A small spurt of drama arose at an otherwise straightforward Lowell City Council meeting Tuesday night. It came from something that wasn’t even on the agenda, the status of the Lupoli Companies project in the Hamilton Canal District. About 90 minutes into the 105-minute meeting, Councilor John Descoteaux spoke up…
Living Madly: Lost Time By Emilie-Noelle Provost Ever since I was old enough to understand how timekeeping works, I’ve hated Daylight Savings Time. Every year when we’re forced to “spring ahead” and move the clocks forward by an hour, I feel like I’ve been robbed. Having to get up an…
“Known in the whole world” – (PIP #24) By Louise Peloquin On March 20th, the International Day of Francophonie, it is fitting to remember that, for decades, French echoed in the streets of Little Canada. L’Etoile’s main objective was offering its readership a wide variety of articles in French. Since…
March 17, 2024 Much of Tuesday’s Lowell City Council meeting was devoted to discussing the implementation of the new citywide 25 mph speed limit. Councilors seemed confused about it which is understandable: The new speed limit is citywide, yet it doesn’t apply to every street in the city. According to the report,…
This blog celebrates its 17th birthday this week. It was born on March 11, 2007. I purchased the URL “richardhowe.com” a year or two earlier in preparation for my 2006 reelection campaign for register of deeds. Once that campaign was over, I added Lowell City Council election returns to the…
Tick … Tick … Tick … By David Daniel I am haunted by clocks. Last weekend brought the semiannual conspiracy of mass self-deception wherein we pretend to alter the space/time continuum. Sure, I know. It’s good to have a little more daylight at the end (or the beginning) of the…
The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein is a short, dense and intense meditation on what it means to be an outsider and a survivor. The first-person narrator speaks directly to the reader spinning the tale of how, as a…
“Consumers are complaining” – (PIP #23) By Louise Peloquin Food prices, shortages, rationing, accessibility and distribution have always made the news. Media outlets cover the very same topics today. As the editorial below demonstrates, L.-A. Biron and his readership were impacted by food accessibility and the allegedly inefficient administrative management…
What to do with the Smith Baker Center was back before the City Council on Tuesday in the form of a motion response from the city’s Department of Planning and Development. Here are the major points made in that report: A grant from the Massachusetts Historical Commission is not a viable option…
A recent email correspondent asked why the Northern Middlesex Registry of Deeds district consists of just 10 communities whereas the Southern District had the other 44 communities in Middlesex County. Like so much else, the answer involves some history. To start, the Northern Middlesex Registry of Deeds District consists of…