RichardHowe.com – Voices from Lowell & Beyond

Seen & Heard: Vol. 40

A weekly report on things I’ve read, heard and seen since last Wednesday. 

Book List: The 50 Best Thrillers of the 21st Century in the New York Times Book Review, September 27, 2026. One of the high points of my weekend is reading the Book Review although I come away from it wanting to  acquire more books than I’ll have time to read. My wife and I both like to read although I choose mostly nonfiction while she goes for fiction. On one hand that’s good because we don’t compete over who reads a book first, but on the other hand, we buy more books than we would if we both read the same ones. Anyway, this week’s Book Review had their list of the 50 best thrillers of this century. I see that my spouse checked off 17. I read less than that. In fact, reading thrillers has been so rare for me that I can list the ones I have read here: “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson; “No Country for Old Men” by Cormac McCarthy; and “The Sympathizer” by Viet Thanh Nguyen.

TV List: The Top 100 TV Shows of the Century. This was another New York Times list. To the extent I watch TV anymore, it’s either YouTube or Netflix. I dropped cable TV during the summer and though I have an indoor TV antenna, I only use it to tune in weather forecasts because for some reason I like seeing and hearing a professional explain the weather rather than just read about it. Because of my de minimis TV watching, I didn’t expect I would check off many shows on this list but I surprised myself by tagging 17 of the 100. My self-imposed criteria for saying I watched a show was to have seen at least three episodes in full. Often I saw more, but three gets you beyond the “I’ll just check this out” stage. Here are “my” shows with the years they ran indicated: The Wire (2002-08); Mad Men (2007-15); Veep (2012-19); 30 Rock (2006-13); Friday Night Lights (2006-11); The Americans (2013-18); The Crown (2016-23); Deadwood (2004-06); Band of Brothers (2003); House of Cards (2013-18); Downton Abbey (2010-13); Slow Horses (2022 to present); The Shield (2002-08); Ted Lasso (2020 to present); The Good Wife (2009-16); The Queen’s Gambit (2020); Justified (2010-15). 

Op-Ed: “Big Tech Fooled America Once. The Second Time’s Not Going So Well.” by Oren Cass, New York Times, September 13, 2026. The author is the chief economist at American Compass, “a conservative economic think tank.” He argues that as tech arose as a major piece of everyday life, most Americans believed in the altruism of tech pioneers and gave them the benefit of the doubt. But now that we’ve seen how it has turned out, with social media especially, hardly anyone believes what any of these guys say and hardly anyone believes these guys wouldn’t impoverish every one of us (or worse) if it enriched them even a little bit. One of the reasons our country is in such a precarious position is because billionaires can wield disproportionate influence in the political process because of their money. But on this issue, it seems that people on all sides of the political spectrum have common cause for standing up to the tech billionaires and since we still live in a democracy, that counts for something. 

Obituary:  “Peter Max, artist whose work breathed spirit in the 60s, dies at 88” by William Grimes in New York Times, September 18, 2026. Whenever I visit a place, I go to the local art museum, so I feel like I’m familiar with most notable artists. So whenever I see a full page obituary in the Times of an artist I’ve never heard of, I read it closely. Such was the case with this one. Several photos of his art illustrate the story. It’s colorful, exaggerated, almost psychedelic. If you ever watched the old Monty Python TV show, in between the skits they would do a cartoon-like short film that had wild images and sounds. Max’s work would fit in. He’s now on my mental radar and I’ll closely monitor how long it takes me to find one of his works on display somewhere.

L’Etoile – A Star on Prince Street, Chapter 8

Two years ago, Louise Peloquin began sharing excerpts from L’Etoile, a French-language newspaper published in Lowell from 1886 to 1957. At my urging, she has agreed to compile some of her previous posts with added contextual information into a book manuscript to be called, L’Etoile: A Star on Prince Street. Starting this week, Louise will present draft chapters from the book in serial form here on the blog. Today, we have another installment.

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L’Etoile – A Star on Prince Street

Chapter 8 – Defending Lowell’s Industries

By Louise Peloquin

Chapter 7 showed us that L’Etoile covered all kinds of local stories.  What identified Lowell from the very beginning is the story of its industries. Here is a front page feature on the importance of defending them.

LEtoile, February 21, 1925

“Il faudrait que Lowell conservât ses industries.

Nos grandes industries locales ont une tendance à émigrer. La Chambre de Commerce et les corps publics se liguent pour opposer un barrage. Un Comité général qui veillerait aux intérêts de la ville et de sa population.

Lowell va lutter pour conserver ses industries intactes. Hier soir, huit membres du Conseil de ville, le procureur de la ville, représentant le maire, et le Comité des affaires municipales de la Chambre de Commerce se réunirent à la salle de la Chambre, et, après une longue discussion sur les moyens à prendre, adoptèrent à l’unanimité une politique nouvelle dans les annales de la ville.

Un comité général, en lui-même non officiel et sans pouvoir, sera proposé au Conseil de ville, à la prochaine assemblée. Ce comité sera composé de conseillers, probablement le comité de finances, de quelques représentants des citoyens choisis par le maire, et de membres de la Chambre de Commerce pour représenter le domaine organisé du commerce et de l’industrie. Il coopérera en donnant au gouvernement de la ville des jugements et des opinions au sujet des dépenses spéciales proposées pour la ville, qui affecteront bien le taux de la taxe et l’évaluation des propriétés. Il offrira toutes les ressources expertes locales pour aider au Conseil et au maire dans l’administration municipale. Et on espère qu’il aura pour résultat d’exciter et de maintenir parmi le public un intérêt intelligent dans les affaires municipales.

La raison de ce movement est que nos industries tendent à aller s’établir ailleurs et que

d’hier soir. Les membres du gouvernement municipal présents étaient les conseillers Gallagher, Preston, Chrétien, Dickson, Chadwick, Thomas, McPadden et Cosgrove, et le procureur Reynolds. Après le souper, le président MacPhie traça les grandes lignes de la situation que la Chambre de Commerce doit envisager à propos des industries locales établies déjà et de celles en perspective. Il déclara qu’il était temps de combattre l’émigration de cette ville des vieilles industries qui sont ici depuis longtemps. Il cita le déménagement du Bigelow-Hartford, de la Lamson Co., et probablement le prochain départ de l’Appleton Co.

Il dit qu’il ne s’agissait pas de panique, mais qu’il fallait prendre la chose au sérieux et trouver un moyen d’encourager nos industries. Les filatures locales paient un cinquième des taxes municipales et emploient 20,000 personnes. Ceci devrait encourager le public à faire un effort réel pour les conserver.

On convient en général qu’un bon moyen d’aider à la situation serait de pratiquer l’économie dans l’administration de la ville. On veut assurer l’avenir de nos industries et offrir un encouragement attrayant aux nouvelles industries qui voudraient s’établir ici.”

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“Lowell must keep its industries.

Our large local industries tend to emigrate. The Chamber of Commerce and public bodies are coming together to oppose an obstruction. General committee to look after the interests of the city and its population.

Lowell will fight to keep its industries intact. Last night, eight City Council members, the district attorney representing the mayor and the Chamber of Commerce City Affairs Committee met in the Chamber of Commerce hall. After a lengthy discussion, they unanimously adopted a policy, unprecedented in the annals of the city.

A general committee, in itself non-official and without power, will be introduced during the next City Council meeting. This committee, composed of counsellors, probably the finance committee and several citizen representatives chosen by the mayor and Chamber of Commerce members to represent business and industry. It will provide the City government with findings and opinions on recommended special city expenses which will definitely affect tax rates and property assessments. It will offer all of the local expert resources to assist the Council and the Mayor in city administration. We hope the result will maintain and boost the public’s keen interest in city affairs.

This movement began as a response to industrial relocation, a trend which is endangering our city’s development and prosperity.

President Elmore I. McPhie of the Chamber of Commerce chaired last night’s meeting. Were present City Council members Gallagher, Preston, Chrétien, Dickson, Chadwick, Thomas, McFadden, and Cosgove and district attorney Reynolds. After dinner, president McPhie outlined the situation the Chamber of Commerce is facing concerning well-established local industries as well as future ones. He declared that it was high time to combat the relocation of long-established local industries and mentioned the departure of Bigelow-Hartford, Larson Co. and, probably next, Appleton.

He said that panicking was not in order. However, the situation must be taken seriously and a means must be found to encourage our industries. The local mills pay one fifth of the city’s taxes and employ 20,000 people. This should encourage the public to make a real effort to keep them.

People generally agree that measures of savings in city administration would be a good means to improve the situation. We want to guarantee the future of our industries and offer attractive incentives to new industries thinking of establishing here.”

Published three weeks after the above article, the following editorial raises questions about the future of Lowell’s industries.

L’Etoile, March 12, 1925

“Nos Industries.

Des personnes qui ont vu arriver les industries cotonnières locales opinent à croire que les taxes qu’elles paient au gouvernement municipal sont réellement trop élevées. Elles ne voudraient pas pour tout l’or du monde que s’exécutât cette menace de quelques industriels de transporter leur pénates dans le sud des Etats-Unis, tout particulièrement dans l’Etat de l’Alabama. Elles ont souhaité cette enquête sur le présent système de taxes que doit bientôt commencer le comité industriel nommé à cet effet. Tous ceux qui sont intéressés, de quelque façon, dans le problème industriel, devront faire confiance à ce comité qui se compose, en vérité, des représentants de tous les éléments qui dépendent, pour ainsi dire, des filatures de coton: manufactures, professionnels, marchands et ouvriers. Des membres du conseil municipal et de la Chambre de commerce les aideront dans leur tâche et, avant de conclure prématurément, il faudra attendre le rapport de cette enquête qui devrait être faite le plus minutieusement  et le plus scrupuleusement possible.

Bon nombre de citoyens toutefois ne croient pas au départ des filatures cotonnières aux profit des villes du Sud. Ils seraient d’avis que ce n’est qu’un mouvement lancé par quelques industriels intéressés à la faveur de la présente crise industrielle et financière et, partant, du marasme qui sévit dans le commerce d’exportation à l’étranger, marasme qui persiste à cause du peu de valeur des monnaies européens.

En tous cas, attendons les résultats de cette enquête qui, nous le répétons, devra être probante, basée sur des données concrètes et non sur l’à peu près et le vague.

Personne ne mettra entrave aux enquêteurs, nous croyons bien; par contre, ils devront se tenir éloignés de toute influence indue ou trop intéressée.”

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“Our Industries.

Those who have seen the local cotton industries arrive and prosper here in Lowell believe that city taxes are really too high. Not for all the gold in the world would they like some manufacturers’ threat to relocate to the United States South, particularly to the State of Alabama, to come true. They have wanted the special committee to carry out an investigation on the present tax system. All those who are interested, in one way or another, in the industrial problem, will have to trust this new committee composed of true representatives of all cotton mill players: manufacturers, professionals, merchants and workers. City council members and the Chamber of Commerce will assist them and, before prematurely coming to a conclusion, it will be necessary to wait for the report of an investigation conducted as minutely and as scrupulously as possible.

However, a great many citizens do not believe the cotton mills will move to cities in the South. They believe that this is a movement launched by manufacturers interested in taking advantage of the present industrial and financial crisis and a persistent exportation slump due to low European currency values.

In any case, let us wait for the results of the investigation which, we repeat, should be conclusive and based on concrete data, not on approximation and vagueness.

We believe that no one will obstruct the investigators. Nonetheless, they will have to remain far from all unreasonable or overly-interested influence.

A short novel, long on atmosphere, characters and narrative by Marjorie Arons-Barron

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog.

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood is a 2025 long-listed Booker novel (really more of a novella) suffused with the gray and misty atmosphere of a British seaside village in the early 1960s, animated by fascinating characters, and enriched by the interiority of the protagonist.  Thomas Flett, barely 20 years, lives with his 36-year-old mother, Lillian, in a shabby house not far from the sea where he earns his living gathering shrimp.  His father died in the Second World War, and he learned shanking for shrimp and other survival skills starting at age 14 from his deceased grandfather, Pop, with whom he and his mother lived after she got pregnant at the age of 15.

Other shrimpers have newfangled motorized rigs to mechanize the job of gathering tasty crustaceans. That’s not how Pop taught Thomas. Every day, Thomas harnesses his overworked horse to a small wagon and goes to water’s edge where he scrapes the sand for a pail of shrimp to sell at market.  Sand pits (sinkpits) threaten his own safety and that of his horse. The work is tedious, far from remunerative, but he knows that following Pop’s rules will enable his mom and him to scrape by.  He longs for something better, but his grandfather had drilled into him that “habit’s all you can rely on.”

It’s almost always foggy, raining or about to rain. Thomas goes home at the end of the day stinking from fish, his own sweat, seaweed, and the filth on his clothes from mucking the horse barn.  His hands are full of cuts, and his toenails are painfully ingrown. He gets back into the same clothes for several days at a time.  Their small house always feels damp.

Thomas dreams of a life beyond, but is stuck, nurtured only by the many books he reads. He has a deep interest in folk music (having secretly sold his grandfather’s watch for an old guitar) and in a young woman in town, but he is too timid to pursue either. His stultified daily routine is interrupted by a newcomer to town, a charismatic, fast-talking American film director who wants to shoot his next project on the isolated beaches so familiar to Thomas. Edgar Acheson is the most interesting person Thomas has ever met. The director’s kinetic exuberance for everything he sees around him, his rejection of conformity, and his exhortation to live life to the fullest make an impact on Thomas. But there is more to learn about Edgar Acheson.

There are plot twists that keep the pages turning.  Author Wood is a powerful writer and skilled craftsman. Seascraper will leave the reader with a gentle smile and the gratification that the few hours reading it have been well spent.

Lowell Politics: October 4, 2026

There was no Lowell City Council meeting this past Tuesday so today I’ll cover some of the things discussed at the council’s September 22, 2026, meeting which I omitted from last week’s newsletter.

I found a couple of procedural discussions among councilors to be both interesting and important. The first involved the time set for a council meeting to end.

The rules of the city council state that meetings must end at 10 p.m. In the past, a proposal to let the meeting go beyond 10 p.m. had been framed as a suspension of the council’s rules. If more than one councilor objects to a motion to suspend the rules, the motion fails. In recent years, at least two councilors have objected, which brought the meeting to an immediate end and rolled all unfinished items to the start of the next meeting.

On Tuesday night, Mayor Gitschier phrased the procedural motion differently. Instead of calling for a “motion to suspend the rules” he asked for a “motion to go beyond 10 p.m.” The roll call found two councilors, John Descoteaux and Mayor Gitschier, voting no. In the past, the meeting would have ended then, but this time, Mayor Gitschier announced the motion had passed and the meeting continued.

Councilor Rita Mercier asked for some clarification, given that for as long as she’s been on the council, just two councilors voting no terminated the meeting, yet on this night the meeting was to continue.

City Solicitor Corey Williams was called upon to explain. He cited Council Rule 5 which specifically states that the meeting shall end at 10 p.m. “unless otherwise voted by majority vote of the city council.” Williams interpreted that to mean that a motion to continue the meeting only needed a majority vote to pass and the prior interpretation, that just two No votes were needed to halt the meeting, was incorrect. All councilors seemed to accept that interpretation. Given the plain language of the rule, it would be hard to argue otherwise. Still, the prior interpretation has been used for decades so this change set aside a long-held precedent.

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Another procedural question arose with an informational communication from the City Manager to city councilors that announced the resignation of two board members, Hunter Berube from the Youth Commission and Sean Callahan from the Zoning Board of Appeals.

However, City Manager Golden interjected that Mr. Callahan had rescinded his resignation so councilors should disregard it. Councilor Belinda Juran then observed that since Callahan’s September 17, 2026, letter of resignation said it was effective immediately and since the council does not have to formally accept the resignation for it to be effective, she didn’t believe the resignation could be rescinded.

Solicitor Williams was asked his opinion. At first, he said the question turned on whether Callahan had resigned in the middle of a term or whether his term had already ended and he was in a holdover status. When told Callahan was a holdover, Williams said he would have to be reappointed.

Then someone pointed out that if there was a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting before the next council meeting at which Callahan’s reappointment could be formalized, Callahan would not be a member of the board at that meeting. Solicitor Williams then seemed to say that in that scenario, it would depend on whether the City Manager had accepted Callahan’s resignation.

I’ll point out that this answer seemed inconsistent with Williams’ earlier one that the effectiveness of the resignation depended on whether there was time still left on Callahan’s term, but it made no difference because, as Mayor Gitschier pointed out, the city manager’s letter to the council said, “The following members’ resignations are accepted” so no one could argue the resignation had not been accepted.

I’m guessing there is some potentially controversial matter scheduled for the next Board of Appeals meeting which made this interesting but otherwise benign procedural discussion a high-stakes game of political chess behind the scenes. But I have enough to do trying to follow the city council without getting into the board of appeals, so I’ll leave that to others.

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Another procedural matter arose on a proposed vote to “amend council meetings in October, November and December to be held only on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month.”

This is something Councilor Dan Rourke promoted earlier this year only he wanted to make twice per month meetings the norm council subcommittees meeting on the off Tuesdays. My recollection is that his earlier proposal ended up before the city council’s rules subcommittee which held a hearing on it. The subcommittee ended up opposing the schedule change.

Then this vote appeared on the council agenda. When it was called, Council Sean McDonough objected to the second reading of the motion. Procedurally, that automatically delays the motion to the next meeting. It is a rarely used tactic, but it is an option.

Councilor Rourke expressed his displeasure with the maneuver which prompted Councilor McDonough to ask for a point of personal privilege (which allows him to speak about something not before the council). He explained that this vote is substantially similar to the proposal discussed by the subcommittee; that that discussion generated considerable input from the public; that the public would likely want to give input before this vote was taken, but that since it came at the end of a very long agenda, the public was, as a practical matter, not given the opportunity to be heard.

Rourke explained that the subcommittee did have a hearing but that when the subcommittee reported back to the council, no further action was taken on the proposal. Rourke then said in all his time on the city council, he never recalls a three-member subcommittee deciding the fate of a motion. He said he wanted it brought back, either way. He said he didn’t think it was going to pass but it was an outstanding motion that should be officially voted on.

Councilor McDonough then rescinded his objection to the second reading. After some hesitation, Mayor Gitschier allowed the vote to be taken. Voting for twice weekly meetings were Councilors Dan Rourke, Kim Scott, Sokhary Chau, John Descoteaux, Rita Mercier and Vesna Nuon. Voting to continue meeting each week were Corey Robinson, Mayor Erik Gitschier, Belinda Juran, Sidney Liang and Sean McDonough. That’s six votes in favor, but this vote needed a two-thirds majority to pass. That would be eight votes. Since it only got six, the vote failed.

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My newsletter last week covered the resignation of Councilor Dan Rourke. Now, there will be a special election to fill Rourke’s district council seat.

The current procedure for filling a vacancy that occurs in the office of Lowell City Councilor or School Committee was established by chapter 138 of the Acts of 2024, which became effective on July 25, 2024.

If the vacancy occurs during the first 12 months of the term, the council must call a special election to be held not less than 64 nor more than 120 days after the special election is called. If the vacancy is in a district, the person elected must have lived in the district for at least one year immediately preceding the special election.

If the vacancy occurs on the city council during the second 12 months of the term, then there are some options:

• By a vote of not less than six councilors, the council may call a special election as described above; or
• Appoint an eligible voter to fill the seat. Such an appointment must be made not later than 30 days after the seat became vacant and the eligible voter must meet the residency requirement; or
• Leave the seat vacant for the remainder of the term.

If the vacancy within the second year of the term occurs on the school committee, the same provisions described above apply only it would be the members of the school committee making the decision.

Thus far in this upcoming special election, whenever it occurs, former council, mayor and state representative Rodney Elliott is running as is former vocational school committee member Ray Boutin.

If anyone else runs, I think there may have to be a special preliminary election to narrow the field down to two candidates for the general election, although I’m not sure about that.

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The Boston Globe is doing an eight-part series on Gateway Cities in Massachusetts. Episode 2, which appeared on Monday, featured Lowell. “From five-and-dime store to modern apartment: How Lowell is building needed housing” (by the Globe’s editorial board) highlighted the recent conversion of the Hildreth Building at 45 Merrimack Street from a vintage office building to market rate apartments.

The rehab of the building started in 2024, the first tenants moved in this May, and the 50 apartments are now 60 percent occupied. The first floor along Merrimack Street has always been retail space – I fondly remember in my youth shopping at Woolworth’s and Kresge’s in the building’s ground floor – and that use has continued with the space now occupied by the Hive, a collection of independent retailers who migrated from Mill No. 5 when that space was sold two years ago.

The Globe article cites the importance of UMass Lowell to the area economy, quoting Chancellor Julie Chen about how the ongoing Lowell Innovation Network Corridor will bring well-paying jobs and affordable housing to encourage UML graduates to remain in the city after school.

The article also points out that Lowell was an early adopter of repurposing commercial and industrial buildings for housing but doing that meant the easiest conversions have already been done while the buildings that remain are the most challenging to convert to housing. Still, from the amount of construction one sees driving through downtown, it seems that developers are taking on those projects.

Given that the high cost of housing in Massachusetts is one of the reasons the state is less attractive to young people who grow up and are educated here but feel priced out by the high cost of housing, it seems that the more new housing that can be built in Lowell and elsewhere, the stronger the economy of the Commonwealth will become.

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In this week’s Seen & Heard column, I wrote about a podcast interview of Ted Leonsis, a Lowell High graduate who owns multiple professional sports teams in Washington DC; reviewed the book, “Panic at the Pump,” a history of the gasoline crises of the 1970s; commented on a Globe article about surveillance cameras in Boston; and cited a New York Times Op-Ed on “how Flock cameras became the enemy.”

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If you’re reading this early on Sunday, you still have time to get to Lowell Cemetery for the 10am tour (Oct 4, 2026) which begins at the Lawrence Street entrance.

Saturday, October 17, 2026, at 10am – “Secrets of Lowell Cemetery” tour which is part of the of the Poe in Lowell Festival. Edgar Allan Poe came to Lowell at least three times to lecture but also to spend time with a female friend who is buried in Lowell Cemetery. Learn their story and the stories of others involved in their orbit. This tour is free and begins at the Knapp Avenue entrance of the cemetery (77 Knapp Avenue).