The taxpayers strike back!

No More Overrides! (click here to save your hard earned dollars)

UPDATE: 5:30 PM Where's Mr. Hood when you need him? So I was trying to add a sitemeter to the website and somehow managed to republish a draft version from a month ago. Yikes! Have contacted tech support and our other webmaster, so hopefully it will be restored to the version seen above soon.

UPDATE: Saturday morning: So Ricky Boy Hood, unfortunately a shoe in candidate for School Committee, is reporting over on Catherine Sanderson's blog that A-Rod is having a medical procedure done in Miami (which had originally been planned for mid-to-late April, when of course the weather in Amherst turns rather pleasant.)

Ricky Boy does not explain the sudden change in plans, or why the Superintendent did not think it important enough to let the Regional School Committee know or why officials did not post it on the ARPS website for all to see.

Hmm...so much for "transparency."

ORIGINAL POST:
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. Winston Churchill (no relation to Andy)

Where's A-Rod?

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UPDATE: 2:00 PM (Friday) The New York Post is reporting that black/blind NY Democratic Governor Paterson is ending his reelection campaign because of the scandal involving interference with an investigation against one of his top advisers for sexual assault that he tried to cover up.

Gotta wonder what the People's Republic of Amherst School Committee member Kathleen Anderson, who is black but not blind (although sometimes I wonder about the latter) will chalk this one up to.
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10:30 AM So according to the memo/spreadsheet that stated, "In keeping with the spirit of transparency and maintaining our lines of communication open, listed below are the dates I have been, or will be out," a memo Superintendent Alberto Rodriguez tossed to the Regional School Committee on February 9th; it clearly indicated he was taking "vacation" from February 16 through February 19, and then on Monday February 22 a "sick" day, and then nothing more until April.

Today is February 25. And now I hear (from two reliable sources) Dr. Rodriguez is staying in sunny Miami until March 8th. Hmm...

Interestingly an Anon posted a Comment on this blog at 8:46 AM questioning his current whereabouts. At 8:55 AM--about ten minutes--later I get a hit from somebody in Miami, Florida doing a Google search for this blog. Hmm...

Click to enlarge/read

I had forgotten that only four out of nine Regional School Committee members voted in favor of his salary/benefits contract (one now gone and another stepping down--and both of them championed the modular classrooms costing taxpayers $215,000 at Mark's Meadow School that never hosted a class of students.)

Umass, Town, ARA team up for development

Thursday update: I live-blogged this last night and participated as an ARA member so please excuse the quirky writing style.
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7: 30 PM
First meeting in forever: All 5 ARA (Amherst Redevelopment Authority) members are present, four members elected one appointed by the Governor, a quasi state agency with the power of eminent domain. Aaron Hayden, Jeanne Treaster, John Coul, Margaret Roberts and me (or is it I?).

First up election of officers: John Coull Chair, Larry Kelley Vice Chair, Clerk Jeanne Traester (the Governor's appointee who's term is up soon.)

Town Manager Larry Shaffer making a presentation: Concept of a "Gateway Redevelopment District" near the University of Mass. He's been approached by two large corporations who wish to build large upscale student housing projects ($80 million worth) and a luxurious Hotel project ($25 Million worth.) Umass is talking about increasing student population by upwards of 3,000 students.

Downtown is split up between a few heavy hitters. These new folks require 2 to 5 acres of contiguous property for their projects. UMass may convey property to the town (or ARA) the former "frat row" on North Pleasant Street, now just level open space.

ARA could bundle or assemble these properties for the developers. We want the property to be taxable, and close to the downtown so they provide business for our merchants. Grow our tax base (currently 2 billion) by 10%.

7:40 PM Town Manger wants ARA to be "lead agency". Actually had 2 developers talking about hotels--each requiring about 2 or 2.5 acres of property. Frat Row is 1.8 acres. Construction costs are at historic lows. He's been in touch with all the local heavy hitter (Jones family, Barry Roberts etc) but just can't "puzzle our way" through it. Too many property owners each with too small a piece of the overall pie.

Umass would give up Frat Row to the ARA, with conditions (about the projects undertaken). Umass thinks it will not be a problem to convey the property. Looking at taking a Sorority just north of Frat Row and the University Lodge (20 unit hotel owned by former ARA member Curt Shumway) just south, both contiguous with what once was the 4 rowdy frathouses to make for a larger contiguous property.

Private developers need the help of the town (to keep the NIMBYs at bay).

7:55 PM: Rezoning would be required: two thirds vote of Amherst Town Meeting...ouch!

8:20 PM: Jonathan Tucker (Planning Director): In order to go forward you need a plan and the state has to approve it.

8: 30 PM Unanimous vote of the ARA to "prioritize the Gateway Redevelopment District" as a near and present project.

ARA would shape the project and then put it out to RFP (Request For Proposals bid) and let the private sector do the actual project.

Next Meeting March 10 with Umass officials (some of it will be in Executive Session)
Big green spot in middle is former Frat Row: church and commercial hotel immediately below and sorority above.

Previous post on Frat Row.

Public safety held hostage

So first we had Jones Library Trustee Chair Patricia Holland boasting that closing Friday afternoons would inflict the most damage to the public for the least amount saved ($8,575): "This will be an argument for the Override," she naively declared.

Now we have the Town Mangler telling the Select Board to place the snuffing of street lights back on the death row Override list (saving $40,000 if 400 are doused due to Override failure) because it will scare the Hell out of old people who vote, and anal cyclists like former Select Board member Rob Kusner, who may still have a friend or family members who vote.

I have been teaching self-defense for over 35 years and the best advice I can give people is not to be there when trouble arrives. And trouble thrives under cover of darkness.

Street lights help to prevent rape, assault, and other crimes too numerous to mention. Threatening basic public safety to score political points is fearmongering at its worst. Only in Amherst--and Iran.

The Blunders Continue

The Internet Petition to support the Override is still floundering, only garnering 631 signatures in six weeks (many from "name not displayed," or kids too young to vote, or folks from outside the state.) Recently Select Board member Aaron Hayden signed on:

12:11 pm PST, Feb 19, Aaron Hayden, Massachusetts
This year the override is a sound investment in the value of our homes, the quality of life in Amherst, in our children and for our safety and well being. This investment is equal to the cost of a cup of coffee each week - it is hard to be wise because it is easy to taste that cup of coffee right now while we don't need the Fire Department's help today and won't need to return our library books for a few weeks yet.

Hmmm...

So, 52 cups of coffee divided into the cost of the Override for the average homeowner at $264 works out to over $5 per cup.

Amherst College must pay Mr. Hayden really, really well.

I'll drink to that!

So the illustrious Amherst Select Board last night approved placing on the town meeting warrant this spring an article increasing fines for all things alcohol related in the People's Republic from around $50 per infraction to a whopping $300. Now that should get the attention of those damn students!

After two late night ride-alongs with Amherst PD over the last nine months I would guess well over half of all the activity garnering police attention related to drinking. So this bylaw fine escalation should be a Hell of a money maker.

The same coalition committee of Umass folks and town officials are also considering a by-law before Town Meeting (who has to approve the fine increase on open container, nuisance party houses anyway)enacting fines for "public urination."

What an entrepreneurial concept! Generate municipal revenues via the chaotic byproduct of alcohol via open container and noise infractions and then even more fine revenues for public urination, another natural byproduct of alcohol consumption.

The Umass student newspaper otherwise known as Daily Collegian scoops the crusty Gazette

Transparency indeed!

Even the Crusty Valley Advocate gets on board

So the crusty Daily Hampshire Gazette/Amherst Bulletin finally exposed the story of Amherst's highest by far salaried public employee taking advantage of the Schools "generous as compared to private industry" sick leave benefits.

Interestingly, reporter Nick Grabbe quotes snarky anonymous Internet comments and attributes the controversy picking up steam via Catherine Sanderson's School Committee blog, when in fact she has never posted a word about it (other than to say no comment) and refused to comment when the reporter called her for an interview.

Obviously the issue first broke on this blog--although I was smart enough to simply post the public documents without any editorial comment, knowing the racism charge would quickly follow.

When I submitted what turned out to be my final column for the venerable Amherst Bulletin in 2004 railing against the High School becoming the only one in the nation to allow teen aged girls to perform the 'Vagina Monologues' editor Nick Grabb told me I couldn't use a particularly devastating comment posted on Masslive Amherst Forum because Gazette policy did not allow use of unattributed anonymous sources.

Fortunately I knew the person, former Jr. High School principal John Burruto, and he gave me permission to attribute the quote to him. And it stayed in the column. Maybe the venerable Gazette has loosened their standards in the past six years.

But being an official reporter for a bricks and mortar newspaper has its advantages as the Superintendent took reporter Grabbe's call while in Florida at his other home: "I'm a victim of transparency," Rodriguez whined. "At what point does transparency creep up into my rights?"

Naturally School Committee member Kathleen Anderson was quick to play the race card: "In U.S. culture, there's a tendency to see the same behaviors in a person of color differently than a person of European descent."

I wonder if some school principal or lower level teacher took that many sick days in advance and casually slid a memo/spreadsheet to their boss showing they were taking those days with no further explanation; would they get away with it? Probably not, no matter their color.

If Alberto Rodriguez owned his own company he could do as he damn well pleased. But he works for the taxpayers of Amherst (and to some extent Leverett,Pelham and Shutesbury.) Since the Regional School Committee hired him and can fire him, he should have been a tad more respectful by providing them a bit of explanation for that "transparent" 2/9 memo.

Arrogance goeth before the fall.

The Bulletin Reports (finally)

Winter morn

UPDATE: 2/18 Off to Disney for a few days