Lowell

At Tuesday night’s meeting, the Lowell City Council moved efficiently through a short agenda, completing the meeting in just 90 minutes. One thing that contributed to the meeting’s brevity was the presence of just five motion responses on the agenda. With 15 new motions passed the same night, simple math…

Lowell Hosts- (PIP #17) By Louise Peloquin Lowell is known for its success in managing large crowds. To provide one example, the Lowell Folk Festival, started in 1990 after two years of hosting the National Folk Festival, is the longest-running free folk festival in the United States. Every July, thousands…

The Lowell City Council met on Tuesday night with a potentially long agenda being handled in an expeditious 2.5 hours. Because of last week’s ruling by the City Solicitor that all unanswered motions from the last Council session died at the end of that session, this week’s agenda contained a…

“The “golden belt” called a reputation  (PIP #16) By Louise Peloquin Would journalists today report on elected officials as they did 106 years ago? ********* L’Etoile March 18, 1918 Lewiston, ME. Governed by Ours This city of 30,000 souls has a majority of Franco-Americans at its municipal council. – This…

Tuesday’s Lowell City Council meeting featured City Manager Tom Golden’s “State of the City” address. There’s nothing in the City Charter or the Council Rules that requires such a speech, but back in the 1990s City Managers began delivering them and that has continued. At first, the State of the…

“So many beginnings…” (PIP #15) By Louise Peloquin I make so many beginnings there never will be an end.  – Louisa May Alcott *********      2024 has begun and is well under way. Will the new year’s resolutions, expectations, aspirations, ambitions, contentions, dissensions, cooperations, evolutions and all of the other…

January 14, 2024 The Lowell City Council met Tuesday night in the aftermath of Sunday’s big 17-inch snowstorm. Predictably, Councilors talked a lot about snow removal. That’s a topic that everyone has an opinion on; Councilors especially so. City Manager Tom Golden explained that it’s been a while since the…

Bonne et heureuse année!/Good and happy new year! (PIP #14) By Louise Peloquin How would Louis-A. Biron have welcomed in this new year? At the dawn of 1936, here is an excerpt of his address to L’Etoile readers. (1) *********      Just as the torrent rushes towards the abyss, time…

On Tuesday, January 2, 2024, at 10 am, the newly elected Lowell City Council took the oath of office at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. City Clerk Michael Geary chaired the event until the new Mayor was elected. Geary explained that the inauguration ceremony had been moved to the Auditorium when…

Here are my choices for the most important political events in Lowell in 2023: Turnout in the November city election was historically low with approximately 7500 people voting. Two years ago, nearly 12,000 cast votes. While that seems like a lot compared to the total this year, remember that in…