfort Station" at Groff Park built for $140,000. About two-thirds of the structure is taken up by Handicapped Accessible bathrooms, with the remainder some storage space and a Snack Bar nobody uses.

It took over 70 years to slowly clear the three acre site of 11 structures (first house was acquired in 1937 and the last one moved last year); and one of the first things the town does is erect a structure. Hmmm...
############################################################
UPDATE: 10:45AM
So I'm now told be a reliable source the the brand new bus stop shelter that went up almost overnight is not the same one Mr. Shaffer was talking about in that Gazette article six weeks ago (posted in Comments). Mr. Shaffer is talking about a much larger shelter/building that would have public restrooms and OF COURSE a LARGER bike area.
############################################################
ORIGINAL POST: last night Well at least this new bus stop on Kendrick Park will will get a lot more use than did the "skating" rink. Although at $100-K, also a lot more expensive...

Football anyone?

Amherst DPW 4:30 PM

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

So my fellow blogger, the perky Amherst School Committee member Catherine Sanderson (shown here working part-time for my competition), has kind of publicly painted herself into a corner.

She most definitely telegraphed her support for Steve Rivkin as a candidate for School Committee, and there are 2 open seats with 3 people running. But she very publicly stated on her blog that she would not endorse any of the candidates because she will have to work with them in the very near future.

Or maybe not.

My reliable sources tell me if Mr. Rivkin is the odd man out on 3/31 Ms. Sanderson (to her husband’s great delight) will resign her School Committee seat the very next day, April 1’st—no foolin!

So come on folks, let’s get working. Steve Rivkin for School Committee!

Yeah I know. he’s an Amherst College professor—of economics no less. But then, who would have thought that Catherine Sanderson, an Amherst College Professor of Psychology, could demonstrate such astonishing backbone?

Miss Emily's facelift

Duh!

Princess Stephanie: try to keep up.

The time to put a Proposition 2.5 Override on the current local ballot election (3/31) has long since passed. So if you want to do an Override it will have to be a stand-alone election costing the taxpayers an additional $12,000 to $14, 000. And, like the last time, you will get your ass kicked.

Since it takes the Town Clerk about 35 days to do all the legal stuff she needs to do in order to make an election happen (and you don’t meet again until March23’rd) you would be pushing the unwritten law (that Comrade Gerry Weiss seems to take so seriously) about not having an election when the students are away, courtesy of Eric the Rat --a dead Hippie who would have been happier at Hampshire College rather than Umass.

So just tell the folks the reality: President Obama may come to the rescue via Federal money, but forget about local money via a Proposition 2.5 Override.

Amherst Town Hall Thursday morning

10:30 AM

Hey, at least the building was wide open (although abandoned) . So I got to walk around with my RPG looking for a soft target (nothing sprung into my crosshairs).

"Numbers are slippery things". Hmmm...

Dr. Ben Ricci was my favorite Umass Professor (friend and mentor—even though he gave me a C in Kinesiology.) He single-handedly, against all odds, took down the State School in Belchertown--a government operated warehouse for the mentally retarded.

And amazingly he did it in the pre-internet age (early 1970’s) when activism was a Hell of a lot harder than it is today.

He had a saying he used in class about once a week (born out of his political activism no doubt): “Figures don’t lie, but liars do figure.”

Now we have a new post-internet age slogan from rookie Selectman Aaron Hayden: “Numbers are slippery things.”

No Mr. Hayden, numbers are not slippery things. They are simply numbers. They are what they are! And you or anybody else should not be afraid of them. And if so, what are you trying to hide?

"Sunshine is the best disinfectant"

Cherry Hill: the pampering continues...

Yes Alisa, Cherry Hill Golf Course is the ONLY seasonal beer and wine license in the town.

The category was specifically created for Cherry Hill ten or 12 years ago and at about half the charge of a comparably license. The argument was they were only open for seven months out of the year so pro-rate the charge. Amazing how business friendly the town can be with itself, eh?

So back when Cherry Hill was an Enterprise Fund it was charged $700 (never paid it of course). And yes having alcohol out there probably increases the liability insurance but who cares, the insurance—like the brand new $22,000 lawn mower they bought last July—comes out of a different fund other than their Operation Budget.

And that is why I say Mark ‘Harpo’ Power got such a great, sweetheart deal, a few years back when Czar Anne Awad and Barry Del Castilho gifted him (in a no-bid contract) complete use of the new Clubhouse for only $150/month--and that included the liquor license (which alone should have been $100 per month)

And of course Mr. Power was granted a three-year contract by the former town manager. Yet when a management company offers to take the entire turkey off our hands for $30,000 per year, the new town manager turns him down because they wanted a three-year contract.

Funny how quick Aaron Hayden wanted to rubber stamp the damn thing and move on. You would think a mid-level, long-time Amherst College employee would not be so quick to do a favor for their main competition.

Amherst College does own Amherst Golf Course, the only other nine-hole operation in town. Although, unlike Cherry Hill, they do pay taxes on it ($7,000 last year.)

Come to think of it, Mr. Hayden probably should have abstained on that vote.

No smoking!

UMass/Amherst new $130 million Power Plant 9:00 AM, 34 degrees
Side view. Yeah, I think it is supposed to be doing that. Security? What security.

There he goes again

Vince O'Connor, activist

So comrade Vince is at it again. After miserable failures on the floor of Amherst town meeting as late—the “dark sky” initiative (turn downtown Amherst into North Korea after dark) or the “abolish the Amherst Redevelopment Authority” (but then comes in second in a write-in race for the one open seat that year) you would think he’d come up with something that stood a chance of passing, especially when it only take ten signatures to get anything on the warrant for Spring Town Meeting.

Now he want s the town to take by eminent domain the downtown building recently purchased by Amherst College (thus eventually removing it from the tax rolls) and use it for “economic development” and eventfully resell it to anyone but a tax-exempt entity.

But Mr. O’Connor thinks we take it away from Amherst College (who paid $2.3 million) for only $1 million (the actual assessed value). Hmmm…I would think a court would disagree and force the town to pay fair market value, which has now been established to be $2.3 million.

Not exactly the loose change the town can find stored in a bottle somewhere.

Interesting that Mr. O’Connor spearheaded the taking of Cherry Hill Golf Course for $2.2 million twenty-two years ago by eminent domain (which may be the last time the town used that power--and did so under an "emergency" clause that made the Town Meeting vote referendum proof) in order to prevent development.


Fiber Arts Center building

Amherst Town Ctr Friday the 13'th 2:15 PM

The approach from Umass heading south.
In front of Antonio's Pizza (best slices in town). Gotta wonder if the High School let out early
Amherst College Chapel Hall. With AC you never know. Maybe their chief financial investment advisor died of a heart attack.

There they go again

Gotta love the one on one audience exchange (the right idea wins)



UPDATE: 6:00 PM
Naturally this embarrassing story goes national before the local media even makes a peep.
Michelle Malkin (female Bill O'Reilly)

So to no big surprise conservative author Don Feder’s hate crime speech this evening at Umass, the flagship of higher public education in Massachusetts, never got off the ground. Well...more like that Airbus A320 that sort of, briefly, got off the ground and then crashed into the Hudson River.

“The way to counter bad speech is with good speech. “ ACLU

And if the Justice for Jason crowd had brought in a black speaker expounding on racist hoonkies hiding under every bed, would the conservatives on campus (not that there are all too many) have interrupted, harassed and shut down his presentation?

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," Evelyn Beatrice Hall

If the purported 400 protesters did not want to hear Feder's opinions, then they could have simply stayed home and played hackey sack. They trampled--in a hateful way--his First Amendment right to free speech and the rights of those who came to actually hear his presentation.

Got to wonder what they are teaching in Umass classrooms these days (at least the ones those nitwits attend.)

“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” Benjamin Franklin

Depends on how you define value

UPDATE: 1:15 PM

This from today’s Gazette concerning the $5,000 CPA request for an appraisal:

But Ziomek said his department can use existing CPA money to complete the $2,500 to $3,000 appraisal, and doesn't believe there is a need to add to the fiscal year 2010 requests.

Hmmm…if the appraisal total is only $2,500 to $3,000 (forgetting for the moment they already have the funds stashed away to cover that) why request $5,000? Ah yes, government work.
##############################################################

The CPA Committee controls a large pot of money the town spends like a pickpocket using a stolen credit card. And they just received $600,000 in gimme, gimme requests. One of the smallest was for $5,000 to complete the appraisal for 20 acres of property on Meadow Street owned by Leigh Andrews and Don Laverdiere.

You gotta of course wonder if the "appraisal" will include the $500,000 the landowners spent in legal fees and the $150,000 the town spent fighting over that piece of property.

Town Meeting spot rezoned the property Flood Prone Conservancy to prevent development and keep it as open space (would not want to scare any cows.) After a protracted battle in Land Court the judge sided with the property owners and overturned Town Meeting. The town appealed and, against the odds, won. But a costly battle it all was.

Normally I’m not in favor of using tax money to buy property to prevent development thus reducing the tax base (yes, the Cherry Hill Golf Course springs to mind); and with Amherst more than half owned by tax-exempts about the last thing we need to do is take more property off the tax rolls.

But in this particular case, after Town Meeting mugged the landowners they deserve to be treated fairly for once. And with Czar Awad long gone, Vince O’Connor and Rob Kusner (Amherst’s Axis of Evil) now marginalized, regrettable incidents like this should become a thing of the past.

But then, this is the People's Republic...

If you live in Amherst

Bruce Scofield's My Space page

What you looking at

Control or chaos?

Rent Control, Amherst’s failed experiment in socialism finally pays off--but not for the tenants it was designed to help, now long gone.

A judge decided the $100,000 held in escrow since 1998 by fired (oops, I mean former) town attorney Alan Seewald should go to the town rather than the state.

The 1987 Rent Control fiasco represents the high water mark for liberalism gone amok. Not only did Town Meeting create a ‘Housing Review Board’ to dictate the rent a landlord could charge, but they gave these untrained amateurs the power of subpoena to bully and threaten landlords into compliance.

Within two years Amherst’s Rent Control went the way off the Dodo Bird; and oh yeah, the Berlin Wall also came down.

It's the little things...

With Umass Amherst churning out faculty pink slips like a gay pride print shop and deferring building maintenance while escalating student fees $1,500, today’s Springfield Republican carried a Legal Notice RFP for sandblasting McGuirk Stadium, estimated at $35,000.

So hmmm… they are going to hold off on routine maintenance for buildings used year-round, but gussy up a football stadium used only a few months per year for a very expensive athletic program? Yeah I know, it is also used for Commencement another one time annually.

Maybe the 91 professors who received lay-off notices should form a Workers’ Collective to place a bid. According to bid specification they have to get paid at least prevailing wage.

Yes we can!

Click to enlarge

With all this talk about parking in downtown Amherst—specifically the lack of it—and with me actually agreeing for the first time in quite a while with today’s Gazette editorial suggesting the town NOT give away parking for free to stimulate business, you would think town officials would remember that the once controversial Parking Garage (costing about $40,000 per addition space gained) was specifically designed to e-x-p-a-n-d.

In fact, the Amherst Redevelopment Authority donated the prime location (valued at $350,000) under only one condition: that the garage be built strong enough to support a second (much cheaper to construct) deck.

Well at least one former town official remembered, as he snail-mailed me the actually blueprint from 1998. And at the time the cost was $1.3 million for 55 new spaces gained—or a Hell of a lot cheaper than the original cost per space for our quaint little garage.

Amherst Sundown

5:05 PM (looking west)

Three card monte

So I guess now the Amherst School Committee can go on that “retreat”—you know the one that skirts the Open Meeting Law.

Their choice last night off Alberto Rodriguez, with very little actual Superintendent experience, indicates they want a nice guy who plays well with others and, unfortunately, will probably go along to get along.

Unless of course while in Florida he learned how to swim with the sharks.

Amherst School Committee chair Andy Churchill was his usual diffident self--first expressing a preference for David Sklarz, who is white, but then changing his mind and supporting Rodriguez (the Gazette points out he is Cuban-American, not to be confused with Puerto Rican or just plain old Hispanic.)

Mr. Churchill also had trouble a few months back with Catherine Sanderson’s suggestion of an electronic suggestion box:

"I'm having trouble figuring out how to vote on this. I think it's a relatively small thing, but the people who would be implementing it don't," Churchill said. "I guess I'm going to vote against it, even though I support it, even though that's lame."

And you gotta love Ms. Brighty’s worship of former Super Jere Hochman likening him to a “rare event” (as was of course the coming of Christ). So I guess Jere set a new standard, a high benchmark and she would just simply have to settle for Mr. Rodriguez, which she seemed to do strongly.

Regional Chair Michael Hussin originally abstained because no candidate could compare to Barack Obama, although I’m pretty sure he was not talking about race. But, he too, finally settled for Rodriguez.

Let’s hope Rodriguez turns out to be a tad more like Truman: suddenly thrown into a thankless job and rising to the occasion.

Depends on how you define "flush"

So I figured the Daily Hampshire Gazette, after publishing an AP story on the Front Page “Charter Schools Cushion: As critics howl, surpluses are defended”, would have showed some due diligence and requested the financials for our local Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School, the one my daughter attends.

The one that created a Hell of a stir two years ago fighting for its very creation/existence in an Israeli sort of way (powerfully opposed by Amherst school officials, individuals now gone or in the process of going.)

PVCIC is after all a public school, and although autonomous from our local school committees still subject to Open Meeting Law and Public Documents Law.

I just wish the AP had done a better job of “fair and balanced” research/reporting. For instance, they headline how Charter Schools ended the Fiscal Year (2006) “flush with cash,” but did not bother to ask Regional Public Schools about their E+D accounts (Excess and Deficiency).

For instance, the venerable Amherst Regional High School has almost $1 million stashed away for emergencies ($927,546 to be exact) in the current Fiscal Year--one everybody considers a crisis.

And 10 years ago the state reimbursed the town 80% of the $22 million Override to renovate the High School. Charter Schools, on the other hand, cannot get state funding for buildings from the Massachusetts State Building Authority.

As of June 30, 2008 the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School had an “excess” of $104,881, WELL below the statewide$365,000 (2006) average surplus for charter schools cited in the AP story.

PVCIC generated total revenues of $841,603 against total expenses of $736,822, so unlike most businesses in The Happy Valley this past year –mine included—they showed a “profit.”

But the interesting math to do is simple division: total costs divided by number of students. PVCIC served seventy-seven children or an average cost per student of $9,569; below the state average and well below Amherst’s $14,000 average.

But even more interesting is that state tax education money (Chapter 70) from sending districts--the ones who whine that Charter School robbed them of that money-- came to $488,611 (58% total) and the other $352, 367 (42%) came from Grants (mostly Federal) and Contributions.

These figures do not include the recent $1.5 million Federal Grant paying out over five years for curriculum development because the Feds consider Chinese a “critical language.”

So…as far as Amherst taxpayers are concerned, the average cost to educate was only $6,345 (or less than half the cost of the venerable Amherst Schools)

Pretty good bang for the buck.

In like a lion

Signs of Spring

Almost gone

Snell Street Snowman 1:15 PM
Kendrick Park "ice skating rink" 1:25 PM

O Captain! My Captain!

UPDATE: Saturday (2/28) high noon:
Okay so both newspapers have now justified their existence and reported the resignation of our acting co supers. And of course the School Committee thanks them for their service and wishes them well in the future and all that bureaucratic BS. By next week, like the Anne Awad affair, nobody will remember their name.

So now the announcement Monday night of the new full-time, non-acting Superintendent (where this same School Committee will screw up again) can stand (or fall) on its own merits.

UPDATE: Friday (2/27) 3:30 PM:
Yeah, now the truth can be told: From the Illustrious Select Board no less (auto generated "as a rule"):

From: Alisa V. Brewer[AVBREWER@COMCAST.NET]
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 3:02:39 PM
To: Select Board
Subject: Clipping Service: Interim Amherst superintendents Helen Vivian and Alton Sprague quit, health reasons
Auto forwarded by a Rule

UPDATE: Friday (2/27) 7:00 AM
Well amazingly the crusty Gazette caught up, written by illustrious editor Noah Hoffenberg himself (hopefully the Gazette has not laid off all the reporters). Of course School officials would neither confirm or deny the Supers demise but that in itself is confirmation.

Catherine Sanderson made a good point saying the full-time staff had to step up anyway when the interim folks came in suddenly, so they will be able to handle things for the next few months. My two year old had a "bacterial respiratory ailment" recently and the antibiotics cleared it up within a week. Hmmm...

UPDATE: 10:45 PM

Gotta wonder if the Gazette managed to get some school official to go “on the record” about this (Thank God!) breaking development. We will know in about six hours. Although sadly, folks who read the hard copy edition will know before Gazettenet.com internet readers.

And yeah, you gotta love the irony: the highest paid position in the People’s Republic of Amherst occupied by a formerly-and-should-have-stayed- retired married couple who despise this newfangled blogesphere, have their demise first telegraphed via the web.


UPDATE: 3:00 PM Hell No, I did not call the former, acting, not-so-super Co-Superintendents to confirm this news bulletin. But, as I'm sure you all know, I have reliable sources (and lots of them.) For the record, it will be made official Monday night.

ORIGINAL POST 1:30 PM
So the Amherst Bulletin will need to replace the “Super Column” written (I hope not on town time) by married couple Helen Vivian and Alton Sprague, former ‘Acting Co-Superintendents’ of the venerable Amherst School system.

After verbally agreeing to take the rudder in Greenfield they jumped ship and signed a one-year contract with Amherst thru June 30 at a cool $135,000. (With a two-month severance clause so they will get paid for March and April but not May and June)

They got off to a bad start. After the tragic death of a 2-year-old child in September run over by an Amherst School bus, it was revealed the Supers were at Cap Cod closing up their summer cottage.

Then, when the budget crisis caught fire, they melted like a cheap candle.

In response to a School Committee member suggesting a ‘virtual suggestion box’ so concerned folks could email the School Committee or school staff from the convenience of their computer, Mr. Sprague famously responded that in his 40 years working in public schools, “nothing good has come from a suggestion box.”

Then they were late with data unanimously requested of them by the Amherst School Committee. And a major flip-flop on reorganization plans, and maybe a tad too much support for the relatively small number of vocal parents decrying the Marks Meadow School closing.

Add it all up and they were, quite simply, in way over their heads.

What would Jesus, Muhammad, Krishna, or Yahweh do?

So what would have happened if that Airbus 320 that desperately ditched in the freezing Hudson with 155 souls aboard last month had consisted entirely of Amherst School teachers and administrators?

They withdraw to the wings and some science geek calculates that if they all stay put the plane will sink enough to place them into freezing water up to their chests; but if they throw six or seven overboard they will stay comfortably high and dry?

And of course even first time flyer's know that when an air traffic controller frantically reports that they lost a blip, emergency response is instantaneous--and in this post 9/11 world--pretty well coordinated.

If the Teachers Union forgoes their COLA (cost of living raise) it will save well over a million dollars—enough to keep the venerable Amherst Schools treading water. Or they can sacrifice their compatriots.

Although I'm sure nobody could confuse the actions of that heroic pilot with the "Acting, Interim Co-Superintendents" of the (once) venerable Amherst School System.

And I bet the Cops, Firefighters, DPW and Town Hall union folks would all follow suit. And at least the Town Manager (the second highest paid employee right behind our not so Super School Supers) is showing some leadership in this issue by refusing his COLA.

A stand up School Committee member reports:

There they go again...

Okay, so you would think when the illustrious Select Board agenda has this item under Town Manger Report: Recent Select Board Meeting Broadcast Issues (like when they sent out only audio for an entire recent meeting) that ACTV would go out of their way to make this production the most perfectly transparent, seemless broadcast ever.

Well...they start out by airing the view of an empty chair and table for the first five minutes (although the audio of Princess Stephanie came across perfectly.) Then Mr. Root does a surprise presentation from the peanut gallery and no one tells him to come to the microphone so folks could hear what the Hell he was talking about.

Finally they got the cameras pointed in the right direction—just in time to show Dave Keenan’s three card monte, shell game production.

While ACTV receives only $4,000 in direct funding from the town it does get 5% of Comcast’s revenues from the roughly 8,000 subscribers that adds up to over $250,000 annually. Money that would otherwise go to the town.

So it is in every sense of the word Amherst taxpayers’ money (only picked from a different pocket)

Of course the hilarious thing is Mr. Root is babbling something about a new Internet Bank debuting (and he suggests maybe the town could invest taxpayer funds) and you can’t really hear a word he is saying because ACTV, once again, screwed up.

And notice the pernicious pregnant pause over the word “profits”. His Lordship Gerry Weiss clearly says, “we heard you!” (Socialist that he is); but in fact, NOBODY else did. Perfect metaphor for Amherst town government: living in a bullet proof bubble.

Sooooooo just what we need now (at a precarious time in history for the banking industry) a new, multi-level marketing Internet banking scheme. Yikes!

How scary is this! (at least in the United States of America?)



UPDATE: 11:30 PM

Okay, since some of you asked nicely here's a clip of Dave Keenan's presentation.

Yes, he did shuffle the 3 cups around a few times at the very beginning and middle of his Dog+Pony Show, and No Princess Stephanie did not want to hazard a guess as to where the candy laid (or is it lied?) at the very end. (Although I think Bill got it right)

Frosty morning

11:00 AM

Kendrick Park "skating rink" 11:25 AM

Amherst Town Center. High Noon

Vote for Miss Emily!

So I find it a tad bit odd that the Governor would encourage cheating (but hey, he's a Democrat) to decide what national/state treasure in Massachusetts gets forever remembered on the back side (not to be confused with ass end) of a US Mint quarter.

For instance, I know a Umass Math Professor who like to auto-generate phone calls to the Daily Hampshire Gazette (to overwhelm and shut down their phone lines) when they publish a non-flattering story about him (although now that he's no longer on the Select Board that probably no longer happens)

But I'm sure it has to be even easier to set up an automated system to vote continuously for your choice via the Internet. I only voted once, and of course I voted for Miss Emily.

Vote here: (as they say in Chicago: "early and often")

"Like a thousand points of light" (X 100)

So on this auspicious occasion –my 100,000 visitors—it’s time for a blogging retrospective. First off, I feel about blogging the very same way I felt about my first hip replacement surgery: what the Hell took me so long?

As for my hips, simple vanity: I was too young for that (and would rather limp badly and take forever to climb a simply set of stairs than spend a week flat on my back zoned out on pain meds and then six weeks on crutches)

As for blogging, I actually worried about not enough material for a decent numbers of posts per week (with my initial target being three or four.) Now I worry about too much material.

Yesterday for instance I did four posts (and actually had a 5’th—a photo of 'The Evergreens'--but never got around to it, besides Mary Carey scooped me on that although you can tell from her photo that she took it later in the morning because the snow is still showing in mine).

The thing I liked about radio advertising—either for my business but especially for politics—is the immediacy. I would cut a commercial and within an hour or two it was on the air.

Blogging is the ultimate combination of text, photos and video instantly uploadable. And you can go back and change anything and republish instantly. Plus, cheap point-and-shoot digital cameras are so easy to use and are small enough to hide in a pocket until needed (but only used on/from public property of course).

A rundown of the last two years highlights:

Highest number of hits: The day the Associated Press issued a national story about my blog bringing down former Czar…. what’s her name? Oh, yeah Anne Awad, ensconced in South Hadley but wanting to keep her locally elected town position in the People’s Republic of Amherst. (414 hits.)

And of course without this blog she would still be a sitting Amherst Select Board member (even though commuting to South Hadley) 'His Lordship' Gerry Weiss would still be Chair and 'Princess' Stephanie (the former blogger) would still be stenographer/secretary rather than Chair, with a “new majority” of fairly normal folks.

#2 (coming in around 375 hits): a tribute/post that I dreaded doing because it concerned a young Amherst firefighter David Pollack, who died suddenly at age 27. I rolled it into a mention of Homer Cowles, the ultimate Yankee farmer and former Deputy Fire Chief who died the week before (but at a more acceptable age of 83--if death is indeed ever acceptable), and my landlord and long-time neighbor Dick Johnson who also passed that week (and did more for this town than most folks will ever know).

But my sitemeter told me the vast majority of folks were coming to me looking for information about David Pollack.

#3: The death of a child. One by bus accident the other by drowning in a back yard pool. It just does not get any worse than that; as I stated both times, if you can think of something worse please don't tell me.

Post with the most legs, meaning it still gets one or two hits per day and every time I see it on my sitemeter I'm depressed. Let’s call it a terrible tie:

The suicide of Jenny Kim, a promising Amherst College student; and “Hall of Shame” where I simply list all Amherst Town Meeting members (by an overwhelming majority) who voted against flying the flags in town center to remember/commemorate 9/11, the worst day in the last two generations of American history.

Quickest response ever from a high-ranking town official to an upload: The 2’nd in a series of three posts (over six weeks) showing the People’s Republic of Amherst is too cheap to provide hot water at the lavatories at Wildwood Elementary school.

47 minutes after uploading a blurry photo of a brand new thermometer clearly showing a bathroom water temperature of only 70 degrees, Acting Interim School Co-Superintended Alton Sprague called me spitting-and-swearing, threatening to have me arrested (and suggesting I was a pedophile).

Only time I hesitated about hitting the “publish post” button: In China, last summer, after we had toured my first daughter’s orphanage and I could tell we took them by surprise and--unlike five years earlier--got an actual glimpse of the kids routine overcrowded existence.

And I could have sneaked a photo or two (the “guards” escorting us were not exactly highly trained) but I figured things were so bad I should be able to get that across with just words. But still, I did not want to put my family in danger either.

Biggest victory due to the 'power of the blog': The flags in downtown Amherst flew this past 9/11, for the first time since 2004 (that too had a lot to do with Ms. Awad no longer a player). And damn well better next year or there will be Hell to pay.

Oh yeah, that May 1, 2007 $2.5 million Override that I helped knock down and thus far has saved taxpayers over $5 million and counting.

Biggest regret? Lost personal relationship with media friends—reporters and editors—who probably now consider me the enemy because of this newfangled Blogesphere/Web that threatens their existence.

Plans for the future? A political revolution! And this time, I have the power...

And what is wrong with this picture?

Amherst Center High Noon

UPDATE: 5:35 PM

On Feb 19, 2009, at 3:53:00 PM, "State House Events (BSB)" wrote:
From: "State House Events (BSB)"
Subject: RE: Half Staff Notification. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.....
Date: February 19, 2009 3:53:00 PM EST
To: amherstac@aol.com

Hey Larry,

The Bureau has setup on our website a flag status page you
can find it at www.mass.gov/bsb on the
right side of the page currently it has “flags at half staff” when they are not
it says “flag status” I don’t know if that helps, but you can always find
information about the flags there.

I am currently working on sending out a clarification
email because we have a lot of people in the Commonwealth who are being “difficult”
and I hope to clear up a lot of stuff. Keep an eye out tomorrow for it.

I hope this helps in some way,

Suzzette

On Feb 19, 2009, at 5:28:48 PM, amherstac@aol.com wrote:
From: amherstac@aol.com
Subject: Re: Half Staff Notification. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.....
Date: February 19, 2009 5:28:48 PM EST
To: Sh.Events@state.ma.us

Hey Suzzette,

Yes it does!

Just that fact that someone in state government cares...that helps.

And obviously your ultimate boss the Governor (who I voted against) DOES CARE, otherwise he would not have taken the time to issue the order in the first place to bring down the flags for 12 hours today.

For those "difficult" nitwits, you should remind them that Jonathan R. Roberge of Leominster, Massachusetts who died Monday, February 9, 2009 in Iraq was only 22 years old! He had a long life ahead of him--especially if he decided to work at McDonald's rather than enlist.
He was not even supposed to be on duty that day, as he was covering for a fellow soldier who asked him to fill in.

AGAIN: we need to do a better job! Your doing your job for sure
(thank you) but can we get a few more folks to do theirs?
Larry
#################################################################

UPDATE: 2:45 PM

-----Original Message-----
From: amherstac@aol.com [mailto:amherstac@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 1:14 PM
To: Events, Sh (BSB)
Subject: Re: Half Staff Notification. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.....

Hey Suzzette,

So I still can't figure out why the People's Republic of Amherst
figured it out on Tuesday but not today. As I say in this most recent
post: there'e got to be a better way! Every town/city in the state
should direct somebody to subscribe to your half staff email service;
but until then the Governor might want to issue a hard-copy press
release to all the major media. This man gave his life, can't we make
an extra effort to remember that?

Larry

http://onlyintherepublicofamherst.blogspot.com/2009/02/and-what-is-wrong-with-this-picture.html



-----Original Message-----
From: State House Events (BSB)
To: amherstac@aol.com
Sent: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 2:05 pm
Subject: RE: Half Staff Notification. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.....

Larry,

I feel your pain! I am going to forward your email to the Governor's Office and
ask if it would be possible for a press release to go out. Keep in mind,
sometimes we get the confirmations very last minute.

Thanks,
Suzzette

State House Events
Bureau of State Office Buildings
State House, Room 1
Boston, MA 02133
617-727-1100 x35532
617-727-7700
sh.events@state.ma.us

Sent: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 2:37 pm
Subject: RE: Half Staff Notification. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.....

Hey Suzzette,

I appreciate that. But WAY more importantly, so will the families
living in our Commonwealth who have to deal with an infinitely bigger
bigger pain.

I called the Public Safety line a moment after emailing you and they
just called back and said the flags are now at half-staff. Better late
than never I guess.


Larry
###########################################################

ORIGINAL POST: HIGH NOON'ish

The Governor ordered all state and local flags to half-staff on this day to honor and remember the ultimate sacrifice paid by Jonathan R. Roberge on Feburary 9 in the far off land known as Iraq.

Umass got it right. Amherst College, Big-Y (my favorite flag because it is so BIG) and even Police, Fire, and Schools did not.

Come on folks, there's got to be a better way. The bricks-and-mortar media on the day before Daylight Savings goes into or out of effect always puts on the Front Page "remember to reset your clocks".

Because yeah, if every worker in America was an hour late for work how much would that cost the economy? But then six months later if they arrived an hour early it probably would be a wash.

Can't we get a little news blip saying: the Governor has ordered all flags that he controls at half staff, and maybe--just maybe--everybody else would join in? I'm sure if they knew about it they would.

This man gave his life to protect our way of life. REMEMBER THAT!

What's wrong with this picture? Let me count the ways. Click to enlarge, but even then--since it is LIMP (a perfect metaphor)and Soooooo faded, you many not be able to figure out that this is the UN Flag--also at full staff.

Trip the light fantastic

The Evergreens built for Miss Emily's brother Austin. As a kid when I walked by on my way uptown to the Amherst Boys Club I never even knew the house existed because it was so hidden by a dense overgrowth.

Pause to remember: Never, never forget!

Yeah, I know, I’m supposed to be the flag protocol expert--but I had no idea why the flags were are at half-staff today @ Umass and Amherst Town Center (but, unfortunately, not in a lot of other places):

THIS JUST IN (from mass.gov.com)

Flag Status

Flags are currently being flown at Half-staff.

Governor Patrick has ordered the American and Commonwealth Flags lowered to half-staff on February 17, 2009 from sunrise to sunset for Staff Sergeant Alex R. Jimenez who was killed in action.

I only wish this sad scenario attracted the same audience as TV broadcasts from the late 1960’s where anti-war protester's chanted: “The whole world is watching, the whole world is watching.”

Thank you Sergeant Jimenez! For doing your duty, protecting our country, my family, our way our life.

The AP and Army Times Reports:
################################################################
UPDATE. This Just In:

On Feb 18, 2009, at 9:54:18 AM, "State House Events (BSB)" wrote:
Hello Everyone,

Governor Patrick has ordered the American and Commonwealth Flags lowered to half-staff on Thursday, February 19, 2009 from sunrise to sunset for Jonathan R. Roberge who died in Iraq

Pursuant to gubernatorial protocol which states,

"The U.S. flag shall be flown at half-staff at all state buildings from sunrise until sunset on the day of interment of any soldier from Massachusetts who is killed in action in a war zone while on active duty,”

Please be advised that Governor Patrick has ordered that the United States flag be lowered to half-staff at all state buildings from sunrise until sunset on Thursday, February 19, 2009 in honor of Jonathan R. Roberge of Leominster, Massachusetts who died Monday, February 9, 2009 in Iraq.

NOTE:

There have been some questions about public buildings and state buildings below are the definitions.

Public Buildings: Buildings containing government offices, such as the State House, city and town halls, public schools, police and fire stations, municipal and county offices, offices of public agencies, commissions and authorities, public works facilities and senior centers. Clubhouses and other buildings at publicly owned golf course. Even if a building is privately own but occupied by government offices is considered a public building. Property owned by a public entity such as the state, a city or a town.

State Buildings: Property owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you,

Suzzette
#########################################################
From: amherstac [mailto:amherstac@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 12:23 PM
To: State House Events (BSB)
Subject: Re: Half Staff Notification

Suzzette,

Tell the Governor I said "thanks".

Larry Kelley

http://onlyintherepublicofamherst.blogspot.com/2009/02/pause-to-remember-never-never-forget.html
###########################################################

On Feb 18, 2009, at 12:35:41 PM, "State House Events (BSB)" wrote:
From: "State House Events (BSB)"
Subject: RE: Half Staff Notification
Date: February 18, 2009 12:35:41 PM EST
To: amherstac

I shall!

#############################################################

What's wrong with this picture?

So you would think the People’s Republic of Amherst--giving away this prime advertising banner location in town center for under $100/week (non-profit entities only of course) when it's worth ten times that--would maybe mention/advertise that it's vacant for an entire month!

But hey, the DPW has better things to do these days: make that damn Kendrick Park skating rink happen!

An "unattended death"

Homeless man found dead in Amherst apartment
By Scott Merzbach
02/16/2009 -

AMHERST - Police are investigating the unattended death of a 43-year-old homeless man at a South Amherst apartment Sunday.

Detective Brandon Seymour said Monday that the man's death does not appear to be suspicious and that there is no evidence of foul play.

At 12:18 p.m., police were notified by other homeless people staying at an apartment at The Boulders, 188 East Hadley Road, that their friend had not awoken with them.

The medical examiner was expected to complete an autopsy Monday in an effort to determine the cause of death.
######################################################################################

Okay, so I’m a tad confused here. Could some Gazette editor ask the intrepid reporter why somebody “staying at an apartment” is homeless? Sounds like a home to me. I lived in the complex next door for many years and always considered it a home.

And why would it take until after high-noon on a Sunday for “other homeless people staying at the apartment” to finally notice that their “friend had not awoken with them” Hmmm… Can we say (or spell) IMPAIRMENT?

And who exactly pays for that apartment? A kindly George Soros (moveon.org) or the taxpayers of Massachusetts via Section 8 subsidies?

Inquiring minds wants to know.

Deathstar

So yeah, when this $50 million Recreation Center debuts Golds Gym aka The Leading Edge in Amherst (not to be confused with the super-cheap Leading Edge lite in Greenfield), and Planet Fitness in Hadley--that other predatory pricing guru, will be vaporized.

Too bad the Israeli Air Force does not hire out as mercenaries for a preemptive strike.

On another similar, albeit smaller, note: You would think the Collegian would teach their cub reporters to ask questions like “Hmmm…don’t you need a state license for this?” Or “Don’t you think this is unfair competition for barbers who do pay for that license--not to mention renting commercial space that pays property taxes and all those other associated costs of doing business?????

The Collegian Reports (as a puff piece, not an expose)

Blame the Blogger

SOMEBODY (in the media) gets it!

Dark Shadows

If Miss Emily’s house was owned by the town rather than Amherst College, a private entity, would there be a tad more controversy about whacking 200 trees around the Dickinson Homestead to improve the view and transport the vista back to the mid 1800’s?

After all, when the town decided to nuke a few crabapples in the downtown a couple years ago all Hell broke lose.

The Bully reported

Kelley Square (just down the road).

My Great, Great Grandfather Tom purchased land in 1864 from Edward Dickinson for $1,216 and four generations of Kelley's grew up there (believe it or not three houses and a barn fit on this very small parcel). He worked for the Dickinson's as a "domestic servant" for over 20 years and acted as lead pallbearer (with five other Irish servants) for Miss Emily.

Although on his death certificate his job is described as 'Night Watchman, Amherst College.'

A long, long time ago

Those who fail to learn...

Click photo to enlarge/read

So sultry Cinda Jones sent this to my Club six weeks ago and it sat on my desk unopened until very recently as I simply assumed it was a flyer for last week’s Winterfest, and I knew with my (ultra sultry) wife in South Korea that I would not be able to attend.

Of course I’m not sure her Grandmother kept it (note the Bully used to come out on Wednesday’s) because she thought I was a complete idiot, or completely agreed with me.

But…here we are 21 years later: still talking about a Fire Station in South Amherst, still subsidizing the expensive game of golf; although, finally, considering cutbacks in the Leisure Services Empire.

And so it goes…

"S-o-m-e-w-h-e-r-e over the rainbow..

Happy Valentine’s Day (our most precious love)

People's Republic of Amherst to Governor: "I don't get no respect!"

Click to enlarge

Okay that's it. Governor Deval Patrick is definitely not invited to our 500'th anniversary birthday bash. Sheeshh. I mean, you only turn 250 once! And you don't get more liberal, Clinton-like left of center than the People's Republic of Amherst. Maybe the Gov figures he's doing such a great job that he does not need the outreach.

Top photo: Stephanie O'Keeffe behind podium using semi-prepared remarks (only looked down 2 or 3 times.) Armed elf behind Stephanie is Harrison Gregg Amherst Town Meeting moderator (running unopposed this year.) Far right: Hadley Select Board Chair Gerry Devine (who I'm sure was tempted to say Hadley was glad to be rid of us 250 years ago.) On Queen Stephanie's immediate right townie developer and 250'th Chair Barry Roberts, guy in front right of him Vice President of Hampshire College Aaron Berman (who did a one minute commercial for all the wonderful things the college does for the town...of course he knows we are going to hit them up soon for a payment in lieu of taxes for all the services taxpayers currently provide them).

Non-New England native standing in front of American flag: Rober Holub, Umass Chancellor (with two children in the public schools costing Amherst taxpayers $25-k per year) , to his right appropriately dressed Amherst College President Tony Marx; and you gotta love the way the venerable Amherst Select Board lined up in descending order from most seniority to least: Gerry Weiss, Diana Stein, Alisa Brewer (nice shoes), ultra-rookie Aaron Heyden, also running unopposed for reelection. And at the very bottom (no metaphor intended) Amherst Town Manager Larry Shaffer.
Even when I still thought the Governor of Taxachusetts was going to make an appearance, I was not concerned with security as both Amherst Police Chief Charlie Scherpa (left) and Captain Mike Kent (right) were on duty.