Busy Beavers!

Gull Pond (off Old Farm Road) 9/29/15

The Amherst Conservation Commission gave "emergency certification" for a Gull Pond beaver breach last week to keep the pond from overflowing its boundaries. 

According to Town Manager (& Conservation Director) Dave Ziomek:

"My wetlands administrator worked closely with conservation and DPW staff to breach the dam. Late summer rains raised concerns about the road and water backup into basements etc. We’ve done this many times in my tenure with the Town to prevent impacts to residents, roads and property. All part of living with beavers. In these cases we seek what is called an emergency certification to breach a dam to lower water levels temporarily. Rain this week will bring level back up I’m sure."

 A "beaver deceiver" will be reinstalled to protect the drainage pipe

Considering the monsoons that are now upon us, that's a pretty safe bet.

Gull Pond 9/29/15 (from a tad higher up)

DUI Dishonor Roll

Gates Larson, age 52, arraigned before Judge John Payne

Only one APD arrest for impaired driving over the weekend but it was of a kind that illustrates the danger drunk drivers pose not only to the general public but also to police officers who job it is to be out and about during those prime drunk driving hours.

UMass police, who also serve and protect property located in the little college town of Amherst, also had one arrest:

 Keyarra Wood, age 22, arraigned before Judge John Payne

 

And Hadley, close enough to catch our overflow, had one as well.  All three defendants had their cases continued until next month and were released on their own recognizance.  Although Ms. Ritchie-Dunham turned over her license to an Assistant District Attorney before leaving Court.

Jacqueline Richie-Dunham, age 20, stands before the Judge

 

Party House of the Weekend

 419 Old Farm Road

Shane Walsh, Evan Stack, Ben Gallacher off to Clerk's office to pay $300 town bylaw noise fine (each)

For only the second weekend of the semester we have a party house winner where APD intervention of the arresting kind was required.  Although this one is of the more typical variety:  all college aged men.  UMass students to be precise.  All hockey players no less.

Henry Dill (left) also arrested next door to 419 Old Farm Road at same time for assaulting a police cruiser

A few years ago at this time of the season APD was making arrests at numerous party houses.  I asked APD Chief Scott Livingstone if things were, as I suspected, getting better:

I would agree, that thus far, the communication and interactions, cooperation,  with officers and young adults has greatly improved.

Although still very early, I know that both Officer Laramee, Eric Beal and all of the other sector officers having been doing a lot of outreach, whether it be door to door meetings, Fraternity and Sorority meetings and others.

I have been contacted by coaches of many of the sports teams, and we are in the process of scheduling meetings with them as well.

A very good sign!

The usual Saturday day drink parties at Townhouse Apartments in North Amherst also seem to end a little better than they did a few years ago. 

These past two weekends have also seen large gatherings at the western quad where police managed to herd the kids off the green (more like brown at the moment) without incident.

 Townhouse Apartments 9/19/15 5:00 PM

Townhouse Apartments 9/26/15 6:00 PM (Click photo to enlarge)

A Barn By Any Other Name ...

134 Montague Road, North Amherst aka The Mill District

Over the course of its 100+ year history almost everything made of wood -- which is to say the entire post & beam barn -- has been repaired and/or replaced on the big structure that's impossible to miss in North Amherst.

So is it still an original historic structure worth spending many times over new construction costs to preserve, protect and maintain the iconic view it provides to travelers passing by?

Over a year ago the Amherst Historical Commission thought so and ordered a one-year demolition delay, which expired back in mid-July.

But that is the extent of their power to preserve the barn at other people's expense -- in this case -- W.D. Cowls, Inc, the largest private landowner in the state.

Interestingly at the Historical Commission meeting last week discussing the last remaining carriage house contributing to the South Amherst Common Historic District, much was made out of the fact that over the years most if not all of the original structure had been replaced piecemeal.

The Commission decided not to even bother holding a Demolition Delay Hearing, thus the structure can be vaporized at any moment.

As could the historic old red barn at 134 Montague Road.  But that's not going to happen.  At least not before trying to come up with an economic reuse that justifies the high cost of maintaining the iconic image that so dominates the landscape.

Click photo to enlarge

 Barn (right)  is close but not attached to new Atkins North (note roof damage)

According to Cowls Vice President for Real Estate and Community Development Mollye Wolahan:

The demo delay has been over since mid July. We have no plans to remove the barn at this point. On the day of expiration we removed a dangerous window and a couple pieces of siding that we were prohibited from removing during the year-long demo delay. Barn is still being used as a commercial structure as it is warehousing company equipment and materials (though not on the leaky south third so much as before) as it has for many decades now. The barn is leaking profusely on the south third and an interior beam has fallen, a couple others are about to. The south third is structurally shakey. With the opening of Atkins, we have put a fence around the perimeter of the barn to keep the public at a safe distance from the structure.

Ms. Wolahan concludes optimistically:  "My hope is to start the public process this month — sharing information with the neighbors and starting the zoning process that can allow the barn to be reconstructed, retaining the same iconic image that is there today with an exciting new use to further support our neighborhood and the Mill District."

Barn currently hosts art project

Killer Competition

PVCIC recently completed $10.6 expansion project behind original building

Not only does the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School have nicer digs than Amherst Regional Public Schools -- courtesy of a $10.6 million building project just completed -- but their student 10th grade academic performance is also superior (if you have faith in MCAS results that is).

 Boston Globe 9/24/15

In the current school year PVCIC has approximately 83 Amherst Regional students (up from 68 two years before) who have jumped ship, costing the Amherst Regional Public School District around $1.5 million in state money. 

And based on these test results, next year could be even worse. 

Click to enlarge/read

Amherst Regional Middle School.  Officials are considering abandoning building as student classrooms and moving grades 7 & 8 into the High School

A Simple Act Of Kindness

From my mailbag (late Friday night):

Hi Larry,

I am hoping to let the Happy Valley know about a very sweet act of kindness from the Amherst Police Department.

My 8 year old boy had his bike stolen from our home yesterday.

We looked for hours last night for it and again this evening. We covered every nook and cranny of our neighborhood and then drove around Amherst hoping to find it.

I filed a police report online just in case, and then called the police because I thought I might have spotted it but didn't want to go up to it in case it wasn't actually my son's bike.

I hesitated to call the police because I worried they had better things to do than deal with a kids lost bike, but Officer Corsetti showed up within moments and he took it seriously.

My two little boys were with me in the car and were so upset about the stolen bike and officer Corsetti let them know it mattered and was important.

He looked on foot for it for a long time, asking people he saw if they saw it, and then when we lost hope and went home, he still called me and update me on his search this evening. He asked me more questions about the bike, told me he hadn't given up.

My boy, Levi, was so touched that the officer cared that he wrote him a thank you note for caring and helping him look for it. (He also put some chocolate chip cookies in a bag for Officer Corsetti in case he got hungry while working).

We figured he would be out of a bike and I can't afford another bike for him. As a mother, I felt devastated and so sad that something my boy loved SO much and rode every day, was gone. It broke my heart.

Then, an hour or so later (at 8 tonight), there was a knock at our door and it was Officer Corsetti and Officer Ting. They had a brand new bike for Levi. And a lock!

 Sergeant Gabriel Ting, Levi on his new bike, Officer Dominick Corsetti.  Levi was getting ready for bed when officers arrived (hence no shirt) and they only put him on the bike sans helmet to adjust the seat

Levi was SO happy, he was glowing and over the moon excited. We had looked for so long for his bike and Levi thought he wouldn't be riding a bike for a long time. But now, because of the kindness of the police, Levi has a bike, a really nice one!

They told us that all of the police chipped in and got him this bike and lock. This is something my son will never forget.

It's an act of kindness that will live on long after he outgrows the bike because they gave him the gift of compassion, of kindness, of belief in doing good.

Levi promises to pass on the kindness and I believe he will.

Someday, when Levi is an old man, he will look back on this and remember it and still be passing on this act of kindness.

He says so himself.

Kettie L.

UPDATE Saturday morning:

Story (deservedly so) goes viral on Facebook

UPDATE Thursday Oct 1st 4:00 PM:

Ascertain This!

Final speaker Jim Lescault, Director of Amherst Media, addresses Amherst Select Board

The Amherst Select Board and Cable Advisory Committee hosted their first of two "Cable Ascertainment Hearings" last night with the second one scheduled for Wednesday September 30 at the Bangs Community Center at 11:30 AM.

The Select Board voted to adjourn their meeting after hearing an hour-and-a-half of testimony but they kept the public hearing on all things cable open until their October 5th routine Monday night meeting so citizens have plenty of time to provide them with written comments.

The ten-year contract with Comcast expires in October, 2016 and Federal law requires two public hearings as part of the Request For Proposals targeted to Comcast.  Rates and programming are off the table as is anything related to Internet or phone service.

Cable Advisory Chair Kris Pacunas:  These public hearings are "The most important tool for our committee."  

A couple dozen citizens showed up, many of them associated with Amherst Media to champion our local cable assess entity that operates channels 12,15, and 17 -- aka, the local government beat.

Amherst School Committee member Vira Douangmay:  "Amherst Media is important for our Democracy.  People freak out when School Committee meeting are not televised."

Amherst Media is funded by a 5% cut of Comcast's overall Amherst revenues ($6.5 million) from its 7,000 subscribers, which came to $317,000 last year.

And once every 10 years a "technology upgrade" capital expense for new equipment, which came to $450,000 ten years ago.

But more than a majority of the audience came to complain about various service issues with Comcast -- either billing, quality of product or just overall customer service.

Wendy Jones Boisseau:  I own a house on Pulpit Hill Road that's hard to rent because Comcast wanted $8,000 to install cable/internet service.

Staff liaison and town I.T. Director Sean Hannon said the Comcast fiber optic access is "very valuable," but the equipment used by Amherst Media is "very old and should be replaced."

The Cable Advisory Committee will come up with a ten year contract proposal that must first be approved by the Town Manager and then final approval rests with the Amherst Select Board.

Of course if you the customer don't like the final contract, the alternatives are pretty slim.  All the more reason to make your voice heard NOW.