Double Trouble

 

621 E. Pleasant Street, Amherst

The Bad Boys at 621 East Pleasant Street, formerly known as "Babe Town", seem to be in a major renovation mode.  Well except maybe for landscaping the lawn.

Not that I want to jinx it, as neighbors hope this is an attempt to dramatically improve "curb appeal" for a sale to new owners -- the Devil you don't know.

But a couple infractions leap out of this picture, taken from a public road this morning. The van on the lawn for one.  And yes they have been cited a half-dozen times for that previously.  But hey, what's a lousy $100 fine per day?

And the dumpster (far right) also requires a $25 permit from the Amherst Fire Department since they are a well known fire hazard. That too is $100 fine ... for the first day; $500 on the second and by the third day, $1,000. 

Ouch!

Dream A Little Dream Of Amherst

Yeah, another one of those ludicrous "lists" that every digital outlet loves to publish these days to attract hits.  Although this one was first published back in May, it now seems to be gaining traction.

Although I'm surprised the Amherst Chamber of Commerce or UMass Office of News & Media Relations has not issued a breathless press release with the headline "We're Number 2!"

This one you just know is suspect when they screw up two-out-of-three purported claims to fame.

According to Boston.com:

 "Home to Massachusetts' flagship public university, Amherst takes the second spot on our list. Amherst boasts strong schools and decent housing costs. It's also a safe community. While not the most fun town, its substantial population of students adds to its hipster cred."

Our schools are certainly EXPENSIVE, pushing top 10% in the entire state for per student cost; but not nearly so "strong".  And our housing cost are FAR from "decent" (mainly because of the presence of all those "hipster" students). 

But we most certainly are "safe," even if APD does arrest 3 or 4 drunk drivers per week. 

Memo to Boston.com: one-for-three ain't bad ... if we're talking baseball.

No wonder they just sold for a (swan) song.

Party House of the Weekend

 

351 Potwine Lane, Amherst

So let's hope this is not a sign of things to come, as our little college town is only just now starting to stir with returning students.  And that trickle will soon become a deluge.

This relatively minor episode -- two noise complaints over one weekend (although the 2nd Sunday complaint included cars parked all over the lawn) -- perfectly illustrates the problem:  The house rents for $2,000/month, so it's a tad too expensive for a young married couple just starting out, or a low to moderate income town employee. 

Common wisdom dictates rent should be around 25% of total income, thus this house would require a $96,000 annual household income.  A relatively high bar, considering the median income for Amherst households is only about half that.

Help From Above

Only took Life Flight helicopter 15 minutes to make rendezvous point 

Amherst Fire Department responded around 11:00 AM this morning to a motorcycle accident on Shutesbury Road, Leverett, only about a 100 yards shy of the Shutesbury town line.

The rider was with a group descending through the S curves towards Amherst when he lost control of the bike and went into the woods.

 

Ernie's Towing personnel pick up crashed bike

  Response vehicles near accident site

AFD transported him about a mile up to Shutesbury Fire Department HQ as they have a field out back tailor made for a helicopter landing.

The Life Flight helicopter swooped in and with the aid of AFD, Shutesbury FD-and-PD successfully transferred the badly injured patient to UMass Medical center in Worcester.

 AFD and Life Flight personnel transfer from ambulance to helicopter

And off they went

I Wish I May, I Wish I Might

A wish tree has sprouted in Kendrick Park, carrying upwards of 40 or so, err, requests. It was a sellout as no tags remained as of this afternoon.

Too bad, I would have added a most timely request:

I wish town officials would forget worrying about the political fringe and simply allow the 29 commemorative American flags to fly in the downtown every 9/11 to remember the innocent lives lost that awful morning.

A New Business Worth Cheering About

 

Oriental Flavor, 25 South Pleasant Street, Amherst town center

The crowd who packed Monday night's Select Board meeting to vociferously advocate the town squander $6.5 million to absorb 154 acres of woodland as a means of scuttling a proposed student housing development in northeast Amherst gave new business owner Chenghui Zheng a warm round of applause after he received his "Common Victualler License".




He also  announced Oriental Flavor's "Grand Opening" was scheduled for the next day, Tuesday July 30.  So far reviews are positive (with the picky Internet crowd).

Waterworks

Orchard Hill, E. Pleasant Street.  Water towers are routinely located on high ground

The 1.5 million gallon UMass water tower on East Pleasant Street is closing in on completion of a major $1 million renovation and should be fully functional in time for the return of the students in the next few weeks. 

A water tower's main function is to maintain round the clock pressure in the water system and provide extra back up in case of a peak draw (hot summer day) or unexpected event, like a major fire. 

UMass is hooked into the Amherst water/sewer system, which they pay for like anyone else.

Amherst owns the smaller tank next to the UMass tank but it only holds 500,000 gallons.  Additionally the town has two larger tanks each holding about the same as the UMass tank, or 1.5 million gallons.

Thus our total reserves when the UMass tank goes back online will be 5 millions gallons in all the tanks and another 1 million in clear wells near the two treatment plants.


Project got off to a rocky start mid May as lift machine stranded worker near top of tower, requiring AFD rescue

 On average Amherst consumed 2.65 million gallons per day of treated water last year, with UMass sucking up 31% of the total.

I'm told UMass wanted to install a "check valve" device to restrict the tank water only to their side of the system, but the town denied the request.

According to DPW Chief Guilford Mooring: "We are now in a very good position: The reservoirs are full. Every year is different and this is a good year. Usually we are shutting down the reservoirs because they are getting too low and the water quality is poor."

 
UMass tower is also a beacon for malevolent spirits

Hadley Water Tower, East Street