I have been watching the City Council for many, many years. Election season has begun. Take my word for it. Tonight’s City Council meeting launched the 2009 election season. Do some of these Councilors realize that face time on the television doesn’t always translate to quality face time?
It was a long meeting; that is what happens when you decide to meet only twice a month. It took over 45 minutes to go through the ceremonial aspects of the agenda and the meeting ended at 9:30 p.m.
The Double Tree and UML
Right off the bat, CC Rita Mercier stated her concern about the rumor that UML is moving into the Doubletree and wanted to know how is this going to effect Lowell’s tax base. CC A. Mercier stated I have not read this rumor, to which she replied, it was in the Column. He then replied, I do not read the Column.
That may be true but I think all political junkies or all of those who have something to gain/lose from Lowell political activity read the Column or have the Column read to them.
CM Bernie Lynch did mention that if that is the case, the City will have to look at how this will impact their tax base. Ouch. A lot of money to make-up if we lose that tax base.
And speaking of the Column, CC members asked the CM about the request to move the police training academy to the garage on Middlesex Street and they were concerned that the CM was not in favor of it because, guess what, they read in the Column. The CM answered that they are putting all of the facts together and perhaps he will have it ready in a week or two.
Group Homes
This is raised regularly. CC AK wants us to appeal the State Delegation to have them change the rules that apply to Group Home. The Mayor volunteered to have his office find out about group homes. Now mind you, both Andy Sheehan, Assistant to the City Manager and Christine O’Connor, City Solicitor, told them that they were limted as to what they could do. How many time is this issue going to come up; yes once or twice a term. It is a good topic to get the people excited but at the end there is not much we can do. We are mid-size City with a lot of large homes, a working class City. This is why these non-profit group homes come here.
Sub-Committee Meeting
CC J. Milinazzo reported on the Public Safety Sub-Committee meeting on the Fire Apparatus. I already posted on this meeting. CC Milinazzo always does an excellent job in reporting on meetings; detailed and factual. (Here is the link on blip.tv for this Public Safety Sub-Committee meeting.)
CC R. Elliott reported on the Flood Committee meeting. The residents asked that a formal motion regarding the “flash boards” be presented. Unfortunately, the motion was not part of the regular agenda so I was not able to get the jist of it. The residents of the flood area were pleased. (Here is the link to the blip.tv for the Flood Sub-Committee meeting.
Cable TV Sub-Committee Meeting: CC B. Martin gave a report. I also posted on this meeting. Here is the link to the blip.tv video on this Cable Sub-Committee meeting.
Motions
CC. M. Lenzi Request Council ask School Dept. develop curriculum re:Excise & Other Tax Procedures. CFO Tom Moses volunteered to go to the schools and teach students the seriousness of credit and paying your debt.
CC. Kazanjian Request Manager update Council on new Trash/Recycling Program. The CM will report on the progress but he gave good news that he was able to negotiate a new contract and save additional money.
CC. Kazanjian Request Manager update Council on Spinners Contract. The Spinners RFP response was given at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon. The CM gave it to the CC, $180,000/year, 1% adjustment fee for 10 years. Spinners have agreed to ticket surcharge to go for capital improvement. All told, the City will receive about 2.5 million. Yes, that was the number that the City wanted. Spinners will continue to maintain the field.
CC Broderick-Req. Mgr. update Council on speeding on Andover St. I am sure that everyone in Ward 1 was happy that nearly all City Councilors expressed their concern about speeding on Andover Street.
CC.Elliott-Req. Youth S/C meet re: Summer Youth Job Program. The CM announced that the Career Center will be working with the Parks Department to have young people run the summer recreation programs at the City Parks and other facilities. Details will be provided later. If I am not mistaken the funds will come from the “Stimulus Package.”
CC R. Mercier/M. Caulfield Request Council take action to rescind previous vote on 3/24 to increase demand fee under MGL Ch. 60, Sec. 15 (2). Wants a warning sent that a fine will be forthwith if they do not pay in a timely fashion. The problem is that if we do not get revenue, we will have to lay-off more employees.
It is very simple, you reduce the amount of revenue, therefore you are limited in your income and have to reduce your expense base; i.e. layoffs. As CC K. Broderick said, this is not about the hardship; it is about those who do not care or even worse want us to front them the money. It is costing me and you, those who pay on time, to collect those who are irresponsible.
I have no idea how the City Council is going to determine the good guys (the ones in financial difficulties) from the bad guys (the habitual offenders). For the record, we are talking about people who are 38 days late after they had a month to pay for the invoice.
CC members should pay attention and know what they are voting for and they should know what the City is allowed to do and what the Commonwealth asked them to do. It is amazing what the CC does not know. The Administration asked people to pay an extra fee of $30 for being 38 days late. It does not sound to unreasonable to me.
Here is a part of the 25 minute discussion that preceded the 8-1 vote at the March 24th meeting. Now this issue was revisited and sent to a Sub-Committee. The CC discussed this for 25 minutes at their March 24th meeting. There wasn’t a failure to communicate; it was a failure to understand.
Closing Comments
Don’t forget to check out the “packet” on the City Council web site and you will probably be able to watch the entire proceedings tomorrow on blip.tv. You can also catch reruns on LTC. By the way, in case readers of LiL have not caught on, I have a deep and abiding respect for CC Jim Milinazzo; his knowledge, sincerity and devotion; a true class act.
April 14th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
what stands out in my mind from that debacle was “38 days” and “Mr Moses Mumbo Jumbo”. Almost as good as “Mister Maker of the Motion” (from a while back).
Sad.
April 14th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
As for being late with your bills…if I’m late paying a credit card, I am charged an interst fee,late to pay car insurance-$25 late fee, late to pay my cable bill-well they will threaten to cut me off, same goes with my landline and cell provider. And because I never like to pay anything more than I have to for ANYTHING, I pay my bills on time.
Here’s the deal..you get a bill in the mail. Excise tax bills come out every year, just like Christmas, New Years and 4th of July. You put the bill in your (whatever) with the due date written on the outside. You pay the bill on or before that date. So simple. In fact, most of my bills give me 15 days to pay it. I figure a 30 day is more than generous.
April 15th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Mimi,
Do you know if the sub comittee packets of information are available anywhere?
April 15th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Trying:
No, Sub-Committee info is currently not available on line. Not even the minutes, attendance or participation. If the info comes out of the CM’s office and its public information, you can ask them and they will provide it, if not already posted on line.
The CC should ask the Clerk’s office to post whatever info they record during those Sub-Committee meetings. There is someone from the Clerk’s office at all the meetongs. The CC is fast at criticizing others for not communicating but not so fast at “communicating” themselves.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:12 am
I love Rita’s big heart, but she’ll be fighting for first in line to roast Big Bern when he can’t balance the budget next year.
http://www.mrmillcity.com/2009.04.12_arch.html#1239728095641
April 15th, 2009 at 10:57 am
If - and big if - the rumor (god I hate how Lowell politics is governed by rumors and fakey bologna) on the Doubletree is truly what UML wants, how MORE the stupid of us to give/sell the land next to the Tsongas to UML instead of developing that into, possibly, some sort of hotel/conference center that will actually attract more business to the Tsongas, and be a tax base for the city, eh?
Another sidenote: if it takes that long to get through the “ceremonial” aspects of the meeting, it being every two weeks, then I say we start cutting out ceremonial stuff. No more moments of silence for war vets, no more salutations to winning high school sports teams, NOTHING. Let’s see how badly the councilors want to go back to meeting more regularly if all the stuff they get to crow about, namely, the “ceremonial” part, gets CUT.
A meeting until 9:30 at night is ridiculous. Only the truly bored, masochistic, or dedicated can sit through that much CC meeting.
RE your point about Ward one and the friggin attention it gets because a large number of councilors live there: I could tell them some things about speeding on Lincoln St, but would they really care? The house across from us has been hit twice in the last couple of years (the second time happened to be the first night we stayed in our new house).
But you know, south Lowell doesn’t really have much in the way of anyone giving a shit.
“The CM announced that the Career Center will be working with the Parks Department to have young people run the summer recreation programs at the City Parks and other facilities.”
That is freakinh awesome!
“As CC K. Broderick said, this is not about the hardship; it is about those who do not care or even worse want us to front them the money. It is costing me and you, those who pay on time, to collect those who are irresponsible.”
Good, I think he read my post.
“There wasn’t a failure to communicate; it was a failure to understand.”
Ha, well, duh…I could have told you that…and even once they seem to actually understand…(Rita voted *for* the increase after all)…they lose it like 30 days later.
I swear to god, if it weren’t for the actual campaigning, I would love to be on the Council. The actual governing, I understand better than half the people on there. And they say I ain’t too bright. Yeesh.
Mimi, thanks for taking the hit and watching through the entire thing and giving us this great overview, you’re a hero!
April 15th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Armand doesn’t have to read the column. Between him and Caufield, they source 80% of it. Still belong to Kendall’s breakfast club Armand??
April 16th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Was it just me or did anyone else notice that the Lowell Sun did not carry a single word about the Tuesday city council meeting in Wednesday’s paper?
I guess they are getting us ready for more ‘value added’ items! lol
April 16th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
There was a just a short piece on the previously approved late fee assessment on Excise tax. Nothing in there about the verbal exchange and the Mr. Moses Mumbo Jumbo…
April 16th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
ER:
They did write about the CC meeting yesterday. Maybe you missed it because the 422 word article was on one topic and one topic only: CC R. Mercier’s motion; of course this was after they had published a similar article two days before.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
New tagline for the Sun…”The Sun: Always Missing the Beat”!
April 16th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
KRS, Mimi, I went back and looked at my paper from Wednesday again and I’m still not finding it! Maybe it was on line but not in print?
Today’s paper seems to only have one story on the UML-Tsongas arena report.
This speaks volumns on why the Lowell Sun is going to go the way of the Rocky Mountain News and unfortunately because of their past cost cutting measures there are no former editors ready to step in and rescue the paper!!!
April 16th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
El..page 5, top of the page. Just looked at it. Happy Hunting!
April 16th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Very interesting. I thought the paper was down to one edition, certainly in the city! My page 5 from Wed has the following:
Groton’s McDonald honored posthumously
Pepperell residents unhappy with choices of selectmen
Lowell’s underwood praised on Beacon Hill
below the fold
Lowell, Concord historic sites compete for grants
and the continuation of three stories from page 3 as well as an ad for Village at Old Mill…
That’s it! So does this mean not all home delivery subscribers get the “latest” edition of the paper?
April 16th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Now I am questioning whether I am getting the later city edition of the paper or not so if you would help out, here is what is on page 5 in today’s (Thursday’s) paper that was delivered to my home this afternoon
Ex-cop’s lawyer: Hold bookie in contempt
Photo…Woman injured in crash
Water district: Wilmington’s in
Community Briefs: Vendor night tonight in Dracut, Apply tomorrow for Wilmington grant
Below the fold
Ads for Ian Barwick DMD, Dracut Hardware, Academy of Notre Dame and Workers Credit Union
How does that compare to everyone else???
April 16th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
EL, top of the fold. Are there 2 editions? Still?
I don’t get mine till the afternoon. Is it not online even?
April 16th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Still chuckling over Mr. Moses Mumbo Jumbo…
April 17th, 2009 at 1:15 am
Wish the Costello family still owned the paper! Things would be VERY different!
April 17th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
K-R-S I listed the three stories at the top of the fold on my paper, one from Groton, one from Peperrell and the only one from Lowell was regarding someone being honored in Boston.
I don’t get my paper until the afternoon either. I wonder if they distribute the “left over” papers from 5:30 to home delivery customers before updating anything for the “afternoon” edition?
I’m also wondering if there are two editions, like the old suburban edition vs city. I seem to be getting a lot of Ayer, Groton, Peperrell and Devens information even though they are IMHO outside of what is considered Greater Lowell!
So it’s Friday and outside of the UML-Tsongas arena story yesterday I haven’t seen anything in the paper delivered to my door from Tuesday’s CC meeting!
It’s pretty clear that Campy and others from the museum read this blog so I call on one of them to jump in and explain what’s happening!
This is outragous!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 17th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
I just read on Dick Howe’s blog that 6 “news gatherers” at the Sun have been cut and a 7th sent to Fitchburg!
Campy still doesn’t get it. The paper is dying in large part because it has stopped printing news!
So if the 6 reporters that are now unemployed want to start an online paper I’d be interested in backing it.
April 17th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Ellie, i’m not disputing you! ;0) mine gets delivered between 3p and 5p
Wonder who the unfortunate ones were (at the Sun) who were laid off?
April 19th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Also, another thought occurred to me as I was listening to the CC meeting..in one breath, the CC (some of them) challenge a revnue stream they approved and then in the next breath, request a feasibility study for potent$al $mprovements (more $$$) to Pol$wog Park $n Belv$dere…**continues to shake head**…starting to get l$’l dizzy..Since the Shedd folks were so successful at raining $$ for the water park, perhaps they can raise the funds privately for a feasibility study and the obvious improvements needed??? (jus’ an idea)
April 21st, 2009 at 12:39 pm
I grew up in Belvidere and remember Polliwog Pond behind Shedd Park, but there was no park in that area, just land grown up with small trees. So are they expanding Shedd park in this time of “plenty of money in the city coffers” and calling it Polliwog Park?
Of course this has nothing to do with the fact that the voting block in Belvidere is so strong and wihtout it you can’t get elected to the CC.
Still think district representation is a bad idea?
BTW today is the one week anniversary of the CC meeting the Sun has not yet published any stories about!
April 21st, 2009 at 1:11 pm
ER:”…one week anniversary of the CC meeting…” See my comment (#3) under “What News Gatherers”