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Mimi Parseghian shares some observations on Lowell politics for this week: SCHOOL BUDGET FORMULA On Wednesday, Governor Charlie Baker introduced his budget for Fiscal 2020 and according to the Globe it includes a “$1.1 billion, seven-year overhaul of the state’s embattled school budget formula, the centerpiece of a $42.7 billion…
Read More »Charter Change “Executive Session – Regarding matter of litigation, namely Huot, et al, v. City of Lowell, public discussion of which could have a detrimental effect on the city’s position.” The above item appears on the agenda for this week’s Lowell City Council meeting. The same item was on the…
Read More »Mimi Parseghian shares some observations on Lowell politics for this week: I have just read that Councilor David Conway will be submitting a motion requesting a non-binding referendum on the election system. According to the Sun article “The ballot question would ask voters whether they want to maintain Lowell’s at-large…
Read More »Sarah Sousa: A Fruitful Creative Path I met Sarah Sousa a few years ago at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival in Salem, Mass. She was there with friends from Perugia Press, an independent publishing company in Florence, Mass. Perugia publishes one title a year, a first or second book by a…
Read More »Hamilton Canal update At Tuesday’s Lowell City Council meeting, we learned a couple of things about projects in the Hamilton Canal District. First, the finish date for the Judicial Center has been pushed back, I think for 90 days. That would make its grand opening at the end of March…
Read More »Susan April: The Writing Adds Up I’m interested in what writers do to make a living while they do their best to create high quality poems, fiction, plays, and works of nonfiction. Very few literary writers are employed full-time at the keyboard. Journalists, technical writers in business, advertising copywriters, and…
Read More »Mimi Parseghian shares some thoughts and observations on city government and some of the projects now underway. Tuesday’s City Council discussion on the Judicial Center reminded me that the Hamilton Canal rejuvenation project started in 2004 with the $3.6 million purchase of the Fruedenberg property. City Manager Eileen Donoghue is…
Read More »Government Shutdown Day 16 The partial shutdown of the federal government reached day 16 today. For most of the 800,000 federal employees who missed a paycheck last week, this political stunt will soon be a personal financial crisis. How many of them will miss rent payments, mortgage payments, car payments,…
Read More »Live Poetry in Lowell by Janet Egan and Paul Marion Lowell has been long-famous for Golden Gloves boxing matches at the Memorial Auditorium, but there’s a different competition for which the city has become well known. Every first and third Tuesday of the month, writers and their audience get together…
Read More »Kassie Dickinson Rubico and Resi Polixa: On Their Writing Trails Our series of year-end updates on writers from the area continues with a past contributor to the blog and a writer who is new to our publication. We’ve had an enthusiastic response to the series both in this space and…
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