Chancellor Robert Holub I actually tried to get our venerable Amherst Select Board to respond with their own Letter To The Editor a couple weeks back, but apparently to no avail.
SB Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe can publicly criticize our beleaguered DPW for not completing construction of the downtown Spring Street parking lot in the middle of an unexpected monsoon season, but hides her head in the mud when it comes to riotous student behavior that degrades the quality of life in neighborhoods near and far from UMass, the largest employer in Western Massachusetts and Amherst's second largest landowner--all of it tax exempt.
Spring Street parking lot Friday morning October 21
Sunday Morning
Kendrick Park Amherst Town Center
UMass Parking Lot near Whitmore
Upper Amity Street Town Center
10 comments:
Unexpected monsoon? Come on Larry, dont make excuses for this latest white elephant. A *unnecessary* long-term inconvenience for an *unnecessary* project. That lot was fine as it was. Where's the next spot to have those oh-so-sophisticated sidewalks installed?
Well, according to the venerable Gazette:
"The summer of 2011 has been the second rainiest in the 117 years that meteorologists have been keeping records. It has rained one out of every three days since April. From March through September, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said western Massachusetts has significantly exceeded average rainfalls with almost 5 inches of rain each month, and with the help of two major weather systems, Irene and Ike, the area saw 7.34 inches of rain in August alone, or 189 percent above normal, NOAA reports."
and the largest landowner in town is?
Amherst College.
They are of course tax exempt as well--but they do pay taxes on their golf course (unlike the town) and the Lord Jeff Inn and all the faculty houses they own and rent to professors.
They actually like to bill themselves as "the largest taxpayer in town."
I'm not sure what additional benefit we would get from Ms. O'Keeffe sounding off on this topic, except to make you feel better.
She's in a little different position from Mr. Holub. My recollection is that she was one of the early proponents of the enhanced fines. Are you ready to declare that initiative a failure?
Nothing wrong with a little follow up.
The University of Massachusetts is responsible for providing an education to students, and that is it. They reprimand students for academic dishonesty and are not legally responsible for the behavior outside of the academics. This is true for all universities, which is why there is such a small legal division in colleges.
They don't take action because essentially it's not their responsibility nor should it be.
They seem to have zero tolerance for alcohol violations on campus sooooooooo, now that the Student Code of Conduct has been extended to cover incidents off campus...
While I'm glad to see the Chancellor finally stepping-up, I'd love to see how many students have been expelled due to code of conduct violations - specifically alcohol related. My guess is zero.
Did Peter Clark or Emerson Rutkowski face any real consequences? I think this is lip service - too little, too late.
Post a Comment