Email us!
Lowell Area Bloggers/Forums
Lowell Politics
Mass Bloggers
- - Leftyblogs MA Blogroll - Almost all of my favorite lefty blogs in Massachusetts can be found here. Linking here keeps my own blogroll short but still up to date! Below are some other MA blogs which are not listed at LB.
- H2Otown (Watertown, MA)
- MargeBLOG (Williamstown)
- Michael Forbes Wilcox (Western MA)
- The Gazebo (Worcester area)
Media in Lowell
- Community Connections The online archive of many of WUML's radio shows.
- LTC :: Our community cable access channel (8 & 10). Excellent people, I've worked with them before.
- Open Source :: Chris Lydon's new show, broadcast on WUML and WGBH locally.
- The Lowell Sun :: Love it or hate it, it's the big newspaper in town.
- WCAP radio :: Talk radio in Lowell - still locally owned, and in transition.
- WUML :: The student- and community-run radio station of UMass-Lowell. Lynne hosts a radio show, Thinking Out Loud, 10am on Fridays.
Media in MA
Other Daily Reads
Politics Online
- City Council Agenda Past City Council agendas, posted in a mostly timely manner
- Lowellma.gov Official city website
Progressive Local Orgs
Snark and politics
The Arts in Lowell
- 119 Gallery - Art gallery with exhibitions of many local artists, interesting events, and living, breathing culture.
- Arts League of Lowell (ALL) - Artist community group, a recent but welcome addition to the arts scene in Lowell.
- Brush Art Gallery - Come and meet working artists in their natural habitats!
- Cultural Organization of Lowell (COOL) - Great local calendar of events.
- Lowell Opera Company - Community opera.
- Lowell Philharmonic Orchestra - Local community orchestra.
- Lowell Poetry Network
- Lowell Rocks - List of live music events
- Merrimack Repertory Theatre - A local theatre "presenting an exciting mix of contemporary and new plays in historic downtown Lowell."
- OUtlET - Paper and online 'zine making a splash locally with events in art, poetry, music, and everything in between!
- Revolving Museum Contemporary, local, public art space with a plethora of children's programs and art by and for the community.
- The Fine Print - Socially aware, themed, arts and issues periodic publication available throughout Lowell.
- The Image Theater - Theatre company which puts on all original works by local playwrights.
- Whistler House Museum - A great collection of contemporaries of Whistler at his historic birthplace.
June 6th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
Just for the record, a Zone 6 pass — which is what I use to commute to and from work every day — has a face value of $181. Fortunately my employer spots me about half of that, but I’m sure others aren’t so lucky.
I know the proposed rates were posted in the Metro a little while ago, but I don’t remember what the increase would be? $220 or so rings a bell — a >20% increase. Pretty soon I may not be able to afford to continue my job. How’s that for irony?
Anywho, good for all of the candidates to come out against this, and great for DP in particular to reach out to those who would be hurt by this. As always, he hits the nail on the head.
Thanks to Lynne, Mimi, et al, for being the local outreach crew this morning.
June 6th, 2006 at 2:07 pm
Speaking of a toll hike, Lynne, wouldn’t you love to see DP go head-to-head against Christy “Free the Pikers” Mihos on this?
June 6th, 2006 at 2:08 pm
Oh, and any chance you can shoot a copy of the insert my way? Might be convenient to be reading on my way home tonight.
June 6th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
LOL, I gave out every paper copy that I had and I got them from the campaign, I didn’t print them out myself, so I don’t have an electronic copy. Sorry…
Heh, I was going through the Pike tolls a month or so ago, and a toll worker saw my Deval sticker. He said he liked what he knew about the guy, but could I tell him if he was for or against the Pike tollbooths? I said I didn’t know, but it would be good to find out, huh?
June 6th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
Michelle C and I were at the Ayer train station at 5:45 AM (Yes, before the roosters were up!) and we got a VERY good response from commuters. Folks were open, interested and asked a lot of good questions about Deval. We had all of our lit passed out before 7:00 AM. I was pleased that so many folks said that they were already voting for Deval.
June 6th, 2006 at 3:07 pm
Tell DPs campaign manager he should have copies of the literature on the website as PDFs
June 6th, 2006 at 3:20 pm
Great idea Mr. Lynne..I’d like to forwarc this to many folks I know who use the T as the primary means of transportation.
June 6th, 2006 at 3:56 pm
DP is the only candidate I’ve heard who gets the connection between the T and affordable housing. Lowell and Worcester offer more affordable options for commuters to Boston, but only if the cost of a T pass does not impact the ability for people to make the trip. The communities that are going to continue to thrive are those with good transit access, and we must make sure that the transit access remains affordable. This is as important (if not more so) as housing affordability.
June 6th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
Well I went to the hearing… but there was little public about it. It was a small room that could hold about 125 people. Patrick did get in to speak. I can’t tell you what he said because I was locked out. When he came out he tried to calm the rapidly angering crowd as much as he could, but honestly there were some people that were pretty hot under the collar about being locked out. Jon Keller walked in just at that moment so expect to hear a rant about it from him shortly.
June 6th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
I also use commuter rail. Zone 2 my increase is going to be from $118 face value to $151, a 27% increase. My employer also pays a good chunk. However the worst hit are going to be those folks who use subway and bus passes as they will CEASE TO EXIST!!!! Everyone will have to get a Onepass which is essentially a combo pass. For Subway card holders this will be a 41% increase for bus riders it will be a 100% increase!!!!!! My god! Who do they think they are?
Tim yours are going up to $223 to be exact.
June 6th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
er check that… there seems to be a local bus pass still so subway riders are the ones taking it on the noggin the worst. Their literature is not the easiest to understand.
June 7th, 2006 at 7:51 am
Thanks, all!
Taking the T (or LRTA or whatever) still beats driving (gas and parking — especially in Boston).
Speaking of Ayer, my brother-in-law and his wife live there and are particularly interested in the proposal to close the train station there, in favor of opening a larger one in “Devens”. I think they’ve managed to save the old station, but I’m a little behind on the latest news.
June 7th, 2006 at 7:56 am
Taking the T (or LRTA or whatever) still beats driving (gas and parking — especially in Boston).
Speaking of Ayer, my brother-in-law lives there and is particularly interested in the proposal to close the train station there. (MBCR wants to open a larger one in “Devens”.) I think they’ve managed to save the old station, but I’m a little behind on the latest news. No wonder folks there are particularly interested in commuter issues.
June 7th, 2006 at 7:57 am
‘Scuse the double (sorta) post; machines not liking me today.
June 7th, 2006 at 8:44 am
Tim - I’m not an expert on the Ayer train station, but my understanding is that it’s safe — for now. There are still discussions underway about possible closure or consolidation. I believe it comes down to if Ayer can get additional parking to support the station. I don’t think there is a plan to open a station in Devens because the train doesn’t actually go through there and it would cost too much to bring the train in. Better to keep Ayer open and make improvements to the Fitchburg line.
Our Democratic St. Rep. candidate, Carol Bousquet was very involved in the “Save the Ayer Train” campaign. She will be talking about regional transportation a lot during her campaign, which kicks off this Thursday at the Barn at Gibbet Hill in Groton (end candidate pimping)
June 7th, 2006 at 9:33 am
Thanks for the info, Susan. I’ll drop Carol’s name to my b-in-law; I think he’d be interested in supporting her.
June 7th, 2006 at 9:51 am
For the record, Carol Bousquet was the candidate handing out candy and pretty pencils in 1st Middlesex on Friday night at the convention. She’s not on my ballot, but I’d give strong consideration to anyone who gives me chocolate kisses.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Toll Roads? Good Grief!
Sounds like a good way to make my hour commute into an hour and a half commute. Not to mention all the gas I’d be wasting sitting in traffic.
Raise the gas tax and be done with it. Toll Roads are a totally inefficient way to collect revenue.
You could even make the tax regional - maybe just raising it on all towns inside of 495 - in order to make it a little more equitable to the people in Central and Western Mass that don’t use the roads in Boston much.
June 7th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Did I say new tolls? No, I said toll rate increase. We have plenty of existing toll booths for that. I’d be perfectly fine with a cent or two increase in the gas tax though too. Either way, it’s disincentivizing the car commuter (most of whom are one per car) who also cost us money, and rewarding those who take public transit.
In fact, I’d go so far as to say the movement for a complete no-fare free MBTA is a good one. Or at least a significant rate DEcrease.
As MassMarrier says:
Also, check out this post by Chris at Left Center Left about the disasterous “forward funding” that the MBTA has been faced with - and the MBTA’s lack of leadership in going to the legislature to ask for more funds.
June 7th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
Sorry, I guess I saw the word Toll and lost it.
Tolls infuriate me.
There are only two toll roads in the state. People who live on the North Shore and Metro West get the shaft for driving into the city. Not very equitable.
I’d really like to see all the toll booths in the state taken down and replaced with a gas tax. I drive by the Mass Pike almost every day, and often see long backups of people waiting to get through the booths. Its a huge waste of time, gas, and money.
June 8th, 2006 at 9:32 am
Increased gas tax is probably the most effective way to accomplish the goals of reducing carbon emissions, swaying the supply/demand pressure to reduce the base price and providing for public transportation infrastructure. However, it is not politically popular, and to be fair it would need to be a federal tax. And the problem with a federal tax is that the administration will divert the funds collected to misadventures that support their own warped ideology.
I agree more toll booths are a waste of resources, and even relying on higher fees at existing ones is marginally effective. In London they have a commuter fee, where vehicles are automatically charged a significant toll at gateways into the center city. That may require a significant investment to implement here. Boston has such a disincentive through its parking fees, but that collection does not have the positive effect of providing funds to subsidize the public transportation improvements and operation.
So, all in all, I think the best solution is a combination of lobbying for federal funds for public transportation infrastructure (as opposed to the Big Dig), marginally increasing the MA gas tax to direct funds to the same purpose, while not tilting the competitiveness of border stations too much, and making better choices with existing state funds.