45 Phillips Street now fenced in
So I could not help but notice a spiffy new fence enclosing the postage stamp front yard at 45 Phillips Street, one of the more decadent houses on a street that wears decadence like a charm, and a regular stopping place for Amherst Police Department.
45 Phillips Street 3/29/13 (note cars on front "lawn" )
I asked Building Commissioner Rob Morra under Public Documents Law for the letter/threat he sent to owner Stephan Gharabegian that resulted in a pang of remorse for bad housekeeping, but was told the exchange took place over the phone.
"I made a call to Mr.Gharabegian a couple weeks ago to explain that improvements were
necessary to address the parking issues at 45 Phillips Street. The
following Monday this fence along with a couple of plantings were installed. At this point, I am satisfied with his response and will monitor the property to determine if the improvements
are effective."
The good news represented by this new fence is that if the most notorious landlord in Amherst can respond to a little official coaxing there's solid hope for the new Residential Rental Property Bylaw that will pass Town Meeting next month.
After all, the vast majority of landlords in Amherst are conscientious law abiding citizens who care about the quality of life in our little college town.
We hope.
The good news represented by this new fence is that if the most notorious landlord in Amherst can respond to a little official coaxing there's solid hope for the new Residential Rental Property Bylaw that will pass Town Meeting next month.
After all, the vast majority of landlords in Amherst are conscientious law abiding citizens who care about the quality of life in our little college town.
We hope.
14 comments:
im curious as to how a car parked on a lawn on phillips st has any effect on you or your family living in south Amherst?
Not in the least.
I'm just an altruistic kind of guy, walking softly (and I carry a big stick).
There is, however, a distinction between saying "you are an a**hole" and saying "look, a really cheap way for you to solve this is put a fence there -- and while I can't tell you whom I'd recommend because of the ethics laws, I'd be happy to fax you the local yellow page advertisements of the guys out here who do that sort of thing."
You don't need a rental registry to do that -- you need someone willing to explain the specifics of HOW to get a problem resolved because often the problem seems so overwhelming to the owner that it is easier just to fight.
Yeah, I'm sure poor Mr. Gharabegian never heard of Google.
Yeah, I'm sure poor Mr. Gharabegian never heard of Google
Didn't you encounter some rather interesting businesspeople when you were selling exercise equipment via the internet?
I would NEVER use Google to select a vendor. I doubt you would either.
And what *I* would have asked a cooperative building inspector is a list of the vendors whom the Town itself had hired over the past few years for various things. That is public record -- not something that the building inspector would either have nor be required to provide (unless Amherst required permits for fences, then yes to both) -- but it is something that he COULD get, quite easially, and if asked, could give it without violating the state's ethics laws.
"In response to your inquiry, the following companies have been paid recently for fence work done for the Town itself -- this is a public record. I can't say anything about any of them, and would recommend you contact at least three of them, and I emphasize that there are other local vendors as well."
Larry, I once explained to a woman that if she simply had her "handyman" nail a 2x4 on the far side of a rusted-away 2nd floor balcony railing, I would be happy -- it would be ugly as h*ll but she didn't have to spend thousands of dollars she didn't have, etc, etc, etc -- I just didn't want the railing to let go and have drunken tourists falling to their deaths.
She was willing to bribe me and I bluntly said that for a whole lot less money, she could simply FIX the problem, and she never even realized this.
Larry, putting a fence there might never have occurred to him -- in fact, he might honestly have thought that doing so would make him less popular -- if not get him into legal trouble. And no one is asking what happens when someone takes down the corner post with a pickup truck.
Don't laugh -- ask the nice young man who tried to "push down" the fence between North Village & Puffton and didn't realize that I had written the RFP - and specified stuff like Schedule 40 pipe and such. I found his license plate in the mud -- would have loved to have been there when a UMPD officer returned it to him...
wondering why the town hasn't been pressing on landlords until now. are there nuisance laws and other laws it could have been enforcing?
I'd made sure this was OK with the ethics commission first -- but on one thing that I was having a real problem getting landlords to comply with, I went so far as to actually find three local vendors (Cowl's Lumber was one) and went so far as to tell landlords/managers the names of the three vendors (stores) that had the item and where in their stores it was located.
Maybe they were playing stupid, maybe they were stupid -- maybe it just was easier to say "I don't know how" -- but there wasn't a whole lot they could say when I told them three different places they could obtain the item -- emphasizing that they also ought to contact other landlords in town and ask them where they get their stuff from as there might be some discounts below the retail prices.
I'd come out of buying things for UMass where you have to get three bids, which is why I was doing this (and it was before the local Home Depot/Lowes although the Home Depot in WestSpfd was another vendor I listed.
And if you think the ethics laws can create problems for honest public employees === yes they can.
I will never forget the Friday afternoon I and the then Amherst health inspector tried to find a plumber to take the toilet out of a woman's bathtub and remount it. No one would do it because the landlord wouldn't pay his bills, the Housing Authority was willing to pay its own plumbing contractor to do it except that he also inspected stuff for the town, which was citing this as a violation (which it was) even though he wasn't involved in that.
I think the town needs an educational outreach to landlords. Kinda like how they show new parents how to install a car seat -- or often have a cop just do it himself so it gets done right.
Larry, couldn't that son have looked up his Dad's chemicals on Google and realized quite quickly that driving them to the DOWNTOWN fire station wasn't the best of ideas????
Actually Anon 1:03 (not Ed), the bylaw forbidding cars parked on a front lawn was only passed by Town Meeting last year.
Larry
Did you do a thorough and see in the building commissioner granted a permit to put up a fence. And the permit costs a fee did the town collect that fee? I am sure an extremely intelligent person like you knows a building permit is required for fences or did Mr. Marra just let this 'slip' by????
I'm extremely intelligent enough to spell Mr. Morra's name correctly.
ok but that's not the question were you intelligent enough to see if a permit was payed for and issued...you always have a wise remark when you didn't do something
SO DO LANDLORDS HAVE TO BYPASS PERMITS, FEES , ETC??? IS THE BUILDING COMMISSIONER GIVEN LANDLORDS PERMISSION DO ANYTHING THEY WANT WITHOUT GOING THROUGH PROPER CHANNELS LIKE THE REST OF US CITIZENS HAVE TO??? COME ON LARRY FIND OUT....
SO LARRY ARE YOU AFRAID TO FIND OUT, YOU ARE A REPORTER, IS THIS LANDLORD GETTING SPECIAL PERMISSION. WHEN I PUT A FENCE UP I HAD TO PAY FOR A PERMIT, HAVE SOMEONE COME BT MY HOUSE AND MAKE SURE IT WAS WITHIN THE ZONING REGULATIONS. I HAD A FRIEND WHO PUT A FENCE UP WITHOUT A PERMIT AND HAD TO TAKE IT DOWN. YOU KNOW HOW TO FIND OUT IF PERMITS WERE ISSUED SO WHY DON'T YOU....YOU LOVE A GOOD FIGHT WHEN INJUSTICE IS DONE TO US REGULAR AMHERST CITIZENS...SO IS MORRA DOING HIS OWN THING..WHAT IS GOOD FOR THE REST OF US SHOULD BE GOOD FOR LANDLORDS..NOT DEALS
Well, if the town is "requesting" you to do something, it wouldn't be all that unreasonable for them to waive all regulations that would impede on your ability to say "yes, sir, I will do it immediately."
The TOWN wants it done, the TOWN benefits, and the property owner really would prefer to not do anything at all. So the town's best interest is in letting the guy do it without a permit -- letting him do it stark naked in the light of the full moon if need be, as long as it gets done.
As long as the policy is that anything they ask you to do you don't need a permit for -- and they are consistent in this -- I don't have a problem with it.
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