Left In Lowell

As Dick had mentioned on his blog last month that “City Life” a taped, local affairs program on Lowell Telecommunications Corporation (LTC: Building Community through Technology) was going live.

John McDonough is the show’s producer and George Anthes is one of the co-hosts; the two were formerly associated with the local radio station, WCAP, before the new ownership changed the programming. Anthes is joined by Tom Byrne as a co-host.

And as most LiL readers and commentators know, we had some issues in the past. However I, as many others who are concerned about Lowell’s public and civic life, agree with Dick’s comments that in addition to the blogs, the locally-owned radio station and the newspaper and other “media” outlets, “it [the program] will immediately become a major contributor to the local political scene and that’s a good thing – the more the better.”

I was able to view the programs as they are replayed in the morning. All LTC programs have a time slot for the original broadcast and another one for the repeat. Last week Professor Bob Forrant of UML, who also comments frequently on LiL was a guest on the show. This past Monday, Dick Howe was sitting-in as host and Cliff Krieger (Lowell’s newest blogger) was the guest. Yesterday, Jenn Myers, the Sun’s Lowell reporter, and Elkin Montoya of the CBA and Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union were the guests. So, it is an eclectic mix of guests and topics.

As one new outlet begins to take shape, apparently another one is seeing its sunset (excuse the pun). Marie is reporting on richardhowe.com that WUML’s Sunrise Show will end this Friday due to the UML budget cuts.

City Life is broadcast live daily from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. on 8 (Mon – Wed) and 95 on (Thur – Fri). It is repeated the next morning on 8 from 6:30 – 8:00 a.m. Because we are dealing with an entity (LTC) that promotes free speech, right after the City Life, the program Democracy Now is shown. I wonder how much of a cross-over audience there is.

The program has the look and feel of any local access television show. So it should not be judged by standards of commercial television. It should be judged by the impact it makes on raising the level of discussion in our community.

And I agree with McDonough who in his closing remarks on the program praises the staff LTC staff. This show may open the door for others to do the same. I encourage those of you who have strong opinions, and are committed and disciplined (somewhat) to join LTC, take a class or two and begin your own show. The staff is friendly, helpful and eager to teach.

Note: I am a member of LTC’s Board of Directors and a co-chair of the Program Sub-Committee.

Awesome, just awesome. And features Jack Black and the star of Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog. Even better.

Thanks to the hubby for pointing this out. Just the other day I was wondering if there’d been any movement on renting out the retail spaces at the new JAM-based Early garage.

A lease is slated to be signed tomorrow between the city and Garcia-Brogan’s pub, which will occupy 5,043 square feet of ground-floor retail space at the western corner of the 900-space garage. Construction is anticipated to begin in 60-90 days. […]

The city is also negotiating with Dr. Anshu Goel, a general dentist looking to occupy 1972 square-feet of space. […] Goel added that his wife is willing to provide some dental work for the poor in partnership with any of the city’s non-profit groups, as part of the lease. […] (Editor’s note: very cool.)

The third potential tenant, Edmilson Ramos, is in negotiations with the city to lease 8,000 square feet for a Brazilian restaurant and function area.

So there you go, perhaps three new tenants. Sounds like the food venues will be slightly different from what we already have downtown. I look forward to driving past the Early garage and seeing it not empty!

Kos tells us we told you so:

Of course, passing the bailout, and pissing away hundreds of billions of dollars to Bush’s and Paulson’s best friends haven’t really done much to stem the bleeding, we’re in a brutal recession and job losses are piling up in numbers unseen for decades, and the market sure as heck wasn’t propped up:

Government by Dow was a failure. […]

I understand the argument that had nothing been done, then things might be worse today. That’s an unprovable assertion, but it’s a plausible one. Yet can anyone really argue that had Congress waited a few more weeks for the smart economists and policymakers to weigh in, thus allowing for a better diagnosis and solution for the problem, that things would be that much worse?

Go read the rest. He’s right.

The second thing that you should read today is Michael Moore’s requiem for GM:

For all of that, the auto heads had to sit there in November and be ridiculed about how they traveled to D.C. Yes, they flew on their corporate jets, just like the bankers and Wall Street thieves did in October. But, hey, THAT was OK! They’re the Masters of the Universe! Nothing but the best chariots for Big Finance as they set about to loot our nation’s treasury.

Of course, the auto magnates used be the Masters who ruled the world. They were the pulsating hub that all other industries — steel, oil, cement contractors — served. Fifty-five years ago, the president of GM sat on that same Capitol Hill and bluntly told Congress, what’s good for General Motors is good for the country. Because, you see, in their minds, GM WAS the country.

What a long, sad fall from grace we witnessed on November 19th when the three blind mice had their knuckles slapped and then were sent back home to write an essay called, “Why You Should Give Me Billions of Dollars of Free Cash.” […]

Let me just state the obvious: Every single dollar Congress gives these three companies will be flushed right down the toilet. There is nothing the management teams of the Big 3 are going to do to convince people to go out during a recession and buy their big, gas-guzzling, inferior products. Just forget it. And, as sure as I am that the Ford family-owned Detroit Lions are not going to the Super Bowl — ever — I can guarantee you, after they burn through this $34 billion, they’ll be back for another $34 billion next summer.

So what to do? Members of Congress, here’s what I propose:

1. Transporting Americans is and should be one of the most important functions our government must address. And because we are facing a massive economic, energy and environmental crisis, the new president and Congress must do what Franklin Roosevelt did when he was faced with a crisis (and ordered the auto industry to stop building cars and instead build tanks and planes): The Big 3 are, from this point forward, to build only cars that are not primarily dependent on oil and, more importantly to build trains, buses, subways and light rail (a corresponding public works project across the country will build the rail lines and tracks). This will not only save jobs, but create millions of new ones.

2. You could buy ALL the common shares of stock in General Motors for less than $3 billion. Why should we give GM $18 billion or $25 billion or anything? Take the money and buy the company! (You’re going to demand collateral anyway if you give them the “loan,” and because we know they will default on that loan, you’re going to own the company in the end as it is. So why wait? Just buy them out now.)

3. None of us want government officials running a car company, but there are some very smart transportation geniuses who could be hired to do this. We need a Marshall Plan to switch us off oil-dependent vehicles and get us into the 21st century. […]

This proposal will save our industrial infrastructure — and millions of jobs. More importantly, it will create millions more. It literally could pull us out of this recession.

In contrast, yesterday General Motors presented its restructuring proposal to Congress. They promised, if Congress gave them $18 billion now, they would, in turn, eliminate around 20,000 jobs. You read that right. We give them billions so they can throw more Americans out of work. That’s been their Big Idea for the last 30 years — layoff thousands in order to protect profits. But no one ever stopped to ask this question: If you throw everyone out of work, who’s going to have the money to go out and buy a car?

These idiots don’t deserve a dime. Fire all of them, and take over the industry for the good of the workers, the country and the planet.

What’s good for General Motors IS good for the country. Once the country is calling the shots.