Jan 29th Crush Party

The Jan 29th Crush Party was lightly attended, but I would have been surprised if it hadn't been. Roads were still icy from the storm of the day before. It was cold out, and many people have been sick with the flu going around.



Still, It was a good party with interesting conversations and new friends.

Elbert Bowler, The video camera guy from the Jan 22nd Conservation Commission meeting, kindly shot some photos with my camera while I was speaking. In regards to video taping incident at the Conservation Commission meeting, he said his interest was purely for historical reasons. The history of the mountain, the park, and where it's going into the future. The incident was a distraction from what he was trying to accomplish.



Elbert's not half bad with my camera. I suspect he has more years photography experienced than I've been alive. He got candid shots of me speaking, and I didn't even see it coming.

I'm not a great public speaker, but this is just a little Crush party with a dozen or so people, not an important City Council meeting with 2 people in the gallery. Fellow crushers Aaron, James, Jim, and Laurie were there to make this a group effort.



The topic of this months party was "Crush Groups". We talked about all the great things you can do with Groups in the Crush site, and Group administrators spoke about their Groups. I was pleased to hear from Maggie Bergin that the Friends of Pulaski are making progress in their plans to clear the vista at the park. Check out their blog.

Later I spoke with the very creative Rebecca Midgal about the artist community, as well as Thomas from the popular GreenHOLYOKE group. They both had many kind words to say about my Blog. We all agreed that clamshell packaging of products was annoyingly hard to open, and wasteful.

Round 9

Despite being reported By the Republican Newspaper, Mondays night's Transfer Station Hearing was sparsely attended again. Maybe two, or three new faces I hadn't seen before. This process is dragging out so long I'm getting to know many of the people involved.



This ninth session started out with Daniel Ross from the Hope group telling a story of bringing his six year old son to the hospital after being waken in the night struggling for breath due to asthma.



Before Hope's first witness, Nora Travis, from Keene State College testified there was an issue of emailed copies of her power point presentation not getting to everyone. This led to Hope asking if everyone had received another power point presentation from another witness. None of the other participants had heard of this witness. Names of witnesses must be disclosed a week in advance, and the Board of Health's lawyer sent out an affirmative email describing the information he received listing Hope's 3 witnesses. He stated nobody responded that there was another witness.

Ginetta Candelario from Hope aired complaints about the regulations of the process calling it, "very demanding and frankly often anti-democratic", but Hearing officer Arthur Kreiger stated he didn't think it helped their position to go after the process. He allowed Nora Travis's testimony to go forward ruling against any motion to exclude her because of the email issues.



In her presentation Doctor Travis stated diesel engines pose a major environmental health, and public health concern. She linked diesel particulate matter with Asthma, Chronic Bronchitis, COPD, Cardiopulmonary Mortality, and Cancer. During questioning by the board of health she stresses how biodiesel can reduce particulate emissions. She also cited many mitigation methods already covered in previous sessions. Doctor Travis was not at any previous hearings, and wasn't aware that everything she cited had already been recommended by the Board of Health's own experts.

Doctor Travis admitted that some of the new science she referred to was controversial among scientist. The Board of Health had a hard time wrapping their heads around the concepts. The EPA's recommendations seemed to conflict, and the Board wanted to know if Doctor Travis was saying, "that's all wrong". She replied, "I'm not Nora Travis saying that, I can refer you to a list of other scientist that are saying that." Saying further, "Based on the evidence Ive seen I lean towards caution with the newer evidence."

Hope's cross examination didn't add any new facts, and United Waste reserved the right to cross examine Doctor Travis during the next hearing date.



Springdale resident Joel Patruno spoke as a Witness of fact for Hope. All other witnesses up to this point had been Witnesses of Testimony. He billed himself as an expert for the Springdale Neighborhood, its people, and land. He spoke for 45 minutes. Impassionedly at times. About this take on the proposed project, the makeup of the neighborhood, and how he felt it would impact it.

It was actually touching to hear him put so much of himself into his presentation, even if I don't agree with much of what he said, its was all him. His personality, quirks, and foibles all came out. And he put it all on the line for an issue he is passionate about. He was the only witness to receive an applause.

At the end of the hearing things got complicated. Arthur Kreiger commented that Doctor Travis's testimony could be stricken from the record if she is not available for cross examination at the next hearing.

Discussion turned to Hope calling several new witness not previously known. United Waste stated they would not grant any further extensions of the hearing after already extending it twice. Saying,"frankly, there's been months and months to do this and it's just extending the hearing." in reference to Hope's requests for concessions.

Hearing officer Kreiger ruled to continue through Monday February 2nd, and laid down strict rules on filing testimony by Wednesday the 28th. Lawyer for United Waste requested all the names of potential witnesses for Hope since he would only have 2 days to review their testimony. Kreiger also ruled against allowing testimony from one of Hope's proposed witnesses saying, "I've heard his presentation before - It is generic - It is not Holyoke specific." Hope objected stating his testimony was allowed in other communities. Kreiger said "I know, I allowed it before."

Upon hearing of 6 potential witnesses in 3 hours on Monday the Board of Health baulked with one member saying, "It can't be done!"

Kreiger began laying down time limits, but the Board of Health complained that if there's any more repetition of testimony it's a waste of time.

With the Monday hearing looking to a final showdown I'll be filming from multiple angles with Director Sergio Leone. The Board of health's Lawyer will be played by Clint Eastwood, Ginetta Candelario by Ginetta Candelario, Arthur Kreiger by Eli Wallach, and United Waste's Lawyer by Lee Van Cleef. Music by Ennio Morricone.
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The Big Little Hobby

The Train Show was great success this year. People were buying things, and having a good time. The two day show put on by the Amherst Railway Society ended with attendance figures of 19,173. That's only slightly below last years number.



The show brings out a nice cross section of the valley. Young ones find a new hobby, and old ones get to be kids again. I would love to get candid photographs of them all, interesting faces with silly smirks, or scowls of envy.





Colorful old toy trains, and accessories have a great look. I especially like the metal ones, but I don't want start obsessing over another thing to collect.



Some toys are bigger than others.





And some layouts even bigger



This club used wireless headsets to communicate around the layout.



Just the right size for the little tykes. Kids seem even more fascinated by mechanical movement in this digital age.






I use to think it rude if not down right creepy for some middle aged guy to run around taking pictures of kids, but I'm getting over that, and finding it very challenging to get good shots of candid subjects. Kids are especially difficult, they just won't stand still.

I'm still uploading photos from the show as I write this on Monday night into Tuesday morning. Plus I have Gigs of video to edited. In the midst of this I'm also migrating to new laptop. So bear with me. There's more coming!

Stories Of The Past Week

Holyoke teens take part in history

Thoughts on a prayer breakfast

Holyoke son finds political niche

Holyoke Man Chases Down Purse Snatchers - Suspect Arraigned

Attempted Robbery at Holyoke McDonalds

3 family shelters in Springfield, Holyoke get 1-month reprieve

State probes missing excise taxes from Holyoke collector's office

2nd Holyoke resident signals intent to run for mayor

Five young women vie for title of Holyoke Grand Colleen

Holyoke police charge three suspects with kidnapping, armed robbery, other charges

Mike Burke: Holyoke champ 'Chickie' hits 90

Holyoke launches campaign against underage drinking

Knitter has her knockers

Police think same man attempted to rob banks in Springfield and Holyoke

Police seek public's help in finding suspect in Springfield, Holyoke and Ludlow bank robberies

State cuts may cost 30 Holyoke workers their jobs next fiscal year

Candidate eyes mayoral run

Council calls questioned

Artists find Holyoke to be a great location

Holyoke to demolish 'hazardous' building at 506 Maple St.

Developer Eric Suher says he wants to return Mountain Park in Holyoke 'to the way it was'

WWII casualty haunting story

Safety officials fear layoffs

Trail set for boost

Train Show - Setup

When I arrived at the Big-E Friday evening the layout was already up and running. Usually it takes the full two days to get everything running, but this year trains were already going around on Thursday night. A new record! On Friday the guys were finishing the details, and doing last minute programing of the DCC system. I'll write more about DCC later.



This is the only time of year this layout is fully set up so I spent an hour taking photos of it without the public around.



I love this years car crash with overturned VW.



No I didn't do any work on the layout. That credit goes to the other members of the club who put untold hours of their time, and money into it. I simply help out during the show weekend.



Is that coal headed to Mt Tom power plant?



Much of the layout is still not finished. This type of work takes years to complete, but that's the fun part, and other model RR's appreciate seeing how its done.



Yes, Of coarse they use them all. Do you think some guy would buy all of those just so he could say he has the most?



How big is the layout?



It's almost 200 feet around.
72 feet long by 18 feet wide.
In scale it would be 3.5 miles to drive around, And it's not the biggest layout at the show.

If you have nothing better to do this weekend come visit The Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show at the Big-E.
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the Eric Suher Show

The tree cutting issue at Mountain Park has peaked my interest of late. Personally I feel that if a few trees have been cut too close to wet lands then it's not a very big deal because they will eventually grow back. Good thing it was caught this time on a high profile project because it puts a media spotlight the sensitivity of our wetlands.

Sensing that some people might make a big issue out of this, for or against Eric Suher who owns the property, I went to Thursdays Conservation Commission meeting at the City Hall Annex. Suher (whose name is pronounced Sure) arrived late to the meeting, but It wasn't an issue since his Mountain Park property had not yet come up.



Suher sat with his back to the people in attendance, and explained to the commission all the work done at Mountain Park. He stated that the majority of work near the wetlands was in the picnic grove area of the former Park. Suher said that his contractors removed dead, and diseased trees, "For safety reasons".

Local reporters Ken Ross from the Republican, and Mike Dobbs from Reminder Publications were eagerly taking notes of Suher's statements. There has been a lot of interest in his plans for Mountain Park, and didn't take a mind reader to guess that everyone in attendance wanted to know more. Mountain Park holds a special place in the hearts of many Holyoker's.



I was taking photos of the meeting, but had trouble with the dull lighting of the room creating dark faces. When I came back around the table a second time with my flash now attached to my camera Suher asked if I would mind not taking his photo. Since he asked, and since I didn't want to make a nuisance I refrained from further picture taking. The photos already shot were probably adequate, so I sat down. Members of the public are well within their rights to photograph the meeting so long as they are not making a nuisance, or being disruptive.



Eric Suher immediatly raised the issue of another member of the public video taping the meeting. As soon as he asked the camera turned off I clicked my SLR into video mode and began recording.

I apologize for the low audio, my SLR does not have good sound pickup.



Eric Suher returned to the room a few moments later, and the meeting continued without further incident. He even made a clever joke that got the whole commission laughing. I sat thinking how laughable it is that a project like Mountain Park should somehow not garner attention from the public. I mean Eric knew people would take a strong interest in what he was doing when he bought the property.

The overall feeling I got from Mr Suher during this meeting was that he is a very self centered person. He made a non-issue, into an issue, which deflected the real issue, and put everyone on notice that he is the most important person in the room.

Sunday Snow

On Sunday afternoon I walked up to the Open Square building for a meeting. Along the way I stopped to take a few photos. The freshly fallen snow, gray winter sky, and thoughts of In The Valley's great story from last week reminded me of younger days wasted while playing in the snow.


click for additional views

What do you think of the PictoBrowser?
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Stories Of The Past Week

Construction scheduled to begin in March for Holyoke's canal walk

Chamber music brightens church

Conn. man admits robbing banks in Chicopee and Holyoke

St. Patrick's Parade committee announces honorees

Md. governor to get award?

Red Sox to give away ticket vouchers at Mall

Arrests for drug trafficking in Holyoke

Holyoke police bust Springfield man for drugs

Cherylyn Strong Hatchett to speak at King birthday observance in Holyoke

TOPS Club selects Terri Lavigne, of Holyoke, as 'Time to Shine' captain

Review set for Holyoke school lunch program

Questions raised about impact of proposed solid waste transfer station in Holyoke

Patrick to get expanded power to make more budget cuts - Cities and towns prepare for cuts

16 teens to Presidential inauguration - Gear up for trip

Holyoke targets unpaid taxes

Man given up to 2 years for selling heroin in Holyoke, could be released soon

Tourist barred from casino because of her 'offensive' ......

Circuit City to liquidate all 567 U.S. stores

Photo Essay: Reviving South Hadley Falls

Left Right Rally comes to Western Mass

Holyoke purse snatching

Car crashes into house

Dean Tech peers target violence

I Triple Dog Dare You

I haven't posted any funny videos in a while since I'm trying to keep on target with the all Holyoke theme, but considering the current temperature outside this story isn't entirely irrelevant.

Cold Brew

A visit to the Paper City Brewery

I had to choose one of the coldest days of the year for this months meet up of my Pixel Club. Not surprisingly, only hard core photographer Jeff Byrnes, and me showed up.



It was bottling night, and fairly cold at Paper City Brewery, but we persisted, and got quite a few shots. Jeff was mastering HDR while I focused on lights, shadows, and movement. Good photography takes practice, and practice makes perfect.



The brewery business has been tough the past few years. With increases in fuel prices, material cost have soared, and the microbrews have struggled to stay competitive. Breweries attached to restaurants have faired much better under these conditions, but Paper City Brewery is a stand alone operation.



They make a good beer, same quality as Sam Adams, so I'm told by people who claim to be experts on these things, (alcoholics). I like their Rollie's Root Beer, and I'm not a root beer drinker. I don't know how to describe it, but something about it is just sooo good.



With quality control a constant effort by the employees, checking for appearance, aroma and taste, makes this one of the happiest places to work in Holyoke. Until your liver gives out.



Click the above photo to scroll through the entire set.
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Round 8

Monday's meeting was already underway when I arrived. The Board of Health was presenting its own witnesses. They were listening to Tighe and Bond's David Horowitz independent evaluation of the air quality evidence already submitted. Riveting stuff that drew a huge crowd.



Some interesting facts of note: under a worse case scenario, the transfer station will emit .41 tons (820 pounds) per year of potential emissions. In contrast to, Holyoke Hospital reported .6 tons (1,200 pounds) of emissions last year, and Mount Tom Power Plant reported 217 tons (434,000 pounds) of emissions last year.



The Board's traffic expert, Joseph Balskus, tested the capacity of intersections around the proposed facility. Through modeling, and under a worse case scenario, he put all traffic coming and going to the facility through one street. After testing all the routes he found no significant impact on any of the intersections surrounding the proposed facility. "It passes the test here", Balskus said, "these intersections in the study area have ample capacity to handle additional traffic volume".



After listening to all of this I'm shaking my head in disbelief that it's being opposed so strongly. As a reporter I should not take sides in this issue, but I'm not a reporter, I'm a blogger, and my opinion is that this facility will not be a traffic problem, or health risk.

The Board of Health raised a concern about trucks driving through the city posing a hazard to School children near schools. Balskus stated the roads are classified to handle the traffic.





The final witness for the Board of Health, Dana Huff, listed 38 proposed conditions for the Board to consider adopting for the facility. (Click the photo above to scroll through), It's just like a power point, only harder to read, and with no one talking.

The only really interesting thing raised during the second half of this session was who would monitor, and enforce the conditions set by the Board. During a pause in the hearing I asked who would pay for monitoring and enforcment. This was later raised in questioning by the Hope group. The answer I gleamed from this was that the Board of Health could set monitoring, and enforcment conditions. Paying for enforcement still seems up in the air.

Stories Of The Past Week

Man injured in Holyoke fire

Finalists For Holyoke Colleen Chosen

Greenfield, Holyoke housing authorities win federal grants to help train workers

Retired Holyoke police officer signals intention of running for mayor

Holyoke police charge two suspects with armed robbery

Beloved friend, teacher recalled

Councilor eyes late-tax listing

Magnetic Wind Turbine

Patrick administration hopes to consolidate Mass. housing services for homeless people

Rezoning OK'd for Lowe's

Early hopefuls take out papers

Bail reduced for Holyoke man charged with shooting his friend

Holyoke School Committee vice chairman William Collamore hopes to continue running meetings

Hazards of heating draw call for caution

Cities eye U.S. stimulus funds

Soldiers' Home superintendent pleads innocent to illegal asbestos removal

Holyoke councilors reject bid to create commission to study city government

Holyoke developer could face fines for tree cutting

Holyoke councilors seek ruling on whether city may increase sewer rates retroactively

Tax Abatement Workshop

Journalist Barbara Bernard, of Holyoke, lauded for lifetime of work

Raise the cap on charters

Restaurant owner upset about road sign

Holyoke business leaders ask state to make changes in job training programs

Towns Already Depleting Snow Budget

Cleanup begins at Holyoke's Parsons Paper Co. mill

1:00 AM High Street

After the Lowe's vote at the City Council Tuesday night I went to Brennan's with some friends to grab a bite to eat. We stayed till closing, and when we left the sleet and freezing rain had already begun. On the way back to the car I took these two photos.



The streets were deserted. Flood lights on City Hall turned off, and the City had a raw grainy feeling.



I was thankful to get a ride down to the Flatts since I wasn't fully dressed for the weather.

Lowe's Zone Approved

When I arrived last night close to 100 people were standing in the Hall outside City Council Chambers waiting to enter. The crowd might have been even bigger than last months meeting when the vote was tabled. The Council meeting started a few minutes late since they were still in executive session at 7:30.



Again the Grow Holyoke pins were out in force. The zone change was approved to the applause of the gallery as I stood in the Hallway outside the chamber. The vote didn't require a super majority since a petition from abutters fell short of the required signatures. The city solicitor ruled against condo owners who didn't directly abut the rezoned property. Only direct abutters could sign the petition.



The council took a pause as the gallery emptied out after the vote. This is the first time I've seen a project of this type gather support as time went on. Usually both supporters and opposition dwindle at the same rate until a just a few die hards are left. The opposition was not happy, and some people promised lawsuits to stop the project. I don't think this fight is over yet.

Stories Of The Past Week

Can you spot the non-Holyoke story?

Overheated wiring caused Holyoke apartment fire

Career Center plans workshops

Ruling sought on sewer rates

Holyoke Man Makes New Year's Resolution

Holyoke Man Has Bigger Problems

I Want To Go Sledding

Developer ordered to halt land clearing - faces hearing

City Councilor Kevin Jourdain Wins A Major Victory

Burglar scared off by man dressed as Thor

Buildings eyed for demolition

Westover airmen swap stories with veterans

Students earn slots in District Choir

Calendars focus on old Holyoke

Hospitals stop ER diversions

Providence hospital gets lifeline

Holyoke Mulls Over Lowe's

Holyoke resident stabbed

Holyoke worker, fired after filing sexual harassment complaint against tax collector, appeals termination

Man burned in Holyoke garage fire

Holyoke Medical Center winning war against hospital infections

Council plans rezoning vote

City Councilor Rebecca Lisi Presents A Unique Opportunity

Nothing Good Stays Free For Long

There was a fire this afternoon in South Holyoke. A garage burned up, and some poor guy suffered burns. I totally missed it. (Hey, It's not like someone is paying me for this.) It's the third Fire in South Holyoke in as many weeks.

Two of my photos from last week's fire are in this week's edition of the Holyoke Sun. I freely share my photos at Flickr, but even before they were printed, journalist and friends were telling me I should get paid for my work. I've always been happy to share, and it's a nice ego boost to see your photography on the front page of a local newspaper.


Fellow blogger Max Hartshorne, who has writing talent I would kill for, posted a story that got me thinking about my photography, and why nothing good stays free for long.

Max posted: "It sounded like such a good idea: develop a print magazine using reader-contributed stories and photos. And let the readers vote on which articles would make it into print. Sort of like Digg."

That doesn't sound like a very good business model. What if all submissions that month are crap? And they are going to be crap. Because anyone who produces good content will quickly run into someone who helps them monetize it, and they won't be giving away their content anymore.

Digg. com has suffered from this effect. When it first started it was great. Lot's of interesting stuff. Then some of the good contributors created their own sites. During the last election cycle it was flooded with political opinion stories. How many ways can someone say they don't like Bush, A lot apparently. Diggs rankings have Subsequently fallen dramatically.

This leaves me with the realization that as my photography, and writing skills improve I will be increasingly solicited by people who want my content for their publications.

Funny thing, while writing this story, fellow Crusher Thomas posted a comment on my crush page. Thomas says: "I like your eye for photos and news. Several years ago in the mid 1990's I published a local news paper in the Holyoke, Chicopee, Springfield and nearby communities. Wish I had known you then. You do good work friend."

Thanks Tommy.

Unmasked

Holyoke rang in the new year with a Gala filled evening at the Wistariahurst Museum.



kicking off it's 50th year as a Holyoke Museum, the elegant Wistariahurst made a perfect backdrop for the event. Gala revelers enjoyed sumptuous food, and great music, all the while disguised under their masks.



Some of the revelers had never been to the Wistariahurst before, and they were somewhat amazed at the grandeur of the old mansion.



Being a Crush sponsored event there was a wide variety of people from all walks of life, and the Crush spirit permeated the discussions. Despite the current economic climate, Holyoker's were looking upbeat about 2009.



The colorful masks, and festive atmosphere inspired me to play with my photography by adding some subtle effects to a few of my photos.



The DJ suffered under the pressure of constant requests.



But everyone had a great time regardless of what music was being played.



At midnight everyone took off their masks, and toasted the new year.



I even allowed myself to be unmasked in a photo with fellow Crushers, (me standing in front).

Happy New Year Holyoke!

See all the photos from Holyoke Unmasked, New Years celebration at the Wistariahurst 09' here.

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