Lowell

UPDATE: Tonight at 6:30 pm there will be a public meeting of the Lowell City Council’s Ad-Hoc Subcommittee on Election Laws at the Dr. An Wang School, 365 West Meadow Road in Lowell. The purpose of this meeting is to hear the opinions of residents about the city’s form of…

Democratic State Convention The Massachusetts State Democratic Convention was held Friday night and yesterday at the DCU Center in Worcester. In a gubernatorial election year like this one, the purpose of the convention is twofold: To nominate Democratic candidates for statewide office, and to endorse one of those candidates for…

Mimi Parseghian shares her observations on past week in Lowell politics: The FY 2019 Lowell City Budget  is on line.  This year’s edition has 682 pages, the largest ever.  With the ability to use software that presents graphs, tables, side bars, images as well as eye-catching and easy to read…

Memorial Day This morning the Greater Lowell Veterans Council will host its annual Memorial Day Remembrance Service. The first part of the event begins at 10 am at the Ladd and Whitney Monument in front of City Hall. There, the roll of local veterans who have died in the past…

Mimi Parseghian shares her observations on past week in Lowell politics: By now most of us have read about the disturbance last week in City Council chambers which prevented the Environmental and Flood Issues Sub-Committee from meeting.  The aftermath of the public discussion focused solely on the protestors and their…

The Changing Housing Market The Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce held its 23rd Annual Municipal Breakfast on Tuesday at the Radisson Hotel in Chelmsford. The event featured remarks from Chelmsford Town Manager Paul Cohen, Billerica Town Manager John Curran, Dracut Town Manager James Duggan, Lowell City Manager Eileen Donoghue, Tewksbury…

Lowell Round-Up is a new column in which Mimi Parseghian shares her observations on the week in Lowell politics. In the future, this column will appear on Friday mornings. There seems to be a lack of general interest in the three major contested elections this fall. Quite often candidates in…

City Council Meeting I missed the live telecast of last Tuesday’s Lowell City Council meeting but I did watch a replay and posted my notes yesterday morning. Much of the meeting was about the funding crisis in this year’s Lowell School Department budget. School Committee members Jackie Doherty, Connie Martin,…

Last weekend was the City Hall Monuments tour which was given as part of ArtWeek. Seventy people came on Saturday’s tour and 20 on Sunday’s (when rain threatened). Many who couldn’t make the two tours have asked me to post my notes online so they can get an idea of…

Points of Light Lantern Celebration The 2nd annual Points of Light Lantern Celebration last night was a great success. A year ago, this event burst on the Lowell scene quite unexpectedly. Back then, despite very cold temperatures, hundreds of people gathered along the Western Canal in the heart of the…