SUN story about city proposal to impose security requirements for owners with large cache of firearms.
“Secure storage of the guns should help prevent thefts, and the alarm systems would enable police to respond quickly to potential thefts and keep the guns out of criminals’ hands, said Lavallee”.
http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_18007364
Cliff Krieger has a summary of the CC Rules subcommittee meeting that I attended last night with a group of people Greg Page had asked me join to discuss ways to increase voter participation and gather ideas, suggestions about how to insure all residents of Lowell are represented by our city council.
http://right-side-of-lowell.blogspot.com/2011/03/expanding-voter-participation.html
The city council voted to create a Charter Committee made up of representatives from each of the nine active neighborhood groups. Each neighborhood representative will hold meetings within their neighborhoods to discuss how the city can encourage more voter participation as well as looking at options to encourage more people to consider summing for city council. Things as simple as physical boundaries to getting to the polls or as Councilor Mercier mentioned, possibly change the times or days of the week we hold elections. The point is to gather a variety of suggestions from the general public.
Thanks to Greg for giving me an opportunity to work on something I feel is important to all of us. Secondly the group requested that the city council appoint one representative and one alternate from each neighborhood group. Since I feel that LDNA needs a voice other than mine…I know you will all be competing for a place on this committee. It is not a huge commitment likely one meeting per month for the next 12 months. For the sake of efficiency I would like to suggest that we dedicate a portion of each LDNA meeting to the subject.
I do try not to use this blog as a forum for editorializing but every now and then I am either so annoyed or outraged that I have to expel a few thoughts (which btw…anyone is welcome to add their own voice here). Today I am a combination of sad due to the loss of another young woman and a bit annoyed (maybe mostly at myself) for it to take me almost 10 days to understand that this issue is almost impossible to solve at the moment and knowing why (I have had a seriously limited amount of “pondering” time of late). After I left Amory Park I made the mistake of telling a person who knows me better than I know myself that when standing there I did not have any place in my mind to figure out how such a thing could happen. I immediately got the look that says “you’re so stupid” and was reminded of a similar but at a much lower speed (if what happened on Grant St. was going 100 mph the incident I was involved in was only going 5mph and I had something Corrina et al did not have; someone just a little older and a lot wiser to take me by the hand and pull me away in time) situation in my life. My friend starting asking me absurd questions like “think back; do you remember being afraid? Do you remember why you went there in the first place? Did you ever for one minute think someone would actually shoot you?” It took quite a few days digging through memories long buried before I could answer yes to the first two questions and certainly not to the last. No one EVER thinks someone is really going to shoot and kill them…you just don’t ever believe it.
Which brings me to my point (yeah there’s a point)…I anticipate a large number of people from all city neighborhoods attending the public safety sub-committee meeting tonight. There will be a wide array of ideas battered about on how to solve the problem of gun violence. I am pleased the city council is willing to “throw everything but the kitchen sink” at this problem. Not everything will work but if you try a lot of things some of them will work. However all the good intentions in world will not get us where we want to go is because on the issue of guns…”we” can not agree.
Back 30 or so years ago we started taking lovely little third grade kids and teaching them to “JUST SAY NO” to drugs. Wow! That is miraculous. Parents, educators, legislators’, police all pretty much agreed that drugs aren’t good for you so let’s tell the kids. What made the program even better (I know this because my daughter would come home and teach me) was that it spoke in a very direct manner with facts about medical, physiological, psychological, etc. effects that certain drugs had on the body…it’s not a “preachy” program just honest. I’m not saying this was a panacea but it worked pretty well.
So what took me so long to realize (did I mention my lack of pondering time lately) is why we haven’t been able to apply this simple idea to teaching kids about guns. Why don’t we take our wee little darlings at age 10 and explain what guns look like; different types; how they work; what to do and how to say “no” to someone who offers you a gun and other important things like what the potential for destruction is if we use them in anger; what the potential for destruction if they are used in recreation (Mr. Cheney); and most importantly if you are shot/shoot and killed you will be dead forever. Just the basic information for a child to use in evaluating guns as a part of their life.
So I go to the meeting in hopes there will be enough good ideas to save some children…but the thing that would save many more is no where in sight because “we-the-people” do not agree about guns; Who can have one? Who can not? Do you really need a permit? What about my rights? According to a BBC article “The United States has the largest number of guns in private hands of any country in the world with 60 million people owning a combined arsenal of over 200 million firearms”. 200 million guns…there are about 310 million Americans at last count. So do the math…I do not foresee anytime soon a youngster telling me about what he learned in “Just Say No” about guns.
Update: Thanks to all of the downtown residents who took the time to attend the meeting tonight (there were a lot of you). I really think you all showed your committment to the neighborhood and to the city. Now let’s see if we can’t find a way to get some more police officers.
Posted in City Council, Community Problems, Guns, Lowell Police Department
Message from Taya Dixon Mullane, President, Lower Highlands Neighborhood Group Urging you to attend – City Council Public Safety Subcommittee – Tuesday 1/11/11 – 5.00 – 6.30PM in the City Council Chamber at City Hall.
Lower Highlands Friends,
We continue to mourn the loss of Corinna Ouer, a young woman who called the Lower Highlands home, after the heinous act of violence early on New Year’s Day. Our thoughts and prayers remain with her family and friends, for the speedy recovery of the other seven victims from that night, and for the safety of all the residents of our neighborhood and the City of Lowell.
I am unable to make sense of what happened last weekend, and I know from hearing from so many of you, that you feel the same way. In an effort to get some perspective on the violence that has affected our neighborhood and what can be done to address it, the City Council Public Safety Subcommittee will be meeting on Tuesday, January 11 from 5.00 – 6.30PM in the City Council Chamber at City Hall. The Lowell Police Superintendent and the Middlesex District Attorney have been requested to attend.
Although the Police are on the front lines of responding to crime, we as residents of the City of Lowell are all its victims. We must send a message to our City leaders that we want our neighborhoods to be safer, that we do not want to loose another young person like this, that any efforts taken by the City must include the community – and most importantly, that those efforts not wane until another senseless act of violence claims an innocent life or leaves our community in fear.
I am urging you to attend the City Council Public Safety Subcommittee Meeting on Tuesday, January 11 and to encourage your members to do that same. The meeting is scheduled for 5.00PM and will likely continue until 6.30PM. If you can attend all or even some portion of this meeting, please consider attending. By filling the City Council Chamber, we will demonstrate our unity as a community to urge our leaders to take extraordinary measures to help our City’s neighborhoods be safer by engaging all members of our community in that goal. You are welcome to address the Council, but you are not required to do so – your presence means just as much.
Thank you, and as always, if you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please get in touch.
Taya Dixon Mullane
President, Lower Highlands Neighborhood Group
lowerhighlands01851@gmail.com
Posted in City Council, Community Issues, Downtown Lowell, Elections
Click on over to Greg’s blog, The New Englander
http://anewenglanderinlowell.blogspot.com/2010/05/ldna-summary-52410.html
he has some remarks about our May meeting.
Update; the city council voted in favor of re-design structure. You can still find the detailed presentation on the city web site.
http://www.lowellma.gov/depts/officeofthecitymanager/presentations/100601%20ISD%20Reorg%20V2.pps/view
While you are there you can find the Manager’s proposed 2011 city budget (ok that will probably just be me).
http://www.lowellma.gov/news
The SUN also has an article about the revisions to the Mass. Open Meeting Law which the manager mentioned at the meeting.
http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_15193713?IADID=Search-www.lowellsun.com-www.lowellsun.com
Just a friendly reminder about the public hearing on re-establishing the Immigration Commission for the city of Lowell.
Tuesday, March 23rd Lowell City Hall 7:00pm
We need you there to show your support for the Mayor and the commission!
You can view the ordinance itself on the ONE Lowell website:
http://www.onelowell.net/Documents/immigration-commission-ordance.pdf
The new Immigration Commission will provide representation from among our newcomer communities in Lowell. Commissioners will advocate for the well-being of Lowell’s diverse immigrant and refugee residents. Commissioners will also assist the City Manager and the City Council in the development of policies and programs that help resident immigrants of the City of Lowell in addressing their needs and concerns.
This is an amazing opportunity for newcomers to Lowell to have a voice in those policies that impact their lives, and will be a vital step in developing leadership in newcomer communities that can lead to elected representation.
Contact: Victoria Fahlberg, PhDExecutive DirectorONE Lowell978-654-6957 x 102 vfahlberg@onelowell.net
Posted in City Council, Community Issues, LivingGreen, Recycling
Imagine my surprise to just get home and hear the city council going on about how wonderful it is that neighborhood groups are invited to participate in the neighborhood subcommittee meetings regarding the effects on traffic in the areas surrounding the Hamilton Canal District!
Specifically mentioning downtown, the Acre, Lower Highlands.
You would think somone from the neighorhood would have known about such a meeting. As it turns out… I was notified about 5:30 for a meeting that started at 5:00.
So let me just apologize to anyone who would have liked to attend.
Thanks to Dick Howe for posting the election results by ward/precinct; here’s some additional numbers and they show a steady growth-rate.
I do not yet have 2-1 and 2-2 for 2007.
Ward 2, Percent 3 includes most of “downtown”, Appleton to Warren, to Dutton, to Fr. Morrisette
2009 City Council Election
18.5% turn-out (439 voters)
Total number of voters for Ward 2 = 801
2007 City Council Election
17.4% turn-out (336 voters)
2005 City Council Election
15.3% turn-out (261 voters)
Posted in City Council, Downtown, Election, Elections, Lowell