Lowell City Candidate Questionnaires
I have now completed publication of the answers sent to me by city council and school committee candidates. Four council candidates responded (less than I’d hoped), and three school committee candidates. All documents are PDFs. Please feel free to download, print, forward, however you might want to distribute.
For the council we have answers from (in alphabetical order by last name):
Richard Douglas
Rodney Elliott
Curtis Lemay
Kristin Ross-Sitcawich
For school committee candidates we have:
Jackie Doherty
Tim Lavoie
Cecilia Okafor
If any candidate sent in their answers and it’s not here, it’s because I get a lot of email in that account and could have missed it. So email me at lynne –at leftinlowell.com (replace –at with @). I’ll only publish those answers that were sent to me by the deadline, so you won’t be able to get your answers in late. 
Here are the questions from the two questionnaires.
City Council
1. Identify the specific sections of the city that you consider “problem areas”.
2. What are “the problems” with those sections of the city and what specifically do you propose to correct them?
3. What specific plans do you have to attract major business/industry into the city?
4. A lot of talk circulates about the “direction” of the city. Define that “direction”. Are you satisfied with it or would you take it in a different direction? If different, how and where?
5. Do you support or oppose the suggestion that the planning and zoning boards should be elected, not appointed positions? Why?
6. What will you do to improve Lowell’s image to people living outside the city who still consider it a crime ridden drug haven?
7. John Cox has been Lowell City Manager for over 5 years. What are his assets? What are his liabilities?
8. If a motion was made to vacate the office of city manager would you support/oppose it? Why?
9. Is/should John Cox be an issue in this campaign? If so, how will you take back policy decisions that have been preempted by the city manager?
10. Other than you (if you are a present councilor), who is the most effective/hardest working city councilor?
11. Do you feel that property taxes are high? If so, how would you start the process of lowering them?
12. Where do you feel the budget could possibly be reined in, regarding spending?
13. Do you feel televising the Planning and Zoning board meetings a good idea? What about subcommittee meetings?
14. Where do you stand on the 4 and 4 plan? Do you feel this issue is getting a fair hearing in the media? If you are against the 4 and 4 plan, what other solutions would you implement to increase the police presence downtown at night?
15. Do you feel there is a conflict of interest with the city boards and developers? If so, what would you want to see happen to correct this?
16. Do you think the following is a good idea: getting the tax rate projection for budget increases proposed in the spring before approving new budget?
17. Will you support the next phase of the School Building Plan (two new elementary schools; one to replace the old Morey school, and one to replace the Varnum and Moody schools)?
18. Do you feel a recycling plan for the downtown area (businesses and residential) is needed? What steps what they take to implement such a program?
School Committee
1. What do you see as the top three issues that need to be addressed by the next Lowell School Committee? What specifically can you do to address those issues?
2. Should the Lowell School Committee be directly involved in the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements? Why or why not?
3. What is your view on M-CAS requirements for graduation?
4. Is Lowell prepared to meet the new requirements of the addition of science M-CAS that will take effect in 2010? If not what do you propose to see that students are proficient in science?
5. What specific proposals will you make to improve the percentage of students in Lowell that are proficient in the other M-CAS requirements?
6. Are the alternative schools for students with discipline problems working in Lowell? If not what should be changed?
7. What kinds of security measures are needed in Lowell schools to protect students and teachers?
8. Do you support the teaching of Intelligent Design (creationist theory) alongside evolution in science classes? Do you think it should be taught instead of evolution?
9. Do you support/oppose the search of student lockers or backpacks for contraband? Why/Why not?
10. What do you propose to improve working relations between the Lowell School Department and Lowell City Hall?
11. Is the cost of the Lowell School Administration adequate, too high or too low? Why?
October 19th, 2005 at 2:25 pm
Thanks for your efforts on our behalf. I’ve read through the 4 city council responses and I am impressed with their answers in general. I will have to re-read those in more detail and also review the school committee responses. I will certainly give much more consideration to these candidates with my votes next month, and would encourage others to do likewise.
October 19th, 2005 at 8:11 pm
I had time to go through the responses in more detail, and for the city council race I scored each of the responses. I was surprised at how well the challengers addressed the many questions.
I have to especially recommend the responses provided by Kristin Ross-Sitcawich, they are very well thought out.
October 19th, 2005 at 8:56 pm
I’m rather disappointed that only 4 of 18 responded. Granted, some of the issues
brought up seem dated in comparison with the tone of recent forums, but they are still
issues of concern.
Also, I gotta vouch for Kristin R-S, she put some time and energy into the answers.
I respect that.
October 19th, 2005 at 11:04 pm
Thanks Lynn. I got a lot more insight. Wish all candidates took the time to contribute.
October 20th, 2005 at 11:00 am
Lynne: Great job. I was very pleased and in agreement with Kriston Ross-Sitcawish’s responses to your questions. She also impressed me at the recent Candidates “debate” sponsored by the traditional media outlets this past week. Her answers there were as intelligent, thoughtful and independent as the ones she gave in your survey. Well, we have a ray of hope. I also wished others had responded.
October 20th, 2005 at 5:25 pm
I’m also disappointed with the low number of respondees, but I was impressed with the responses that did come in. I am surprised that more challengers didn’t take the opportunity to get their word out. I’m not so surprised with the attitude of the incumbents, as many of them don’t seem to be able to go beyond naming street corners or pompously supporting “apple pie” issues. At least councilor Elliott took the time to answer some more thoughtful questions.
Some of the ideas that most impressed me:
Richard Douglas “connected the dots” when he tied the gentrification strategy to the traffic and commuter woes of the people of Lowell. (live in Lowell, work on 128, shop in NH). He also noted the long term effect on taxes without sufficient commercial/industrial base.
KRS correctly identified the “least resistance” approach to development in Lowell today, and put forth some new ideas to promote more beneficial development.
KRS also had some pretty concrete steps to alleviate gang activity, and also noted some specific problems with the CM’s approach to development and the associated cronyism.
Richard Douglas and KRS mentioned including UMass Lowell (and specifically their nanotech program) into development plans, and Curtis Lemay noted the past successes of the TIF program, which I assume he will continue to push.
October 20th, 2005 at 6:00 pm
I tend to hold it against candidates that refer to Centralville as Centerville. Is that wrong?
October 20th, 2005 at 6:05 pm
LOL maybe a little eccentric.
October 20th, 2005 at 8:47 pm
Sorry about that Anon..I had actually checked with Anne Marie Paige about that and she had mentioned that either was acceptable. : )
Thank you to all who have taken the time to read our comments. Aside from the Cenrtalville/Centerville controversy,
I respectfully ask you all to consider me for one of your votes on Election Day.
October 21st, 2005 at 3:51 pm
I just found out something rather interesting…a nanotech company I used to work for from
March 04 to April 05 decided to close their California operations. I was laid off in April
because of a lack of business. They are planning to move the remainder of their California
operations into Massachusetts. The temp agency that I work through told me about this and said
to expect a job offer within two months.
It seems to me as if the Silicon Valley area is having a difficult time holding high-tech
companies since they have to compete with other employers through payrolls. California has a
high standard of living cost compared to Massachusetts. If this continues, Lowell and the rest
of the state may start seeing an influx of downsized high-tech companies soon.
October 22nd, 2005 at 3:13 pm
There has been a recent announcement of a partnership between UMass Lowell and Microfuidics (MFIC) to develop processes for nanomanufacturing. MFIC is located in Newton, MA. What can our city administration do to improve the chances of opening a facility in Lowell?