Party House of the Weekend

45 Phillips Street

Once again a weekend that was relatively quiet compared to the bad ol' days of just two or three years past.  Our only Party House, with two arrests for Noise & Nuisance, occurred on Phillips Street the most notorious street in Amherst.

 Click to enlarge/read

45 Phillips Street to be exact, owned by the most notorious absentee landlord in Amherst, Stephan Gharabegian, who also owns another three houses on Phillips Street, #37,#33, and #11.

Only one house out of all nine on the street is owner occupied.  And the front bookend on North Pleasant Street is a fraternity.

Phillips Street located adjacent to UMass

In Eastern Hampshire District Court this morning both underage individuals took the standard plea deal offered by the Commonwealth: Pay one of the $300 tickets and stay out of trouble for the next four months.

Adrian Lech, age 20

Jason Rubenstein, age 20

Cutting Dangerous Corners

 45 Phillips Street

So you have to feel bad for the current owners of Bruno's Pizza who, through no fault of their own, suddenly had to shell out big bucks to safely deal with the three old gas storage tanks with old gas still remaining,  unexpectedly uncovered during the Main Street reconstruction project.

Since the conversion from gas station to food service happened in the 1970s the previous owner -- Bruno Matarazzo -- probably had no idea those tanks were there as well.

But the recent oil tank problem at 45 Phillips Street is another matter altogether.  When you pack more than the four unrelated tenants allowed by law into a one family wood frame unit -- especially a demographic that likes to party -- an extra amount of wear and tear should be expected.

And since Mr. Gharabegian's property card for 45 Phillips shows not a single permit pulled for any improvements since he purchased the mansion back in 2007, obviously he's not the neater half of The Odd Couple

While on cite doing a follow up investigation at the problem house, Amherst Fire Department Assistant Chief Don McKay noticed an oil stain in the basement and a hole in the floor that looked as though oil had drained down it, and a brand new oil storage tank, installed without a permit.

Apparently the original 275 gallon tank was damaged during a basement party.  

In addition to the the $400 in fines levied against Mr. Gharabegian for all the various infractions related to the dangerous practice of fly-by-night installation of a potentially explosive product, the Department of Environmental Protection is also investigating whether 45 Phillips will become Amherst's Love Canal. 

45 Phillips

Have a nice day Mr. Gharabegian.

Yet Another Underground Frat

45 Phillips Street: Broken Window (bottom left) theory in action 

If you are not zoned for it you probably should not create a public frathouse Facebook page and post to it pictures of a front porch full of residents in a "one family" house that can legally shelter only four (4) unrelated tenants.

Or, interestingly enough, register at UMass/Amherst as an RSO and use that illegal address for official contact information. Apparently UMass does not do much vetting for Fraternities and Sororities.

Even more interesting the photo shown of the house on the official town assessors card shows a "Grand Opening" banner across the upper floor!  Gotta wonder whether it was for the grand opening of Alpha Delta Phi, or a late night bar ... or both.

Naturally this bootleg building is owned by Stephen Gharabegian who also owns 11 Phillips Street currently under investigation for being an "underground Frathouse" and an "illegal bar" as well as being a Station Nightclub waiting to happen.

Frat paraphernalia on side porch of 45 Phillips Street this morning

No wonder this neighborhood is such a late night weekend attraction!

Town officials and UMass need to get serious about substandard housing on Phillips Street, which pretty much means the entire street.

The Amherst Redevelopment Authority should take the property by eminent domain, flatten it, and rebuild high-end housing that would attract more responsible graduate students and faculty with families and would pay way higher property taxes than the current undervalued properties.

UPDATE:  9:10 PM

So I just heard from Matt a "representative from the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity" stating that my post "constitutes libel, and if it is not removed immediately we will pursue legal action."  Of course he then goes on to admit that Alpha Delta Phi frat members did indeed occupy 45 Phillips Street but "we do not live there anymore"

He then goes on to rat out another unnamed frat:  "In regards to the paddles that you saw at the residence, those do not belong to the Alpha Delta Phi and are in fact a different fraternities paddles. Currently a few members of a different fraternity which is not associated with us in anyway live there."

Not that I keep score, but that makes the third legal threat this week (up from the normal one or two).  Truly, I'm on a roll.

Let's get Physical

 45 Phillips Street

Student rowdyism escalated yet another notch late last night as Amherst Police officers had to physically defend themselves against combative college aged youth jet-fueled by alcohol, a danger to innocent bystanders, first responders and themselves.

Last week two drunk students unabashedly fighting in a downtown restaurant got physical with a female Amherst police officer who was attempting to break it up, and early this morning the violent response to APD officers continued unabated.

Around 12:30 AM an officer noticed a disturbance at 45 Phillips Street with about 20-30 males on the front porch yelling and throwing punches at each other.  In trying to break up the melee one of the perps "attempted to free his friend" from the cops hold and had to be pinned against a fence and placed under arrest.:


Officers later cited the house, owned by Stephan Gharabegian, with a $300 ticket for violation of the town's Nuisance House Bylaw.

Arrested for Disorderly Conduct and possession of liquor under age 21:

Kevin John Defusco, 5 Depot Road, Westford, MA, age 19  (UMass student)

Gilreath Manor, Hobart Lane 

 Around 2:00 AM police were called to Hobart Lane apartment #26 Gilreath Manor for reports of a fight involving ten individuals.  In breaking up the disturbance an officer was hit with pepper spray and required a response from AFD to rinse his eyes.

Arrested for Assault & Battery on a police officer, A&B with a dangerous weapon (pepper spray), Resisting Arrest, and Disorderly Conduct:

James M Robinson, 10 Truman Circle, Springfield, MA, age 19   (UMass student)

Around 2:45 AM police responded to 15/17 Fearing Street for reports of a "highly ETOH" (drunk) individual "throwing bottles at people."

 15 Fearing Street    (managed by Kendrick Management)

The responding officer was greeted by a dozen young men on the front porch who stated Jonathan Jacobs was "going crazy," throwing bottles and other items at them.  Due to his violent behavior they had evacuated the house.  Jacobs was located in his upstairs room but immediately became combative, assaulting one officer with his shoulder and knocking over another.  At APD headquarters he refused to identify himself and was held on $2,500 bail.

Arrested for Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (bottles), Disorderly Conduct, Resisting Arrest, A & B on a police officer:

Jonathan Daniel Jacobs, 225 Maryann Way, North Attleborough, MA, age 22  (UMass student)

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Meanwhile around 1:15 AM police responded to a report of a motor vehicle crash on Mattoon Street near Amherst Regional High School.  The driver reported swerving to avoid a pedestrian and lost control because of the "wet roads", but an eyewitness had another different version not involving a pedestrian.  The driver was given a field sobriety test and failed. 

Arrested for OUI Liquor and Marked Lanes Violation:

Daniel T. Kearney, 21 Wing Rd, Lynnfield, MA, age 21  (UMass student)

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Sadly, at 1:43 AM, UMass police, APD and AFD responded to a male who fell and hit his head near the Newman Center, UMass.  The first officer on the scene reported the male was on the ground surrounded by friends who confirmed he "had been drinking" and suddenly collapsed, hitting his head.  

AFD transported the unconscious young man to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, where he is reported to be on a breathing machine in the Critical Care Unit.

UPDATE (Monday afternoon): The young man was released from the hospital Sunday at 2:30 PM.  Let's hope he learned a lesson.

King of the decadent street

Sunday Morning after a rough Saturday night

Decadence and student party houses go together like pizza and beer. Take Phillips Street for instance (and the Amherst Redevelopment Authority could), scene of a major disturbance last weekend--specifically 33 Phillips Street, where 11 arrests occurred on Saturday night starting as early as 6:46 PM.

The house is owned by STEPHAN GHARABEGIAN under protection of a Limited Liability Partnership KNIGHT PROPERTIES LLC (with his wife, Angela.)

In addition to this party house the pair own three others on Phillips Street (#11, #37, #45) thus making a total of 4 out-of-nine, almost half the housing for a street the ARA consultant deemed "decadent".

Color schematic of the Gateway area showing properties with decadent conditions (Phillips Street, where all but one wins the prize)
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To: Larry Kelley
Sent: Mon, May 2, 2011 8:43 pm
Subject: towns reputation...

Hi Larry,

My teen daughter had a soccer game on Sunday on the UMass campus against a team from Maine. As we waited for a game against a Rhode Island team to end, I heard the out of towners talking. They were going on about how disgusting it was on their way to campus and said they "would NEVER send their kids to school there." They were talking about the party remnants, beer cans, trash, etc. I started to defend our town and explain the Hobart mess and just stopped. It isn't just that weekend, and we all see it. I was actually embarrassed and didn't say another word. Do you think sharing this with someone at UMass or the town manager would make any difference at all?

Mary

Let's hope Mary...let's hope.