A family trip took me to Washington, DC last Sunday so I did not post a Week in Review. Since I returned, I’ve played catch up on the news but it doesn’t seem like I missed too much locally. Still, there are a few items deserving of mention: Jeff Speck…
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We had the Earth Day Festival & Urban Growers Gathering today in downtown Lowell. Hundreds of people marched in a funky Green parade, learned gardening techniques in workshops, swapped seeds and local planting tips, and enjoyed live dance and music. The sky cleared just as the parade stepped off from…
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TOMORROW – Saturday – April 23, 2016 – 10 a.m. – SPECIAL TOUR Urban Renewal and UMass Lowell East Campus with Bob Forrant The Northern Canal Urban Renewal Project of the 1960s tore down the long-established Little Canada neighborhood and the Merrimack Mill complex to make way for new industry…
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Michael Leong in the online cultural publication hyperallergic.com contributes what could be a game-changing review of recent books by poet Joseph Donahue (Lowell-connected and holder of an endowed professor’s chair at Duke University). Here’s the opening paragraph: Among contemporary American poets, Joseph Donahue is an underrecognized master. For years, he…
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I will post updates on the wild and cultivated things around my house this spring and summer in the spirit of the “Flowering City” concept of our community. These are my notes from yesterday when the morning air was cooler than today.—PM The air still has a chill in it…
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April 23, 2016 – 10 a.m. – SPECIAL TOUR Urban Renewal and UMass Lowell East Campus with Bob Forrant The Northern Canal Urban Renewal Project of the 1960s tore down the long-established Little Canada neighborhood and the Merrimack Mill complex to make way for new industry that never came. Today,…
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Special joint meeting of city council and school committee begins at 6:15 pm to brief the two bodies on the status of Lowell High School project. City Manager Murphy explains that is the biggest project in the history of the city of Lowell. The city has selected its project manager…
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About ten years ago, there was an annual program called “Be a Tourist in Your Own Town” organized by the Lowell Historic Board, Greater Merrimack Valley Convention and Visitor Bureau, National Park Service, and others. It was a franchise-type operation like the various “First Night” celebrations around the country. I…
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Apartments on Wellman Street Councilors Bill Samaras and Jim Leary had similar motions on the council agenda last Tuesday (full report on Tuesday’s meeting HERE). Both wanted reports from the city manager on the benefits of residential versus commercial use at Connector Park, the location of the large parcel at…
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