Left In Lowell

So Lynne is outrageous busy with getting ready for the holiday. So we’ve fallen behind on the care and feeding of the blog. Among other things, we’ve been dealing with relatives coming from over the ocean, baking evil cookies akimbo, editing video (and writing music for same) in hopes of having it ready in time for the holiday, lots of snow shoveling (that’s everyone I think), shopping for most of our presents last minute, wrapping same… and oh yeah… some where in there we had to go to work and in her case travel to very important client meetings in inclement weather.

On the bright side, we’ll have great fun seeing all our family and friends shortly.

So that’s us… how about you? Open thread for all… spread the joy!

Reading around the blogosphere, I came across this short post by Susan at Below Boston, suggesting that whatever gifts you buy, you buy locally. It’s an idea I’ve always promoted here, and there’s plenty of places to do so in and around Lowell - whether at the Brush Art gallery (plenty of arts and crafts gifts there) or at the extended holiday Open Studios at Western Ave (12-5pm December 6th and 7th, 13th and 14th) or other fine, locally-owned establishments like Humanity or Welles Emporium, or the new C’est wine and gift shop on Merrimack.

Here’s an open thread to list your favorite place to shop locally for Christmas gifts. Also, does anyone have good suggestions for “shopping locally” for a 1 1/2 and a 4 1/2 year old? I would rather not buy them junk from China, either, if I can help it, though it may come to that.

The biggest argument from the proponents looking to build CO2-polluting power plants in MA, like ones proposed in Billerica and Brockton, is that we’re constantly in need of more power, and need to ramp up our infrastructure to meet tomorrow’s needs. And anyway, natural-gas-fired plants are sooo much better than coal, so really, we need these in the interim…let us build these plants so we can make money hand over fist, your air quality won’t get that bad, and you need us. Sure we’ll be transitioning to renewables and conservation someday, but in the meantime…

Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong.

The gas- and diesel-burning plant would produce 350 megawatts of electricity and is slated to open by 2012.

But new sources of power won’t be needed until 2014 at the earliest, according to a recent report from electricity overseer ISO New England.

And it may be even longer before the Brockton plant is needed if other plants come into service first, electricity projections show.

Yet that won’t mean state energy regulators will reject it. Under state law, such forecasts aren’t considered by the Energy Facilities Siting Board, the permit-granting board.

That’s a disappointment to project opponents.

(And remember, the more natural gas plants go up, the quicker our residential gas bills, yours and mine, go skyrocketing too.)

The thing is, by 2014, we should have long been seeing the effects of better policies at the local, state, and federal levels - both in conservation (reducing our need for power overall) and in ramping up the use of renewables, spurred on by such programs as Commonwealth Solar, or local contests (to start with). Thereby, I predict (and am quite sure of myself) that even 2014 will not see an increased need for power. If we’re seeing an increased need for power in five years, we have much bigger problems than having the cost of electricity go up due to scarcity (and honestly, having scarcity might be the only thing at that point that will force us to conserve like we should be).

Like the oil market these days, where a downturn has reduced demand so sharply we’ve seen the price slip to 1/3 its peak cost, below $50 a barrel (a price I never thought I would see in my lifetime again!), power and electricity demand should be going down, and also be supplemented by decentralized power, where every rooftop which is prime real estate for solar will have it, and every windy backyard will have a windmill, and home owners will begin to look beneath their foundations for geothermal.

Decentralized power, as discussed by such people as Jeremy Rifkin in “The Hydrogen Economy,” is a huge threat to the profits of Big Power types that like to pressure us with warnings of electrical scarcity, so they can keep building giant, polluting plants in our backyards. This time, we don’t have to listen to them. We’re on our way to true energy independence - including from our own industrial power giants. The plants in Brockton, or Billerica, or the myriad other sites being considered in MA, are not needed.

Let them go the way of the dinosaurs. Evolve, or get out of the way.

A press release from the Patrick administration informs me that some $43.4 million is slated to be distributed to cities and towns for neighborhood stabilization funds to help stave off the effects of foreclosure. This is monies appropriated under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which has Congressman Barney Frank’s fingerprints on it.

From the release:

The funds will be used to purchase foreclosed homes at a discount and to rehabilitate or redevelop them in order to respond to rising foreclosures and falling home values. Following criteria developed by HUD, the Patrick Administration has identified neighborhoods within 39 communities as areas hardest hit by foreclosure and most in need of financial assistance.

Of the $54.8 million allocated to Massachusetts, HUD will directly fund the cities of Boston ($4,230,191), Brockton ($2,152.979), Springfield ($2,566,272) and Worcester ($2,390,858). As the state’s highest need communities, those cities can also apply to the state for up to $9.1 million in additional direct funding. Fitchburg, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, New Bedford, Framingham, Barnstable, Plymouth and Marlboro can also apply for $6.8 million direct assistance for eligible projects.

Once the state’s plan for disbursement is approved, funds should be available by February.

This strikes me as one prong of a comprehensive attack on the home foreclosure issue. However, this is not going to prevent more foreclosures or keep people in their homes, which I find very unfortunate. It looks like we will be waiting for January 20th, at a minimum, for the help that Main Street so desperately needs.

Last Friday, the Lowell Sun had a front page story written by Chris Camire, on the removal of 10 homeless people who had set up a tent city along the banks of the Concord River.

Camire quotes one of the two policemen who were sent to ask these people to leave that “somebody called and doesn’t want them there.”

The camp site is near the condos (the old Mother Hubbard site) under construction on Rogers Street. Apparently CC Alan Kazanjian is the general contractor and he was called by the Sun to ask for his view and he told the reporters that he did not know who called the cops and he reiterated his view that homeless people should be sent to Tewksbury Hospital.

The Sun has now posted a video on its front page in which they interviewed some of the individuals who were moved out as well as Peter Duda, Executive Director of the Lowell Transitional House. It is about 2 ½ minutes long and it is well worth watching. It put a face and story to the plight of these people.

The easiest thing is to demonize these people, (i.e. they are drug users, lazy, drunk) so that we can clear our collective consciences and dismiss any responsibilities society may have towards those who are less fortunate than us or who do not have the ability to get their life back on the right road. Are there more homeless people in Lowell than beds?

By the way, the Mother Hubbard condos have a larger problem that a few people setting up an illegal camp along the river; the Planning Board (at least some of the members) are ticked off that one plan was submitted and approved and then changes were made without the Planning Board’s knowledge and approval.

I know that there is a Hunger and Homeless Commission that meets regularly to address the issue and that City Manager Bernie Lynch is committed to wiping out homeless in this City but someone, who is remaining anonymous, set the wheels in motion to remove these people from their “home” a week before Thanksgiving. Now that is heartless.

The Patrick administration is announcing a couple more initiatives to get the state onto more efficient, renewable energy. From their press release:

Governor Deval Patrick has set two new goals for energy efficiency and renewable energy: making all new malls and “big box” retail stores energy efficient and powered in part by solar energy by 2010 and offering a super-efficient building code as a local option for municipalities looking to take the lead in combating global climate change.

With the U.S. Green Building Council’s Greenbuild International Conference under way at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Governor Patrick directed Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs to initiate a dialogue with the development community to put together the technical assistance, financing support, and regulatory standards to facilitate the universal adoption of solar power and super-efficient buildings for large retail stores and malls, typically greater than 50,000 square feet in size.
….
Secretary Bowles noted that there are already substantial financial incentives in place for solar power, but that only a few large retailers have taken advantage of them. These incentives include Commonwealth Solar, the state’s rebate program, which provides as much as 40 percent of the cost of a solar energy installation, and federal investment tax credits for solar installations, which were recently extended for another eight years.

“We want to work with the development community to make them aware of the opportunity they have before them in energy efficiency and solar energy, and work with them to find out what they need to take advantage of that opportunity,” said Secretary Bowles. “Malls and big box stores have big flat roofs that are naturals for solar power, and Governor Patrick wants to see them put to use generating clean, renewable energy.”
In addition, Governor Patrick has asked staff at the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and the Department of Public Safety to develop a super-efficient energy code for consideration by the Board of Building Regulations and Standards as a local option for municipalities that want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from development in their communities.

Under the Green Communities Act, the comprehensive energy reform bill signed by the Governor in July, Massachusetts is required to incorporate the latest version of the International Energy Conservation Code in its building code within one year of its adoption. The IECC approved its 2009 standards in September, and the BBRS is expected to update the Massachusetts energy code to include these standards sometime next year.

The new law also allows the BBRS to adopt standards event more stringent than the IECC, and Governor Patrick proposes the Board do so by creating a second, super-efficient code that local officials could adopt as a local option.

“The state is already adopting the highest standards of energy efficiency for its building code, but some municipalities would like to go further,” said Governor Patrick. “An alternative code that is 20 to 30 percent more efficient they can adopt as an option will give cities and towns the tool they are looking for to reduce their community’s carbon footprint as development moves forward.”

This “stretch” code, which will be presented to the BBRS for adoption in the coming months, will be based on established national voluntary above-code efficiency standards that have shown themselves to be cost-effective in producing energy savings, such as the Energy Star For Homes program and the New Buildings Institute’s “Core Performance” program for commercial properties. As an optional addendum to the state building code, the stretch code would be voted on by the BBRS following a public hearing. Once approved by the BBRS, any municipality choosing to adopt the stretch code would have to do so by a vote of town meeting or city council.

So, if there’s more solar going up on all new big retail and mall buildings, adding energy to the power grid, and many cities and towns adopt the more stringent building codes, there’s no need to build more polluting power plants. If we can reduce our usage in this state (and there are a lot of low-hanging fruits to achieve this quite quickly), then this state should have to host NO NEW traditional power plants ever again. Maybe even start thinking of closing some older, seriously carbon-polluting dinosaurs. Right?

This myth that “well, the future isn’t here yet so we still need to build CO2-producing power plants in the interim in order to sustain the current system” is bull. Don’t listen to it. You’d be surprised how rapid the tipping point towards lessening our dependence on fossil fuels will come with the right initiatives in place. I mean, do you like paying more every year for natural gas to heat your home? I sure as hell don’t. The fault for that lies at higher demand for supplies…because more natural gas power plants like the one proposed in Billerica are being built. I say it’s high time to stop the insanity.

This Wednesday evening, at 6:00 PM at Lowell City Hall, the Environmental Subcommittee will discuss the proposed Billerica power plant and the consequent impacts to Lowell. Subcommittee members as well as attendees will ask questions and make comments. The developer will be present. It is also expected that City Manager, Bernie Lynch, will attend. The Environmental Subcommittee includes City Councilor, Rodney Elliott, as Chair, Councilor Kevin Broderick, and Councilor William F. Martin. They have been trying since May to have this meeting.

Although the Lowell Sun has reported that the Energy Facilities Siting Board has rendered a tentative decision to permit the plant, the EFSB must still deliberate a final decision. More importantly, the proposal has yet to pass the scrutiny of several boards in Billerica. The process is far from over and the voice of neighboring residents continues to be very important. The neighborhoods near the proposed site would suffer increased noise and traffic, and reduced air quality. Lowell’s school buses travel the same roads tankers would use, and a newly renovated playground is on the same route.

A large show of support will send a strong signal to Lowell officials about the importance of this issue to its residents. Senator Panagiotakos and Representatives Golden, Nangle, and Murphy have been invited to attend.

The City of Lowell and NPS are seeking volunteers for this years City of Lights Parade.

The schedule of the day will include:
12– 4 pm: Stroll downtown for affordable and original gifts and be
entertained…with holiday street performers, hay rides, face painting, art
exhibits and warm winter treats!
4:30pm: City of Lights Parade begins along Jackson Street
6:30pm: City of Lights Parade concludes, and Photos w/ Santa at Lowell City
Hall
6:30 – 8:00pm: Parade of Lights Choral Concert at St. Anne’s Church

We could use your help in the following ways:
greeting visitors at various locations
assisting with coordinating and setting up downtown venues
guiding street performers
marching in costumes to entertain children
providing crowd control at key intersections downtown
assisting in photos w/ Santa

Your commitment would be minimal (a 2-3 hour shift), and all volunteers
will receive a City of Lights fleece holiday scarf as a token of
appreciation.

Please contact Michael Paglia in the Mayor’s Office to RSVP as a volunteer:
978.970.4040; mpaglia at lowellma.gov

I’ve been interested in the race for Jamie Eldridge’s open Rep seat in the 37th Middlesex, partly because I know we have a great candidate to replace him, Jen Benson, but also because her opponent is the former “independent,” now Republican, Kurt Hayes (who raised a lot of his money from anti-gay forces where “nearly 40% [of his] itemized contributions come from pro-discrimination donors who live outside of the 37th Middlesex state House district”). Of course, Hayes doesn’t like to admit he’s Republican, neither putting it in prominent display on his little website, nor anywhere on his literature, but he represents some of the worst in Republicans. (I still don’t understand the state Republican tactic - run candidates who are not really moderate. They would fare better if they ran candidates palatable to the average MA voter.)

But, the question needs to be asked, is Kurt Hayes for teaching creationism in schools? Because if he is, I think the voters of 37th Middlesex should know about it.

The question comes up first because of Hayes’ membership in Trinity Church of Bolton (no, it’s not you, their website sucks and is half broken). The tenor of the church is severely fundamentalist, and I have listened to some of the sermons (available in MP3 here). One in particular is quite disturbing, dated July 27, 2008. It starts with a reading of Genesis 1, and then the pastor David Smith begins his sermon with a list of science theories on the origins of the universe dating back to Kant in the 18th century, then goes into some length on the Big Bang Theory (emphasis is his):

The one that perhaps most of us are familiar with would be the Big Bang Theory, it’s about 50 years old now. Became very popular in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and even today, it recieves a lot of funding for those who want to research this particular theory. According to the Big Bang Theory, some 10 to 20 billion years ago, all matter and energy in the universe was compressed into a cosmic egg, or a plasma ball of some sort, consisting of sub-atomic particles and radiation. No one really knows where this cosmic egg came from, but there it was. And for no inexplicable reason, this cosmic egg exploded. As matter and radiation expanded, so this theory says, that it cooled sufficiently for elements to form as protons and neutrons, and electrons, combined to form hydrogen. These gases expanded radially, in all directions, until they collapsed upon themselves in local areas by gravitational attraction, forming an estimated 100 billion galaxies in the universe. How many of you have heard of the Big Bang Theory? I think probably most of us have in some form or fashion.

He then lists the “flaws” with the big bang theory (the one where it expects uniformity, not “clumping”), mentions in passing the Plasma Theory, then says,

There are many other theories of the beginning of the universe which come and go with different passing generations. Now since there was no one there to observe it, we can never know for sure how the world began. Unless there was someone there who could report back to us on how it happened.

And actually there is someone, isn’t there? God himself. And he records for us how he created the heavens and the earth in the book of Genisis. The Bible begins not trying to describe that God existed, it simply states that God exists and the very first verse in the Bible says it this way: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.” The Book of Genesis stands alone for accounting for the actual creation of space and mass and time continuum.

His conclusion on the age of the earth?

Sometimes we like to try to date it. And certainly from my perspective I know that in a church like Trinity there’s a lot of different views on how old the earth is, and nobody really knows, but from my perspective and looking at the geneologies, even if they are incomplete, from Adam on, if you add a few other people along the way, you come up with an age of the universe of around 10,000 years old. Otherwise the whole geneology is worthless, and it’s pointless. Why in the world would all these names be back to Adam if it wasn’t some kind of at least close approximation of that.

Some crazy stuff. But par for the course for these churches, and certainly he can believe whatever he wants to believe, all evidence to the contrary.

But does Mr. Hayes subscribe to this belief, and if so, does he want our public schools teaching it? There are scattered reports of him approaching voters and telling them he’s for teaching creationism in schools, and given his membership, and indeed, leadership within this church (he’s head of the “Boy’s Brigade” - who came up with that militant name anyway?) it does make you wonder.

No one bothers to ask the question. So I will. Mr. Hayes, are you for or against the teaching of creationism in our public schools?

In addition to Haz Mat Day that Lynne had posted earlier, there are a few other activities to consider getting involved in this Saturday, October 25th, National Make A Differance Day!

Lowell Canalwater Cleaners
Meet at 9am at the National Parks Maintenance Facility on Aiken St. Cook out for volunteers at Noon. Areas designated for cleaning will depend on Enel’s drain down. Keep in mind, to assist in these clean ups, you don’t have to hoof it over a rail and onto the banks of the canals. There are many other areas you can assist and still make a huge differance!

The Judy Keen Memorial Blanket the Valley @ The Wish Project.
11am to 3pm
1A Foundry St. in Lowell (off Plain St.)
For the 5th year in a row, Lowell’s Furniture & Baby Goods Bank is running a huge National Make A Differance Day Project in conjunction with the Paul Newman Foundation and the City of Lowell’s Hunger Homeless Awareness Month.
Mayor Caulfield will be presenting Presidential Awards at Noon, to five exceptional volunteers.
Bring the family (kids too!) for a tour of the 13,000 sq. ft. warehouse and enjoy chowder from Boston Chowda Company, pizza from Trolley Pizza, hot dogs, popcorn and much more.
Since your coming anyway (ha, ha), this is a great opportunity to go through your linen closets and attics and donate any clean, good condition blankets for distribution in the upcoming winter months. Blankets of all shapes and sizes welcome.
The Wish Project is in competition nationally and this is a great opportunity to shine the light on all the great things Lowell does!

Family Oktoberfest, sponsored by State Representative Tom Golden
2pm to 5pm
The Brewery Exchange, 201 Cabot St in Lowell
Proceeds to benefit Greatr Lowell Annual Thanksgiving dinner baskets
$10 per person or $20 per family
Tom and his crew have tons of activities planned for all members of the family.

Have a great Saturday!