Left In Lowell

Please join us for a public meeting to view and comment on the preferred design alternative for South Common.

Thursday evening, November 19th
7 pm to 8:30 pm
At the Pollard Memorial Library (next to City Hall)
401 Merrimack Street
Lowell, MA 01852

Sponsored by the City of Lowell Division of Planning & Development and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Gateway City Parks Program.

For more information, please contact Diane Tradd, Chief Design Planner at 978-446-7200.

“At Home in Utopia”
Special guests include director Michal Goldman
Thursday, November 19, 6:30PM / Refreshments, 7PM / Film screening
Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center, 246 Market Street, Lowell
Free admission!

What does it take to get housing that’s good for our children? What does it take to build a community where we want to live? Does it take a movement? During the 1920s, thousands of immigrant factory workers managed to build cooperative apartment houses that they owned and ran themselves. When they were hit by the Great Depression, they fought alongside others to win the social safety net that we are now in danger of losing. Join us for the Lowell premiere of this compelling documentary, accompanied by an insightful panel discussion with director Michal Goldman and other community leaders.

Guest Panelists: Michal Goldman, Filmmaker; Bob Forrant, Professor/Regional Economics and Social Development; Lindolfo Carballo, Community Action to Support Affordability (CASA)

Please join us for UTEC’s 10th Anniversary, celebrating 10 years of Peace, Positivity, and Empowerment!

Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Time: 6:00-8:00 PM
Location: 34 Hurd St. Lowell, MA 01852

Tickets are $50 in advance, $75 at the door

Please join us for this very special evening:
- UTEC pays tribute to our founding Board President, Steve Pearlswig.
- The 2009 Adult Ally and Youth Leader of the year will be recognized.
- UTECs Fresh Roots culinary team will provide light refreshments.
- Teen stories, performances, and auctions throughout the night.

To purchase tickets online, click here:
Or mail checks to: Jessica Wilson, UTEC, 34 Hurd St., Lowell, MA 01852

According to a Christopher Scott story in today’s Sun, “City Councilor Jim Milinazzo has the five votes needed to become mayor on Jan. 4, and then some.”

Scott reports that CC Milinazzo has the supports of CCs K. Broderick, B. Martin and CC-elects F. Descoteaux, J. Mendonca and P. Murphy. He also reports that “Councilors Rita Mercier and Edward “Bud” Caulfield…will vote for Milinazzo as well at the first meeting of the new 2010-2011 council.” What a difference two years makes. Additionally, it appears that CC K. Broderick will serve as vice-mayor.

Well, this is a good omen for this new City Council: to begin their new term with little or no dispute as to who will lead them. But those of us who have been around for a while, know that in a Lowell mayoral election, it is not over until that vote is taken. Since there is little or no controversy, I do not think history will repeat itself.

Good luck CC Milinazzo!

Yesterday in New York City, a police car assisting Vice President Joe Biden’s motorcade collided with another vehicle. And on Monday, a sheriff’s vehicle escorting Biden’s motorcade in New Mexico was hit by a car that went around the police vehicles blocking the intersection.

Coincidence? I think not. A month ago, while travelling, I too was impacted by the Vice-President’s motorcade. No, I did not hit one of the police cars but I was forced to stay on the grounds of my hotel, located near the airport, for over 45 minutes waiting for the Vice-President’s motorcade to travel by on its way to the airport. It took less than 3 minutes for the motorcade to go by but they shut all of the roads near the airport for 45 minutes.

My inconvenience was nothing compared to those who miss their flights. The staff member who coordinates the Vice-President’s motorcade travel with the local police department needs to sharpen his/her skills.

A friend who lives in Lowell sent me this link to a LGBT blog towleroad . This past weekend in Puerto Rico a 19-year-old gay man, Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado was murdered, his body was partially burned, his head decapitated and his limb dismembered. The story was disturbing on many levels.

In addition to the brutality of this hate crime, I found it disturbing that this story did not make the mainstream media. After I received the e-mail from my friend, I went on line and searched. Yes, you could find the story on some web sites, such as CNN, but I had to search for it.

Have we become desensitized to these types of crime? Is Puerto Rico too far away from the mainland for us not be concerned?

“The Adventures of Prince Achmed”
featuring a live photoplay by the Andreas Kapsalis Trio
Monday, November 16, 7:30PM
UMass Lowell, Durgin Concert Hall, 35 Wilder Street, Lowell
Admission: $5 general public, Free for UML faculty, staff & students (w/ID)

The Lowell Film Collaborative is excited to be partnering with UMass Lowell Department of Music, the 119 Gallery and the Revolving Museum for a first-ever screening of this incredible 1926 animated film. Considered to be the oldest feature-length animated film in existence, “The Adventures of Prince Achmed” was conceived and animated by German animator Lotte Reiniger who spent her lifetime creating films through silhouette puppetry, an art form first utilized by the Chinese.

The Andreas Kapsalis Trio are masters at performing live photoplays (soundtracks) to film, including the brilliant “Adventures of Prince Achmed.” Don’t miss this incredible film & music event!

This whole post by Devilstower over at Dailykos sums it up just perfectly. A taste:

Until recently, this boom-bust “business cycle” was kept in check by some measure of pragmatism. But a funny thing happened in the 1980s. As unrepentant conservatives took their fantasy of pure capitalism out of textbooks and into government, the swings of the cycle became ever stronger. Thoughtful, practical action fell out of style as people increasingly internalized the idea that laissez-faire capitalism was somehow related to democracy.
[snip]
Government now has a hard time stepping in to help not just because Republicans have taken the position of preventing government of playing its traditional role, but also because Republicans spent us into such a pit of debt that the government isn’t well positioned to shoulder the burdens of business gone sour. We should be able to afford a stimulus plan much larger than the one already established. We need such a plan, along with direct intervention in the job market, and swift re-regulation of the financial instruments used to take the nation to the brink.

The whole thing pretty much follows my thought on the matter, but he puts it way better than I ever could. How many times do we have to prove that bad crashes follow Republican deregulation?

Is there a point at which regulation is too onerous? Of course. I am not advocating being mid-century Russia. (Even if every conservative calls us anti-capitalism and commies and whatever else.) However, what a true progressive is, is very pro-capitalist - just that we are realists about what capitalism can and cannot deliver. It’s not the best way for every thread in the social fabric. If we have learned anything from Reaganomics, can’t we learn that? Hell, just look at your HMO premiums sometime, or your credit card interest rate. I guarantee you less regulation in either field will yeild even crappier and more expensive and painful results than we already have.

In Lowell civic life, that is. If the answer is yes, here is your chance. The City is seeking volunteers for the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC). The committee is responsible for reviewing grant applications and recommending funding allocations to the City Manager for the HUD programs, CDBG (Community Development Black Gran), HOME, and ESG (Emergency Shelter Grant). The City is also seeking volunteers for another Citizens Advisory Committee. This one reviews grant applications and recommends funding allocations to the City Manager for the HOPWA Program.

The HUD program grants are “distributed annually through a competitive proposal process. CAC members review written grant applications, hear testimony from applicants at a public hearing, and meet during the winter months to formulate a recommended plan for awarding grants.”

And the HOPWA grant program is “designated to serve persons throughout Middlesex County who are living with HIV/AIDS and their families. Funds are distributed annually through a competitive proposal process to non-profits countywide whose programs serve this population. “

The CDBG/HOME/ESG CAC not only reviews the applications but listens to each applicant make a public presentation. In the past, I have attended a few of these marathon sessions and the CAC and the DPD should be commended for their efforts. Most of the non-profit organizations in this City present a proposal and because these past few years, funding has been cut back or eliminated in some cases, I would think next year’s process will be extremely competitive.

Here is the link to the current roster of the two CACs. I see that there will be at least one available position. City Council-elect Frankie Descoteaux will have to resign from the CAC since it is the City Council that has the final approval of the disbursement of these funds.

Free Concert - Friday, November 13 at 8:00 pm

Please join us for our “Northern Lights” concert on November 13 at 8:00 pm. at the Pawtucket Congregational Church on 15 Mammoth Road in Lowell. It will be an exciting concert, paying tribute to great composers of the northern latitudes, including Brahms, Prokoviev, Grieg, and Sibelius. The concert also includes the third of our three 2009 Concerto Competition winners (see below).

The concert program is available on our Web site.

The concert is free and no tickets or reservations are required. Free parking is available on the street, in the church lot, and in the bank parking lot across the street. As usual, parking facilitato