Left In Lowell

I thought last nightduring their discussion of the Transitional Living Center (Middlesex Street Shelter), the City Council could have been a bit more compassionate. CC Rita Mercier was the only one who was charitable in her comments regarding the plight of these homeless people. For the most part, the tone of the discussion was strictly from a business point of view.

It was in late October that the same type of motion was fully discussed by the CC. I think we should give the Administration a little bit more time to work something out with the management and staff of that facility. (They just hired a new Executive Director.) I am not sure why this motion was introduced and discussed before the CM had an opportunity to bring back his findings. As I had previously written, the entire City has a major investment in the urban revitalization of that area, the half billion dollar JAM Plan, but shipping these people out to Tewksbury is not a viable solution. (more…)

Yesterday, the City approved a new three-year contract with the Lowell Firefighters union, IAFF Local 853. Congratulations to the City Administration (CM, Solicitor, CFO, etc..) and to the union leadership and rank-and-file members for coming up with an agreement; and more importantly to carry out negotiations without much noise and fanfare. I guess their union president must not have an ego . Compared to the mess that is going on in Boston, our firefighters are true professionals; and compared to the mess that is going in Lawrence (pink slips for 20 firefighters after a catastrophic fire) our City Council are true legislators.

The pay raises are nominal at the front end of the contract but pick up at the back end. The CM believes we will be able to recoup some of these costs with the introduction of PPO medical plans and some adjustments in the language of the contract.

I need to point out that there is no retroactive pay in this contract; the raise begins with January 2008. Also, let’s be honest whatever increase these guys are getting will go towards the increase cost of living, mostly healthcare.

Mike Lafleur has more of the details of the contract in his article in today’s Sun.

Also, I do not think this new contract addresses the station closing rotation which is now in effect. Given the recent rash of deadly fires in other communities, this issue will need to be revisited at budget time.

Tonight is the rescheduled SC Personnel subcommittee; this is the meeting where the process of screening a new superintendent will be created. This will take place at 7pm at the LHS cafeteria, and will not be shown live on cable, so any interested folks are encouraged to attend. Jackie has much more, and mentions that the meeting will be taped, hopefully we’ll be able to see that online afterwards.

Chalk this one up in the column of gee-we-expected-this-to-happen-sooner-or-later. It appears that Councilor Kazanjian’s little motion of last night to close down an ally in the city of Lowell was, well, a total conflict of interest.

The motion: “C. Kazanjian-Req. Mgr. take steps to block/limit access to Cumminskey Alley.”

But this alley is, drum roll please! right next to Kazanjian’s own building, mostly abandoned and unused (and seemingly not maintained). In other words, he’s an abutter, and shouldn’t be bringing up or voting on or discussing such motions. He, of course, did all three last night.

The motion was brought up because of some incidents mentioned at a recent area meeting (thefts at two businesses there) where the police think that the thief/thieves used Cumminskey Alley as access/egress. Of course, this motion sort of makes sense, but it really doesn’t. Are we going to shut every alley access up every time there’s a local crime near it? I submit to you, that this is not at all tenable.

But couple that with Kazanjian’s breach, once again (remember this?) of the conflict-of-interest statutes, so soon after being inducted as a new City Councilor, and one wonders exactly what excuse he’ll use this time? There’s no way to mistake his abutment of this alley. To quote the Sun on his response to that other incident, back when, on the ZBA, he voted on the D’nD development and didn’t recuse himself:

Kazanjian, a City Council candidate, said today he was unaware of the specific regulation in the conflict law pertaining to abutters’ property. “If I knew, I wouldn’t have voted,” said Kazanjian…

Can’t use that as an excuse this time! So what’ll it be?