Lowell Downtown Neighborhood Association

LDNA 2/26/18

7 PM, LTC

Present:

Jack Moynihan

Carolyn Alphen

Stephen Greene

Sam Litvin

Meeting called to order at: 7:00.

Opening greeting

Approval of minutes

Approval of January minutes; Postpones until March meeting.

Treasurer’s Report

$755.25 balance.  Everyone is invited to make a voluntary $10 membership contribution.

Police Report

Capt Crowley – Sector ‘A’ Commander.

Discussion of cyclist accident on Dutton Street near Lord Overpass ramp.

• Discuss improvements to markings and general roadway design.

Big increase in vandalism, including 8 smashed windows.

3 of 6 aggravated assaults were domestic.

Disorderly incidents: most involve bar closings

Special Guest:  Andrew Shapiro, City Economic Development Director

Experience:  4.5yrs in Salem, MA doing economic development.

5.5% official vacancy rate.

– Craig H. pointed out that the vacancy rate seems much higher than 5.5%.

New overlay zoning district in downtown requires special permit for class-A office use of storefronts.  (To encourage retail.)

Walgreens coming to downtown; other vacant storefronts are under discussion with possible tenants.

Strategies for improvement:

-Retail incubator in vacant storefront to allow small new retailers to get established.

– Would also provide access to support services for new businesses.

– Submitted grant proposal to MassDevelopment for JAM area to support community & economic development dedicated to that area.

See facebook and twitter at @DoBizInLowell to keep up to date.

QUESTIONS:

• Why do political offices seem to be exempt from class-a special use permit?
  • Not sure; will ask.
• How does high school decision affect downtown planning.
  • It doesn’t really affect the current activities.
• What to do with large store-front spaces?
  • A real challenge except for restaurants; one option is to sub-divide into smaller spaces
• What would be good business to move in?
  • 2^nd hand shop
  • Pet shop

RICHARD HOWE:

• Arts week 4/27 – 4/28: A walking tour about monuments in downtown.

COUNCILOR CIRILLO:

• Neighborhood sub-committee chair. First meeting will be at City Hall; future meetings will be in the neighborhoods.

Discussion:

PARKING:

• City is re-starting process of looking at parking rates.
• LDNA is interested in looking at the various restrictions and agreements between city and various condo associations.

EVENTS:

DIY Lowell, LNHP and other groups will be holding an event on 6/16:  Interactive (travelling) production of a Midsummer-night’s Dream.  More info will be on DIY-Lowell site eventually.

June 7^th book event at Eastern Bank from 3:30 – 6:00.  See “Project Learn” website for more info.

Meeting Adjourns at 7:59.

LDNA 1/22/18

7 PM, LTC

Present:

Jack Moynihan

Carolyn Alphen

Stephen Greene

Sam Litvin

Meeting called to order at: 7:02.

Opening greeting

Approval of minutes

Approval of October minutes; Motion was made by Stephen and 2^nd was heard.

Treasurer’s Report

$615.29 balance.  Everyone is invited to make a voluntary $10 membership contribution.

Annual election of LDNA officers

Slate of existing board is re-elected by unanimous consent.

Police Report

Capt Crowley – Sector ‘A’ Commander.

Crime statistics look pretty good (low) for the period.  One assault was 2 girls at high school.  Other 2 assaults were domestic.

Robbery at Middlesex St.:  Phone and backpack stolen from pedestrian by person who drove up in car.

Ongoing thefts from cars – lock your doors!

Bad weather = lower crime.

Compstat numbers are LPD-only (not UMLPD or LNHP PD) and reflect only issues that result in police reports.

Special Guest:  William Samaras, Mayor of the City of Lowell

Councilor Cirillo also in attendance.

Learns a lot from attending neighborhood meetings

Next step:  increase involvement of neighborhood groups.  Maybe groups can actually be involved in generating/filing council motions.

2 new council subcommittees:  1) Seniors and 2) Non-profits

Senior subcom will meet at senior center and other locations where seniors are.

Increase communication, coordination and collaboration between city and non-profits

Improve Downton lighting

Work on traffic and parking issues.

Was headmaster at LHS for 19yrs.  Strongly in favor of downtown location due to access/transportation, and jobs and services for students.  Good integration with UML and MCC.

Provide opportunity for councilors to discuss their visions for the city 2-3yrs out.

Most people have 1 thing in common:  they the city to be a safe/great/positive place to live/work.

Q&A:

What about veterans:  Very important.

Can public participate in plastic bag ban proposal?  Councilor Carillo says – yes environment subcommittee will involve the public.

Lighting:  historic fixtures will remain – just new LEDs

Will work with Nick on parking rates.

LTC coverage of meetings and election issues

Coordinate with state on transportation issues; construction will makes things worse before they get better.  (e.g. bridge closings etc…)

Arborist – dead trees?  In general this is where the increased involvement with neighborhood groups can help – in terms of bringing issues to the fore.

Will neighborhood subcommittee continue to go out to the neighborhood group meetings?  Councilor Cirillo:  Yes it was a good idea and will continue.

What about overpayment by seniors of garage fees?  This is being worked on.

Lawrence turned down government grant for housing?  All city’s want market rate housing and nice restaurant, etc.  But needs to integrate all types of people.

Discussion:

JAMBRA meeting discussed new garage in Hamilton canal district.  Concern is about access to Canal Place III parking.  Green wall may be replaced by printed screens due to question about survivability of green wall plantings in low sunlight area.  Tiered design is still the plan.  Expect to break ground this year.

Lowell Bike Coalition was interested in bike storage.  Answer is that a special caged area and dedicated access for bikes.

Garage will also include some hookups for electric vehicles. – Plan for the future!

Parking rate issues:

Maybe the construction cost should be bonded and paid by the future users of the new garages

Lights out on west side walkway.

Ponding water on 2^nd floor.

Snow is not removed from secondary exists in the winter.  – Safety issue.

Parking rights are tied to individual condo unit deeds in many cases – and all developments have different situations.

Current parking rates are so complicated that no one knows exactly who should be paying what.

City should formally recognize agreements in place with various condo associations and account for the obligated spaces.

Maybe senior status could be automatically discerned from driver’s license data that is already collected by parking dept.

Lowell Open Spaces and Rec Plan meetings starting.  Meeting at Senior Center.  1/25 from 6-8.  More info email openspace@lowellma.gov.

Meeting Adjourns at 8:27.

LDNA 10/23/17

7 PM, LTC

Present:

Jack Moynihan

Carolyn Alphen

Stephen Greene

Sam Litvin

Meeting called to order at: 7:03

Opening greeting

Approval of minutes

Approval of August and September minutes; Motion was made by Jack and 2^nd by Carolyn.

Treasurer’s Report

$615.29 balance.  Everyone is invited to make a voluntary $10 membership contribution.

Police Report

Overall crime count down from last month.  Several assaults/robberies solved.

Q & A from public:

Issues with persons hiding behind barricades behind Canal Place.  LPD will follow up.

Canal walkway behind 58 Prescott St building is a site of reorted drug deal activities.

Constant drug activity reported behind Wings/Asian Bistro area on Market Street.

Bar Crawl planned for Halloween despite license being denied.  Who is responsible for this sort of situation?  What recourse?

No update on robbery near TD Bank from 9/17.

Presentation by Jim Dyment:  Brush Art Gallery Director

• About the Gallery:
  • Non-profit; 35 years old; first open studios in Lowell
  • Resident studio artists in mediums including painting, Illustration, photography, jewelry, sculpture, ceramics, and textiles, plus 25 associate artists who rent wall space.
  • Organizes museum quality special exhibits.
• More than just an art gallery:
  • Working with women at Megan’s House giving recovering addicts an outlet for self-expression.
  • Program with Recreational Adult Resource Association (5 years running)
  • Program with UML to raise money for arts scholarship: “4×4 for Education” in March
  • “Art in the Courtyard” event in partnership with LNHP and the Lowell Folk Festival
  • Programs with Girls Inc., and many other local service organizations.
  • Special exhibit coming in May:  Cambodian

Discussion:

Lowell is much improved since 10 yrs ago.  City council support of LPD has been crucial to downtown quality of life.  Also, improved License Commission oversight.

Update on parking increases?  Parking rate hike for downtown is essentially a tax hike that no other residents have to pay.  At the very least, we need to ensure that trash collection policy and overall tax policy takes downtown residents into account.

New creperie coming to downtown next to Jimmy John’s.  Lowell Burger and Warp&Weft now have their liquor licenses.

Meeting Adjourns at 7:54.

LDNA 09/25/17

7 PM, LTC

Present:

Jack Moynihan

Carolyn Alphen

Stephen Greene  (Arrived 7:30)

Sam Litvin

Meeting called to order at: 7:02

Opening greeting

Approval of minutes

Approval of minutes was put off until next month.

Treasurer’s Report

$588.29 balance.  Everyone is invited to make a voluntary $10 membership contribution.  Our donation to the Lowell Movie Night was well received.

Police Report

Report by Capt. Crowley  (TCrowley@lowellma.gov)

Overall crime count down from last month.  Two of the assaults were random violence against homeless persons.

Q & A:

Issues with homeless persons on Prescott St. blocking doorway of building.  Homeless people cannot be arrested for vagrancy because those laws have been repealed.

Bikes on sidewalk are a concern.

Pan-handlers are a problem, but there’s not much the police can do.  City has tried many approaches, but the pan-handlers have rights.

Important to discriminate between innocuous people and the real problem people.

Issue with vehicles using a shortcut between the LNHP visitor’s center and the area by 110 Canal.  —  Should be posted with “Authorized Vehicles ONY” signage.

Dedicated walk cycle at traffic light at Market & Central works well and should be replicated at other downtown traffic lights.

Presentation by Nick Navin:  Lowell Parking Dept. Director

There’s a need to grow the parking infrastructure to accommodate new growth in downtown area and Hamilton canal.   Also lots of deferred maintenance (including recently completed projects.)       14 years since last rate increase.

Parking rates can be a tool to help control demand rather than endlessly increasing supply.

Q&A / Discussion:

Downtown residents begged for a gradual increase – the big jump is really unfair.

Downtown residents have no choice but to park here – the fee is like a mandatory tax.

Downtown residents pay for trash & recycling subsidy but don’t get any services  — lower parking rates are a bit of an offset to this situation.

Upcoming Lowell City Council subcommittee meeting should be informed about our concerns.

Condo associations need to be informed about the rate increases.  Many associations pay for the parking on behalf of their owners.  This is a major problem with any plan that offers a menu of options.

Discussion with Chief Taylor of LPD:

Homeless people an ongoing issue.  Moving them from one place to another isn’t really working.

Councilor Samaras:  We need to work on improving the Lowell Transitional Living Center so they provide better services.

Legally there just isn’t that much that can be done.

Meeting Adjourns at 8:49.

LDNA 08/28/17

7 PM, LTC

Present:

Jack Moynihan  (Arrived at ~7:15)

Carolyn Alphen

Stephen Greene

Sam Litvin

Meeting called to order at: 7:04

Opening greeting

Approval of minutes

Approval of minutes was put off until next month.

Treasurer’s Report

$629.36 balanace.  Everyone is invited to make a voluntary $10 membership contribution.

Police Report

Report by Capt. Crowley  (TCrowley@lowellma.gov)

Capt. Crowley is the new Sector A (includes downtown area) commander

4 aggravated assaults were domestic related.  (1 was a follow-up on an old case)

4 burglaries (1 was a trespass event)

Disorderlies mostly related to bar closings.

Robberies likely involved drug deals.  No injuries.

80-90% of car breaks involves unlocked vehicles with valuables in plain sight.

• Extra people on shift for college move-in period.
• For people with camera systems in their building, you can email to the LPD.
• Question about activity in front of TD Bank: Bank is hiring a detail officer and police have also focused walking beat officers on that issue.
• Question about aggressive dogs: Animal control officer can respond .
• Question on loud motorcycles: Traffic cars have dB meters and can investigate.
• Question on suspicious activity in Roy garage: In case of doubt – call LPD at (978) 937-3200.

Presentation by Andy Jacobson of COOL on an overview of the upcoming “Creaticity” and “Kinetic Sculpture” events.

Most of market St. closed on Sat & Sun 9/16 – 9/17

Meters bagged on Thurs night.  Ticketing begins Friday at 4pm

Access to garage and Canal place via Palmer Street.  Market Street closed all the way down to Cental St.

Question:  How are you communicating the road closures?  Answer:  Will reach out to property managers.

Porta potties will be provided.

Tents with Artists and Maker’s Fair

Performance Stage, food trucks, street performers.

Writers corner in gallery Z.

9/23  7:00am – 6:00pm market closed between Shattuck and palmer.  Full access to garage from Central except for a brief period around 11:00 when garage access may be blocked for 15-20 minutes.

MANY other events in September  —  See LowellMA.gov events calendar website.

Information

Discussion about avoiding trash route pickups on Fri & Sat.  Will follow up with city.

Questions on status of old power plant renovation at Canal Place

Questions on status of small garden and walkway in front of Roy garage with dead trees.

Request update on Roy parking renovation and parking rates.  Parking rates will be increasing.

Suggstion:  Public bathrooms in the downtown area

Pop-up movie series:  Enterprise Parking Lot 9/7 at 7:30 with free popcorn

Motion by Stephen (2^nd by Jack) to sponsor the movie event with a $50 contribution.

Canalwater cleaners and downtown Lowell cleanup was very successful.

Meeting Adjourns at:  8:12

LDNA  Agenda – September 25, 2017

1. Opening greeting
2. Approval of minutes
3. Treasurer’s Report
4. Police Report
5. Nick Navin of the Lowell Parking Dept. will present upcoming changes to parking rates and discuss other parking related issues.
6. Information

Here is an updated schedule of the street closings for the Folk Festival.  Please note the earlier closing times for some streets on Friday July, 28th.

2017 Folk Fest Street Closings