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- - 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
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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 12th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
For a family of 4 we can fill up three kitchen size bags per week and that is now that we have been recycling. My husband will dig thinks out of the bag if they get thrown in by accident. There are still alot of items that can not be recycled that the average family uses and it seems that Bernie was aware of that. I think the level he set it at still strongly encourages recycling (we could go through about 6 bags of trash) and does not penalize families with kids. (ie. diapers, snack wrappers, used paper plates, pizza boxes etc.)
June 12th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
The proposal sounds like a good compromise between the “free” pick-up and the full “pay-as-you-throw” alternative. The single 65-gal trash bin is “renewable” and the number of “disposable bags” should be kept to a minimum. For those that can fit their trash within the single bin, they can avoid the hassle of weekly purchases of bags. And by retaining that basic service cost in the tax base, it offers some the opportunity to include that cost within their itemized federal income tax deductions.
One caution that the City should address is the weight of the 65-gal trash bins. I believe the current limit is about 75 lbs, which is plenty for the persons that must load the trash into the truck. The new bins may have an automated pick-up, but even that must have a limit. People with trash compactors could probably exceed a reasonable weight within the 65-gal size. (For example, water weighs about 8 lbs/gal, so a trash bin filled with water could weigh over 500 lbs). Since the cost of disposal to the City is by weight, there should be a weight limit set in the ordinance.
June 12th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
If the entire cost of of picking up waste, both trash and recyclable material, is moved on to the users, then I am fine with this.
But speaking for those of us who live in condos/townhouses/large apartment buildings and who, because of a City ordinance, do not have access to this service are not happy.
I know we need to take small steps but why should we (condo owners) continue to pay for our own trash pick and then subsidize the City budget so the rest of you can do what you please?
I think I need to get the condo owners across this City organized and start a movement.
June 12th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Mimi,
I do not know your specific situation but I do know about the condo owners in Tewksbury. When the condo developers in Tewksbury came in to get the developments approved they made promises to the town about how these developments would not tax the system and that they would pay for trash pick up. The condo owners who moved in then said “we pay taxes so why shoulnt we get trash pick up”? They were told when they bought in or rented the units that it was not part of the deal and still they complain. If a condition of being built or allowed to form a condo excludes trash then it should stay that way. Again, I do not know your situation. Why you can not drop of recyling at a public drop off I do not understand. Is there no profit on recycling?
June 12th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
One more thing I want to throw out there…
“However, several councilors — including Broderick, Kazanjian and Milinazzo — were amenable to what is known as a “pay as you throw” trash system.”
Of course Kazanjian is for pay as you throw he owns a dumpster company. I hope he has completely recused himself from the discussion.
June 13th, 2008 at 5:36 am
Hey, I’m as liberal as the next guy, that should be painfully obvious by now. But some of what I’m reading here is the garbage pick-up equivalent of the old knuckle-dragger conservative “arguments” of “Hey, I don’t have kids in school, why should I have to pay for schools!”
You have to be more careful what you wish for here, if only people whose houses were on fire supported the fire department, THERE WOULDN’T BE ONE!!!
June 13th, 2008 at 6:12 am
Peter:
I am not talking about the fire department or the police department; I am talking about an ordinance the City Council passsed a few years back excluding condos and large apartments from the City’s waste pick-up.
No one passed an ordinance preventing the police or fire department from coming to my house; just from picking up my garbage.
I want that issue to be part of the larger discussion.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Mimi,
I used to live in a condo. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that your water/sewer bill does not include a trash fee, while those of us with single family homes are assessed such a fee.
I’ll also point out that any reform which puts the cost of disposal on the individual household, rather than the general fund, can only serve to make it easier to convince the city to include residents of big multifamily properties in their trash pickup system.
June 13th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Our family of three fills up one barrel a week, and our recycle bin is usually busting at the seams.
I welcome the PAT idea. This should bump up the recylcing levels in the city dramatically, and I’m all in favor of that.
I do worry about the dumping problem. I lived just off Lincoln Street for many years, and dumping was rampant, and that was without a PAT policy.
The family across the street from me has four kids and they don’t recycle. Typically they put out 3 or 4 barrels a week. I hope that once this proposal passes I’ll see a recycle bin out in front of their house.
June 13th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
-b…I’m sure with your persuasive powers you might be successful in pulling your neighbors “into the light” of recycling?
I still have a few questions..
How does this new policy apply to those who own multi families? How does the City enforce that? By my guess, with a rate of home ownership (non rental properties) at 40 (sone odd) %, at least we MIGHT have the dream to achieve that rate. Seems the big savings would be realized in going after the renters?
June 15th, 2008 at 9:18 am
I think Mimi was complaining about the fact that the current budget for trash has been subsidized by the general fund. Even with the new proposal, however, there’s still an estimated $2.5M deficit projected, even with the changes.
There’s not really any good recycling centers. There’s reclamation centers, but if I recall they only take the stuff that you would get the $.05 refund…and maybe cardboard? But I don’t think they take everything.
The increase in recycling (which pays for itself, if enough people do it) will only come if we couple this new program with an investment in education and distribution of the bins. I fear that without this, we won’t reach the 25% mark all that easily.
I still think that the city should call on some volunteers to spend a few hours in distribution/education. Make a few weekends “Lowell Recycle” weekends, send out the folks in the public works dept along with the volunteers, and get those bins, and the information, out there. If people have to go to City Hall during office hours to pick up bins, there are a lot of people who won’t do it, or can’t.
June 15th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Just spoke with my sister tonight and asked her if she recycles and she said no I do not have a bin and have not gotten to go get one. (this is a school teacher and her police officer husband). She said to her husband “could you go get one?” We need to have volunteers just hand these things out. (yes I would be one)
June 16th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Me too, Kpem! I think you would find a pretty large number of volunteers (hell, go to the college and the high schools, where the kids are very enviro-aware) to spend a few hours in a month to making sure these bins (and the information) gets distributed.
June 16th, 2008 at 10:02 am
I know in the Algonquin High School system the kids need to do so many volunteer hours to graduate and this would be a great project if Lowell has that requirement?
June 16th, 2008 at 11:19 am
If you contact Gunther Wellenstein in the recycle office, he will tell you how to get a bin. He occasionally attends neighborhood meetings and brings them with him. I know he did so when he came to our Beledere Neighborhood Council meeting last fall and they went fast.
Speaking as a condo dweller, we do not pay trash fees as part of our water and sewer bills. I would gladly do so for the opportunity to recycle. My development does not recycle because people don’t want another disposal bin on the property and I think it’s a crime.
June 16th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Gunther was at CNAG last month. He’s a great guy. The stat that was originally thrown out a few months ago that sparked this was only 11% of the city recycles. I laughed at this when I heard it. I actually should get another recycling bin, and we compost. I live right near Gage and on trash day when walking my dogs before work there are recycle bins at I would guess 95 out of 100 homes we pass. I think that if we could find out which areas aren’t recycling and then concentrate efforts there it would go a loooonnnnnnngggg way to solving this problem. The recycling program lost $800K last year and with the budget already being bare bones (well except for those middle management pay increases for the school department because I know we all NEED those right?) it’s going to be on all of us to conserve as much of everything as we can. I know I already have at least two cords of wood for the upcoming winter.
June 16th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
I think the 11% refers to the percentage that recycled material is of the entire trash, rather than the percentage of households that recycle. So if every household recycled, but deposited 11 lbs out of every 100 lbs in the recycle bin, there would be an 11% recycling rate.
June 16th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
“I think the 11% refers to the percentage that recycled material is of the entire trash, rather than the percentage of households that recycle.”
That is great to know and makes sense. Seeing that Lowell will let you throw the demolition from a small house into the weekly trash, that makes a lot of sense. (I saw a house with about 15 barrels of demo materials on my way to my daycare and they were empty when I came back by) I also saw Gunther at the Early garage small business fair and he seems to do all he can, but you can only do so much with your hands tied. It is great to see Lowell put limits on trash, but not make them so strict as to promote dumping.
June 23rd, 2008 at 6:44 pm
My oldest son lives in Nashua and has a huge barrel that is picked by a neat truck with an arm. That part sounds nice. However I have neighbors that don’t recycle no matter what. They just do not care. And since they usually don’t put out enough to fill up a huge barrel, you can bet that they will continue to dump their recyclables in with the regular trash. ( The bottle guy that comes in the early morning must really like them! ) Though with all of the illegal remodeling they have been doinglately, maybe they will get caught. Somehow, I don’t think the guys from BFI are hired for their brains. They take anything.