Spring ahead

Spring Street parking lot, one of the most convenient for tourists or shoppers in the downtown has, after many months of construction, finally reopened. The Amherst Farmers Market is still displaced, but the extra parking will come in handy--especially since this is "Homecoming Weekend" for UMass, the town's largest employer.

Amherst Farmers Market 11/5/11 7:45 AM

Treemageddon!

East Hadley Road 10/30/11

Trying to get Amherst citizens to think positively about trees right about now is kind of like a perfume company trying to market the scent made by a dying skunk, but the Public Shade Tree Committee will do their best to remind citizens of all the positive things trees bring to the table even though Chair Hope Crolius admitted, "Animosity is going to be high; it is trees that did the damage."

This morning's meeting, with the agenda headline "Tree Calamity," was requested by member Nonny Burack who wants the committee to "make noise," as she has had what she described as "otherwise thoughtful people" disclose their plan to clear cut all the trees from their property. Yikes!

The brutal storm affected thousands of trees, hundreds came down, hundreds more will still have to come down because of significant damage received. But if the damaged tree is in the public way (even if near a private home) homeowners cannot trim or drop the tree without permission of tree warden Alan Snow. And based on how often his cell phone chimed or vibrated during the course of the one-hour meeting, he may not be all that available over the next few days.

Committee Chair Hope Crolius, Tree Warden Alan Snow

Snow told the committee that as of this morning 3,000 cubic yards of debris had been picked up off the public roads by town crews and will be turned into biomass, mulch, or animal bedding. The town has a contract with Wagner Wood to haul it away.

I asked if the 75% FEMA reimbursement for cleaning up municipal debris would be jeopardized if private material made its way into the waste stream, and it appears that the Feds would not reimburse for private debris but would still cover the municipal waste. In other words, it is not an all-or-nothing deal.

The town could schedule alternating odd/even days to distinguish between municipal and private debris, making accounting easier.

Presumably Wagner Wood, since they are home based in Amherst, is giving the town a decent disposal rate, so why not leverage that to benefit private homeowners burdened by the unprecedented fallout?

Amherst Zoning Board slaps down Frat

Clockwise: Attorney James Heffernan, Town Planner Jeff Bagg, ZBA: Hilda Greenbaum, Barbara Ford, Eric Beal

The Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously late this evening to uphold the August 26 "cease and desist order" issued by the town building inspector to a fraternity abutting UMass, Pi Kappa Phi, at 38 Nutting Avenue because the particular abode was founded as a sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, and occupied by women since 1964.

Suddenly turning it into an all male endeavor, is a "change in use" which should have required a Special Permit from the ZBA. The new fraternity did not apply for such a permit and simply moved in this past August.

One of the main factors presented as evidence differentiating a sorority from a fraternity concerned alcohol: Sororities forbid it while fraternities allow--some would say encourage--it.

In fact, early last Saturday morning (2:37 AM)--as the hellish winter storm drew a bead on our area--a young woman was discovered ETOH (alcohol overdose) at the 38 Nutting Avenue frat by Amherst police and Amherst Fire Department had to transport her to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital, thus tying up an ambulance for an hour.

Hilda Greenbaum seemed to have reservations about upholding the building inspector's order because she "did not like the stereotyping: little girls are better behaved than little boys."

But she was swayed by fellow member Eric Beal, an attorney, who cited the differences in number of health and safety code violations between fraternities and sororities, the allowance of alcohol, and on site management (lacking in fraternities).

The fraternity now has twenty days to appeal the decision of the ZBA in Hampshire Superior Court or they can simply apply to the ZBA for a Special Permit, which is probably cheaper but will require the unanimous vote of all three members for approval. The building commissioner can institute a fine of $100/day to enforce the cease and desist order now that it has been upheld by the ZBA.

Amherst Building Inspector Dave Waskiewicz

A simple gesture

Five days after the pernicious winter storm wreaked havoc, bringing death and despair throughout our entire region, with many in Amherst still without power, and schools closed for yet another day, Halloween "rescheduled", and even Town Meeting precinct meetings cancelled (bringing withdrawal to small town political junkies) Amherst needs to consider the little things that can make life just a little easier for its citizens still trying to cope.

Trees and branches were by far the number one casualty of this catastrophic event. The town has an entire tree division at the DPW and a recycling/transfer center that deals with wood on a daily basis. And of course the town owns many shade trees damaged or destroyed.

But the Powers That Be have decided only town owned deciduous dead wood will be picked up curbside by town crews over the next two weeks warning " Any tree debris placed on the side of the road from private trees will not be collected." Of course folks can lug the remains to the town transfer station and pay $50 ton.

Since the town dropped the ball by not opening a local emergency shelter to provide basic necessities--warmth being #1--something Belchertown did at a daily cost of $7,000 (without charging residents an entry fee), it would be nice to drop the Scrooge demeanor and work with our citizenry to help return life to normal--before the next storm hits.

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UPDATE: Now I'm told by a reliable source that the actual price for disposal at our tax subsidized transfer station is $100/ton, but somebody made a boo boo when sending out that email blast and posting to the town website advertising the $50/ton price.

But rather than suck up and abide by what somebody put in writing (you know, like what a private sector business would do) town officials are trying to get a webmaster to change the price to the correct amount and charge that to hard pressed taxpayers.

Maybe we all should converge on the town common with a few loads of debris and a few gallons of gas and have a good old fashioned bonfire!

Fireground Longmeadow Dr. Amherst

Amherst FD Engine 2

AFD Chief Nelson inspecting the damages

Amherst's Engine 2, a Quint, was put into service again for the second time in 36 hours around 9:00 AM this morning to put down a fire at Butternut Farm in South Amherst, owned by HAP Housing, a subsidized housing development that just opened in mid June.

All town pumpers and the heavy duty ladder truck showed up at the scene as well as FD crews from Hadley, South Hadley and Northampton (who provided back up coverage at Central and North stations) and the Amherst Police Department. No injuries were reported.

Party House of the Weekend

198 Sunderland Road, North Amherst 

Yes, the old adage "weather is a cops best friend" held true this past weekend...sort of. If your worry was student party houses and the noise, vandalism and potentially life threatening overdoses of alcohol, Saturday's Godzilla-like storm smothered those problems, but of course brought on more important life threatening circumstances far more dangerous to the first responders.

 But Friday night was business as usual. Take 198 Sunderland Road in North Amherst for instance. Around midnight police responded to a disturbance call only to discover 800-1,000 party hardy students packed into the two floor residence.

As one of the initial responding officers was clearing the downstairs basement a scuffle ensued and it was all hands on deck. The melee did not last long. Police arrested five--two for assault on a police officers, one for disturbing the peace, another for noise and nuisance and one for underage drinking.

Arrested:

Ryan Apgar, Boxborough, MA, age 21 Unlawful noise, Nuisance House
Neil Vaid, 693 Main St, Amherst, MA, age 20, underage drinking
Logan Hughes, Wrentham, MA, age 20 Assault on an officer, Disorderly Conduct
Erik Silva, Middleborough, MA, age 21 Assault on an officer, resisting arrest


Property ownership card for 198 Sunderland Rd, Amherst

UPDATE:  10/12/12
Neil Vaid and Logan Hughes no longer show up as students at UMass.

Yes Virginia, there is a Halloween

Jada and Kira at the Durnakowski's

Okay fine, half the town is without power because so many lines came down in the storm and yes, some of them could be live and yeah, the roads and sidewalks still resemble a maze made from twisted tree debris...but don't tell me--more importantly my children--that Halloween is cancelled.

The town of Amherst can control roads, schools and liquor licenses, but not a major holiday. Halloween is bigger than that. It's a happy, sugar induced state of mind; and right about now folks could use a little distraction, even if it means dressing up to visit only one or two revered neighbors escorted by a vigilant parent.

And so we did.