Left In Lowell

Sunday Morning Navel Gazing

24 Responses to “Sunday Morning Navel Gazing”

1. Lynne Says:
   February 17th, 2008 at 12:47 pm

   I don’t blame him for his anger (though, as his wife is the person who is being restructured it might be best for others to do the organizing) but at this stage, words like that may hurt the cause. Although I suppose it’s not too far a cry from my own, saying Mayor “Unity” Caulfield lacks vision, which I still say and I stand by.

   And yeah, the gridlock thing (right in the middle of the day, NOT in downtown) is really getting tough. I suppose that means there’s more people living and working in Lowell and that’s a good thing, but it’s also a fact that this should really prompt us to discuss a better public transit system, and fast!

2. Eleanor Rigby Says:
   February 17th, 2008 at 12:58 pm

   I saw the article on Paul Schur’s email. I have to say I understand his frustration and admire him sticking up for his wife, but that was not the way to do it, at least not in this town!

   Mayor “Unity” and others will hold a grudge and if the post is created look for it to go to Andy St. Onge.

3. Michael in Pawtucketville Says:
   February 17th, 2008 at 1:39 pm

   I see gridlock here and there while driving near UML on South Campus. Sometimes around North Campus too. In my travels, I think that another bridge across the Merrimack or making a bridge with four lanes instead of two would help with the problem.

   There are a lot of people out there in big hurries to get where they are going.

   —

   I think that the work on potholes has been pretty good. Sure, it’s just patching but problems seem to get resolved fairly quickly.

4. waittilnextyr Says:
   February 17th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

   The traffic in the City may be a sign of prosperity, but left as it is, it will certainly put a damper on any further growth.

   I believe there is already a fine ($50?) for blocking an intersection, but I doubt if it has ever been enforced.

   The traffic signals contribute to the problems, with questionable signal coordination and in many cases the lack of a left turn arrow where one is needed.

5. Prince Charming Says:
   February 17th, 2008 at 4:36 pm

   1) When I see window washers at the corner of Elm and Gorham, I’ll believe I’m in New York.

   2) Mc Cain’s an idiot. If elected, we’ll be in Iran within three months of his inauguration.

   3) Must we source the Lowell Sun for everything that happens? Don’t you realize you are legitimizing their crappy style of journalism by quoting them? Frankly, I wouldn’t give them a link on this blog until they give you one on their website. Clicks mean money to them and their advertisers and you’re helping them out.

6. Josh Says:
   February 17th, 2008 at 4:37 pm

   I thought there was already a fine for blocking intersections? Or is that just at posted locations? If not, let it be known that I officially endorse fines for blocking the intersection (second to street privatization obviously).

7. joe Says:
   February 17th, 2008 at 5:49 pm

   They should do what they can with intersection geometry and signage, but the priority in the design of the streets in Lowell’s neighborhoods needs to be neighborhood quality of life, not traffic volume.

   Gridlock is the consequence of the traffic volume being over the roadway system’s capacity. Increasing the roadway system’s capacity means widening lanes, narrowing sidewalks, taking out trees, rounding off corners so the crosswalks get really long, and increasing the average speed of traffic. No, thanks.

8. Paul@01852 Says:
   February 17th, 2008 at 7:36 pm

   As far as the intersection of Plain and Quebec, I have lived around the corner from that intersection for over 20 years. That corner needed to be repaved BEFORE I moved here so don’t hold your breath that it will be on the “list” for repaving this year either. Seems the only streets that make “the list” are in the Highlands. I have seen several streets there that have already been repaved TWICE in the same twenty years that Plain and Quebec has needed it!

   Several weeks ago I was at the intersection of Father Morrisette and Aiken Ave and I watched as several cars drove into the intersection potentially causing gridlock and did it right in front of a police cruiser also waiting at the light!! I didn’t know whether to applaude or boo when the cruiser just turned on his lights and siren to get the offending cars to back out and clear the intersection however without pulling either car over. But in defense of the local mounties last fall I watched as two motorcycle officers pulled over at least two cars who not only blocked the intersection of Middlesex and the Rourke Bridge but ran a red light to do it! Per the sign there the fine is $100 for blocking. I hope both the vehicles pulled over were cited for both infractions totaling a fine of $200 each! This might be a “fine” way for the city to raise some of the deficit I keep anticipating in next year’s budget!

9. smallfishbigpond Says:
   February 17th, 2008 at 7:56 pm

   Can’t say I’m surprised to see praise here for Paul Schur.

   Eleanor, I do wonder what town you thought his email would have been better suited for?

   He is right, every guy should come to the defense of their wife, but before he starts firing half cocked emails intended to politically incite, the donkey might want to check with the poor woman first. His behavior wasn’t cavalier, it was sexist and chauvinistic. I guess he doesn’t truly value her opinion or judgment. I hope for his client’s sake, he’s a bit more reasonable in private practice.

   Seeing, his is own cost benefit analysis was off… was it possible he was motivated by the 18,000 dollar pay raise?

10. K-R-S Says:
    February 17th, 2008 at 10:25 pm

    Paul, the intersectin blocking issue is a huge pet peeve for me! Many a time I’ve watched folks block intersections right in front of those sworn to protect and nary a flinch. I am more than happy to sit at a stop line and wait until it safe to go, so that I would not potentially block an intersection, should the light change and risk the foul behavior of those behind me (they are not paying my insurance nor my moving violations!).
    As for enforcement, pick a few nights toward the end of the week and patrol heavily intersections on motorcycles and the City would do well in making a dent in any shortfalls and do quite a bit to mitigate future violations. Having gotten caught speeding on Rte 110 out to Dracut one day, with a fine and a surcharge (yrs or surcharges), step increases…. my driving has slowed down considerably.

11. kpem Says:
    February 17th, 2008 at 10:39 pm

    The city needs more bridges to end this grid lock. As far as the pot holes go everyone should check into the new E system on the Lowell site for reporting graffiti, potholes etc… This is a great way to track city issues and repeated complaints about areas. Kudos to Bernie Lynch for the use of technology for accountability.

12. Michael in NH and Pawtucket Says:
    February 18th, 2008 at 11:47 am

    Pedestrian bridges would help in some areas. It’s frequently hard to be a pedestrian in Lowell in the downtown area and in other places. I don’t know how expensive they are to put up or even if people would use them. I have seen them in Cambridge and parts of Boston and it seems a less risky way to cross six lanes of traffic.

    One thing about Lowell is that the traffic messes are predictable with the time of day so it isn’t that bad if you have a lot of schedule flexibility. If you don’t, then it can be really, really frustrating. The worst is when you’re waiting at a red light and it turns green and there are several cars in the intersection and you have to figure out if it’s going to clear out before the light changes to red again. I usually make a mental note of those situations and either choose a different time or different route.

    Last Friday as I was driving from Lowell west on Riverside, I was at the light near the McDonalds and a car got out of the left-turning lane behind me. It was clear that he was in a hurry as he honked his horn as we were pulling away from the intersection. He did the bob and weave between lanes to take a left turn on the bridge leading to Market Basket. There was a long line of cars at that left turn and he drove slowly beside the line until he had an opening and cut in line.

    I guess an ultimate solution would be a raised highway through the city. Nashua and Manchester both have these. I seldom see any traffic jams on the highway going through Nashua. There are traffic jams in downtown Nashua and these are usually caused by the lack of bridge capacity over the Merrimack. There have been attempts to build another bridge farther north but the last attempt failed as it would go through a residential neighborhood.

    The Manchester highway is useful but hits traffic jams as it’s only a four-lane highway and there’s a lot of construction around the highway. Highways through cities are expensive and they take out houses but everyone trying to race along on city streets to get to Route 3 or 495 doesn’t seem like the best long-term solution.

13. Lowellian Says:
    February 18th, 2008 at 12:56 pm

    Short term traffic solution. Outsmart the out of towners. I cross the Textile Bridge ( see I am a native )Going up Merrimack st leaves very little access to Pawtucket, between the people blocking the intersection and the short light. father Morrisette is close behind. If you swing over to Salem St. it’s a lot easier to get onto Pawtucket St. If you’re downtown and are trying to get to Thorndike St. take a right at the Market st garage cut behind the mill bldgs and come out at the NPS parking lot on Dutton wait for the light and turn left. If your new to town take a Sunday am sightseeing tour and find your particular shortcut, or wait for city hall to solve the problem, personally I don’t think I’m going to live that long.

14. Eleanor Rigby Says:
    February 18th, 2008 at 8:47 pm

    smallfishbigpond, Paul’s email probably wouldn’t have gone over well in any community, but my point is in Lowell grudges are held for generations!
    That email has insured that LZ should probably apply for the job the Sun referrenced that’s open in Cambridge because anything that needs the support of those 4 councilors will be a very very hard sell and undermined at every opportunity.

15. joe Says:
    February 18th, 2008 at 10:44 pm

    You know what would really make the city more pedestrian-friendly? If the sidewalks were kept clear in the winter.

    Lowell is built very well for pedestrians. There’s a good sidewalk system, destinatiions like stores and churches right in the neighborhoods, nicely-connected streets, street trees, short blocks, and streets that are small enough that its safe and comfortable to walk around. People here can actually walk down the street and get a cup of coffee or a gallon of milk or takeout, or go to the park or church, and it’s great, and most people in this country, even in this state, don’t get to have that option in their daily life. But for five months of the year, we all might as well be living in cul-de-sacs in Phoenix for all the good it does us.

    And the little old lady who doesn’t shover her sidewalk is the least of our problems. A lot of businesses, especially on the main streets, have actually paid money to somebody to plow out their parking lots into big mounds on the sidewalks. They’ve made sure that people driving from far away can in and out just fine, and given a big middle finger to their neighbors. The untouched snow melts off of Ethel’s sidewalk in a couple days, and gets tramped down the meantime, but those banks are like concrete. It’s like having a Jersey barrier sitting there practically until Easter.

    Drives me batty, it does.

16. Michael in NH and Pawtucket Says:
    February 19th, 2008 at 11:39 am

    There’s a post in the Lynch’s blog indicating that they’re going to ticket this sort of thing more aggressively. In my intersection, the businesses do clear the sidewalks but they essentially dump the snow on the other half of the sidewalk and a bit on the street. Plows can’t push it back on the sidewalk because there are usually cars parked. The businesses hire someone that does the whole block and they do cutouts in the piles so that people can walk across the street or to their cars. On our corner, the sidewalk is almost always plowed. Not sure who does it. The worst is the municipal parking lot. It is never plowed and is like an ice-skating rink until the weather gets warm enough to melt it all.

    In the UML parking lots, they use front-end loaders and dump trucks to haul the snow away between 1:00 AM and 5:00 AM. It’s a pretty impressive operation.

17. GOP Footsoldier Says:
    February 19th, 2008 at 12:13 pm

    I wish I had sidewalks to clear in front of my house. There are all kinds fo things the police SHOULD and COULD ticket but to some cops it’s a waste of time and that comes straight from Captain Jay Flahrety’s mouth last night at the CNAG meeting.

18. joe Says:
    February 19th, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    It seems like the sort of problem that would only require a couple days’ worth of tickets once a year to solve.

    Not clearing your sidewalk, or even blocking the sidewalk with the snow from your parking lot, has become normalized. Businessowners see other businessowners doing it, and figure it’s ok.

19. Michael in NH and Pawtucket Says:
    February 19th, 2008 at 12:36 pm

    From Lynch’s blog post:

    I am happy to report that the City is launching a new code enforcement mechanism that allows City inspectors and other code enforcement officers to write tickets instead of having to resort to criminal complaints in the court system. This new procedure will save valuable City staff time, in that the process is a faster and less cumbersome way of processing violation notices. Massachusetts General Law c. 40, s. 21D (“21D”) allows code inspectors to write enforcement tickets for a variety of lower level violations, thereby enforcing code violations in a manner similar to parking tickets. Initially, 21D tickets will focus on such violations as unregistered vehicles, oversized vehicles, solid waste and recycling, overflowing dumpsters, failure to remove snow and ice from sidewalks, and similar infractions. Over time it will expand to other violations. More serious violations will continue to be handled in the usual manner.

    These lower level infractions, which may not seem significant individually, can lead to wider neglect and disinvestment, impacting neighborhoods and the City as a whole. The goal of 21D is to change people’s behavior and encourage them to clean up these minor violations, thereby making the City a more attractive and better place to live. Secondarily we expect it will result in a modest increase in local receipts.

    Note: Edited by Mr. Lynne, adding block quote format and link.

20. Eleanor Rigby Says:
    February 19th, 2008 at 6:46 pm

    In years past a week or even longer after average snowstorms the paper would send out photogs to city schools, buildings and in some cases elected officials homes and/or businesses to see of the people making the rules where following them. I don’t see the current leadership of the paper doing that…anyone got a digital camera and nothing to do the next time it snows?

21. KMM Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 10:33 am

    Lowellian Said:
    If you’re downtown and are trying to get to Thorndike St. take a right at the Market st garage cut behind the mill bldgs and come out at the NPS parking lot on Dutton wait for the light and turn left.

    Can I ask you to JUST STOP THIS NOW!!! This is not a road, it is a driveway and is maintained (paved, plowed, etc.) by my and eveyone in Canal Place 1 and 3’s condo fees. One of my neighbors was hit by a car while walking to the garage in the morning by some insane, can’t be late, commuter using our driveway as a pass through to Thorndike St.
    Soon you will see signs posted on the DRIVEWAY stating, residents only.

22. Michael in NH and Pawtucketvill Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 8:55 pm

    re: KMM

    This sort of thing would drive me nuts too but our association is a closed circular loop with an entrance and exit which isn’t useful to anyone else. The other thing that annoys me is people using our dumpsters or dropping off things like sofas and television sets next to our dumpsters. Our hauler will not take these and it’s illegal to dump CRT electronics in landfills now so we have to pay to get these things removed.

    I wonder if commuters zip by the school area downtown.

23. KMM Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 10:06 pm

    Michael,
    If you follow the route subscribed by Lowellian, you will pass by at three computer monitors amongst all kinds of other goodies left behind by those who use our traffic by-pass…not to mention the parents that use our parking lot as a dog-park after they have dropped their children at the day care center next door!
    Metaphorically, this is the way many people view downtown…a dumping ground.

24. Michael in NH and Pawtucketvill Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 11:14 pm

    I haven’t been downtown in quite some time as the parking issue drives me nuts. So the people using your private property as a short cut are doing so deliberately and know what they’re doing if they’re dumping stuff there too.

    When we’ve had problems in the past with dogs I used to sit by my window and look out for folks even making sure that they saw me. And I’d use my digital camera to take a picture of them if just knowing that they were being watched wasn’t enough.

    I hope you get your signs up and that there can be some enforcement of your property rights. I’ve seen solutions such as keycard gates in parking lots used but it would be a shame to have to put up with the expense and extra time to use such systems. We have those problems in our small town in NH where people cut through parking lots at high-speed to bypass a minute or two of traffic with a school and lots of pedestrians near by.

    I did use Google Maps to look at the route described. And I also took a look at the website of your association. It looks like it is reasonably managed and it’s nice that they have a web page up that addresses some issues.

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