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21 comments:
If it weren't for education, AJ Hastings, and Larry's health club, Amherst would have no industry at all. Please remember to treat the consumers like young adult citizens and not like irresponsible punks or criminal felons. You get what you expect.
they went rolling, rolling, rolling through the downtown residential neighborhoods all weekend in the wee hours of the morning, waking the sleeping, littering the lawns with empties (and etc.) and generally setting the tone for the year right off the bat. now it's time to implement the town/umass policy of kid control: pray for an early winter and a late spring.
Yes, kill the goose that lays the golden egg. Do you have any idea how many communities in this Commowealth would kill for a chance to have this problem?
South Hadley tolerates some of the worst air in the entire state because they need those 50 odd jobs at the polluting print shop. Westfield is glad to have F-15s (just a tad bit more noisy than your average college student) because it means that Barnes didn't get closed. Likewise Chicopee (which has suggested using abandoned parts of Westover for UMass activities) is happy to put up with the somewhat noisy C5s because it means that they didn' loose all of Westover.
Holyoke would be happy to put up with all the ailments of gambling (much worse than UMass students) just to have the jobs from the casinos.
All told, UMass has over 6000 employees and is the biggest employer between Worcester and Albany. Over 300 of those jobs have six figure salaries
Go up to Bernardston if you want to see what Amherst would look like without the students. And if you think that Amherst could survive a year without the de-facto subsidies these students provide, well go to Bernardston. Or Florida.
Jobs cause pollution, you can have no pollution or no job. The choice is yours, my friend...
To anonymous -
Thanks for saying what everybody in this town forgets. Not only would there be no bars, there would be no pizza (what would this place be like if there had been no Bell's and no Antonios?), wings, Amherst Athletic Club (without which, there would be no Only in the Republic of Amhurst), stores, restaurants, no nothing. But the crabs will continue to complain about the students, about lost revenue because of the tax-exempt status (other than PILOT payments). Mon dieux! Without the students, and those cappucino drinking proffesors that they atract and who we all dislike for their liberal views, what would the people whose families go back many generations be doing to pay their own rent? Oh, how people lose sight of where their bread is buttered. Thanks again anonymous. Words of wisdom... seldom seen on this blog. Anonymous 2
Love the kids.
Hate the drunkenness.
It's a problem that all the stirring defenses of the students' contribution to our economy will not make go away.
Just go to You-Tube and search "riot UMass" and watch the video for yourself.
I know that many believe that we should just shut up and accept the Faustian bargain: look the other way and take their money.
Look at the facts:
Townies making bombs (in ARHS) - 2.
UM Students making bombs - 0.
Crazy townies making the news lost in the woods by Atkins - 1.
Crazy UM Students making the news lost in the woods by Atkins - 0.
First, I defy anyone to demonstrate the difference between an 18-year-old ARHS senior and an 18-year-old UM freshman. And do you really think that it isn't easier for everyone to blame stuff on the UM students instead of people's parents in town?
Second, how many non-school recreational activities exist for the high school kids. LOTS.
How many for the UM kids - damn little. And thus they find their own fun.
Third, let he who never threw a beer bottle cast the first harsh word. Am I honestly to believe that the working class good-old-boys of Amherst never (EVER) had a few cold ones in their late teens and early twenties, never did anything that would be, well, embarassing to them today, never got drunk?
Come now.
And how many kegs of beer go into the VFW hall each week?
Come now.
If everyone in Amherst was a devout Mormon who spent every day in church and never even drank coffee, then I could at least respect you.
But how many kegs of beer go into the VFW hall each week? (I have seen entire truckloads being rolled in...)
Let he/she who has not rioted at Southwest after a sporting event by dropping loaded jugs of liquid from the top of the towers down onto law enforcement officials below cast the first stone.
It is something that we the people of the Town say or do to them that causes this behavior by the children.
"And thus they find their own fun."
To anonymous -
I find your comments quite sagacious. While the UMass students are not angels, and while there are unruly ones among them, I always laugh when the Amherstonians blame the UMass students for everything negative in town. I happen to know that Amherst town kids and students from other places help these things along. Check out those utube clips, you'll see some of your neighbors kids. And did I tell you about the party that was completely out of control when the ARHS students discovered parents were away for the weekend. The APD says it happens ALL the time (go ahead, blogger and friends ask them). Why do the UMass problems get the press, and the townie problems not? Go anonymous. It's about time that somebody brought the discussion in town into balance. Anonymous2
it's not a question of blame or casting aspersions. it's simply acknowledging the impacts.
it's about the community.
umass takes little/no responsibility for the social education of its charges. no effort is made to connect them to their campus and to the town. there is no programmatic approach to mitigating the problems that can arise. oh, unless some miracle-working questionnaire indicates that kids don't binge drink anymore. please.
the town takes little/no responsibility for promoting (and when necessary, enforcing) appropriate behavior at the start of the year and after each major break. it's neither rocket science nor impossible - it simply takes a firm commitment to effect and sustain a change.
the culture needs to be changed, and if done actively and consistently, could be done in five years. rather than the way it is today being the way it is, the student body can be educated to take responsiblity for itself and for its action in the community.
the "tough s**t" passive condoning of inappropriate, and at times dangerous, behavior is the issue, not the kids per se.
> Let he/she who has not rioted
> at Southwest after a sporting
> event by dropping loaded jugs
> of liquid from the top of the
> towers down onto law
> enforcement officials below
> cast the first stone.
5,500 UMass students reside in SW.
- 1 UMass student dropping jug.
Equals:
5,499 students able to cast stones.
Think about this: if all 5,500 were dropping gallons of water on the cops, there would be a lot of dead cops. ONE round came in and (fortunatly) missed ONE cop -- and as an aside, the two girls they expelled for allegedly doing it got a major cash settlement from UMass in the civil rights lawsuit.
Amherst can get sued too....
Anonymous 2 -- POST the police calls. Dates and times if nothing else. Facts do help...
Street addresses and names even better....
Let us assess traffic. Wow. I need a stop light at the end of my driveway to get out onto Rt 9. Do they give tax reductions for areas such as these? Maybe I should go visit the TM to see if this is at all possible. Twice as bad as last year, and no end in sight.
Until later....................
If you went into the Cambodian settlement in The Boulders and demanded that they celebrate American holidays and involve themselves in American culture (instead of their own) you would be called names.
How different is it to say that UMass students (with cultural ties to OTHER communities) should be forced to tie themselves to Amherst? Face it folks, unless you are willing to reflect the cultural values of Brockton and Bilricca, you aren't going to get UM students to reflect your values.
And you can't force this without a war. Northern Ireland anyone?
Hint: why don't the Catholics be nice and just do what the Protestant government there tells them - like why can't UM students be nice and do what the Amherst Town Government tells them?
Enough said?
Every year it's the same old thing. The same old Amherst residents complaining about those same old menacing students. Well... here's a few things to consider.
First, UMASS, Amherst and Hampshire College aren't going ANYWHERE. They're all building, renovating, expanding. Take UMASS alone, it spent over $40 million this summer in improvements and repairs. The new three-level, 120,000 square foot Recreation Center will devote two floors to just weights & fitness. Not bad for $50 mill.
Second, obviously the more recent of the "student haters" weren't around here in the '70's and early '80's. Think the partying gets out of hand now? You should've been here to see the likes of the Schiltz-O-Rama and the Busch Fest. Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers shows at Alumni stadium. Block parties in the center of town and absolutely no open container law. That's when it was really nuts. Those were the days of ZooMass. Ask any Amherst PD or UMASS cop who's been on the force for 20 or 30 years what he/she thinks about those days.
Third and most important. Amherst should try to accomodate more to the students as far as the business side of things. They live and go to school here...they should spend here. Most students shop at the malls in Hadley and all the other smaller stores that the malls attract. They buy groceries, clothes, booze etc. Then fill up there cars with gas and head straight back to Amherst. They hit all the food chains. McDonald's, Chili's, Wendy's, you name it. See movies at Cinemark. Work out at Planet Fitness. So what's Hadley doing? Just like UMASS, expanding. I realize most college kids won't storm into Home Depot or Lowe's, but you better believe they'll be lovin' the new Ruby Tuesday's, 24 Hour Fitness and Taco Bell. They start construction this year and I'm sure more are coming.
So I guess those who don't like the traffic, the noise and everything else associated with a college town, should move. The entire five college area is growing and growing.
"They're not only Baaaaack",
"They're Breeeeeding!"
Maybe we should go bak, to when only seniors could have their cars on campus. I was born here, Budy and no one is going to run me out of my town, but enough is enough. This town cannot, and should not be forced to handle all this traffic. Bad enough watching emergency vehicles trying to get through, on a trip to the hospital.
I do not hate students, just the chaos that is created when all these autos converge on this small town. Three colleges is a lot of extra humans and vehicles, son't ya think?
Another point, is that students eat, shop and gas up in Hadley, but where do they drink and throw all of their parties? AMHERST!!!!!!! That causes an increase in taxes for extra police and emergency reponses by parmedics. See where I'm coming from?
Until later............
There is a simple solution to the problem of unruly students.
Enforce the laws.
Bust 'em for underage drinking. Bust 'em for rioting. Hold them to standards of adult behavior and apply the full weight of the law. No hiding behind University wrist-slap penalties.
Once it's clear that the students are expected to behave like adult citizens -- and will face penalties if they don't -- they'll straighten up.
0h Larry ---
I saw what looked like UMass students coming out of the AAC tonite and waiting for the Puta Bus that goes, well, toward campus.
(Yes, I was purchasing gasoline in Amherst, I try to boycott Amherst but I have to be in the President's Office tommorrow....
> First, UMASS, Amherst and
> Hampshire College aren't going
> ANYWHERE. They're all building
Respectfully, what they intend does not mean what happens. Cases in point: The B'Town state school and the Hamp Insane Hospital. The Commonwealth had *major* capitol investments in both and they were literally abandoned to ruin.
I am still upset that Weld was too obtuse to realize that the Hospital Hill Buildings would have made great UM dorms - although Amherst didn't want that, as the kids in Hamp would mean no money spent in Amherst....
As to Amherst & Hampshire college, do not forget that Hampshire nearly went bankrupt in 1993 or so. Would you have anticipated the mortgage mess just 18 months ago when property values only went up?
> Second, obviously the more
> recent of the "student haters"
> weren't around here in the '70's
> and early '80's.
Actually, many of them WERE -- and they were DOING the partying. Which is why I am so intolerant of the criticism now; other elders tolerated them, but they aren't willing to tolerate others SOING EXACTLY WHAT THEY DID AS KIDS.
> Think the partying gets out of
> hand now? You should've been
> here to see the likes of the
> Schiltz-O-Rama
My personal favorite - which lingers with water - are the Orchard Hill and Sylvan beer slides. I am told that they would tap kegs up on the paved drive where vehicles could get and by late afternoon, so much beer would be spilt that it was all mud down below and thus the BEERslides...
I am also told that the OUI level (DWI back then) was 1.5 instead of 0.8 and enforced at probably 2.0 or higher. And that all the cops really cared about was that the person going for more kegs be sober enough to drive on the right side of the road and at least slow down for red lights.
> Ask any Amherst PD or UMASS cop
> who's been on the force for 20
> or 30 years what he/she thinks
> about those days.
Whom do you think my sources are???
They are very reasonable men, and they see most of what is happening now as provoking fights for no good reason.
> Amherst should try to accomodate
> more to the students as far as
> the business side of things.
That battle is lost. If you go home (to Eastern Massachusetts) every weekend, you will continue to buy stuff there. The student dollars are thus lost to Amherst...
Notice how the various college presidents (including Mt Holyoke and Smith) are lobbying for the drinking age to be lowered?
They see the writing on the wall.
Major shortage of 18 year olds next fall and for the following 15+ years.
Why go to college when you can live at home, have a better time, drink freely (the reason why earlier generations went away to college) and commute to college like a day job?
And with the web, one needn't actually physically be AT college much. There is no need to physically go into the library except for old archival stuff not yet in electronic format.
Amherst could become a ghost town.
Amherst will thus have gotten what it wants....
Since when do the students go home every weekend? More then half the cars at the malls, fast food joints and most certainly the package stores have a UMASS decal in the window.
You're right though, the student dollars are lost in Amherst.
They're found in Hadley.
to one of you anonymous folks... are you saying that Umass students support AAC? Wouldn't that give the owner a conflict of interest in matters relating to the University? If the University does well, and if there are well-to-do students, then they can afford to go to AAC. Hmmm..... the plot is getting thick as split pea soup.
I thnk the case could be made that business owners who have umies as customers have more of a conflict than those liberal, cappucino-drinking profs. No?
anonymous2
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