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February 11th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
I think the Crowned Chancellor should cut his driver, his own pay and his administrations pay, before he taxes Massachusetts families once again.
Wasn’t there an article in todays paper about UMASS salaries?
And now he wants the arena for nothing and Lowell taxpayers still shoulder the debt service (CC Lenzi..that’s DS to you)…add the potential for sabotage on his (meehan’s) part, w/ regard to LeLacheur..and the Chancellor has gotten himself quite a kingdom..where the tax payer will PAY TWICE, for both the arena & the ball park. Wonder who is in Meehan’s pocket on this deal? I have an idea who is and who def. isn’t.
Well, no matter to the Chancellor..because, well, he’s been coronated, of course. And everyone LOVES him..So, pay no attention to the man in the main office at UML..Perhaps, he hasn’t quite realized that his decision making is more scrutinized locally (or is it), whereas as a Congressman’s decision making is so much more diluted and easier to pass blame along where it is convenient.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
On the “Kraft” report…Personally, I don’t think it exists. As I understand it, it has been requested (is it up for view in The SAC Club?) and has not been dispersed.
Was the Kraft report done with public monies? If so, why hasn’t it been released? Did the Kraft organization do it with the premise of managing the arena? I can’t imagine that the Chancellor would pay for that out of his $4.9 million dollar (and growing) campaign fund.
February 11th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Regarding the arena, it is interesting to me that the majority of the council is in such a rush to dump the arena even before a final report from the professional company looking at the arena is finished its evaluation.
It’s like hiring an appraiser to do a market anaylisis on your house, but selling it below market rate before the appraisal is completed? I just don’t understand the rush and the public pressure to force Lynch to give it, and the land next to it, away for free.
February 12th, 2009 at 6:48 am
I thought that guy already ran a recycling center over by Western Ave?
February 12th, 2009 at 7:52 am
Guess what: This is DEFINITELY going to come up on a Monday morning WCAP appearance.
What ridiculous stances these councilors have taken. Do you work for MEEHAN, or do you work for the damned taxpayers???
February 12th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
I agree with Lynne totally on this one, I don’t see how we can just give the arena away without trying to make it financially solvent. Once the Devils’ lease is up we will have a better idea if it can turn a profit, if we discover it cannot, then get rid of it. I don’t trust Meehan one iota, and agree that several councilors appear to be in his pocket. There are hundreds of similar sized arenas over the country, I find it hard to believe that they are all losing money.
February 12th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
We should not be giving away the arena. The management company has done a poor job with it. Have you heard about all the upcoming shows? Me neither! I can tell you that my 5 year old wants to go see Oliver and the Wizard of Oz at the Lowell Auditorium (I did not tell her about them). She really would have loved the Wiggles and Disney on Ice of we had ever heard about anything happening at the Tsongas! We drove to Manchester because we just assumed the Wiggles were not in Lowell of all places.
February 12th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Unfortunately kpem its not the management company thats to blame. As I understand it (and please someone correct me if I am wrong) dates during hockey season are EXTREMELY limted because the arena is needed for Devils and ULowell practice as well as games so the ice cannot be covered for a show. Ice shows such as Disney on Ice are not feasible because there are two hockey teams with coordinated schedules so that when one team is on the road the other is home. That leaves very limited periods with more that a single day or maybe two when a show could be presented. For these reasons I would be in favor of utilizing the adjacent land to construct a practice facility. Thoughtful planning would be necessary. Consideration as to who would pay for the construction, whether it would be city-owned or private generating tax dollars, and designing a multi-use facility so it would not go vacant all summer during hockey off-season would be mandatory. With a practice facility that would at least not lose money the Arena itself would be available for many more revenue generating dates during the Fall, Winter and Spring which would go a long way towards reducing if not eliminating the deficit. If I were the city manager I would gladly donate the adjacent land, valued I believe somewhere in the neighborhood of $480,000, to this project as a more-than-fair-trade towards eliminating a $1 million per year deficit.
February 12th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Reading about $1200 fee hikes for students at UML for next year and possibilites for further cutbacks in staff and faculty I am concerned that the arena does not support the important educational mission of the university nor does it seem to be a prudent investment for the university either. I said before in a column in the Sun, unless students can sleep in it or teachers and researchers can teach or research in it, what’s it got to do with UML’s core mission in difficult times? We were told that many community programs had to be cut or scaled back because they did not match the University’s core mission = so please tell me how this does?
February 12th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
The State owns a rink in Lowell that could be used for hockey practice - the Janas rink. No need to waste more prime land on hockey.
The land next to the Tsongas arena is valued at over $800K, net of clean-up costs. Beyond that, it has the potential for providing annual tax revenue at the commercial rate.
February 12th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
It is valuable property but it is losing $1 million per year? Makes no sense to me. Why can’t we sell all of it privately? So we are currently holding on to an unusable arena so that the devils and Umass can practice? Is there any other out besides giving away and arena and donating the land beside it. I say no deal.
February 12th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
kpem: I think the point people are trying to make is that there’s a possibility of it becoming valuable, IF certain things happen.
For instance, if that land that the city councilors want to hand over to Meehan were built into a conference center and hotel, suddenly big conferences can be held there! I am given to understand that the Tsongas does NOT have those sorts of amenities (conference rooms) therefore a whole host of events are not going to come here. But if there were a nice hotel with a conference center right next door walking distance you’d see that work well in our favor.
however, if the Councilors give away the store (both the Tsongas and the land) we’re just…out the money. Cuz the University is NEVER going to take on the debt that they’ve caused by taking up so much of the Tsongas’ functionality.
I think the city could make gobs of money on the Tsongas, but if Meehan has any thing to say about it, we’ll just get totally screwed.
February 12th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
We can’t we make gobs of money with Meehan holding our hands behind our backs no matter what we do. We have been losing a million a year so that ULowell can skate. Sounds like it has always been their arena and the taxpayers of Lowell were just paying for it. When does this deal/contract we have with the practice time for ULowell end and how did this crappy deal for the Lowell residents start? I agree it is a valuable property and this is like extortion. It is a snub at Lowell residents saying thanks for paying our bills for xyz years and now we will take it off your hands for free and throw in the property next year
February 12th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Perhaps we need to let the Council know how much we think the City is getting screwed. BTW, does Meehan care about anything academic in nature?
February 12th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
So Elmer, how do you propose going about this?
February 13th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Elmer, Marty Meehan has always only cared about one thing - Marty Meehan
February 14th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Jackfrom 01854 - you hit the nail on the head, this is now, and will always be about Marty making Marty look good. This is move to build the UMass cmapus so that they Marty goes for the job at Suffolk, he can say, look what I did in Lowell.. he is * (edited by mimi) and always will be!