Left In Lowell

Oh thank goodness. We can finally get back to sanity, and reverse the tragic decision of the last Council to defund (possibly not legally) the Assistant to the City Manager position. This crucial position is up for discussion on tomorrow night’s agenda, according to the Sun. Some of the reason why:

Lynch said yesterday that the position is needed in order to provide support to himself and city departments, as well as to coordinate interdepartmental projects.

“Given the council’s clear support for moving forward with CitiStat, as well as neighborhood efforts, it is crucial that we have this position,” he said. “It is a position I believe can clearly pay for itself by finding efficiencies and by freeing me up to focus on the big picture items.”

So, Elliot, can you now say you’ve finally been educated on what the Assistant to the CM does? Sigh.

Other items of interest on the agenda tomorrow night include:

C. Elliott-Req. Mgr. work w/UML to ensure Start Up Co’s researching @ Univ. locate in Lowell.
C. Elliott-Req. Mgr. determine feasibility of installing lights @ City Dog Park.
C. Martin-Req. Mgr. seek add’l funding First Time Homebuyer/2 For Lowell & report to Council.
C. Descoteaux-Req. Mgr./DPD report on programs/funds available for struggling businesses & report on indicators from new marketing strategies etc.
C. Murphy-Req. Mgr. explore establishing Neighborhood Venture Fund & widen outreach efforts for existing loan programs etc.
M. Milinazzo-Req. Mgr. investigate install lights @ 3rd St. Parking Lot.

Full City Council agenda here. The full Council packet is uploaded to Move Lowell Forward’s website.

(Update: Link to Packet Part 3 on that website now fixed…)

They came from all over. Plates from as far away as Virginia, Ohio licenses, and of course, New Hampshire.

To attend a rally for…a Massachusetts Senate race?

The media is reporting that more than 2000 supporters joined Brown in at his Worcester rally. What I want to know is, what percentage of these were out of state teabaggers? Given the invasion of such into our state in the last couple of weeks, I’d guess quite a number of them.

Now, I’m all for parachuting in and helping an election - many Mass folks went up to NH for the presidential race, where we could be more useful than in our own election of foregone conclusion. But padding one’s rally numbers by busing in teabaggers? Kinda pathetic. (You can see the Youtube video of teabaggers leaving Massachusetts on their bus after the rally.)

There are a few NHerites working for Coakley here, too, but they are working hard on the phones, organizing canvassers, and generally doing the real work of a campaign. Not padding our numbers at rallies. I highly doubt very many of them bothered to go to the Obama rally - after all, they, like I, thought we’d be better serving the campaign if we worked the phones yesterday.

So, really, out of 2,000 people at Scott Brown’s rally yesterday, how many were really from Mass? I just thought this set of photos was really amusing - and very telling about who Scott Brown really is.

Photos used with permission from the Worcester County Democrats.