City Council

Motion by Councilor Mercier requesting City Manager request organizers of Baystate Marathon to alter the course of the race next year so that all of the bridges in the city aren’t shut down.  Councilor Mercier says I filed this motion for no other reason to create better harmony between the…

Frank Georges, a Lowell resident and an elite runner, sent the following letter to city councilors regarding the motion on tomorrow night’s council agenda to consider forcing the Baystate Marathon to alter its route due to traffic issues during the race.  I’ve written my own post on this subject and…

Back in 2003 I joined the great mob of runners that spent a Sunday morning in Lowell running prodigious distances along the banks of the Merrimack River in the Baystate Marathon and Half Marathon.  Running my first half marathon was a terrific experience made all the more so by doing…

Meeting opens with council recognizing all who participated in last Saturday’s Centralville neighborhood cleanup, especially the more than 100 Lowell High Jr ROTC cadets who participated (40 of whom were present at this meeting). Rita Mercier asks City Clerk Michael Geary to explain procedure for minutes of executive sessions.  Clerk…

Presentation by Lowell National Park Superintendent Celeste Bernardo and Paul Marion, author of Mill Power, a new book about the creation and legacy of the Lowell National Park.  Each councilor has been presented a copy of the book.  Since 1978 Lowell has received $275 million just from the Department of…

Disability commission will now provide close captioning of city council meetings on LTC. Council recesses regular meeting and resumes special meeting to elect a member of the Regional Vocational School Committee to fill the vacancy that occurred when Erik Gitschier resigned after being hired as head of the Lowell Water…

The Irish in Massachusetts A few weeks ago I got a look at the final schedule for this past week’s history conference at UMass Lowell.  Done in partnership with Queen’s University Belfast, “The Irish in Massachusetts: Historical Significance, Lasting Legacy” I saw that the conference would cover history, literature and…

I commend Councilor Rita Mercier on her remarks this evening regarding crime in Lowell.  My notes from the entire meeting are available online but I want to single out Rita’s comments, partly because she and I haven’t shared a lot of common ground on issues, but mostly because she’s right.…

My notes from tonight’s Lowell City Council meeting: Resignation of Erik Gitschier from Greater Lowell Vocational School Committee – City Council trying to schedule a joint meeting with the Lowell School Committee to select his replacement.  Special meeting on October 7, 2014 at 6:30 pm (council will begin its regular…