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At 3:53 this afternoon, the deed transferring the downtown Doubletree Hotel from LHG, LLC to the University of Massachusetts Building Authority for $14,722,500 was recorded.  The University of Massachusetts Lowell now owns a hotel.  The UML Inn & Conference Center era has commenced.  Congratulations to all involved. 

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With all the talk about Elliot’s and diplomacy and bloggers meeting, I went into the vault for this prose poem that sprung from an encounter at the famous stand:

Lowell-to-English

The blue wash of cruisers at the corner signals some kind of injury. Four postmodern kids, jazzed-up and famished, describe the crash as they walk in with us. In the late night lunch cart aglow in Formica and bright tile citizens order fries and dogs with local dressing: “The Works” and “All Around.” Near the register are black moons the size of bagels and plastic-wrapped fig squares. Though off the formal tour route, there’s a display of snapshots and news clips, with quotes like: “If you walk in, and someone’s lying on the table, then there’s someone on the table.” We are reading the scene as we eat, conscious of the outside edge and our subtle intervention. The more we talk, the more we change — as slow as word-by-word translation.

—Paul Marion (c) 2006, from What Is the City?

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When I was a kid I loved baseball, my friends and I played all summer long.  The games were unorganized and we played anywhere we could find a suitable flat surface, hot-top, concrete or grass. If need be we used sawed off broom handles for bats and taped round objects for balls, most of us even had gloves. We played half-ball, stick-ball, pimple-ball, sponge-ball, box-ball, all orphans of America’s favorite game. It made no difference to us. We idolized the likes of Red Sox Frank Malzone and Ted Williams.

Although it lasted only 13 days, the baseball strike of 1972 turned me off of Major League Baseball for good. Since then, I am what I would define as an unabashed baseball cynic…today I remember why.

Say it ain’t so Papi!…I’ll bet you can’t

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Katie Moulton

Under the bright moon and a dry sky, tonight we witnessed one of the all-time best Lowell Summer Music Series performances at Boarding House Park by Joan Baez on her 50th anniversary tour, accompanied by “her boys” in a tight, versatile backing band that helped her trace the arc of her artistry, from coffeehouse romps in Harvard Square to Civil Rights activism to Dylanesque romantasies to deep-catalogue folk troubadour-ing to contemporary song-styling and interpreting of folk classics (”Lily of the West”) and newer compositions (”Christmas in Washington” and “God is God”).

This is what it was all about, the Lowell thing that’s been going on for about 40 years. Reclaiming the city so that the community can experience nights like this one—with more than 2,500 people lifted up by the power of moving music. All of it happening in the midst of historic architecture that speaks to the national story. Joan Baez’s set-list took the audience through 50 years of culture and civilization as only an historic figure can do. She was there for the cultural renaissance of the 60s, she was there on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, she was there at Woodstock, she was in a thousand highly charged places along the way. Tonight she dedicated “Joe Hill” to the Iranian resistance movement that organized the peaceful demonstrations calling for fair and open elections. She played her handful of legitimate hits: “Diamonds and Rust,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Love Song to a Stranger,” Farewell, Angelina,” “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright,” and a few more, but as impressive were the repertoire of ballads, cover versions of Steve Earle like “Come Back Woody Guthrie,” and a stunning song in Spanish to close the night.

Hometown singer-songwriter hero Bob Martin opened the evening with a powerful set of favorites from his recent CDs and a couple of new songs like “The Two Half-Sisters” and another one in which he meets Kerouac on Moody Street, where the famous author “walks alone.” He went deep into the Lowell stories with “The River Turns the Wheel” and “My Father Painted Houses.” Bob opened with a rousing version of “Silver Rails to Rio” and closed with the emotional “Goin’ Home,” saying he hopes someday he doesn’t have to keep adding verses to this piercing anti-war composition. Bob brought Sandy Spence on stage to pump up the vocals on “The River Turns the Wheel” and “Goin’ Home.” The crowd gave him a standing “o” and made a bee-line to the CD table when he hopped off stage.

(Note: the photo is from a recent Baez show in St. Louis that I found on the web in St. Louis, A to Z.)

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When giving people directions to the Superior Courthouse, I find it hard to describe their exit from the Lowell Connector.  “The highway just ends in a T-shaped intersection.” is about the best I can do.  But the Connector wasn’t supposed to end like that.  Back in 1968 there was a proposal to extend the Connector into the heart of downtown Lowell.  The above plan shows the 1968 extension as a thick black line, beginning in the lower left corner and curving to the top center.  It would have continued the highway over Gorham Street (by bridge) and through the Back Central neighborhood, with entrance and exit ramps onto Central Street.  The highway would have then proceeded in a northeasterly direction until it reached Lawrence Street where the Whipple Café is located and then would have curved to the north and followed the line of the Concord River (about where Lawrence Street now runs).  The state’s plan for the road would have taken it across Church Street in a surface intersection controlled by traffic lights, through the space now occupied by the Lower Locks Parking Garage, over the Concord River, through the Davidson Street Parking Lot with an end point at East Merrimack Street, right in front of the Lowell Memorial Auditorium.  This plan would require the taking and demolition of 208 buildings that housed 405 families and 28 businesses.  (I’ve been told of follow-on phases that would have had the Connector continue on towards the Merrimack River, curving to the left through what is now Kerouac Park to tie in with Father Morrissette Blvd or that another plan would have had the Connector cross the Merrimack and continue on through Dracut where it would eventually tie-in to an extended Route 213).

The business community lobbied hard for the Connector Extension.  The following is from a pamphlet published by the Lowell Chamber of Commerce:

Lowell needs a highway connector so that the Route 495 Business Spur will not abruptly end on Gorham Street.  If we are to continue to think that our Downtown business can remain a healthy and viable force in the economy of the area without high speed access and egress to the heart of the central business district, some of our major merchants face serious financial problems, and these merchants provide thousands in taxes and millions, YES MILLIONS in payrolls.  Access, egress and ease of travel, play one of the major roles in attracting and keeping shoppers and business alive.  While the Greater Lowell area has grown 30% in the last 10 years, the sales in Lowell have grown only 1%.

 On September 10, 1968, the City Council rejected the proposal by a 7 to 2 vote. 

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What’s up with the Lowell blogosphere lately?  It’s too edgy.  It’s too bland.  It’s too liberal.  It’s too conservative.  It’s too hot.  It’s too cold.  It’s time for us all to get together and talk – over a hot dog.

I propose that all those who inhabit Lowell’s online world – blog writers, blog readers, Tweeters and Facebook friends – all gather at Elliot’s Hot Dogs on Tuesday, August 4 between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to meet, to talk and to munch on a hot dog or three.

A Lowell institution since the 1920s, Elliot’s Hot Dogs closed abruptly three years ago, leaving many stunned fans.  Now, like Lazarus, Elliot’s will come back to life next Tuesday.  At lunch today I wandered down to 37 Elliott Street (which runs between Appleton and Middlesex) and was pleased to see new-old owner Walter Garside standing in the open side door.  He was very busy meeting salesmen, cleaning and doing the infinite number of things necessary to open a restaurant, but he did take a couple of minutes to chat.  His enthusiasm for the revival of Elliott’s is unmistakable and he’s encouraged by the excitement that’s been expressed by many old customers since the word got out.  He’s also hopeful that Lowell’s newest residents will become fans of Elliot’s. 

Elliot’s grand opening is Tuesday, August 4.  Why wait longer than that?  In the spirit of the upcoming White House summit of President Obama, Prof Gates and Sgt Crowley, let’s get everyone together next Tuesday night.  Please spread the word through your networks.  Here’s a chance for the “old Lowell” and the “new Lowell” to come together for the benefit of the city of Lowell.

Where: Elliot’s Hot Dogs - 37 Elliott Street, Lowell

When: Tuesday, August 4th from 5 pm to 7 pm

What: Hot dog summit

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July of 1964 was an important month for me. After waiting nervously through a long, hot Lowell School Committee meeting in early July, I was elected as a teacher of English for Lowell High School. Who could have known that another electee - for science and math - that same evening would now be my husband of nearly forty-two years. Relieved at the hiring I continued to work on the candy counter at Woolworth’s until just before Labor Day yet I was anxious at taking on a career in a very large public high school with my personal high school exposure limited to Notre Dame Academy and a student teaching assignment at Bedford H.S. Looking back at my nearly 13 years at LHS I can honestly say that my Lowell High experience and its profound affect on my life was more than worth all that hot July summer angst. Taking a look at this date in the Lowell SUN of 45 years ago became very personal as the memories and emotions of that time were revived.

In the News: Cardinal Cushing wearing his signature summer staw hat visited Ted Kennedy at the New England Baptist Hospital as he recuperated from back injuries suffered in a plane crash as he was on his way to the 1964 Massachusetts State Democratic Convention being held in Springfield. (That crash comes to my mind every time I attend a state Democratic convention.) Ted’s wife Joan also visited him. Former first lady - thirty-five year old - Jackie Kennedy bought a 15-room Fifth Avenue apartment overlooking Central Park. US AG Bobby Kennedy gained support for the VP spot with LBJ on the Democratic ticket for the fall - Maine Senator Ed Muskie was also getting support. The Democratic convention was scheduled for Atlantic City that August.  The US Congress decided to study the need for more oversight on tax-free foundations at the same time they wrangled over increases to individual Social Security pay-outs and expansion of eligibility to physicians, police and firemen.  

Local Roundup: Columnist Loring Swaim lamented that Lowell public officials didn’t see the value of working to attract industry to Greater Lowell rather than focus narrowly on the space-challenged City. The Lowell City Council on a Councilor Joe Downes motion with Manager P. Harold Ready’s recommendation voted 7-1-1 to give pay raises to DPW Commissioner George “Chubby” LeGrand - $13,500, to Deputy Water Commissioner Edward Tierney - $10,500 and to City treasuer (later City Manager) Charles Gallagher - $9,500. Councilor Desmond voted no. Mass Governor Endicott “Chub” Peabody announced that the Lowell area had “top priority status” for funding of road planning and building. Also at the Lowell City Council meeting: Mayor Sampson directed the city dog officer to “clean out the bats” at a Gage Street address. City Solicitor Cornelius Finnegan declared a builder could continue to erect his permitted building without fear of a stop order if zoning changes were enacted after the start of construction. He also declared that ponies and farm implements quartered on Boulevard Street property were “not a legal question for the law department but a question of neighbors living together in harmony.” City Engineer George McDonough was designated as the city’s intermediary in dealings with the federal government. State Rep Cornelius Kiernan met with others to discuss the 40-bed Lowell Mental Health Center planned for Varnum Avenue - hailed to be one of the first and finest comprehensive facilities in the Commonwealth.

In Sports: City golf Tournament winner Billy Carroll and runner-up Tom Mulligan were feted at the annual tourney banquet at Nabnasset. The executive board of the Lowell High Alumni Association voted to gift four acres of prime land in outer Belvidere near the stadium for practice and play space to benefit students at Lowell High School. Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jim Bunning (recently hounded by fellow GOP-ers out of a run for re-election to the US Senate) hurled a win against the Giants.

In Education, Etc: Local fall higher-ed enrollments - Lowell Tech expects 1343 day students and 1578 in evening classes while Lowell State (my alma mater)  expects 688 day students and 207 in evening classes. City children were pictured keeping cool on a hot summer day under a garden hose, in the O’Donnell pool and fishing “under the falls of the brook on Gorham Street.” Lowell City Library children’s librarians Esther Delaney and Louise Dunn - who was also the library storyteller - touted the value of summer reading for kids. (Miss Dunn used to save mystery and “career” books for me for the weekly Wednesday morning bookmobile stop at Russsell Street and Burnham Road. I devoured books in those days - still do!) In Teen Talk -Jane Shanahan noted - “seen around local parks this summer” - Margo Sargent, Pat McCartin, Debbie Lamb, Mary Duffy, Sharon Sparks, Arlene McAuliffe, Tom McKay, Steve Ronan, Denny Canney, Linda Green, Barry & Kevin Finnegan, Mike Finn, Dawn O’Hare, Ted Quinn, Jimmy Hall, Greg McAdams, Flash Carroll and Gerry Gendron. (It’s funny that many people noted later became my students, my colleagues and/or my friends.)

Bits and Pieces: Dracut Republicans gathered for a cook-out at the home of John Brox - notable names - Wilfred Perron, Leo Grondine, Albert Daigle, Dr. Emile Houle, Victor Hamel, George Murphy and Mr. Richardson. Governor John Volpe was a special guest. The lightning-struck, long-condemned bell tower of the Lawrence Street fire station was removed and brought to roof-level - what remains will be used to hang hose to dry. (So many hours were spend there over the years politicking at municipal election time - it was my father’s designated assignment since he grew up at 833 Lawrence Street and attended the Sacred Heart School.) At Harvey’s Bookland on Central Street you could buy a top single for 75 cents… The Drifter’s “Under the Boardwalk” - Del Shannon’s “Handy Man” - Dusty Springfield’s “Wishin’ & Hopin’” and Roger Miller’s “Dang Me.” (Some of my favs at the time.) Sewer planning was active in Chelmsford as the SUN posted the sixth article in a series to enlighten residents. Lowell native Fr. Daniel Finnegan, OMI to preach at the Our Lady Of Hope devotions at the Oblate Novitiate in Tewksbury.

Of the Time: Lowell State Alum (later my LHS colleague) Helen Lee Frasier wrote in a Letter to the Editor of being in Brooklyn a few days before in the aftermath of a race riot and hearing the neighbors talk of police brutality. She left “after seeing a police blockade go up” and felt sorry for those who had to remain in “this jungle of terror.” (Throughout the newspaper in all stories about civil rights, demonstrations, a race riot in Medford, the Georgia delegation to the Democratic Convention, etc. -  blacks  were referred to as Negroes and it was strange reading those references  from another time and place.)

Note: As usual when we take these trips down memory lane through the newspaper whether from 40, 45 or 50 years ago - the issues, the concerns, the focus of life - all seem to be part of a thread continuing through to today - national and local politics, elections, the role of government in our lives, local activities of a church or civic nature, what’s happening in education, human relations, culture, quality of life and sports to name a few. Stay tuned for the next trip.

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Another day of it!! I am sick of hearing about it and to be honest I don’t get it…I just don’t get this Obama, Crowley, Gates, beer thing…What the heck is supposed to be the result? The three men walk out high-fiving each other? Does anyone believe that after tomorrow’s beerfest Sgt Crowley or Prof Gate is going to invite the other over to the house to watch the Pats and throw a few back? And we know Obama is not inviting his new buds back for another beerunion.

And the stupid questions, they are driving me crazy…What kind of beer are they going to drink? Who is paying for the trip? Will it be bottled or canned beer? Twist or Flip Top?

Don’t get me wrong, I like beer, but I don’t see its diplomatic merits. Oh sure, in my youth I too glorified the brewski and its place in my world, but I grew out of that…unlike Homer Simpson.

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In a comment to an earlier post, Bob Forrant asked what issues led to the historic election of six new councilors in 1993.  In searching for a comprehensive answer to that question, I came upon an October 1, 1991 editorial in the local paper that makes it clear that many of the factors that led to the electoral revolution in 1993 were readily apparent before the prior election.

Here’s what the Sun wrote about the incumbents seeking re-election in 1991:

The most notable achievement of the incumbent City Council in the past 24 months has been to sit idly by while the city amassed a deficit that no one can yet certify, but that many project to be in excess of $10 million. . . . From time to time, the council would rail at the manager about the deficit, but that was more politics than policy.  And if the council truly believed the manager was the problem, it should have fired him.  The council was quick to criticize the problem, but silent when it came to fixing it.  Its most consistent fiscal policy has been to delay and defer. . . . For this reason, The Sun does not endorse the candidacies of any incumbent councilors.

But the newspaper wasn’t enamored by any of the challengers:

Unfortunately, the slate of challengers has been derelict in raising any issues for public debate (part of the responsibility can be attributed to this council’s decision to eliminate the primary election) or in articulating any platforms or ideas that warrant the trust or the vote of the public.  With the city at a perilous economic and political crossroads, none of the challengers has inspired confidence that they pose a viable alternative to the incumbents.  For this reason, The Sun does not endorse any of the challengers.

The editorial concludes by calling for a “new breed” of councilors:

And the council, which Plan E contemplates as a managerial watchdog comprised of concerned citizens, has devolved into a cadre of politicians content to blame the manager for all municipal problems.  More often than not, the council has become a political impediment to development and progress in the city, rather than a creative force for positive change.

The call for change wasn’t heard in 1991.  The seven council incumbents who sought re-election were returned to office.  They were Tarsy Poulios, Dick Howe Sr, Bud Caulfield, Kathy Kelley, Gerry Durkin, Bob Kennedy and Curtis LeMay.  Incumbent Brendan Fleming chose not to run and incumbent Ray Rourke finished tenth but returned to the council mid-term when Bob Kennedy resigned to take over the LRTA.  The two newly elected councilors were Bernie Lemoine and Dick O’Malley.  But in the next election (1993) Kelley, Durkin, LeMay, Lemoine and O’Malley all lost and Rourke did not run. 

Maybe the lesson of 1991 is that change happens, but it happens on its own schedule, not anyone else’s.

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We are probably rather jaded about the many “missions in space” by US and other astronaut nationals after all these years and thus pay little attention to what seems a routine mission. But it did tickle my ”Lowell” radar to read that the Endeavour’s lead space walk officer praised the spacewalking prowess of rooky astronaut Lowell-connected Chris Cassidy - he noted:

“Chris kind of goes at it pretty aggressively and works pretty hard,” Johnson said. “He is absolutely amazing in the suit. Some of the things he can do kind of put you in a state of awe.”

Cassidy had some difficulty in his first walk with his carbon dioxide levels causing the walk to be cut short. It seems that his aggressive style brings on his “bingo” point quicker than usual. With his history it’s not surprising that US Navy Commander - aka mission specialist -Christopher Cassidy is aggressive about his work and responsibilities. There’s a teriffic photo of  Cassidy at work inside the Space Station Quest airlock currently on the NASA site at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html. Cassidy - son of  Lowell native Jackson Cassidy - spent ten years as a Navy Seal involved in specialized tactics including reconnaissance, assaults, underwater demolition and combat diving. His experience includes two tours of duty in Afghanistan. A Naval Academy and MIT graduate - Cassidy was awarded two Bronze Stars (one with combat “v”) for his combat and operations leadership while in Afghanistan. The variety of backgrounds of  US astronauts is always so facscinating and diverse.

His cousin Jim Cryan, well-known Greater-Lowell photo-journalist was scheduled to cover Cassidy’s experience for an Irish magazine. Hopefully we locals can get a copy. I wonder - will Cassidy will be invited to Lowell sometime to speak to students at the high school and, of course, at UMASS Lowell and MCC?

 Imagine, it’s been forty years since man landed on the moon! President Kennedy expressed great hope for the peaceful advancement of science and mankind from our space adventures saying in a personally delivered Special Message to Congress in May 1961: “Now it is time to take longer strides–time for a great new American enterprise–time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth.”

Note from the NASA website:

The shuttle crew was awakened at 3:03 a.m. EDT to the strains of “Proud to Be an American” performed by Lee Greenwood. The song was selected for spacewalker Chris Cassidy, a former Navy SEAL, who now has 18 hours, five minutes of extravehicular activity to his credit over three spacewalks…  The station will be reoriented for undocking by 12:38 p.m., and docking latches will open at 1:26 p.m. allowing Endeavour to drift free. Pilot Doug Hurley will guide Endeavour on a fly-around of the station at a distance of 400 feet, with final separation from the orbiting outpost at 2:41 p.m.

Godspeed to the crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavour - soon to be homeward bound.

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