FinCom Votes NO To $15/hr Minimum Wage

 

Minimum wage to $15/hr would cost add $220K to town budget for employees!

Current minimum wage in Mass is $8/hr (proposed to go up  $11 by 2016)

Saying pretty much the town of Amherst should not go it alone, the Finance Committee, trusted advisers to Amherst Town Meeting, voted 5-0 last night to oppose the only article on the March 19 Special Town Meeting warrant which would allow Amherst to raise the minimum wage from $8/hr to $15/hr.

When Town Meeting votes down the article, labor activist Matthew Cunningham-Cook has threatened to obtain the 880 registered voters signatures required to place the question on a town general election ballot to overturn the Town Meeting vote.

That would then require an insurmountable 18% of the current 17,596 registered voters (3,167) to agree to overturn Town Meeting and approve the measure, otherwise the endeavor fails.

Since a stand alone election costs the taxpayers $12,000, I will make a "Motion to Dismiss" the article on March 19 and when that passes (by simple majority vote) there is nothing an election can do to change the outcome.

Although I did offer Matthew Cunningham-Cook, who moved to Amherst less than six months ago to join SLAP -- the Student Labor Action Project at UMass -- a deal:  If he and his group submit a check to the town for $12,000 I will stand down with my motion.

And if the article miraculously passes, so no election will be called, I would simply give them back their money.

It's one thing when a grade school teacher suggests school children write a Letter To The Editor as a civic exercise, since that doesn't cost taxpayers a dime.  It's quite another when an academic project will cost taxpayers $12,000 and a large group of volunteer citizens an entire night stuck in the Middle School Auditorium.

Let's hope Town Meeting passes my motion, and slaps down SLAP.

Cost to another prominent Amherst business

More Blarney: From UMass President Caret

Police clad in riot gear make an arrest on Fearing Street near Frat

UPDATE:  UMass announces "comprehensive review" of police/town/university response to Blarney Blowout.  No BIG surprise (sarcasm).

#####

Bowing to pressure brought to bear by 100 kids holding a good old fashioned "protest march" and snippets of video posted on the web, UMass President Caret is calling for a full investigation of the Blarney Blowout including how heavily outnumbered police handled the sordid situation.

 Objects were throw from 3rd floor roof of Frat

He also complained to a Springfield Republican reporter about the Amherst bars being allowed to open early that day, and that those businesses bear some responsibility.  Except of course the bars were NOT open early that day, as the Select Board stopped allowing that a few years back because of the problems it caused. 

Perhaps the President just wants to look like he's doing something -- since the Blarney Blowout is receiving such blowout national media attention -- but he picked the wrong people to cast aspersions upon.

Interestingly President Caret hyped a "performance review" issued today that gave the highest rating ("Excellent)" for the goal:  "Admit high-quality students, striving to increase the academic profiles across all campuses."  Not the greatest timing in light of Blarney Blowout BS.

Amherst Firefighters just released a statement strongly supporting the actions of the Amherst, UMass and State police who had to rein in the largest out-of-control crowds this town has ever seen.  Firefighters reportedly faced "repeated aggressive and assaultive behavior."

Crowds THAT large, under the influence of copious amounts of alcohol, are a danger to themselves as well as innocent bystanders.  By many, many accounts (mine included) bottles and cans were hurled at police officers before the pepper balls started flying.

If President Caret wants to call for a full investigation, how about looking at discipline meted out these past few years for the hundreds of students arrested for rowdy off campus behavior?  Or why UMass doesn't provide on campus social events to preoccupy kids?

55 APD arrests vs only 3 UMPD arrests underscores the battles were all fought off campus. 

Amherst police will now be seconding guessing their use of any force over the next few months, just when the weather turns warm and partying escalates exponentially.

It's going to be a l-o-n-g spring.

Last year's preparation:  Also didn't work

Downtown bar owners ask for early opening hours in 2011

Police on North Pleasant Street, town jurisdiction, 12:10 p.m.

Blarney Blowout Solution?

 One APD arrest of 55 during Blarney Blowout

Local attorney Peter Vickery has resubmitted his radical proposal to the Amherst Select Board to use their powers as liquor commissioners to shut off all liquor sales in Amherst next year on the day before and day of the Blarney Blowout.

Last year UMass was criticized for not sending out threatening emails to students and their parents about the consequences of turning Blarney Blowout into a day of debauchery.  So this year the emails went out, and the results were even worse.

Last October for the final Red Sox game in the World Series, UMass tried giving the kids something to do by setting up a giant play area with large screen TVs, food and (non alcohol) drinks in the Southwest gathering area. They ended up with a riot anyway, with UMPD arresting 15.

Maybe it's time for the Amherst Select Board to implement Mr. Vickery's suggestion.  At the very least, put it on their March 17 agenda to facilitate a badly needed public discussion.  

   Ban Alcohol for Blarney Blowout

Hey-Hey, Ho-Ho

Plenty of media showed up to cover the protest march (but not a lot of protesters)

Under a picture perfect blue sky with weather warmer than we've seen for many months, about 100 UMass students and a gaggle of media showed up for the rally to protest "police brutality" at Saturday's Blarney Blowout.

 Marching past ye old Chapel

Even though 332 signed up on the Facebook event page saying they were going to attend.

 

Closing in on Whitmore

The protest march kicked off around the advertised 12:30 PM start time, and snaked towards Whitmore at a relatively brisk pace, all the while the crowd chanted "Hey-hey, ho-ho, police brutality has got to go."  Or something like that.

Chancellor Subbaswamy and John Kennedy, VC for University Relations, had wisely opted to be out of town today, so Associate Chancellor Susan Pearson was drafted to hear the demands of the group.  

Their first demand was a public apology from the Amherst Police Department for use of pepper ball guns that delivered OC ("oleoresin capsicum") gas into the unruly crowds when they failed to heed the order to disperse and started throwing objects at police and each other.  

The second demand was to meet with the Chancellor.  One of the statements that received a big round of applause was,  "The University should be defending students in the media not criticizing them."

Ms. Pearson accepted their demands, sort of, and said she would relay them to Chancellor Subbaswamy when he returns to campus.  Satisfied, the group then disbanded.  

All done by 1:15 PM, or around 45 minutes total.   Unlike the Blarney Blowout -- that started in the early morning and went late into the night on Saturday.

Kumbaya

Students on the march

Outraged students will march on Chancellor Subbaswamy's office from the Student Union this after at 12:30 p.m. to protest "police brutality" during the Blarney Blowout.

Egged on by the cherry picked snippets of video posted to that bastion of civic responsibility website Barstool Sports (who thought last year's event was "fun"), the march will most likely get far less participation from students than did the Blarney Blowout.

Unless of course they serve free beer.

 Another bastion of civic responsibility website:

RT if you think #UMASS Amherst #police used excessive force during the #blarney blowout.
— Smack College (@SMACKCOLLEGE) March 10, 2014

Comments posted to  Ch 22 TV story about upcoming protest:

Yes, Your Honor

Full parking lot in Court this morning

This morning it was standing room only in Eastern Hampshire District Court #1 (criminal courtroom) with all the Blarney Blowout perps, their parents, and media -- print, television, and digital.

Judge Payne, who usually handles the Monday morning arraignments, was on vacation so Judge Robert Gordon was presiding. 

Like the Amherst Police Department at the peak of the Blarney Blowout storm, the court system was a tad overwhelmed processing the perps. Most of the college aged youth were dressed up business casual, but had a rather subdued look on their faces.

Or as my Irish mother used to say, "looked like a spanked ass."

The charges ranged from "open container/underaged drinking" to the more serious "assault and battery on a police officer" usually in conjunction with "failure to disperse, rioting" and "resisting arrest."

Since the latter charges carried the potential of one year in the House of Correction the Judge always asked if they were going to hire an attorney or did they wish the court to appoint them one.

Most of the more seriously charged individuals responded they would be hiring an attorney and the court set a pre-trial date for later next month.

The youths charged with minor offenses for the most part opted to settle the matter today by chatting with the District Attorney out in the hallway and will probably end up with a $100 fine and 4 months probation.

This process will continue tomorrow and a bailiff thought maybe even into Wednesday.  And of course many of those arrested will continue to clog up the court system into the next few months, with some of them facing the prospect of a permanent criminal record.

A day of debauchery, a lifetime of regret.

#####

Amherst Police issue another statement 

Note to media:  total APD arrests 55 and UMPD 3, for a total of 58

Boston Globe editorial:  End the Blarney Blowout  (wish it was that easy)

AFD also stressed by Blarney:  20 patients seen, 12 transported to hospital

   AFD Blarney Blowout

BS Blarney Blowout 2014: Postmortem

Uprooted stop sign from town center now at DPW building

 Chancellor Subbaswamy speaks out loud and clear

The numbers really do tell the embarrassingly sad story of the Blarney Blowout 2014:  58 total arrests (55 APD, 3 UMPD) with another 24 summons issued for alcohol related incidents.

AFD transported between 18 and 20 overzealous Blarney participants to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital thus tying up a vital ambulance (one per person) for at least an hour per incident.

Four officers received minor injuries during the turbulence even though many of them were wearing riot gear.

But the real damage is just now picking up steam:  National news (including Time Magazine) blaring headlines that reflect ever so poorly on our little college town and the "flagship of higher education" in the entire state of Massachusetts, where education was pretty much founded.

Did the police overreact?  Hell no.  Obviously they were outnumbered 100 to 1, so when those kind of lopsided odds start to turn bad -- throwing bottles and cans, setting off fireworks, uprooting stop sign's and gravestone's etc -- there's really no choice but to step in.

 Chief Livingstone (white cap) on scene N. Pleasant/Fearing streets moments before use of OC pepper guns

I asked Chief Livingstone to respond to the concern APD "overreacted" with their use of OC pepper ball guns, and received this response:

"Like all our less than lethal force options, we have protocol and policy on how they are dispersed.   Yesterday's events, after numerous dispersal order were given at a number of locations, justified their use.  As you know I was on scene at Puffton, Townhouse and Fearing and North Pleasant Streets.  Officers acted accordingly and per policy."

North Pleasant Street had to be shut down for 15-20 minutes

So where do we go from here?

Last year, prior to the Blarney Blowout riot of 2013 (where only 6 were arrested), Amherst Attorney Peter Vickery sent a letter to the Amherst Select Board reminding them as the town's liquor commissioners they could, as an public safety measure, shut down all alcohol sales within town borders on the day of the Blarney Blowout.

They ignored him.

It's time to take that sobering suggestion seriously.  The Select Board should put the measure on their next meeting agenda, where they will no doubt be discussing the public safety disaster that unfolded in our little town yesterday.

Voting to suspend all alcohol sales in town for next year's Blarney Blowout at their next meeting, would be ironic justice ... since that meeting occurs on March 17 -- St. Patrick's Day.

In their own words:  Amherst police report