Left In Lowell

Update: The Sun is reporting on its website that DSF Sports withdrew its bid. I do not know if Webber automatically wins the bid as is or will negotiations now begin. At the end of the day the City Council has the final say, so let’s see what happens. I am leaving my post written before this announcement as is. By the way, the explanation that the withdrawal was done out of courtesy sounds a bit hollow. If he wanted to be courteous, he should not have submitted a bid.

Jenn Myers did an excellent job in detailing the issues surrounding the LeLacheur Park RFP. If you have not read the article in the Sun, here is the link. If you are at all interested in the cultural, economic, social or political life of this City, this article is a must read. It is a good primer for the debate that has now begun in private and will continue in public, first with the Stadium and Arena Commission and then on the floor of the City Council.

There is also a good sidebar that appeared in yesterday’s edition which summarizes the details of the two bids, one from the Spinners’ organization and the other one from a business rival, ex-partner of the Spinners’ ownership. Great what we needed more drama!

The Spinners want a 10 year lease; they will pay the City $150,000/year and $50,000/year for Capital Improvement. The park will be used exclusively for minor league baseball. Ten years is a long time for a contract, don’t you think? The other group, DSF Sports, LLC wants a 3 year lease; $105,000 and a plan to have all kinds of other events (concerts, festivals, ec…) that would generate income, a portion of which would be given to the City.

Last week on WCAP during his weekly Q&A, CM Bernie Lynch had mentioned that he wanted this whole process to be public. I hope the autonomous Arena Commission shares his views. I am not a baseball fan but the ballpark for me, as it is for most Lowellian, is a quality of life issue: it makes Lowell a better place but it would be helpful if we did not have to subsidize it.

The owner of the Spinners, Drew Webber, has a lot of friends and supporters in this town and of course a track record, so I think he has the inside edge but we should not get sentimental about this decision. In my opinion, that is how we got in trouble with the Devils/Lockmonster contract.

I think I will need a guide book to understand all of the machinations that have already started. As Betty Davis said in the film All About Eve, “Fasten your seatbelts, it is going to be a bumpy ride.”

The Sun reports that the results of a vote from the LRTA (Lowell Regional Transit Authority) unions wasn’t yet known, but they are considering a strike if “contractual demands were not met.”

I didn’t realize the LRTA was in this sort of a pickle, and don’t know the details of who is or is not doing what, but this can’t be good. Though I have a lot of problems with the LRTA (like, the fact they don’t run past much past 6pm, or that their website and route information sucks and cannot be deciphered), the most vulnerable populations rely on public transit and a strike would not be good news.

In my opinion, this town could use a better transit system with longer hours, and a way online to discover when and where a bus will be and where it’s going (not those annoying nonstandardized PDF’s with the schedules of each line, with no map to figure out which line is best for you). The community is underserved by its transit system. Problem is, which comes first, the ridership or the routes? Who pays for that?

Do you think the LRTA coverage is adequate, and what would you want to see change? For myself, I’ve never even considered taking the bus anywhere - but I’d like to. For environmental reasons, and also because parking near my office downtown can be tough (or expensive). But the way it stands now, it’s completely useless to me. I imagine that’s the same problem most people have with it.

I hate Democrats. I really do. We win big, overwhelmingly take the White House, gain 59 seats in the Senate, increase our majority in the House, and what do we do? We do what Republicans want. What is wrong with these people??

[MSNBC:] President-elect Barack Obama plans to include about $300 billion in tax cuts for workers and businesses in his economic recovery program, advisers said Sunday, as his team seeks to win over Congressional skeptics worried that he was too focused on government spending.

The legislation Mr. Obama is developing with Congressional Democrats will devote about 40 percent of the cost to tax cuts, including his centerpiece campaign promise to provide credits up to $500 for most workers, costing roughly $150 billion.

John’s right, especially about TPM’s Josh Marshall. If Josh is having big doubts (”Can someone help me come up with an argument for why the Obama stimulus plan isn’t turning out to be a painful joke?”) we ought to pay attention. Krugman weighs in here in his usual succinct manner.

Let’s lay out the basics here. Other things equal, public investment is a much better way to provide economic stimulus than tax cuts, for two reasons. First, if the government spends money, that money is spent, helping support demand, whereas tax cuts may be largely saved. So public investment offers more bang for the buck. Second, public investment leaves something of value behind when the stimulus is over.

He argues that there’s reason to include tax cuts for the middle class as part of the stimulus, but making up 40% of the package? And since this appears to be largely to assuage reluctant (read: obstructionist) Republicans, who are never going to be on board with the public works and investment stimulus no matter what, this is a sign of weakness before even heading into the negotiations.

I say, peel off one or two moderates (say, from ME) in the Senate, and kill the filibuster that way, if you can keep 100% of the Dems on board. Screw trying to please the losing party, they never had so much consideration for anyone else when they were in the majority.

A party of abused spouses, indeed…