Author Archives: ldna

Franky for Lowell

From the Patrick Murphy campaign…

Patrick Murphy, candidate for the Lowell City Council, is hosting a Meet and Greet event at Hookslide Kelly’s on 19 Merrimack Street this Friday, August 14th from 7:30 – 9:30pm.

As he is not fundraising for his own campaign, we are asking that those of you whom may be interested in supporting our campaign, instead donate to one of the five local organizations for which Patrick has chosen to raise money. Particularly in these times, as funding for various programs dries up while the hardships that burden many of our city’s families only worsen, we ask those who are able to help financially to help these groups continue in their worthy efforts. Some of these groups will have representatives present on Friday. To help with participation, anyone who donates five dollars or more to one of these organizations will be entered to win a pair of box tickets to see the Lowell Spinners, Single-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. We hope, above all, that this will serve as an opportunity for people to learn about Patrick and what he values most in his community.

Tavaryna Choeun

Shooter in Choeun case held without bail after pleading innocent in Superior Court
http://www.lowellsun.com/breakingnews/ci_12989578
It’s not much…but at least this man is not going anywhere and will have to face the reality of what he has done.
These kids participated in the “Rally for Peace” after the murder of Tavaryna Cheoun. I had an opportunity to meet many of them. Like all of our children; this is the next generation and they need our support.
If you can, please attend; if you can’t make it; send them $8. to support their youth programs.
Dance for Peace
Come and join the next generation of Lowellians as they put on a performance in the name of ending strife. The Annual Dance 4 Peace event is at the Lowell Auditorium and is a collaborative effort between many of the youth programs in the City.
Admission is $8 for adults and $5 for youth; the latter price is reduced to $3 if you bring a children’s book to donate. All proceeds go to the Quoc Le Scholarship Fund, which will be awarded to a Teen Coalition youth. Bring the whole family to this great event!Wed., Aug. 5, 7- 10pm.
For more information call Monica Veth at 978-337-4572.

It’s Electric!

Thanks to my brother the “car guy” I’m looking forward to taking one of these out for a spin…I wonder if there’ll be any “clunker” money left…guess not!
Here’s something I was wondering about: “How will Leaf drivers find these public charging stations? Every example will be equipped with an integrated computer system that is connected to a GPS system and global data center, allowing the Leaf to display its “reachable area” on its sat-nav screen, as well as the location of nearby charging stations. “
Maybe we can ask Mr. Carney to start thinking about some kind of electical “docking station” for the city garages.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/01/2010-nissan-leaf-electric-car-in-person-in-depth-and-u-s-b/
Battery updates:
http://www.examiner.com/x-14333-Green-Transportation-Examiner~y2009m8d5-Nissan-supports-electric-vehicle–infrastructure-deployment-project

LOWELL UPDATE: From Chuck Carney… (this guy is always “way ahead of the game”).
The city Parking Department just acquired an electric car for our on street (Parking Enforcement) division, we plan to have our enforcement officers use this instead of their personal cars. It is more cost effective. We plan on implementing these in the fall timeframe, therefore we will have charging stations in the Downes Parking Garage to charge these vehicles at night.

Add this GM model to the list…from the SUN:
http://www.lowellsun.com/breakingnews/ci_13036512
GM: New Volt to get 230 mpg in city driving

Fair Vote Lowell

City Council Election

Update: 7/30/09
In a SUN story headlined…Move to change charter for elections under way
is this quote by City Councilor Kazanjian “Let the people decide. It is their primary.” http://www.lowellsun.com/local/ci_12936636

I prefer not to call anyone a hypocrite because on any given day depending on the circumstances…there’s a chance I could become one myself (if that happens I hope someone calls me out on it). Just in case… I will say good for him for “seeing the light”. It is the people’s primary and those are the people who should decide.

Also, this just in from Greg’s blog:
http://anewenglanderinlowell.blogspot.com/2009/07/quick-5w-fair-vote-lowell-organization.html
What: Fair Vote Lowell Organization Meeting
Who: ANYONE interested, regardless of past or current involvement level with this initiative
When: Friday, 31 JUL, at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Saint Ann’s Church, 8 Kirk Street
Why: To discuss strategies for gathering enough valid signatures to get the petition on the ballot
Best Point of Contact on this, or any other upcoming related events, would be Dr. Victoria Fahlberg — vfalhberg@onelowell.net

The saga continued last night… there will be no primary election!

If you were not able to attend or watch on television…please take the time to watch your current city government in action before they start asking for your vote this November.

Simply stated by Bob Forrant comment on www.RichardHowe.com
I’ve said elsewhere and I will say it here too, using my real name, that it is a perversion of democracy to have individuals in power vote to change the rules of the game while the game is in progress.

I was happy to see that Dick Howe has video posted of each councilors reasons for/against holding the primary
http://richardhowe.com/category/2009-election/
…except for CC Lenzi, he was absent; as he has stated in the past, it is only convenient for him to attend two CC meetings per month.

If you want to see more of CC R. Mercier’s reasons for “NOT” holding a primary, hop on over to www.leftinlowell.com
In addition there is the statement by CC candidate Partick Murphy…he sounds like a reasonable guy…we should get to know him better.

Yoga at Boarding House Park

Monday nights in Boarding House Park from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Lowell chief blasts ‘lenient’ License Commission

UPDATE: Not this specific subject; but excellent news for Lowell.

Federal grant will provide 12 police officers in Lowell
Lowell Police will receive more than $2 million from the federal government to hire 12 police officers.
The money is part of a $1 billion program that will provide money to hire 131 officers across the state, and nearly 5,000 nationally, Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder said in a release.
The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) will oversee the program. Federal officials said only 1 in 7 grant applications was approved.
To accept the grant, Lowell must agree to hire the officers for four years. The grant will pay only for the first three years.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Sun and watch http://www.lowellsun.com/.

Just got this from SUN on-line:
http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_12858253

“People visiting the city don’t want to see drunken hooligans,” Lavallee said. “They want an environment that is safe and secure. The downtown economy is better served by folks following the letter of the law.”

YEAH!!! You go Chief!
I’ll throw in my 2 cents… read the article and notice all the bars the Chief DOES NOT mention. Chief Lavallee has really done an outstanding job of fostering communication with “drinking establishments” downtown and there are only a few (they are all fairly “new” to the neighborhood) that have no regard for the problems their patrons create when they walk out the door.

Dharma Buns Sandwich Shop

According to their web site Dharma Buns will be serving food outside their Market St. site during the Folk Festival.

‘hood stuff

Tuesday July 14th, 6:30 PM – City Council meeting. Please note on the agenda Councilor Milinazzo has a motion to for an independent legal investigation into whether the council violated the city (Plan E) charter when they voted not to fund assistant city manager, Andy Sheehan’s position.
I am not in the habit of editorializing… however, this motion by a councilor who publicly acknowledged she did it “because she doesn’t like him…” or some such nonsense…SCREAMS out for top honors in the WTF? category. Stay-tuned…I can not imagine one other councilor besides Mr. Milinazzo would possibly have the courage to vote in favor of this motion. To put it simply…this is sad, sad, sad for the city.


Which leads me to remind everyone:
http://www.fairvotelowell.org/ Petitions for an initiatve to be placed on this November’s ballot are due within the next week. If have the petition, please call or send me an email at: kmarcin@gmail.com

Wednesday July 15th, and EVERY Wednesday – Traditional Irish Music at The Old Court

Every Friday, 2-7 PM – Farmer’s Market – JFK Plaza

Police probe triple shooting in Lowell

Will someone explain to me how we get people to JUST STOP this?

Update: Since no one has any suggestions for aforementioned question…and if they did; I would not have need to ask…

from the SUN
“…a Lawrence man, was arrested Saturday and charged with assault with intent to murder, illegal possession of a firearm, illegal possession of ammunition, and discharging a firearm in connection with the University Avenue shooting, police said. “
http://www.lowellsun.com/breakingnews/ci_12826754

As usual…thank you to all at LPD that do an amazing job.