Left In Lowell

In case you missed last night City Council meeting, the motion introduced by CC Rita Mercier “Require Cemetery Commission revisit Graveside Rules and Regulations” raised the emotional level in the CC Chamber at a level that I have not seen before. I assume a lot people who were watching were crying at home also. Dozens of family whose gravesite of their loved ones was “cleaned” of all mementos addressed the City Council meeting. Most of these graves are located at Westlawn II.

Although the Lowell Sun had two articles on the issue, there had not been a major buzz in the City. I think after tonight, there may be.

Westlawn II, unlike Westlawn I and Edson cemeteries is a relatively new. Therefore, the graves are those who have recently passed away. Unlike the other two, it is widely visited by family members and represents a large cross-section of the City’s residents. Furthermore, the graves are close to each other. So after last night’s discussion and vote, the rules and regulations, and more importantly the communication process will be reviewed and revised.

However, the issue is not the upkeep of the cemetery, it is how this whole thing was handled. CC R. Mercier did the right thing by bringing this issue to the CC chambers; allowing all these people to express their anger and deep pain caused by this action. City Manager did the right thing by his public apology but CC Caulfield was wrong in trying to explain or defend Tom Bellegarde, the park, recreation and cemetery department. Mr. Bellegrade was the target of the speakers frustration. His comments in the paper that he will not apologize added to the frustration.

It was the wrong time. CC Caulfield should have let these people have their pubic grief. Even more disturbing was CC Caulfield attempt to shift the responsibility of the action. He failed to understand that the pain caused by the removal of these material was exacerbated by the insensitive response from the cemetery administrative staff. The City Councils sympathy that evening should have been solely on the family members who came, addressed the City Council and shared their pain. The internal politics of City Hall, attempted and failed power plays inside municipal government should have taken a back seat tonight but unfortunately CC Caulfield did not see it that way.

All right, doing my best to get all the info that was out there, I’ve assembled into the right sidebar a list of candidate websites, Twitter accounts, and Facebook pages. For Facebook, I only listed official candidate pages, unless I knew for a fact that the candidate is using their personal account for their campaign. I’m likely missing some information - well, you all had your chance, but you can post here or send me an email to add yours.

For some incumbents, we don’t know for sure if they are running. If I could find a site anyway, I added it, and incumbent Councilors have bios on the city website that I linked to. Everything is in alphabetical order (incumbency be damned) and so far I don’t think there are sites for the voke race but I will add them as I find out about them.

Lowell is the littlest big city you could ever love.

It may be easy to confuse Lowell as a place where you can say and do just about anything. And, to a degree, that is true. Most folks like to “live and let live,” as they say. I sure do. But then we come to politics, Lowell politics. This part of Lowell comes with a well seasoned crowd.

I’m not a new media guru by any stretch of the imagination. But, I do know some of the ins and outs of blogging. Plus, I know how to use facebook to get the word out. In terms of presidential - congressional politics, “new media” strategies are well developed, but not so in state level campaigns and certainly not in city elections. For Lowell City Council and School Committee races, new media is a new horizon. For campaign wonks, like me, the uptick of pols jumping into the digital arena is exciting.

Unfortunately, some pols are confusing their prowess, or the prowess of their consultants, with a certain dumbness on the part of others. As of this morning, I have had two candidates complain to me about what they consider “friend plundering.” Meaning, some facebook jockey is using other candidate’s facebook pages to garner support. Those complaining see this as a slimy tactic and are none too pleased.
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All right…now that I have finished with fundraiser planning (phew!) which by the way went well and was fun and I will tell you later how, if you missed it (and you missed something all right, including my rendition of House of the Rising Sun!) how you can still help…but anyway, back to the politics stuff I go.

Since I’ve been blogging for just over six years now, I figure I’m owed a little less chase-you-down and a little more hand-it-to-me, so this post is for the campaigns out there: since I’ve been so busy, and have had a hard time keeping track of who’s doing what, and I know I would miss this campaign or that if I tried to list them myself, I am asking you to post your campaign website and/or Facebook and Twitter page, of course your name, and hey, take the chance to introduce yourself too, if you want. I will be posting the links in the sidebar. Of course, a few websites I know intimately, since I made them. ^_^ But the rest of you, time to spoon feed the lazy blogger your info so you can be on the list.

Hop to it!

Update: What, no takers? All right, I’m going to start making my candidate website list, and if I miss yours, you have only yourself to blame.

I haven’t received any robo calls, but two campaigns have graced my doorstep.

The first was Kim Scott, who is running for School Committee. She sent us an invitation to her kickoff event in the mail.

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Erik Gitschier, a 1989 Greater Lowell Tech graduate, has pulled nomination papers to run as a challenger for the Greater Lowell Technical High School Committee.

Erik grew up in the Highlands section of the city, attended Northern Essex Community College, and UMASS Lowell Engineering program. He is currently the Superintendent of Water/Sewer for the Town of Lexington. He is married to Angela Gitschier, who is the Asst. City Clerk. They have one child Zachary who is 11. Erik’s father was a voke teacher for more than 30+ years, starting out at the old trade school downtown. Those that know him have told me, Erik has a passion for trade school education and that he would be a perfect fit.

So folks, we have a race!

(Le bump. Rainy weekends are GREAT for spaghetti, music, great company, great products, and a great cause!)

This Saturday, I am putting on a fundraiser for my friend Carrie Little, who has Cystic Fibrosis and just underwent a double lung transplant. The costs of this are in large part covered (to the tune of up to a quarter mil) but a lot of the costs are not, and I’m grateful that I can do a little bit (pun intended) to help out a friend.

Some of you might remember Carrie from the 2006 Patrick campaign. She was an enthusiastic supporter and volunteer. Due to her health, she hadn’t been as active in politics as of late, but she knows that now she has new lungs she WILL be recruited again! So let’s celebrate her good fortune, and ours, in having Carrie around and active to light up our lives. If you don’t know her, you should!

The event is a spaghetti supper, $10/$5 for kids suggested donation. There will be a silent auction, live music and Carrie-oke (get it? Karaoke?), and a vendor bazaar, with at least five excellent vendors. And if you cannot make the event, you can still buy from these vendors online and have it go towards the fundraiser! (Details below.)

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I’ll make clear up front, I’m a supporter of C.Murphy. Why? Well, in part, because he thinks like this:

(h/t The Sun)

And as you may know, this is my bag.
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The rain didn’t dampen the spirits of Kristin Ross-Sitcawich and her supporters tonight. The lure of Heritage Ice Cream should be duly accounted for. :v)

Kristin covered the tenets of her campaign:
- Data driven strategic planning to include investment of resources back into our classrooms.
- Performance based budgeting to improve transparency and efficiency.
- Expand collaboration with our business community and increase parent participation to provide better support to our students in and out of school.

The points are captured in the brief video:

(Bear with the phone ring intro. Two phones went off as KRS was leading into her remarks. She made the best of it.)

The two points that stuck out for me:
- The performance based budget made the “ask” to taxpayers easier because costs are justified.
- Having the School Superintendant go into the neighborhoods and present the budget. Not only does it justify the cost, but it gives the Supt. a chance to highlight all the good things Lowell’s schools are doing.

Our schools do great things. That is true. The bookkeeping? Not so much.

Kristin is headed in the right direction. She will definately help bring Lowell schools along.

Find out more at www.kristinforlowellkids.com

OK, it seems that the blog has been a little slower as of late. Thankfully, Jack has added his own special blend of herbs and spices to our recipe. But it still feels like it could use some more frequent posting lately.

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