 This program is brought to you by Cable Franchise Vs and generous donations from viewers like you Hello, and welcome to the Amherst weekly report. I'm Claire Healy, and we have both important and exciting news from this past week First I want to make sure everyone is aware of an upcoming mandatory face mask order Starting August 3rd at 8 a.m. The town will be enforcing an emergency order Mandating masks be worn within a certain perimeter inside the town Within the designated area around the town center masks or face coverings both defined as something that covers your nose and mouth Will be mandatory regardless of the distance between people This ruling allows for people seated outdoors at a restaurant to remove their masks and includes exceptions for children under age five and For those with specific conditions or circumstances The board's health agent and other agents designated by the board will have the authority to enforce this order And have permission to work in consultation with the police department to do so The penalty for violating this order will be a fine to the amount of $50 at the first defense 100 at the second and 200 at the third The order specifies that quote nothing in this order is intended to encourage residents to act as an enforcement authority for the town of Amherst Next we have a development on a story from last week about Amherst town council's concerns regarding UMass Amherst reopening A new working group has been established between the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the town to work together to resolve Tension over returning student regulations and COVID-19 guidelines Town manager Paul Bockelman said that the goal of the working group is to quote share information in real-time and Work through important issues together the chancellor echoed that sentiment Saying that their shared goal is to quote implement an extensive set of public health protocols and strategies And that he's confident that we will each do our part to protect our community a List of members of the working group is available on the town website Next a story coming out of the continuous complications that students and universities are navigating in the process of reopening educational facilities Residents assistants and peer mentors at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are harshly criticizing the university's reopening plan as They prepare to return to work on campus in the fall Student representatives are saying that the current plan does not prioritize their well-being and health and instead places financial profit over the student's safety The resident assistant and peer mentor union have presented a list of demands to the university that the university said are under negotiation The first of the 21 demands is that these students be given the opportunity to work remotely Something that has not been provided as an option Other demands are that they be provided hazard pay and adequate PPE They are also requesting guaranteed employment on or off campus and access to free COVID-19 testing Something that a lot of people you know a lot of people depend on this job as their source of housing or a lot of people depending on yeah being on campus as their source of like having a meal plan or having housing and the Wages that we receive like from our jobs are really important to so many staff for paying for school and other expenses and so For a lot of people It has been a decision of like yes, it's unsafe to come back but I might need to come back for For housing reasons or for other personal reasons Also concerned about extra workload due to the number of RAs who are returning and who aren't returning and Peer mentors people are expecting the workload if you're on site to be more so than a normal semester So people also want that hazard pay to compensate for some of the extra work that they're going to be putting in remote work and hazard pay have been Absolutely rejected in their view. They don't know when a vaccine might be developed They don't have faith that a vaccine will ever be developed and they believe that it's the college's responsibility to resume normal life post pandemic regardless of a vaccine or treatment and that means that COVID exposure is the new normal and therefore we should not be compensated Anywhere beyond what we would normally be compensated goal is to get as many students on campus and paying Housing and dining fees the goal is not to stop the pandemic or stop Spreading COVID to be honest it's a plan that I think reflects the fact that UMass sees itself as a Financial institution more than an institution that exists for the common good. Hopefully the university will start to realize that they can't Force a plan on us that is unsafe and that they'll start thinking about their PPE hazard pay ventilation and remote work options and giving us some some fair compromises as We approach the fall election cycle the town is information on its website regarding official vote-by-mail applications While in person voting will be an option for the upcoming election cycle Vote by mail is available for all registered Massachusetts voters In order to vote by mail voters have to submit a paper application that they may have already received by mail To deliver that form you have three options return the pre-addressed application card if you received it in the mail Or send it to the Amherst town clerk for Boltwood Avenue Amherst mass 01002 or place it in the dropbox on the main street side of town hall All forms need to be received by August 26th for the state primary or October 28th for the state election elections is sacred It's a sacred time. It's a sacred right that voters have and so it requires sacred methods to ensure safety and security of Balance of every voters vote and the methods at which we handle balance and how we Handle the election. I definitely am encouraging all of our returning students To three colleges to exercise their right to vote via vote by mail out of an abundance of caution. I also have I also recommend anyone who has health conditions or they have if they are high risk for You know Contracting COVID-19 to exercise their vote by mail, right? Anyone who is homebound and haven't already Been able to request an absentee if they haven't done so because of legislation I would look I would also encourage you to exercise that right and anyone who just feels a little uneasy about showing up in person whether that's early voting in person or casting their ballot on election day stay Stay alert stay vigilant watch our to the town the town's home page In the week in the days and weeks to come We're going to be releasing information and updates especially as it comes available in the secretary state A lot of things are still we're still waiting to Get guidance and direction In the meantime, I would encourage anyone who has any measure of doubt or apprehension about Casting their vote in person to exercise the vote by mail even if he decides to change your mind before the election You can always give us a call and say, you know, I you know, I feel more comfortable. I want to go in person. We can always We can if you haven't already received your ballot then we can always Undo the vote by mail option for you, but I would I'm strongly asking everyone to exercise On sunday july 26 a protest called wall of mom's north hampton Lied in the side of route nine holding black lives matter signs and standing six feet apart Organizers said that the protest was a display of solidarity with the group of moms in Portland that went viral for linking arms to create a protective wall between protesters and federal police organizer said maybe 40 people participated in sunday's solidarity protest and they asked those unable to attend to drive by and honk their car horns What got me interested Was Somehow I got connected to what is going on in seattle in portland. I honestly don't remember the Exact starting point But I started looking into it and the more that I read the more disturbed that I got Yeah, and so I've just been on twitter and On social media and talking with people and getting more and more agitated. It was when the wall of moms Showed up in Uh, portland And I said I have to do something. I I can't sit home anymore. I need to do something I don't care if i'm overworked or whatever. I have to do something So, um, that's what started it that was on monday So by wednesday, I had friend found a friend who wanted to partner with me andre And on thursday, I was writing a press release And giving it to a good friend of mine who's in the news Who disseminated it? And so it wasn't until friday when we got the word out really and then it was sunday afternoon So I created a community page on facebook and then an event And within like 10 minutes I had like 40 likes I mean I was shocked. I I've never seen that kind of responsive. Oh my goodness Um, and not much later. I don't know maybe another hour later. I had like a hundred likes I was I was really surprised Um, that that many people responded that quickly So again, if I would have had more time they could have told more people and you know, then there would have been more people showing up As galleries begin to reopen in the area We've talked with artists curators and gallery owners about how the pandemic has been impacting our art community And the decisions they've each made to adapt to ongoing changes They described to us efforts by artists to continue their work in an emotionally draining time and a shared understanding of the ability of art to heal and uplift a community in times of tragedy Many organizations have found ways to showcase their artists work virtually One such example being arts night plus who has continued its monthly exhibit through video suggestions for Content that could they could possibly give to us That could then be rebroadcast on amherst media We reached out to Musicians that we had worked with in the past who had played live at arts night plus and We had a variety of submissions and at that time many of them were performances or Video of exhibits that had already been recorded And you know, so we had the otons and jazz mesmerizers. We have the contemporary art museum at UMass that participated gallery III The bar or studio was involved it so It was quite a large collective layout for the program As people started to say yes, we can commit and here's what we think it'll be I would just keep a running list in a document and Looking at the length of time and what the mix was if it was a demo a demonstration of our music interview Then we would just kind of play around with the the layout and see how it might flow visually because here now you're you're going from One of us providing an introductory statement for why we're doing this Then a video that had been recorded previously that took people through the venues And then we would roll into The content for that evening We would like to have something in september That is downtown But it would be walk by or drive by art Early on some some towns artists came together or whatever their art committee was And they put together drive by events Where either artists put artwork out in front of their homes or on buildings or you'll They were painting buildings that might have been boarded up the windows So we are looking to try something like that For september gallery III while choosing not to open yet has decided to display submissions in a window exhibit titled encounters Outdoors was The theme was thought up by laura holland one of the members She felt that Could include many different interpretations that would fit in With what's happening in our community and country and world So these are all works that each artist has sort of Felt Answered that Meanwhile another gallery in north hampton William basic fine arts gallery has reopened and been operating with in-person viewing for the past month Communication with the artist during the pandemic hasn't changed a whole lot. Um, it's still primarily emails and digital images Most of them are very good at photographing their own work or they have professional photographers photograph their work We receive those digital images and immediately put it on the website We put it on our social media and we put it on third party websites like artsy, which is a gigantic website that shows work By artists in galleries from all over the world and the communication in sending the work hasn't changed Artists had to get their feedback underneath them and get their creative juices flowing Like we were talking about when this first started everybody just went into physical mental and emotional lockdown and At first I thought that the artists would appreciate having a good excuse to isolate in their studios but they're sensitive people who have to Operate normal lives as well as their artistic life and The news had a profound effect on their creativity A groundbreaking ceremony was held for a new dog park in amherst The dog park will be located in the south landfill site off route nine And construction is set to start on september 1st Members of the dog park task force cpa committee town counselors and town staff gathered on july 22nd for the ceremony To make remarks and break ground for the park The park will cover 2.5 acres and include areas for both small and large dogs as well as shade for owners to relax in and water stations The town has been working closely with the department of environmental protection And the massachusetts natural heritage and endangered species program in obtaining the park permit And finally in a joint meeting with the school committee and town council Jesse sailor the project manager from tskp studio presented the crocker elementary school expansion report In this presentation he went through the findings from the crocker farm building feasibility study committee Who looked at what possible improvements could be made to crocker farm if there's a reconfiguration of the school district The study really began in february and completed in june And this group kept at it despite the covet 19 pandemic Which i think is admirable This is based on projections and guidelines that were in place prior to the pandemic Because that's what we had at the time. We see inevitable facility improvements In the near horizon We see educational needs that are currently not being met Thank you for tuning in to amherst media. This has been the amherst weekly report I'm claire healy and we hope you will join us again at the same time next week. Have a wonderful weekend