Calling All Consultants!

$60,000 town/gown consultant contract up for grabs

Hear ye, hear ye:  The joint UMass town of Amherst Request For Proposals, a consultant contract worth $60,000, has just hit the Internet.  

The large Town Gown Steering (super) Committee -- made up of heavy hitters from both UMass and the town, hashed out the legal contract over four meetings. 

The cost of the consultant is also shared 50/50 by the two superpowers, although the University handled all the final edits and legal issues that go along with issuing a 15 page public document.

The main focus for the consultant will be double edged problems, probably endemic to "college towns":  housing and economic development.

Two recent town sponsored housing studies have concluded the lack of student housing drives up prices making it difficult for middle income families -- and impossible for low income families -- to find shelter.  

Plus Amherst  has an overwhelmingly skewed tax base, as the housing market represents 90% of the total tax base and the commercial sector a pitiful 10%.  

With the recent loss of 204 affordable units at Rolling Green Apartment complex the town has now fallen below the magic 10% threshold for Subsidized Housing Inventory and could be (within the next year) subject to a Chapter 40B mega development.

Hit The Road

 

Gottago Taxi packing them in

The Amherst Select Board on Monday night will consider a "Recommendation to NOT approve a taxi license -- GottaGo taxi."  But fear not, 15 minutes later they will vote on a "New Taxi Business License Application:  Funky Cab."

So the net number of taxi cab companies licensed to do business in the town of Amherst will in all likelihood remain the same (9). 

The Selectboard renewed all the taxi licenses back in December, but that was "subject to outstanding documentation" including the positive recommendation of Police Chief Scott Livingstone.  GottaGo Taxi was the only company he did not recommend.

The Chief's memo will appear in the Selectboard packet tomorrow, but until then this incident should provide a little background.  The owner will have the right to respond to the Chief's recommendation  (or lack thereof) at the Monday night Select Board meeting.

He may not want to drive one of his cabs to the meeting.

#AmherstMA Police Chief recommends NO GO for GottaGo tax business.  Selectboard decides Monday to pull permit.  http://t.co/6KHDHbqV3X
— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) January 24, 2014

Who Guards The Guardians?

Umass is looking for a "Director of Communications" to add to their luxurious stable of Public Relations folks, namely the Office of News & Media Relations (with a staff of 10). 

This gaggle of course does not include Nancy Buffone, Director of "University Relations," with a staff of three;  or John Kennedy, Vice Chancellor for University Relations.

UMass also has "Newswise" which seems to be just another name for News & Media Relations, although I notice former high-ranking editor at the (Springfield) Republican Larry Rivais now shows up as an "Associate News Editor" after retiring from the Republican on January 1st.

The retreat of journos into public relations jobs is certainly nothing new, but it has become worse over the past ten years or so with the decimation of traditional print media by that darn Internet.

In 1980 for instance Amherst hosted four weekly news publications, and now we're down to just one.  And that one -- The Amherst Bulletin -- had a full time staff of 13 stationed in Amherst back in 1980 (not to mention 15-20 part-timers), and now they are down to just two.

In 1980 the ratio of PR flacks to journalists was 1.2 to one, but by 2010 had climbed to an alarming 4 to one.   And they are better paid and better equipped than the beleaguered journos who try to cover their employer.

So who keeps a discerning eye and a flashlight on UMass, our flagship University and the town's #1 employer?  Hello?  Hello?  Is anyone out there?

UPDATE 5:00 PM

Nancy Buffone's response regarding the "Director of Communications" position. 

DUI Dishonor Roll

It's tempting to assume that simply because UMass is back in session that the rate of drunk driving arrests will escalate dramatically with the influx of students.

And last week the arrest rate for that concerning category was 100%.

But fortunately that was only one person, although Stefanie Ibarguen, age 20, is a UMass student; and interestingly enough was stopped by Amherst Police Department early Sunday morning on UMass turf for speeding near Kennedy high rise dorm, on Massachusetts Avenue.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

 

Rolling Green Apartments fire 1/21/13. Photo AFD Local 1764

A year after the tragic fire at Rolling Green Apartments two key questions remain unanswered:  What caused the fire; and did the victim -- UMass student Jake Hoffman -- originally escape the killer conflagration only to go back inside to retrieve something?

That rumor has persisted since even before the embers cooled.  And since the State Fire Marshall has not issued an official finding one way or the other, nobody wants to talk about it.

Twenty six years ago my Amherst apartment almost burned to the ground during a major structure fire.  After calling 911 and banging on doors of neighbors I went back in looking for my wife's favorite cat.  Repeatedly.

If not for a ranking member of AFD telling me up close, in no uncertain terms, to "Get the f-ck out now and stay out!" I may not have survived the deafening flashover less than 10 minutes later that shook the entire building and blew out windows in all four apartments.




Considering the chronic staffing problem at AFD we are fortunate fatal fires are far and few between.

But like that joke about helping God out by actually purchasing a lottery ticket to facilitate making the improbable happen, the one thing everybody needs to remember:  once you leave a burning building, stay the f_ck out!

 

A Storm Approaches

Amherst DPW sand/salt pile 4:00 PM

I can always tell when a storm is approaching as there's a run on the free sand salt pile in front of the DPW building, kind of like that run on milk and bread at the local grocery store.  

Amherst stopped using sand this season but the town continues to provide it to homeowners (at least until the supply runs out).  

And yes, I've been wondering if the high number of accidents on Saturday (23) could have been somewhat lessened if the town still used sand instead of switching to magnesium chloride.

Snowsquall

Car slid sideways into tree trapping driver on Bay Road, South Amherst. Photo courtesy AFD Local 1764

The DPW seemed surprised at the severity of today's snowstorm, as crews hit the street in force after reports flowed in from all over town (and the Valley) of the havoc wreaked by the, otherwise, pretty white stuff.

In particular a single car crash on Bay Road in South Amherst around 3:40 PM tied up Engine 1, Engine 2, Rescue 1 and an ambulance, as the entire crew (8) of on-duty fire fighters used two sets of Jaws of Life to extricate the driver and transport her to Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

Proper equipment wielded by properly trained professionals makes all the difference as crews managed to safely extricate the woman in 33 minutes flat.

Firefighters removed the roof, door and half the steering wheel to extricate lone occupant.
Photo courtesy AFD Local 1764

Dispatch had to tone out for extra off duty-firefighters to report in for station coverage at Central Station in town center as well as Engine 3 and Engine 4, staffed by Call Force, at North Station.

Between 3:45 PM and 5:30 PM emergency dispatch received 23 reports of motor vehicle accidents, just in Amherst.  Hadley PD was also swamped with calls for cars off the road and into trees or telephone poles.

The ambulance that was transporting the woman from the Bay Road accident to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital called back to Dispatch to report two cars off the road on the Amherst/Hadley border.

APD calling for DPW to come sand in South Amherst.  Snow seems to have caught #AmherstMA by surprise.
— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) January 18, 2014

Amherst PD Sgt advising Dispatch to let callers know that any crashes w/out injury will not have a police response for the time being.
— Kyle (@NEIACAR7) January 18, 2014