Steering The Right Course

UMass/Amherst:  A city within a town

The Town Gown Steering Committee held their first public (working) meeting since hearing the final report from their $60,000 consultants, U3 Advisers.

Co-Chair of the 23-member committee, Dave Ziomek, who is also the Assistant Town Manager, set the stage with three simple questions:  "What did you like; what didn't you like; and where do we go from here?"

It didn't take long for black sheep member Rolf Karlstrom to jump in with what he didn't like, proclaiming he was "extremely dissappointed" in the final report.

The neighborhood activist said the report did not follow up on the U3 Advisers preliminary report which seemed to indicate some concern with the impact of developments on peripheral neighborhoods such as Fearing Street, where he lives.

He told his fellow committee members that it is legally possible to define "student rental" without violating Massachusetts strict fair housing laws.  Once so defined zoning ordaninaces could be enacted that would require setback distances from owner occupied, family-oriented housing, thus keeping neighborhoods from being absorbed into a Borg collective of student slums, like Phillips Street for instance.

Others described the document as "visionary" adding they didn't like "dense documents" with too much verbiage.  The idea of a University Town of Amherst Collaborative (UTAC) a downsized offshoot of the 23-member Steering Committee seemed to garner universal support.

Although there was a brief firefight when town Finance Director Sandy Pooler said UTAC should avoid taking on "affordable housing" as a mission since other committees are working on that.

Late arriving member Amilcar Shabazz pointed out that's exactly what UTAC should be discussing -- the plight of the have nots -- rather than just trying to stimulate business development to make the rich, even richer.

Former Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe cited the camaraderie of  town and University officials coming together at a (large) table to discuss their future as, alone, being worth $60,000.  Kind of like the economic urban myth that it's worthwhile for government to hire employees to dig a ditch while another group fills it back in.

Using Public Private Partnerships (the 3 Ps) whereby private developers would site projects on land owned by the University, thus generating tax revenues to the town also received overwhelming support although some expressed concern that U3 did not better explain how to make it happen.

John Kennedy, Vice Chancellor for Community Relations,  did reassure the group, "The University is actively investigating Public Private Partnerships ... we're hard at work on that."

The U3 recommendation that the town hire an "economic development director" also received strong endorsement (an idea already popular with Town Manager Musante) from the Steering Committee as did the idea of having a broader overall target for where development occurs.  In other words, none of the 5 areas cited U3 should be ruled out (even though they seemed to really favor only two).

The full Steering Committee will meet one last time in the coming weeks to flesh out their final letter of transfer with recommendations to Town Manager John Musante and UMass Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy.

When They Build It

Kyle Wilson presenting to Amherst Planning Board

1 East Pleasant Street, the mixed use mega project proposed as a new anchor for the north end of downtown, jumped a major hurdle late last night with the Planning Board approving two Special Permit applications:  allowing the structure to climb an extra five feet to a total height of 60', and modification to side and rear setbacks allowing the building to sit closer to neighboring property.

Each of the 3 sessions has drawn a large, mostly hostile, crowd

Complaints about the proposed development ranged from the aesthetic, branding the building overly institutional, or not having to provide parking for all 84 housing units, with none of those units set aside as "affordable," to the real underlying concern that has dominated any mention of any development anywhere in town:  rowdy student behavior.

The ambitious project must still pass Site Plan Review at the November 19 meeting, but it's a safe bet now that Special Permits have passed muster. 

There is however a 21 day appeal period for the Special Permits which begins after the permits have been signed and filed with the Town Clerk (sometime in the next 1-3 weeks), so the bulldozers will not be starting up anytime soon.

Archipelago Investments already built Boltwood Place, a 5 story mixed-use development in the downtown a few years back and currently have two other projects underway:    36 unit Kendrick Place, almost adjacent to this proposed 1 East Pleasant Street project, and Olympia Place, a 75 unit housing-only development near UMass specifically targeting, gasp,  students. 

Regional Roadblock?

Regional Agreement Working Group (established 2011) almost final meeting 10/15/14

After three years of spending evenings together discussing the best interests of their individual towns, err, I mean the collective-good-of-education-for-all-children-in-the-four-town-region, you would think the 12 member committee (4 from each town) would be solidly in favor of their plan to expand the Region (currently grades 7-12) all the way down to pre-kindergarten.

At the last Regional Agreement Working Group meeting (10/15) Shutesbury member Michael DeChiara started things off with a stern note of skepticism.  Now one committee member does not make or break a proposed recommendation ... usually.

In this case, however, it could.

Because in order to change the Regional Agreement to allow the educational expansion, all four towns via their Town Meetings have to support the idea -- even if they do not plan to join the expanded Region at inception. 

Now why would Shutesbury rain on this ill-prepared parade and say "no," thus killing the ambitious project?   They are already involved with the Region at the 7-12 level, and could be concerned the expansion will destabilize the entire Region, costing them more financially.

Or the other deal killer expressed by another smaller town is that the newly expanded entity could decide to close an elementary school for the "good of the Region."   And you can bet it would not be an Amherst (who makes up almost 90% of the new Region) elementary school on the chopping block.

At the 10/14 Amherst Regional School Committee Meeting Chair Trevor Baptiste, who is also a member of the RAWG, made it sound like the expanded regionalization report would very soon be coming before the Regional School Committee for their approval, which requires a two thirds vote.

The 10/15 meeting demonstrated they are not close to drafting a final report.  And as of now, no further meetings of the RAWG have been scheduled.  

Bomb Threat ARHS

 Principal Mark Jackson (rt) conferring with AFD Assistant Chief Don McKay and  APD detective bureau chief Ron Young

AFD Engine 1 and ambulance on scene

UPDATE: 3:20 pm  

"All APD units clear from the High School."

UPDATE: 2:35 pm

Assistant Chief McKay and Engine 1 have cleared the scene, terminating command after using four teams of searchers to sweep the building. So that's a good sign!  MSP K9 units are still on the scene doing a secondary search.

UPDATE:  1:40 pm

Police and Fire personnel are going to do a primary search of every single room in the Amherst Regional High School to look for a reported bomb after a threat was phoned in around 12:20 pm.

About a dozen public safety personnel will be involved, breaking up into smaller groups for more efficiency, as well as High School Principal Mark Jackson and the person who knows the school best -- a janitor.

Massachusetts State Police K9 unit is enroute and the dog will do a secondary search.

@amherstac Natick High School, Boston College High School and Boston English High School also were evacuated for bomb threats this afternoon
— Justin Lombardi (@jlom94) November 12, 2014

Five Bomb Threats at High Schools Today

Original Post:

Swarms of High School students cross over to the Middle School under watchful eye of APD

Public safety personnel are on scene at the Amherst Regional High School in great numbers searching the building for a bomb.  A threat was phoned in around 12:20 pm and authorities are taking is seriously.

At first the school went into immediate "lockdown," but then after conferring with APD decided to evacuate the building and walk down the access road to the Middle School.

APD detective was first on the scene

Everyone is safe and school officials do not want parents coming to either school. 

Boston.com reports

How they handled it in the good old days

Unintended Consequences

 

Rolling Green Apartments, 204 units

In a college town where over half the housing units are rentals the sudden doubling of the Community Preservation Act tax to 3% combined with a whopping increase in property valuations at all the major apartment complexes will almost certainly lead to rent increases for the average consumer, many of whom can't afford to buy a home.

In a town with an average tax bill already one third higher than surrounding communities! 

Back on May 5 when Amherst Town Meeting voted to put the CPA question on the ballot (but unlike the wording of the question shown to voters, did not vote yes to the increase) I pointed out to Town Meeting, overwhelmingly made up of homeowners, that Amherst is half owned by tax exempt entities -- mainly our institutes of higher education.

Thus the overburdened other half have to contribute more than their fair share to the town revenue stream.  I also pointed out that the November elections would get less than a majority turnout and to me (and my Irish mother) that is not democracy.

Vince O'Connor, the main architect of the CPA tax increase, replied that in his 40 years experience in Amherst the November elections had never attracted less than a 50% turnout, and he was expecting this one not to go below 70-75%.

According to Town Clerk Sandra Burgess the recent election had a 37.8% turnout.  The 2010 November election had a 45.39% turnout. 

Do over.

Thank You Veterans!

American Legion Post 148  and VFW Post 754 combined color guard

It's a simple thing really, that we learn as children (some of us the hard way):  saying "please" and "thank you".  Some of us do it verbally, or send a Hallmark card, or buy flowers or some other token of appreciation for someone who went out of their way for us.

 Arthur Quinton recites In Flanders Fields from memory

Today the town showed thanks to those men and women who have served our great nation, going out of their way for all of us, to defend the freedoms we all too often take for granted.

 Town Manager Musante:  "Thank you and happy Veterans Day"

'Twas a simple ceremony, with a nine-member color guard standing at attention, a brand new main flag climbing to full staff while five dozen people sang the national anthem acapella because the smart phone version would not work.

 Perfect day to unveil new main town flag (windstorm damaged the predecessor)

Both Town Manager Musante and Select  Board Chair Aaron Hayden gave a simple thank you, as did guest speaker former staff Sgt. Nathaniel Dunnican, a UMass senior, whose speech was interrupted by the town clock striking the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month ...

 

Veterans Agent Steven Connor had technical difficulty getting the Nation Anthem to play, so ...

Blarney Blowout: Caught On Tape

North Pleasant/Fearing Street 2:30 pm. Have to wonder what his mother would think

The 3/9/13 Blarney Blowout -- with "only" six arrests -- was my Story of the Year for that news filled year, and unless a C5A falls out of the sky and vaporizes our pitifully small downtown commercial district, the Blarney Blowout of 3/8/14 -- with 58 arrests -- will be a repeat winner.

The recent pumpkin fest mayhem in Keene, N.H. certainly demonstrated Amherst is not the only college town where student parties can merge into one giant blowout.

 Keene State College 10/18/14 (Seth Meyer photo)

Although I do notice a lot less hand wringing over the actions of N.H. local and state police -- almost all of them in full riot gear -- using tear gas, O.C. spray, dogs, sponge bullets and a helicopter to restore order.

There were some striking similarities between the two disturbances:  both were caused by college aged white kids with no social justice goal in mind, other than the infamous "right to party."

And in both cases public safety personnel were caught off guard (despite plenty of advance warning signs) by the sheer magnitude of the events, especially how early in the day the trouble started.

In Amherst, heavily outnumbered police managed to bring the crowds under control by 3:00 pm with no real injuries.  The final confrontation took place near North Pleasant and Fearing Streets at the "gateway" to UMass, almost contiguous with the outskirts of Amherst downtown.

New Hampshire authorities were trying desperately to keep the marauding students away from the heavily promoted, family oriented pumpkin festival in city center, although their riotous behavior got even worse after darkness fell.

 North Pleasant Street, high noon:  Dead stop.  PVTA buses cancelled.

I have been a strong supporter of the police response that day simply because I was there and saw first hand why chemical munitions were needed.  Now we have further proof, in the form of video shot that day by a UMPD officer, who was hit by flying debris well before the pepper balls starting flying.

Responding to my Freedom Of Information request UMPD gave me a digital folder containing all the video shot that day:  59 MPG clips ranging in duration from 3 seconds to 3 minutes.  Most of them pretty useless.

The filming didn't start until after the rowdy crowds had been dispersed in the North Amherst Brandwine and Puffton Village Apartments area, but they do capture the major confrontation near the Pike Frat House, 374 North Pleasant Street on the corner of Fearing Street where the crowd of students was estimated at 2,000.




The $160,000 Davis Report seems to question, in general, the use of chemical munitions and more specifically if the crowd was given enough time after the "order to disperse" had been given.  If you watch the two almost contiguous videos the total time from the moment the dispersal order was given until the first pepper ball fired is 30 seconds.




Two seconds after a large bottle of alcohol (not empty) exploded at their feet, well within striking distance of APD Chief Livingstone (who was not wearing protective gear), police opened fire with pepper ball guns.

Also note that the total number of surrounded police is less than 10, so they were outnumbered by way more than 100-1.

According to North Western District Attorney spokesperson Mary Carey this morning, all but one of the 58 arrested have completed their journey through the justice system.  No one received a jail sentence. 

 Maye he was too drunk to hear the dispersal order?

Nitwit holding Barstool Sports banner.  Website that revels in juvenile behavior (with a special fondness for UMass bad behavior)

Taken after the original confrontation in North Amherst, but before the major confrontation at Pike Frat on North Pleasant/Fearing Street