Category Archives: Minutes

February Meeting Notes / March Agenda

Reminder That our March meeting is as regularly scheduled: 7PM on Monday, March 23rd at LTC. Agenda is as follows:

1. Introduction of Officers and Elected/City Officials

2. Approval of Minutes from 02.23.2015

3. Treasure’s Report

4. LPD report

5. Susan Halter, Ex Director COOL “ARTS & EVENTS IN LOWELL 2015”

6. Danielle Mucciarone, Energy and Environmental Planner

Northern Middlesex Council of Government

Regional Transportation Plan; Public input needed

7. Misc. Announcements

 

02/23/15 Meeting Notes

7 PM Start

Present

Susan Purdy

Jack Moynihan

Stephen Greene

Carolyn Mooney

Corey Sciuto

Approval of minutes

Passed

Treasurer’s Report

$2.13 in the bank

Board Elections

All running unopposed – Motion to keep current board. Passes

Lt. Matt Penrose, LPD

1/23-2/22 Incident Report

Lowell Police Department reports they are working well with the bars and the parking garages. The bars will turn the lights on and stop serving if things get too rowdy and the garages are opening their gets so LPD can get in.

Colleen Brady – Can we get cruisers patrolling the garages?

We have been following people into the garages when the bars get out. If we find people drinking in there, we act on it immediately.

Darryl – Can we deal with the crowds at Merrimack and Dutton at nights?

Lt. Penrose says they will look into patrolling there more. In general, they work to keep people moving.

Jack – People in cars are still not paying attention to the traffic lights, esp at Central and Market.

Lt. Penrose says they’ll police that intersection.

Corey – Citizen Police Academy starts up on Thursday

Misc.

Susan mentioned that Northern Middlesex Council of Governments (NMCOG) wants to meet up with us soon. Corey posted their Survey to the Facebook feed: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/?sm=HPRYN2aHbheyf40SXIGm59GNSGaGRpwqxdsxpoMnnEE%3d

Stephen is working on the neighborhood meet-up. Contact him if you are interested.

Councilor Belanger

We need to increase turnover in parking spaces on nights and weekends. In the next few months, we are going to begin enforcing the posted hours

Fr. Dwight – What about Sundays?

We will look into it.

Corey Sciuto – Can we require parking passes in condo fees?

It wouldn’t go over well.

Susan, Jack – Validated parking; passes not tied to plates?

We’ll look into it.

8:15 Adjournment

 

 

 

November 2014 Meeting Minutes

LDNA monthly meeting – November 24, 2014

Notes taken by Stephen

In attendance Stephen Greene, Jack Moynahan, Capt. Kelly Richards, Eric Sand, Lara Taveras, Counselor William Samaras.

Absent with notice Susan Purdy, Corey, Caroline

The meeting had sparse attendance because it was just before the Thanksgiving holiday

Minutes from October were accepted with Stephen making the motion and Jack seconding.

Capt. Kelly Richardson made the police report. He indicated that there had been a problem in the Roy garage and there are additional patrols especially in light of the holidays and the likelihood that there be more materials, or cash on people during the season. With respect to liquor establishments, Reservations has been a problem recently, this is on Central Street. In general downtown the kids have been a problem – combination of being disrespectful and also problem with bicycles and skateboards.

The city Council is concerned about the quality of life issues downtown and they are working on this.

Also, light in the downtown is being looked at as there are sections where light is poor or absent. In particular, a section of Paige street were ownership of the lights is not clear.

John Noto of Lowell Makes presented information about the organization which is a nonprofit and open for membership. They have a lot of fun useful equipment available and people can join. They have a number of different membership levels. They have teaching space, a computer lab, 3-D printing and refreshments, a bike shop, a laser cutter, an electronics lab, there is leather maker and a metal shop. So there are lots of things that people can do. They even have had their first entrepreneurial spinoff. They also have free Wi-Fi and recently added a pottery kiln. A Lowell Makes flyer is available.

Stephen talked briefly about the condo and commercial recycling through a city downtown program that the Solid Waste and Recycling department has discussed He pointed out that even though buildings have cooperative programs, these programs can have their ups and downs. The density of the units downtown will require a different way of handling recycled materials. He pointed out for example, Market Gallery was 22 residential units and that having 22 recycling bins would be an impossible task to deal with because of the lack of space.

Stephen also talked about community solar program it is something being put forward by Next Step Living. The program allows people who do not have the physical space for solar panels or are renters to participate in a solar program. The concept depends on having one major anchor tenant for a megawatt size solar field which is located somewhere else and then the rest of the project is divided up into ~2% shares. The advantage to being involved in the program is the approximate 5% savings on your electric charges. The anchor tenant gets larger savings which is quite significant and especially considering the fact that electric rates expected to jump approximately 30 or more percent this sound this year. Stephen will get more information from our January meeting.

During open discussion:
Interest was expressed in an electric vehicle charging station in the Roy Garage. Stephen will bring that information back to the Green Building Commission and see if there is some possibilities of having something like that made available.

There are charging stations at UTEC, the Earlie garage.
The City Council is looking into downtown lighting.
Bikes and skateboard issues.
It is time for traffic enforcement as cars are not yielding to pedestrians in cross walks.
A reminded that the full complement of police in Lowell was 260. We currently have 235.
Reminder for the City Lights Parade on Saturday 11/29. The will be parking restrictions on Merrimack, Central and Jackson. Free parking in the garages until 8 PM.
The next meeting will be January 26 and no meeting in December.

June 24 2014 Meeting Notes

<Notes taken by Stephen Greene>

City Councilors Lahey and Belanger were in attendance.  The key speaker was new city manager Kevin Murphy

Minutes were approved.  The financial report indicated we have $210. The plan is to have a Fall event that will be in a very public Downtown space.  Stephen will coordinate.  He will see if we might use a downtown parking lot on a weekday evening

Guest Speaker – City Manager Kevin Murphy

Murphy is a lifelong resident of the city.  His plan is to spur economic development in the downtown.  There is a weekend downtown cleanup that includes special cleanup of major streets on Saturday and Sunday. It was noted that the streets are cleaner.  It was pointed out that some private spaces along the street collect trash.  The City will work with those owners to try to get them to clean it up these private spots that are publicly visible.

It was noted that submitting comments and problems the e-Gov is the better way to go because it’s tracked more easily.  Susan Purdy pointed out that walk ability the sidewalks is a concern.

The point was made that we need more income downtown to support more businesses.  That lead to discussion about longer hours for the stores because they close to early which discourages people from shopping downtown.

There is a need push for more market rate housing downtown.

The city Council is working on improving the parking downtown. Council Belanger pointed out that he is working on parking and working with the garages.

<Corey picks up at 07:23>

<Parking>

Councilor Belanger – We are continuing to look at how to remain competitive w/r/t other cities and towns.

Chris H – how is finding a new DPD director going?

Mgr. – 28 applicants, 5 finalists, interviews this week.

Ted Lavash – Great Race was a great event

Craig H – Finn’s Pub is not causing the danger.

? – Market Rate Housing in Downtown Lowell?

We are not going to provide any more tax incentives to low-income housing. We have done our part.

<Buses>

The City Manager does have a 24% voting position on the Lowell Regional Transit Authority Council

<Back to Marketing>

Mill No Five. Two weeks and we will announce Jackson connecting to Fletcher. $15m.

<Complete Streets projects?>

Bruce Freeman, etc.

8:11 PM Manager done.

City Council meeting

Item on fireworks, new fine $300 being proposed.

City Wi-Fi being proposed.

Stephen Greene – Interested in working groups? Email board@ldna01852.org

Corey – To send out poll.

August meeting is ON.

We will work on identifying issues we want to try to address this year at the August meeting.

Reminder about the Logo competition: https://www.facebook.com/LDNA.LowellMA/posts/665447446861235

Suggestion to reach out to artist groups, etc.

<Discussion about Social>

April 2014 Meeting

Lowell Downtown Neighborhood Association – 04/28/14

 

Present:

Susan Purdy – Co-President

Jack Moynihan – Co-President

Stephen Greene – Vice President

Carolyn Mooney – Treasurer

Corey Sciuto – Secretary

 

Start Time 7:07

 

Accept March Meeting Minutes

Motion by Jack

Second – Susan

 

Treasurer’s Report – Carolyn

$162.29. Account will be opened this week. Enterprise Bank.

 

SGT Michael Giuffrida – Sector A

Discuss Compstat reports 3/26-4/27

 

George D – Smash-and-grabs seem down?

  • Typical for year-over-year.

 

Eric Eby – Traffic Engineer, Two-Way Street restoration

  • Begins in June, switch over in August.
  • Idea began with Jeff Speck plan in 2010 http://www.lowellplan.org/sites/default/files/forms/EvolPlanVolume2/EvolutionPlanLowResV2.pdf. Current consultants who did much more thorough analysis say that Merrimack St can also be made two-way.
  • No American city that has gone to two-way flow has ever changed back.
  • Mostly signal work.
  • Darryl H – Concerns about double-parking on Shattuck
  • Streets are too narrow for bike lanes
  • Middle lane of Roy (Market) garage will switch morning/night for in/out traffic.
  • Losing a dozen parking spaces total.
  • (Questions about specific intersections, walk signal timing, etc)
  • Eric to get us the presentation.

Eda Matchak

City Census – Important, there are extra forms if you’ve missed yours. Contact Eda.

There are applications for absentee ballots if they know they will not be in Lowell or able to reach the poll ahead of time (the Saturday before the election).

Legislation is 3rd Reading in the House right now to reform voting laws:

  • Currently, you MUST register at least 20 days ahead of time to vote in Lowell
  • Discussion about the Vote 17 Home Rule initiative, which would become possible if this bill passes.
  • Online Voter Registration.
  • Absentee Ballots for any reason.

Ward 2 Polling Location issues – how is the Tsongas Center?

  • Masonic is out – ramp is not accessible.
  • LTC? Might be too small for three precincts
  • Hellenic Academy? Trying to get out of schools
  • Downstairs of Library? Might also be too small for three precincts.
  • ICC? No – alcohol service makes them not legal
  • MCC Library? Interesting…
  • Auditorium
  • Where can the bus get to? Doesn’t go to Tsongas.
  • We could split the precincts up.
  • Space across from the Brush.

Supt. Taylor

  • Refocusing on Community Policing
  • Evidence-based with sector-assigned crime analysis.
  • Emphasis on non-vehicular patrols.
  • New sector/district maps, more police downtown.
  • Changes to prisoner management and transportation
  • Five new patrol officers overall.
  • 8.7% decrease y/o/y Compstat crimes Dec-Feb. Looking like 15% now.
  • Segway police are going to do some patrols for crosswalks and jaywalking.
  • There were criminal complaints about the manager at Finn’s Pub. There are two complaints about them currently, but this one is very serious. The License Commission meeting will be on the 8th of this month.

Reminder: No May Meeting.

March Meeting 3/24/14

Present:

Jack Moynihan – Co-Chair

Susan Purdy – Co-Chair

Stephen Greene – VP

Carolyn Mooney– Treasurer

Corey Sciuto – Secretary

 

7:09 PM – Start

 

Treasurer’s Report:

Carolyn reports we had to close our account @ Mill42 as they are no longer doing commercial accounts.

We have $132.29 that will be put into an account with Enterprise Bank in 4-6 weeks when our paperwork clears.

Reminder that dues are back up to $10.

 

Mayor Rodney Elliott:

What has improved?

  • Implemented new regulations around bars, etc.
  • More patrols on the streets, esp. around closing time for bars.
  • Reversion—with Councilor Belanger and others—to a Community Policing model.
    • Police will be more prevalent in hot spots
    • Also focus on a more comprehensive response with code enforcement, etc.

What can be done?

  • Bring back the street-sweeping people.
    • Agreement from the Neighborhood Association.
    • Sam L – Can we use this as a community service role? Susan – Can we use it for elderly tax abatement?
      • Mayor – Good ideas, but we need somebody dedicated.
  • C. Belanger – Remember that we’ve had a rough winter and things are worse than usual having been in snow banks, etc. Overall, agreed we need weekend cleaners. We need to be presentable to business owners, residents; visitors.
  • Task force for businesses and economic development. To echo Belanger, parking is important.
  • Reminder that the one-way street changes are happening.

Questions?

  • Eric Sack – Questions about the “Asset Buildings” at Market Mills / Canal Place.
    • Mayor to look into it.
  • Sam L – Stairwell cleanliness in the garages?
    • Jim Troupe, Parking Director – The garage maintenance company owns the garage but the power washer is only occasionally available. It’s currently in Hartford. There are also significant repairs scheduled by the city for the garage.
    • C. Belanger – we need garage cleanup to be more accessible.
    • Michael B – Is there an option of bathrooms? Usually not, they aren’t in accessible areas?
  • Sam L – What about the broken garage gate in the Market Garage?
    • Jim T – working on it.
  • George DeLuca – Is there a schedule for the two-way conversions? Will it impact the Folk Festival?
    • Mayor Elliott – It’s over a couple of months.
    • Susan P – Eric Eby will be here next month (4/28) to talk about the rollout. It should be ready by August.
  • Susan P – Lowell has been looked at very positively in the Boston-Area Media lately. Why did Rep. Golden say that Mayor Elliott was going to save the city?
    • Mayor Elliott doesn’t know.
  • Michael B – Perception of Lowell is lagging reality. Is there more outside marketing that can be done?
    • Mayor: Budget on marketing is tight but we have spent thousands. Further reductions in crime and things like parking and cleanliness can go a long way towards helping that issue as one bad event can cancel out many good ones.
    • Changing the image of the high school, continuing no-tolerance w/r/t gangs there, will help. We need to beat the gangs, although we have done a lot there already.We can also work more closely with the NPS to get visitors.
    • C. Belanger – Echoes what Mayor Elliott said. In addition, the .75% meals tax hike is NOT going to marketing as it should. It’s hard to market tourists from Boston as Lowell is a small city and far away.
  • There is a livability issue w/r/t Boston however, and we can do better with that. Also, there are a lot of problem properties.
    • Mayor Elliott – Economic Development Tax Force will be looking at those.
  • Corey S – Related: What’s up with the Red X on the old Appleton Bank Building?
    • Seems like it’s being repaired.
  • Stephen G – We are getting more cultural events, BSO music, up from Boston, etc.
    • Mayor Elliott – How did you find this?
      • Boston Globe
  • Stephen G – What’s going on with the Enel situation and the Eastern Canal bridge in Kearney Sq?
    • Enel and the city are in a legal battle right now over a change from a PILOT to a full assessment on the Boott Hydro facility. They are dragging their feet on this now.
    • The cost to improve all of the Enel Bridges, if the city owned them, is over $20M.
  • Susan P – How can we improve the River Walk? Music, etc.
    • Supt. National Parks received grant funding to extend the Rvierwalk.
  •  Corey S – How do we get more UML kids downtown?
    • Mayor: We have the UCard. We need more businesses to bring more businesses downtown.
  • Sam L – What can we do about security on the Riverwalk?
    • Jack – Some of the Segway officers are going to be out there.
    • Sgt Cullen – We hope to get more officers.
  • Corey S for Fr. Hoeberechts – Where will recycling be?
    • Mayor Elliott – Not Bagshaw Mills! Need to have a public process.

8:10 Mayor Elliott Concludes – further questions contact Celine Gettings.

 

Sgt. Cullen – We are re-organizing the department.

  • Crime statistics for the past month were a little high. A lot of the assaults are domestics, which are very hard to handle.
  • Going back to Community Policing with task forces per sector, data-driven analysis.
  • Michael B – How do you look at Broken Windows?
    • We take it very seriously. Streetlights out, dead animals, etc.
  • George DeLuca – Can we find the crime reports online?
    • Yes, they are still there…if they got lost in the website move, they will be fixed.
  • Do we perhaps have too many cruisers? Are the lights an issue?
    • It’s a difficult balance between foot patrols and response time in cruisers.
  • Carolyn – Do you work closely with the NPS police? There have been a lot of breaks in their lot.
    • Those usually go to us, yes.
    • We did have a rash of broken car windows—addicts—in the past month. Arrests were made.
  • Darryl – March 3, 9:25 AM. Issues keeping cars out of the bus stop on Shattuck St. Police Dpt. not taking  it seriously.
    • Completely unacceptable—goes against police legitimacy. Talk after the meeting.
  • George DeLuca – Commending the updates to Community Policing, having more officers on the beat. Also, the panhandling has cut way down. What are the changes in increased enforcement at the library?
    • Thanks, and yes, we are in the library more often. The library and panhandling are a very difficult balance between policing and civil rights issues.
    • Alpha Sector – Lt. Dan Laroque (Days), Sgt Cullen (Evenings), Night – no changes.

 

Old Business – Garage Security

 

(8:30) Rich Dillon, Matt Jarek from security company (US Security).

  • Jack, speaking for Elaine Wood – What do we do about people driving the wrong way and the partying in the garage?
    • Rich D – We’re increasing patrols, the Roy Garage has been an issue. There are people patrolling on foot and in carts. We are being proactive – looked for parties in a car on a recent weekend and found none. We have a new regulation with no smoking in the garage to enforce as well.
    • The first point of contact for any issues should be the security in the garage.
  • Sam L – there seems to be a wide range of guards working the garage. Some are really good, some don’t do much. What evaluation of guards do you use?
    • We brought on any old guards that could pass the background checks from the old company. We believe we have high standards.
    • There is a dispatch number posted in the garages (1-800-228-3840) call to report issues.

New Business

Spring cleanup – Saturday, April 26th. Coordinated with Canalwater Cleaners. Kicks off @ Mack Plaza @ 9AM.

  • Darryl – is there anything to do to clean the canals better?
    • Stephen and Jack – Enel won’t let us in the canals. There are live wires in there.

Eric Eby from the Traffic office and perhaps Eda Matchak from the Elections office will be here next month

 

Meeting Adjourned, 8:48

 

 

 

February Meeting Minutes

LDNA Meeting 02/24

Present:

Stephen Greene

Corey Sciuto

 

New board:

Carolyn Mooney

Jack Moynahan

Susan Purdy

 

18 residents and guests.

 

Started at 7:00

 

Elections: Passed unanimously

October meeting minutes accepted.

 

Corey Secretary’s report:

www.ldna01852.org

Twitter: @ldna01852

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LDNA.LowellMA

Email: contact@ldna01852.org

Action: Corey to get Code Red URL and re-broadcast: http://www.lowellma.gov/citymanager/neighborhood/Pages/General/City-Notifications.aspx

 

Supt. Taylor mentions there is also a Smartphone app.

When do snow bans end? The LPD will call it – there are two hours to move your car out of the garage.

 

Carolyn treasurer’s report

We need to leave Mill42 Credit Union because they are not on with Commercial Accounts anymore. Enterprise Bank is our new banker.

Membership vote to go back to $10 to help cover the cost of LTC and the web hosting. People who are over 70 or under 18, membership is $1.

Unanimous to bring dues back up to $10.

 

Sam suggests that we go to the Condo Associations for money.

7:26 New Police Superintendent Bill Taylor.

Heavy focus on Community Policing. We have fewer officers than we had in the 1990s because there isn’t the same amount of state and federal grant funding.

Four sectors with six officers assigned to each sector – foot and bike patrols.

Two crime analysts working with two sector’s officers apiece.

Two additional officers will be downtown on Segways on each shift.

Gang members today are older than they used to be. They have long records and involved in the drug trade. Organizations such as UTEC are not effective against these older people. LPD needs to focus more heavily on bringing down narcotics organizations.

Drug trafficking in Marijuana is 50 lbs, and each lb is worth $3k today.

LPD Phone Number: (978) 937-3200

 

Residents discussed the Market St garage issues again.

 

8:08 done.

 

Old Business

Interest in committees? (Elaine Wood, elections)

 

New Business

Interest in committees?

 

Announcements from Susan.

 

8:15:

 

Councilor Corey Belanger speaks

Two-way traffic, better ADA crosswalks, etc. This summer.

Tuesday March 18 5:30 Citywide parking ordinance.

 

Meeting ends 8:30

October Minutes

10/28 Lowell Downtown Neighborhood Assn. Meeting

6:55 Kathleen is resigning after 10 years to focus more heavily on work.

City Mgr. Bernie Lynch – State of the City

Finances – we are in very good shape; face challenges.

• Unfunded liabilities – retirement, etc.

• Negative cash-on-hand 2006. $14M in reserves today

• We are $12M below our legal Prop 2 ½ levy ceiling.

• Bond rating has been upgraded.

• We have invested $180M in infrastructure in the past 7 years.

o Met-Life’s $60M tax credit investment in Appleton Mills was credited

to our bond rating.

o $14M this year

o Target the same next year.

• Parks & Rec is the largest it has been in 13-14 years.

• Public Safety: We are largely on a downward trend but are experiencing a

spike.

Continue reading

April Monthly Meeting

April 22nd, 2013

This month’s guests were Parking Director James Troup and Traffic Engineer Eric Eby.

Start 7:04

Captain Sullivan – Not much to report. Going after homeless people sleeping in Kerouac Park.

Greg – $179.29, $5 for those from 18-70 (plus $25 today)

Eric Eby – Traffic

·      Crosswalk @ Shattuck and Market? Would require ADA crosswalk and a loss of a crosswalk

·      Two-way street conversion may complicate this. May 29th (Wednesday) public meeting in Mayor’s Reception room @ 6:00 to discuss traffic changes. Don’t lose any parking. Merrimack even two-way.

·      Sullivan – all at once changes?

o   Yes, Summer 2014

·      Craig – Light synchronization is a problem. Public safety issues if we make these changes?

o   We’ll do what we can.

·      George – We need to make signalization paramount and ADA compliancy.

·      Ken – How was this idea created?

o   Jeff Speck plan.

·      Ken – Dutton/Overpass rotary is scary, especially inbound

o   4-way at Fletcher/Jackson

·      Sun Blg is a mess, how long till it’s fixed?

o   18 more months they’re saying.

o   Henri will send info to LDNA.

·      Corey – can we do something about the curb width at Central and Market?

o   Craig – and the sidewalk in front of Centro is a mess.

o   George – I hear this sort of thing from a lot of people with wheelchairs.

§  Henri – Contact Chris Samaras

o   Downtown sidewalks are horrible – I have to replace my wheels…tree roots, etc.

·      Eric – Line painting on May 6, citywide. Not the crosswalks

o   Steven – Sharrows?

§  No.

o   New light at Lawrence and Church

o   Redo VFW/Bridge

o   New University Ave Bridge (Howe) will open by fall. New light @ Pawtucket and Fletcher.

§  Monument where old bridge was.

Jim Troupe – Parking

·      172 new Kiosks, significant amount replacing existing kiosks.

·      Major spring cleanup with Republic Parking by college graduations

·      Working with UML to study garages – prioritizing structural issues in existing garages.

·      We still have issues with the security vendor

o   US Security is the security vendor.

§  Jim – called the regional manager for US Security myself.

o   LPD can help out 10-11.

·      Craig – Can we run breathalyzers leaving the Roy Garage?

·      Sam – The new company is far, far worse.

o   Security guard was told to not leave cashier

o   Madison used to have two.

·      Sam – New Kiosks hopefully are better than the old ones

o   Amarao is the kiosk again.

o   We’ll have new signage, etc.

o   Kiosks will be moving to 4G.

·      Cameras in the staircases?

o   Would be nice.

o   Sam – also please power-wash them.

·      Credit card minimum is $2 for cost reasons.

·      Steven – please clean drains in the garage…they’re decaying.

·      Homeless People are hitting the machines until they give up coins.

·      Shattuck St – people are parking in the bus stop, blocking the handicapped ramp.

·      Early Garage is too narrow – can we restrict the end-spaces to compact cars?

·      Corey – Roy garage isn’t much better

o   We’ll fix it.

·      John – when does US Security come up to bid again?

o   Very discressionary…3 yr contract.

·      Corey – can we re-examine the fee structure to balance garage and street parking?

o   Yes

·      Craig – Peak hours of parking misbehavior are often late at night. We are not helping restaurant businesses.

o   Meters might have event rates.

Corey

·      Neighborhood cleanup – Mack Plaza 9:30 on Saturday

·      Meeting on Thursday license commission.

End 8:30
Post meeting
Eric:

the city has several bike ring bollards that we are looking to install in key areas around the city. One thought is to put one up between each parking meter number post in the downtown, but I wanted to get your group’s input as to whether you would like to see them in certain spots more than others. They look like a parking meter post with a ring that is used to lock a bike on each side. You may have seen similar ones in the downtown already.

We are looking to install them shortly, so any input you have would be appreciated.

March Meeting Notes

March 25, 2013

7:03 – Started

Retirement party for Chief Levalee 2-4 Friday, March 29

Kathleen Passed out crime statistics

Reminder: Rentees must do a $50 inspection every three years

Absentee ballots are available for Senate Primary – City Hall, election office.

 

Henri Marchand

City boards have openings

  • Animal Advisory non-dog owner
  • Taxi and Livery
  • Solid Waste
  • May be a few more (City HR site)

Captain Sullivan

  • Did very well this month including St. Patrick’s Day
  • 8 disorderly conduct (7 of them 11-3 Thursday-Saturday by O.T. officers)
  • Officers are out in key areas @ 1:45. 
  • Vandalism, vomiting, etc are way down. 
  • 10 officers and two supervisors on Saturday.
  • MV breaks down (four this month)
  • More work to do getting patrolling going in the Market St garage.
    • Used to be more patrols with the old company.
    • Bill Riley is the new garage security head.
    • Pre-gaming going on again in the garages
    • Cleanliness issues with the stairwells.
    • Cars that haven’t moved in 72 hours can be towed.
  • Motion detector in Derby Park to help with public urination?
  • Graffiti on Back Prescott St.
  • Increasing patrols on Canalway over by 30 Market – kids shooting at windows.
  • New acting superintendent – Deborah Friedl. Should come to one of her meetings.

Steve Perez (D-Tension)

  • Downtown is missing a local live music venue.
  • Bought the Under Impact on Merrimack and Palmer Sts.
  • Looking to reach out to the neighborhood to address noise, etc before it gets going.
  • Taking on the old name, The Safe.
  • Reach out on Facebook (Dee Tension)
  • The Safe will to install deadening equipment – Steve has a lot of experience as an Audio Engineer
  • 100 person capacity

Stephen Greene

  • Master Plan being discussed tomorrow – green space
  • Mack Plaza / Victorian Garden
    • Broken granite columns ($150k repair!)
    • DCR property
    • There are 27 benches – some should be fixed.
    • $17,000 plumbing bill for fountain last year.
    • Pruning will be done.
  • What other improvements?
    • We’re seeing more trash receptacles
    • Cast iron tree pits broken
    • Broken sidewalks
    • DPD – is adding additional trees in Lucy Larcom
    • Additional barrel in Lucy Larcom
    • Chess boards @ Mack
    • Lighting improvements @ Kerouac
    • Community Gardens Neighborhood cleanup (April 27th 9 AM Mack Plaza)

8:06 ends

February meeting minutes

Meeting opened at 7:00 PM on Monday, February 25th


Captain Sullivan, LPD

Discussed parking issues with the kiosks. Reminder: There is an appeal process for parking tickets.

Violent crime is down however, street robberies of tech devices are up 15%. LPD asks that people are aware of their surroundings when using smartphones, etc.

Winterfest went well – Saturday was quiet due to storm

An individual named Ryan Parrot broke 20 cars, 8-9 businesses, and 10 houses in the downtown area recently. He was caught and remains in jail. Somewhat typical for a one person spree to go this way.

Will look at Handicapped Loading Zone signs. May not be large enough.

Traffic calming: Two-way street conversion pending. Raised Crosswalks? Eric Eby (Transit Engineer) to coordinate w/ Corey Sciuto (LDNA secretary). More information at end of minutes.

Associate planner Aaron Clausen

Flood Insurance – FEMA redrew maps, putting many downtown buildings against canals into an A zone, which is expensive to insure. Surveyors cannot help because there is no base flood elevation with canals, so buildings cannot get a map modification (LOMA).

Options for people downtown: Properties that are in Historic Districts do not get treated like they are in a flood plain. Contact Steve Stowell @ Lowell Historic Board for more information. There is also a grandfathering process for buildings that weren’t in flood plains when built/substantially modified. This is not a LOMA, but an insurance modification. New buildings in historic districts may not be able to get special rates in flood areas.

Due to their historic building status, Canal Place I and III just got put in an X again.

We discussed that on Thursday, March 7th at 6 PM, City Councilor Marty Lorrey will be holding a meeting with representatives from Army Corp of Engineers and FEMA. The meeting will be in City Council Chamber.

John Nappi – There is a new FEMA form for arbitration:

Now available! FEMA has launched their new web application – the Online LOMC!
Visit www.fema.gov/online-lomc to learn more about the new Online Letter of Map Change (LOMC) application and to see the new live site. Applicants can use this new website to electronically request a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) instead of applying for a LOMA using the MT-1 or MT-EZ paper forms. A LOMA is a letter from FEMA stating that an existing structure or parcel of land will not be inundated by the base flood. LOMA-eligible requests must be concerning properties on naturally high ground, which have not been elevated by fill.

Are there any other condo associations trying to get voluntary flood/earthquake insurance? How was it priced? How do we need to know how much to buy? Ayer Lofts is wondering… Kathleen Marcin suggests we talk to a local insurance provider to talk to different associations.

Meeting ended at 8:15.
Adam Baacke – Assistant City Manager

The two-way conversion work is being designed now. We anticipate holding a public meeting at some point in the coming months to discuss it once we have the traffic analysis complete and know what is and isn’t possible. Construction could occur as early as the Fall, provided the Council ultimately approves the funding for the project in the Capital Plan, which will be presented to them in the early Spring.

With respect to the crosswalk, we agree with some of your concerns about it and also agree that the present location is not ideal. I believe it was located there by either the National Park and/or the former State Heritage Park. Nelson Nygaard and TEC, the design engineers working on the two-way conversion project, are looking at improving its location and associated sight lines for drivers in conjunction with the larger project.

Raised crosswalks have in the past been opposed by the Fire Department and DPW because of their impact on emergency response and snow operations. It is not immediately clear the extent of those concerns on Market Street if the overall two-way conversion plan is implemented and includes Merrimack Street. The two-way conversion will however have two significant benefits for pedestrian safety even if raised crosswalks are not ultimately feasible. First, two-way conversions have been proven to slow traffic speeds and in many cases eliminate speeding. Second, two-way traffic on streets with multiple signalized intersections discourages jay walking by eliminating the long gaps in traffic caused by red lights on one-way streets.