Left In Lowell

The LiL family wishes City Councilor Joe Mendonca a speedy recovery. We understand from someone who spoke to him that he is doing well and on his way to full rehabilitation.

Although, he may not be able to attend the City Council meetings for a few more weeks, I am sure that he is keeping up with all the goings on in and around City Hall. Hurry back, Joe!

Just when we thought things had calmed down and the issue had gone away, the “pit bull” saga is back. As you may have read in the paper and seen on television, once again a pit bull in Lowell has bitten a resident. Three Lowell Sun reporters contributed to the article that appears in today’s paper. This is how important and multi-layered news item is. And of course, the obligatory dog owner’s sob story was broadcast on television.

If I am not mistaken, this is the third year in a row that the City Council has had to discuss this issue. Every time the dog ordinance is reviewed, the laws get tougher and tougher. A few years back when City Councilor Bud Caulfield had suggested that muzzles should be put on pit bulls, the majority opposed it. But I think this latest incident will cause all of us to rethink our position. Here is a link to my post of March 24, 2010 which featured The Mark making his plea for man’s best friend.

I know that most people who have dogs are responsible individuals but how many times is this going to happen? If negligent and reckless dog owners cannot control their dogs, then the City has to step in and do it for them.


By the way, I understand that this dog will not be allowed back in Lowell.

While driving home the other day, I noticed a large “for sales” sign, on the building located at 190 Plain Street, that is VFW Post 662. Are they closing that post or moving somewhere else? I am not even sure who owns the building and wonder if the sale is partially caused by declining membership. However, just last week the City transferred additional funds into the budget for veterans services because of the increase in activities in that office mainly due to the high number of Iraq I, Iraq II, and Afghanistan wars veterans. So where do these veterans go when they want to gather socially?

It is a large facility with surrounded by two good size parking lots. I hope whoever buys it keeps it in the non-profit realm. I am in favor of increasing the business tax base in Lowell but that building would make a great community center for one of the newer ethnic groups that have moved to Lowell in the past decade. It could also serve as a house of worship.

The hall is frequently rented out for various events, including election parties. It is also the place where I have voted for the past 10 years. Community centers serve a special and unique purpose in this City, it would be a loss for any of them to close.

Lowell Sun watchers, informed sources and word on the street have told LiL that M.K. (Kathleen) Guzda, who last fall became the Sun’s Managing Editor is no longer there. Whether she left on her own or was pushed out, we are not sure. Did the person who had “the #2 leadership role in the newsroom” clash with the person who has the #1 leadership role?

I met her on the McDonough/Anthes local cable access public affairs show, Citylife. Reporter Lyle Moran and her joined a group of bloggers to discuss, life in the city. I was eager to speak with her because she had worked at the Baltimore Sun and for those of you who are The Wire devotees, as I am, yes she worked with and for David Simon. She told me he was a nice guy and she liked him.

M.K. brought many changes at the Sun: getting rid of Topix; strongly suggesting that all the reporters have a facebook account so that they can submit their stories through the social network as well as the paper; and the restructured web site. I wish her the best.

Those of you who subscribe to the Sun read in yesterday’s Column that Assistant Superintendent Jay Lang did not make the cut as a finalist for the Lowell School Superintendent position because he was “blacklisted by union members on the screening committee.” When I read that I wondered what were the motivations of the individual(s) who made that suggestion to the paper. I do not think that assessment is correct. I am not disputing the fact that one or more School Committee members told the Sun reporter that they would have liked to see Lang on that list but if they are the ones who implied to Paul Georges and the other two union members controlled the rest of the screening committee members is folly.

Here is the list of the 15-voting committee members and their affiliations: Fred Abisi, Lowell School Administrators Association; Danielle Bergeron, Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce; Anushareddy Chemicala, student at LHS; James Cook, the Lowell Plan; Colleen Cox, Middlesex Community College; Paul Georges, UTL; Anita Greenwood, UMass, Lowell; Rev. Cecilio Hernandez, Immigration Commission; Sidney Liang, CPC; Kathleen McLaughlin, UTL; George Petereson, Parent Special Education Advisory Council; Kim Scott, CPC; Michael Sheehan, custodian’s union; Liam Skinner, Principal at the Daley School; Rithy Uong, CMAA.

As you can see it is a good cross section of our community. Perhaps Lang’s lack classroom/educator experience did not work in his favor. And those of us who occasionally watch the School Committee meetings and have seen him interact with the SC may describe him as wonkish and knowledgeable in his area, school finances.

The screening committee was charged with bringing forth the names of the top 5 qualified candidates. In retrospect, perhaps the SC should have stated that if any of the Deputy Superintendents apply, they automatically get interviewed. But then it would have eliminated one political discussion (in-house candidates get slighted) and replaced it with another (in-house candidates get the inside track). The process used was the same one as when we selected Chris Augusta Scott and Karla Brooks Baehr before her.

On another note, I had mentioned on the City Life show last week that I thought the SC may have reserved the right to add a name to the list. But that is not accurate. All 5 candidates will be interviewed by the entire School Committee who has had already an opportunity to hear these five. As you may recall, the SC had agreed that they could sit in to observe the non-public questioning conducted by the screening committee. The SC’s interviews will be public and they will take place during a marathon session this Saturday starting at 9:00 a.m. in City Council chambers and I am sure they will be televised live on our local access cable station, LTC.

I have learned the hard way not to speculate about the strength and weakness of candidates for Superintendents or City Managers. Neither current City Manager Bernie Lynch nor current School Superintendent Scott had the inside track when they applied for their respective position. But they both had excellent public interviews. So, I will wait to see what happens on Saturday before I let the speculation begin.

You know that tired old story plot where someone gets to go to their own funeral and listen to people talk about them? Yup, this is that plot. (Dead Like Me did it best in recent years.)

No, we’re not going anywhere (at least not yet), though I meant most of what I said in the previous post anyway. The parts about our readers and the reason we do what we do. We might do it less frequently than we used to (maybe that will change, maybe it won’t). I especially loved the person who left a comment without a nickname (which is a big no-no around here as most of you know) yelling at me. Like old times. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were getting slathered with nasty anonymous driveby commenters during the era of the Cox ousting. *sniffle*

Anyway, since what we have on our hands this year appears to be a very interesting local election season, whyever in hell would I give up blogging now?? And a LOT more on that later…of course.

Now, I gotta figure out what to give Jen Meyers as a prize for figuring it out first. Mambo Grill lunch on me, Jen?

I guess this was inevitable, as neither I nor Mimi have had the time this last year or so to keep up blogging, so we are officially ceasing operations at Left in Lowell starting today. This has been a hard decision, as we’ve been blogging here since May of 2005 - in internet years, that’s about 18 full years. Heh. But I’ve been thinking about doing this for a long time now, and with even fewer minutes in my day now, not to mention Mimi’s, we came down to deciding this course of action.

It’s been a great run, and we’ve seen a lot of the changes we’ve advocated for since those halcyon, heady days. We’ve been blamed for everything from Cox’s self-destruction, to being a shill for candidates we like (as opposed to picking candidates for the right reasons and advocating for them) to causing the Mother’s Day flood (OK, kidding on that last one). I take credit for none of these, except perhaps the Hayden loss in the GLT SC race to O’Hare - I gladly accept the blame for losing Hayden a few hundred votes when I exposed his reprehensible website and showcased his known but under-the-radar attitudes towards immigrant children, given the number of people who were planning on bullet voting only for Fred Bahou who told me they decided to also vote O’Hare.

The credit for everything else really belongs to you, the readers, the voters who went out there and took a critical look at the information in front of you - whether from the Lowell Sun, from the candidates, or from this blog. I can’t thank our readers enough for the time you have spent reading, commenting, and participating. You have made all the blood sweat and tears - even those hurtful personal attacks spun by certain radio/TV/newspaper/political operatives - worthwhile. I could stand it all because I knew what we were building was about better local governing, more transparency, and a technocratic approach to spending our taxpayer dollars on services.

You all make me proud, and I will continue to participate in many ways that do not include spending hours a week writing a blog, but probably hours a week doing other things. Now, I recommend you stop and listen to the collective sigh of relief from some quarters of the city as they learn third hand (since they don’t read the blog) that we’ve decided to stop bugging them.