Author Archive

Preliminary Election on Tuesday

The city of Lowell will hold its preliminary election for the city council this Tuesday, September 24, 2019. Polls will be open from 7am until 8pm. A list of polling places is available on the city website. Lowell Votes, a nonpartisan, grassroots organization that seeks to increase turnout in local…

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Council Selects Two Voting Options

Last evening (August 27, 2019) the Lowell City Council chose the two finalists of the six voting system options presented by the settlement of the federal Voting Rights lawsuit brought against the city in 2017. The vote was unanimous, 8 to 0 (Councilor Cirillo was absent) for the two finalists…

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2,860 Miles in Lowell

An essay from David Daniel in honor of the first day of school, with a lesson for all of us . . . 2,860 Miles in Lowell By David Daniel Roughly the distance from Boston to L.A. or back and forth to NYC seven times. That’s how far we went.…

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Lowell City Council agenda: Aug 27, 2019

Agenda for tonight’s Lowell City Council meeting: Date:        August 27, 2019 Time:        6:30 PM Location: City Council Chamber, 375 Merrimack Street, 2nd Floor, Lowell, MA ROLL CALL MAYOR’S BUSINESS VOTE-APPOINT CITY AUDITOR AND ESTABLISH SALARY Presentation – Habitat for Humanity on reaching housing production…

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Thoughts on a New Voting System for Lowell

The settlement of the Voting Rights lawsuit against the city of Lowell identified six new ways of electing city councilors and school committee members. This coming Tuesday, councilors will select two of the six as the “finalists.” The two will appear on the city election ballot on November 5, 2019,…

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Changing Lowell’s Voting Method

The city of Lowell hosted an information session last evening at the Lowell Senior Center to acquaint residents with the election system options available in the settlement of the lawsuit against the city for alleged violations of the federal Voting Rights Act. The primary speaker was Professor Theodore Arrington who…

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Lowell Storytelling This Saturday Night

There’s an interesting event coming up this Saturday night. It’s the debut of Lowell Storytelling which is the creation of Lowell’s Laura Frye. Saturday’s performance will feature six local residents sharing a true story of each of their lives in Lowell. The storytellers will be joined onstage by Renard Boissiere…

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In the Valley of Poets

“In the Valley of Poets” is an article by co-blogger Paul Marion in this month’s Merrimack Valley Magazine. Before surveying the nine famous poets and writers profiled in this article, Paul writes “There is a case to be made that our river valley is extraordinary, if not unique, among national…

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Reading Frederick Douglass in Lowell

Yesterday at noon 80 people gathered at St. Anne’s Church on Merrimack Street in Lowell to listen to and participate in a public reading of “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” a speech originally delivered by Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852 to the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery…

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