Special meeting to appoint acting City Manager effective March 10, 2014. Kennedy moves that the council appointment Michael Geary acting city manager effective March 11, 2014 and that appointment stay in place until a permanent manager is hired. Councilor Martin says he supports Geary but he wants to address the…
Last week I purposely avoided any mention of Mayor Murphy’s portrait for several reasons. Like the Nativity Scene controversy and to a lesser extent, the controversy over board appointments, I considered it a diversionary tactic used by some to draw attention away from important matter such as the process for…
Last night the students of the Lowell High Theatre Troupe took over the Little Theatre to perform three short plays by Lowell’s own Jack Neary before a packed house. The first play, “Talk Back”, featured the director of a play in a post performance question and answer session with the…
Roger and Soben Pin formerly published the Khmer Post newspaper in Philadelphia before moving to Lowell more than a year ago. In Philadelphia, they routinely held gatherings where members of the city’s Cambodian community and public officials could come together and discuss the issues of concern to the community. Roger…
Here are real estate sales from Lowell for the past week: January 27, 2014 – Monday No sales January 28, 2014 – Tuesday 13 Ludlam St for $124,100. Prior sale 2013 foreclosure 491-493 Concord St for $94,500. Prior sale in 2012 for $393,193 168 Sixth St for $200,000. Prior sale…
In this year’s election, I’m supporting Maura Healey for the office of Attorney General of Massachusetts. Working at the Attorney Generals office from 2007 until the recent start of this campaign, Maura was responsible for two very important divisions in the AG’s office – Public Protection and Business & Labor.…
Here’s a letter from former Mayor Patrick Murphy to the current members of the city council. The subject is his mayoral portrait. He gave me permission to post the letter here. Councilors, I understand that you will consider tonight Councilor Mercier’s request that the “City Council Rules SC establish guidelines…
It’s 24 hours late, but I just finished watching the video of last night’s city council meeting. Here are my notes: Keith Parker owner of a condominium in Grand Manor Condominiums on Willard Street in Lowell. October 2008, DEP discovered “gross contamination” around the entire property. There are several methods…
Back in the spring of 2009, the Lowell School Committee was contemplating budget cuts. During the public comment portion of a school committee budget session, one individual – I believe it was a teacher – was speaking critically of the cuts. While she spoke, most of the members of the…
Geoff Foster of UTEC, who’s coordinating the local effort to lower the voting age in Lowell’s city election to 17 years old, sent the following update on the bill’s progress: On January 16, 2014, under the leadership of Senator Eileen Donoghue, the Massachusetts State Senate voted 30-7 to add the…