Yesterday afternoon I joined 97 others at Mill No. 5’s Luna Theater for a presentation called “Lowell: The Next Initiative.” Organized and conducted by Fred Faust and Paul Marion of the Lowell Heritage Partnership in cooperation with the City of Lowell and with substantial support from George Duncan. Here’s what this project…
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Motion by Councilor Mercier to have a granite marker placed on north side of Ouellette Bridge in honor of Joseph Ouellette. Robert Page speaks in favor. [Ouellette was a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient who was killed in action in during the Korean War]. Motion passes Motion by Councilors Samaras…
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This morning’s balmy 27 degrees belies the weather situation a year ago today. Here’s what I wrote that morning: At 6:30 am on Monday, it’s 8 degrees and cloudy in Lowell. By this time yesterday, the National Weather Service had already issued a blizzard watch for eastern Massachusetts and Rhode…
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Lighting Lowell’s Canals and More At Tuesday’s meeting, the city council authorized the expenditure of $110,000 on LED lights to illuminate the Merrimack Canal along Lucy Larcom Park. Here’s some of what was said during the council meeting: Manager Murphy says Lucy Larcom Park has been underutilized. Winterfest will be…
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An article in this morning’s Boston Globe (“Boston trails other cities in arts funding”) along with the blog post I wrote last night about the history of Lowell’s Brush Gallery got me thinking about the arts in Lowell. I define “arts” broadly. It includes painters and performers but also public…
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Firearms Policy – Manager Murphy explains that the last time this was before the council, the council asked the manager to meet with the people critical of the current firearms policy. He says they had two main objections: the first was that the requirement was more stringent than in other…
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By Fred Faust: Monday, January 18, 2016 at noon is the annual celebration at the Tsongas Center of the life and lessons of Martin Luther King Junior. Organized by Lura Smith for her foundation at Middlesex Community College, It is a meaningful way to spend a part of this national…
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Smith Baker Center Tuesday night the city council unanimously voted to sell the Smith Baker Center to the Coalition for a Better Acre (CBA) for $300,000. This is a big deal because without major renovations in the near future, the prominently-placed building will suffer the same fate as another unused…
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Unfinished business: By Councilor Elliott to reconsider denial of grant of an easement to benefit property at 155 Mansur Street. Also vote to take out of order a petition by property owners (the Rombergs) to reconsider the denial of the petition to grant an easement onto his property from Fairview…
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Okay, here’s another one of those Lowell connections. There’s a scene in the brilliant new film “The Martian” in which astronaut Mark Watney (actor Matt Damon of Massachusetts) travels to a remote location to uncover a craft sent to Mars long before his space mission. According to sources, it’s actually…
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