Party House of the Weekend

 858 E. Pleasant Street, Friday around midnight

As officers noted in their "Statement of Facts", 858 East Pleasant Street is located in a traditional residential neighborhood  -- albeit somewhat close to UMass --  made up of single family homes that a generation ago were actually occupied by your basic American nuclear family.

Although it really doesn't matter where you are located these days, since obviously somebody was bothered by all the noise.

And just as a generation ago, when a police officer tells you to shut down the loud party do not leave them standing in the cold as you continue to party.  Otherwise you will be arrested, like these four young ladies:

Elizabeth H. Galeucia, 22, 7 Gibbon Road, Hopkinton; Serena A. Seferian, 21, 10 Augustus Road, Lexington; Jillian Simmons, 22, 85 Glen Meadow Dr, Northford, CT;  and Julia S. Tomaszewski, 22, 217 May Street, Worcester.

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Tuesday before Judge John Payne Jr.,  all four women represented themselves, and had pleas of "not guilty" automatically entered in their behalf.

But they all turned down the prosecution's standard offer of a deal:  Criminal charge diverted to Civil charge with payment of the town's Noise Bylaw $300 fine.   Their cases were continued to January 23rd.

   APD Party House bust 11/9/13

In other Amherst related action this morning in Eastern Hampshire District Court, a noise/nuisance case settled by Judge Payne last month was heard by another magistrate (one defendant must have changed his mind), Judge Patricia Poelher.

John L. Tremblay now argued that the officers were dispatched to another Salem Place unit (#16) and then came upon his party (#17) and arrested him for noise and nuisance.

The prosecutor read the police report that stated the original complaint cited noise in the "area of apartment #16".  The Judge then said the caller could still have been referring to his party since the term "area" was used.  Mr. Tremblay then told the Judge that his apartment (#17) is in a "completely different apartment building" than #16, making it sound like it was far removed.

Judge Poelher bought it, and the original $300 fine was reduced to zero.  But she did say somewhat sternly:  "Your neighbors have lives ... they work for a living.  Someday you're going to be in their position."

Trembley responded politely "Yes your Honor," then left the courtroom wearing a Cheshire Cat smile.

#17 Salem Place

Of course I couldn't resist measuring the distance between apartment #16 and #17 located in adjacent cramped buildings.  About 25 yards, across an open paved lot. 

Public Safety Is Paramount

 Town Gown Steering Committee 

The second meeting of the UMass Amherst Town Gown Steering Committee, a dream team of top UMass and town officials charged with preparing a Request For Proposals to hire a town/gown consultant, got a tad testy this evening over the issue of public safety.

The  "discussion outline" had four main bullet points for the proposed consultant to consider:  Housing, Economic Development, Transportation and Public Safety.

But some were concerned it was an unreasonable amount to ask of a consultant on a $60,000 budget proposal and a tight timeline for completion.  So a little condensing was in order.

Amherst police Chief Scott Livingstone did not take kindly to Andy Churchill declaring, "Housing and Economic Development -- especially private taxable housing -- are most important."

To which Chief Livingstone replied, "I don't know if there is anything more important than public safety. I don’t want to see it completely dissed.  I was biting my tongue in the first meeting.  We can’t just ignore it.    It needs to be included in some form."

Demonstrating the seamless cooperation between their public safety departments of late, UMPD Chief John Horvath  jumped in with backup:  "I support Scott.  I don’t want public safety dissed either.  Quality of life is not necessarily criminal activity."

Chief Horvath went on to explain one of the major complaints he hears from impacted neighborhoods are problems of noise, unkempt conditions, and increased traffic -- nothing necessarily "criminal," but  they have a pervasive negative impact on everyday citizens.

Meeting was held at UMPD headquarters community room

Amherst Finance Director Sandy Pooler agreed:  "Public safety is a key ingredient of town/gown relations.  Building more housing may be the way to improve quality of life.  That is a solution to a problem, not an end in itself. "

Former town planner, now UMass planner, Niels la Cour stuck a conciliatory note saying public safety is "implicit" in any proposed housing projects.  Dave Ziomek used an even better term: "permeates".

The next key item on the short list now narrowed down to two, "Economic Development", also briefly generated sparks when Dennis Swinford, UMass Director of Planning suggested UMass has "excess capacity" during the summer, so tourism promotions could be a common goal.

To which Amherst Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe quickly shot back:  "Economic development is from the town side.  UMass is untaxed.  We are looking for Research & Development spinoffs off campus."

During the Public Comment period. at the end of the hour and forty five minute meeting, Walter Wolnik reminded the committee of the importance of modifying the "Pacheco Law" so the University could work with private developers to build student housing that would generate tax revenues to the town.  

Pierpont Dorm Fire

UPDATE:  Assistant Chief Lindsay Stromgren report below:

Amherst Fire Department responded to yet another box alarm, this one at Pierpont Dorm in the Southwest area of UMass at 9:36 PM last night.  First units on the scene reported "heavy smoke in the basement" and an additional tone was issued calling in all off duty personnel. 

The fire, believed to be an electrical malfunction, started in a dryer and smoke and water damaged was contained to the basement area.  One person on the scene (a Resident Assistant) was transported to Cooley Dickinson Hospital as a precaution for non life threatening exposure to smoke.

A little after 11:00 PM AFD dismissed off duty firefighters, the building fire alarms were reset and students were allowed back in the building for the night.

In an email this morning from Assistant Chief Lindsay Stromgren:

The call came in at 2130 initially for an outside fire so two engines were sent, then was updated while they were enroute to be heavy smoke in the basement so a Box alarm was toned out for the department.  It turns out it was a fire in the basement laundry room, behind one of the dryers, which was extinguished with a small amount of water from the hose that the first in crew advanced.  A secondary fire had started outside as a result of burning debris being blown out the dryer vent into a vent shaft next to the building that was full of leaves. This fire was extinguished by another crew with a fire extinguisher.  The fire alarm had been activated by the heat detector in the laundry room but it did not get hot enough to activate the sprinkler system although there was one present.  The cause of the fire is still under investigation but is not suspicious; it appears to have involved one of the dryers but not the clothes that were in the dryer.  Damage was limited to the dryer, some duct work and electrical conduits, and minor smoke and water damage in the room and hallway.   All residents were allowed to return to their rooms after about 1 ½ hours.  One resident was found to have not evacuated his room on the same level as the fire when the alarm sounded and his name has been forwarded to the Dean’s office for disciplinary action.

Other than that however a relatively quiet weekend for AFD as many students had gone home:

   AFD Veterans Day weekend.pdf by larry_kelley_1

Schools & Fires

Hampshire College and Hadley business block fires occurred Sunday 10/27

As a favor to a friend I recently covered the cute charity promotion "Amherst Mega Dessert Crawl."  Weekends are fairly slow, as I usually see about a 33% drop in readership, so I don't mind doing what newspapers refer to as "puff pieces". 

But then something kind of interesting happened.  My concerned-school-parents clientele hijacked the comments section, although the first comment did at least acknowledge what the post was originally about.  

By the time the dust settled a week later the article had generated 65 comments.  Not exactly a new record (235) but still w-a-y over average (11).  And triple the normal readership.  

One Comment mentioned the recent Regional School Committee Meeting where Chair Kip Fonsh bullied other members for not being mindless cheerleaders for the Amherst Regional Public Schools, branding it cannibalism.

Alerted by that Anon,  I grabbed the snippet off the Amherst Media website and posted a brief two paragraph story with the video.   Once again comments are through the roof (82) and number of visitors triple to quadruple a normal mid-week post.

Which just goes to illustrate pent up frustration with our public schools -- especially relating to open transparent communication with parents who are, after all, customers.  And Amherst is in the top 10% statewide for average per child education cost.

The last weekend in October three stories all came together in a perfect storm to rocket readership by 500%:

Hampshire College cancelling an Afro funk band for Halloween because they were "too white" first cracked open the floodgates; the fire a little later at Hampshire College Greenwich Dorm cranked them open even wider; and then only hours later the ravenous fire in Hadley destroyed the dam entirely.

 Hadley, when The Beast came calling

But major structure fires, fortunately, are far and few between.  Unlike the omnipresent --not to be confused with omnipotent -- Amherst Regional Public Schools.

 ARPS Middle School:  No algebra for you!

Amherst Honors The Deserving

Amherst American Legion Post 148 and Amherst VFW Post 754 Color Guard

In one of the best turnouts in many years over 50 people braved the brisk weather to assemble in town center this morning on the 11th month of the 11th day at the 11th hour to honor and remember those who put their lives on the line defending our cherished freedoms.

 Crowd included town officials, aging veterans and families

Veterans Agent Steven Connor said it best, almost as an aside:  "If you see a veteran today, thank them for the their service."  Or on any day.

Veterans Agent Steven Connor right, Town Manager John Musante left (cute kid background)

 

Ageless WW2 veteran Arthur Quinton recites "In Flanders Fields"  (from memory)

 

Main town flag was at half staff, then raised briskly back to the top of the pole

Can You Hear Us Now?

Atkins Farm Country Market deep South Amherst

Since the founding of our country the "right to petition our government"  under the vital protection of the First Amendment has been a cornerstone of American freedoms.

The infamous -- some would say sacrilegious -- cancellation of West Side Story at Amherst Regional High School in 1999 started out with a petition circulated by an attractive 17-year-old that garnered 158 signatures in one day.

Of course a year earlier that same High School had 300 kids sign a petition to Superintendent Gus Sayer demanding reinstatement of off campus privileges so kids could smoke (presumably cigarettes).

The ancient tried and true petition approach has, unlike newspapers, transitioned brilliantly into the digital age.  MoveOn.org, a somewhat (sarcasm) left leaning organization sponsored by gazillionair George Soros, has made it as easy as eating apple to pie to start an online petition.

And you can tell it attracts a broad spectrum of petitioners -- not just uber liberals -- because currently Cinda Jones, a somewhat Conservative, has one gaining steam.

Her (naturally) business oriented petition seeks  to entice Atkins Country Market in South Amherst to open a satellite operation on the other side of town.  More specifically, in her about-to-be-built Trolly Barn, a mixed use 12,000 square foot commercial/residential building. 

Not one to take chances, the petition originally had a goal of 50 signatures which was attained within hours of going live, then reset to 100; and after that goal was quickly reached, reset again to 200.  And probably will be reset once more to 500 when that milestone is reached.

Interestingly North Amherst neighbors staunchly opposed to Ms. Jones other endeavor -- selling land for 175 units of student housing known as The Retreat -- have signed the petition.  So it must be a good idea.

At the very least each petition signatory should get a coupon for a free cider donut.  Or, perhaps, a used "Stop The Retreat" lawn sign. 

The Business of Education

 Yes, Amherst existed before UMass (and Amherst College).  Town center circa 1839

With Umass Amherst almost ten times larger than our other two colleges combined, perhaps the Amherst of today is better described as a "University town" .  But it wasn't always so. 

The founding in town center of the Amherst Academy (1814), which soon became one of the top private schools in the state, set in motion a paradigm shift.  Because soon thereafter, as an educational outgrowth, Amherst College was founded on top of a hill (1821) at the southern end of town center.

Johnson Chapel, Amherst College built 1837

This shifted the balance of social/economic power away from the East Village, which had the initial advantage of water power via the Fort River, to what is now the heart of downtown Amherst.

And whenever a strong magnet arises for people of all persuasions -- in this case education -- the shopkeepers are close behind.

 

Merchants Row, 1870.  Buildings in foreground were "mixed use" with Fraternities above ground floor

In a standing room only presentation yesterday at the Strong House Museum in town center, local historian Ed Wilfert brought to life the story of "Merchants Row", a block of buildings on the west side of the town common with pretty much the same footprint today as 150 years ago.

 

Merchants Row today 

Anchored on the northern end (corner of South Pleasant and Amity Streets) where the Bank of America is now, the Amherst House was as grand a hotel as you could ask for, and at four stories one of the biggest buildings in Amherst.

And at the southern end, the First Baptist Church (built in 1835).

 First Baptist Church recently renovated by Amherst College for office space

 

The Amherst House

Historic photos from Jones Library collection

The July 4th 1879 conflagration decimated Merchants Row.  The ferocity of the fire was such that even brick buildings could not withstand its wrath.  The Beast was aided by a lack of proper firefighting tools as town center had no running water, even though a town committee only a few years earlier had strongly supported it.

 All that remains after the July 4, 1879 fire

The Amherst Hotel was rebuilt as nice as ever but then in 1926 burned down again, even though by then, with Town Meeting approval, town center had running water piped in from the high ground of neighboring Pelham.

Every time buildings burned in the downtown land underneath was dug out a little deeper before rebuilding, and the soil recycled over on the town common which was originally -- by today's standards -- wetlands.

Ed Wilfert, "perpetual amateur scholar"

While the stately Amherst Hotel is now long gone, Amherst still has a bustling Merchants Row.  UMass, to the north, has become a veritable Juggernaut -- the flagship of higher education in the state.

Amherst Town Meeting is still around, and too many years ago a town committee highly recommended the town build a new fire station.  Thus far, a recommendation unfulfilled. 

Those who fail to learn from history ...

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The Jones Library atrium currently has Ed Wilfert's presentation materials about Merchants Row on display (and you can often spot Ed around the library).