Category Archives: Massachusetts

CITY COUNCIL ELECTION TIME IS NEAR…

FAIR VOTE LOWELL
Fair Vote Lowell is an initiative to increase voter participation, open up opportunities for new candidates, and create local elective bodies that are representative of all residents in Lowell, Massachusetts.Our mission is simple: We’re here to transform Lowell’s voting system for local elections of city councilors and school committee from the current “Winner take All” system to “Choice Voting”, a system that is fair and promotes greater representation for all.We invite you to explore our site and join us in transforming our voting system in Lowell. http://www.fairvotelowell.org/

What is Choice Voting? Choice voting is a type of proportional representation that works on the principle that all voters have a right to someone they support. With Choice voting, the majority still receives a majority of the representation, but some seats are available to other voters, so that all voters can be fairly represented. To vote, voters rank the candidates in order of preference. If your top choice loses, your vote goes to your next preferred candidate. After a choice voting election, each elected candidate represents a distinct and equal-sized group of like-minded voters.

I have the petition…please let me know if you have not had an opportunity to sign one.
KMM

Dick Howe takes a historical look at Lowell’s previous use of “Choice Voting” http://richardhowe.com/2009/06/17/is-choice-voting-right-for-lowell/

Candidate web sites to date:
Ryan Berard
http://www.ryanberard.com/
Franky Descoteaux
http://www.frankyforlowell.com/
Joe Mendonca
http://www.mendonca.org/
James Milinazzo
http://jimmilinazzo.homestead.com/
Patrick Murphy
http://thinkmurphy.com/

Update: I received an email from Ryan Berard;
The First Campaign Fundraiser is scheduled for July 16th at the East End Club from 6-10PM.

The Invention of Lying

There’s a SUN article today about the trailer for “The Invention of Lying”…
watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgOtGpW2qrc

The neighborhood looks pretty good!

LOWELL SUMMER MUSIC SERIES

LOWELL SUMMER MUSIC SERIES
AT BOARDING HOUSE PARK

June 27 Los Lobos
July 10 Los Lonely Boys
July 11 Ani DiFranco
July 17 Michael Franti and Spearhead
July 18 Aimee Mann
July 24-26 23rd Annual Lowell Folk Festival
July 30 Joan Baez
July 31 Blues Traveler
August 1 Melissa Ferrick and Catie Curtis
August 7 Dar Williams
August 8 The Derek Trucks Band
August 14 Jakob Dylan and the Wallflowers
August 15 Entrain
August 21 Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul
August 22 Livingston Taylor
August 28 Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience
August 29 Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters
September 4 Hot Tuna
September 5 Tom Rush
September 12 30th Annual Banjo and Fiddle Contests
September 18 Gaelic Storm

For tickets and information visit www.LowellSummerMusic.org

LOWELL FILM COLLABORATIVE SCHEDULE

LFC has quite a schedule of movies this summer…get all the info on their “upcoming events” page.
http://lowellfilmcollaborative.org/upcoming-lfc-events/

Scenes from a Parish [2009] Tuesday, May 26 / 7PM Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center 246 Market Street, Lowell.

Circuit [2009] Tuesday, June 2 / 7PM Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center 246 Market Street, Lowell.

Right at Your Door [2006] Thursday, June 11 / 7 PMThe premiere of the Cinema at Studio A film seriesLowell Telecommunications Corporation 246 Market St., Lowell

A Convenient Truth: Urban Solutions from Curitiba, Brazil [2006] Presented by the Lowell Film Collaborative in partnership with the Lowell Green Building Commission, Thursday, June 18 / 6:30 -9PM Tabocas Brazilian Steakhouse

Nerdcore Rising [2008] Thursday, June 25 / 7 p.m. Part of the Cinema at Studio A film series Lowell Telecommunications Corporation 246 Market St., Lowell

Twelve [2008] Thursday, July 9 / 7 p.m. Part of the Cinema at Studio A film seriesLowell Telecommunications Corporation 246 Market St., Lowell

Momma’s Man [2008] Thursday, July 16 / 7 p.m. Part of the Cinema at Studio A film series Lowell Telecommunications Corporation 246 Market St., Lowell

"The Fighter"

Anyone else think “Ted” would be perfect for this movie?

Open Casting Call for “The Fighter”Sat., May 30th

Boston Casting, a local feature film casting company, is holding an open casting call at the Lowell VFW Hall for a new Mark Wahlberg film, The Fighter. The casting call will be held from 10am – 4 pm, and is open to union and non-union actors who are 18 years of age and older. More information: http://www.lowell.com/news/2009/wahlberg-casting-1023.php

LOWELL FILM COLLABORATIVE AT ATHENIAN

MOVIE NIGHT
“NEVER ON SUNDAY”
MONDAY, MAY 18TH, 7PM
“Never on Sunday” [1960]Part of the Lowell Film Collaborative’s “Food & Film Series”!
When Homer (Jules Dassin) takes a trip to Greece, he meets free-spirited prostitute Ilya (Melina Mercouri) and arrogantly decides to become her Svengali in this internationally celebrated classic.
Nominated for several Oscars, won Best Song. Arrive early at 6pm and enjoy a wonderful Greek dinner (order off the menu) prior to the film! [Some Greek with English subtitles]
Mon., May 18, 7pm, Athenian Corner Greek Restaurant, 207 Market St., LowellMore information: www.lowellfilmcollaborative.org

Doors Open Lowell 2009

MAY 14TH – 17TH

LDNA

Links to topics from our meeting

The presentation is on line at the Green Building Commission’s Web Site.
Visit: http://greenbuilding.lowellma.gov/ It is on the Home page under Updates.
http://greenbuilding.lowellma.gov/resources/Lowell%20Healthy%20Homes%20Presentation%2020091.pdf

The talk hand out information is available at TURI
For more information on toxics and TURI:
Visit: www.turi.org/community

The other information –

Pamela Howland’s knitting group
http://www.meetup.com/The-Lowell-Knitting-Meetup-Group/

For more information on the Downtown Entrepreneurs Group send an email to me, greenesh@comcast.net and I will put you in contact with the organizers.

Green Drinks meets every second Tuesday of the month at 5:30 at Lowell Beer Works.

Sign up for the list serve. Instructions are posted here (scroll down a little):
http://www.greendrinks.org/index.php?country=USA&city=Lowell,%20MA

Or they can just send an email to:
green-drinks-join@lists.thecsl.org

The story of “Stuff”!
http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Correction: The Stitch & Bitch is tentatively on the 3rd Wednesday of each month. Details are usually posted on https://www.ravelry.com/

Lowell Film Collaborative

Lowell Film Collaborative “Food & Film Series”
Join us for our second film event of the LFC’s “Food & Film” series! Our DTL restaurants need all the support they can get, especially during the winter months. The LFC is doing what they can to help bring folks into downtown restaurants during this time for a little celebrating with dinner and a movie. We’ll set up the old-fashioned tripod screen, fire up the LCD projector, and dim the lights. Instant movie screening magic! And of course we encourage everyone to indulge in food and drink to round out the night. Come support the Lowell Film Collaborative, but most importantly, come support some of our favorite DTL restaurants!Join the Lowell Film Collaborative’s growing e-mail distribution list and we’ll keep you posted on all our upcoming film events! E-mail us at lowellfilmcollaborative@live.com.
Visit the LFC at http://www.lowellfilmcollaborative.org/.
Thanks for supporting Film in Lowell!

2008 Statewide Ballot Questions

With the election just days away, make sure you know what you are voting for before you get there… Statewide Ballot Questions are defined on the Secretary of State web site:
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepip08/pip08idx.htm

I don’t normally state a public opinion about an election, but I have to spew a little annoyance about this particular issue.

For anyone who is considering voting yes on question 1; please give some long-range thought to this issue…you may collect with one hand from the state, but in order to provide the necessary services for a city the size of Lowell…imagine your property tax bill for a moment…yeah, that was a really dark thought!

When you consider the time and effort expended by the city council and administration during the past 6-months of a $35M water & sewer project to be certain that the spending was an absolute necessity (it is!), imagine where we will be next year when we are trying to decide how many teachers; firefighters; police officers will have to be laid-off… and while you are considering all of that… remind yourself that when the economy takes a down-turn, crime dramatically increases…so because we will be needing those police officers property-owners in the city of Lowell will see astronomical tax increases… but this will be great for those who do not own property, not to mention all of the NH residents who have to cross the border to find employment. That in just one teeny example of the “state-of-the-state” if people do not make the correct decision on this and vote NO on Question 1.