The Winter of My Discontent

Trying to “recap” an entire meeting, start to finish, can be exhausting and often boring. As such, I’m looking to change the look and focus of these blogs in 2025 [did you note the snappy change in title?]. It’s the new Jan Brady.

I’d like to try to narrow the focus and riff on one or two issues (at best) per week. This week, “riff” means “bitch.” It’s late January which is the absolute pit of my mental calendar. I’m always cold, the snowbanks are brown, and everyone I’ve ever met is either sick or just finished being sick. The Patriots stink, the Bruins stink, the Celtics are mortal, and the Sox still haven’t signed a right-handed bat.

In Lowell too, I sense pessimism in the frigid air. In recent months, we’ve seen the loss of Mill No. 5 and the Smith Baker Center. The HCD has become a punch-line. The Lord “overpass” continues to disappoint. The Lowell High Project just suffered a black eye that will likely taint public perception of the project for years to come. Good things may be coming in the form of the LINC project and the UN Model Cities thing (that I still don’t really understand). However, those projects are still too abstract to hang our optimism hats on.

Last night, there was another serving of gloom when our failure to save the Smith Baker resurfaced. If you’ve been following along, in recent weeks and months Councilor Yem filed a series of motions hoping to save the building. Setting aside some glaring ethical concerns, the council voted to tear the building down. Last night, they voted in support of the following motions filed by the former Vice President of the Smith Baker Preservation Corporation:

C. Yem – Req. City Mgr. have the appropriate department provide the City Council on Smith Baker’s containment, remediation and demolition costs along with timeline.

C. Yem – Req. City Mgr. have the appropriate department provide the City Council with any plan to save historical artifacts or retaining walls of the Smith Baker Center.

The motions seeking a plan for the doomed future of this property lead to reflection on the lack of planning that got us here in the first place. To my eye, it seems that our current approach is to shoot now and ask questions later. Knock it down and then figure it out. Does this course of action comport with any larger plan? I’m not sure that question was asked when Councilors supported the last-minute motion to call in the wrecking ball. As we navigate this and other losses for the city, where are we with our “big picture” plans for the future?

Last Spring the City adopted yet another “Master Plan.” In theory, a master plan is a document that provides a strategic roadmap for a city’s growth and development. In Lowell, history teaches that master plans are democratic theater in which citizens, consultants, and public officials engage in hours-long workshops and “listening sessions” in which all parties pretend they are drafting a meaningful document. The past couple of plans were placed in metaphorical drawers and were seldom heard from again at the council level.

We were assured that this time would be different. In April, Councilor Scott took a commendable step in the right direction and filed a motion to:

Request City Manager Have The Appropriate Department Provide Quarterly Reporting To The Council Showing Progress Toward Meeting Master Plan Goals.

On May 14, the administration promised:

The City Manager has informed all department heads that they should anticipate regular informational updates to the Council in the coming year. These informationals will provide project updates and accomplishments for each department and provide an opportunity to highlight how these projects are helping us achieve the goals in the master plan. The administration’s plan is that the Council will see departments on a monthly basis and department heads will rotate and be in front of the Council every 6 months.

To be fair, the response does read “in the coming year.” However, we just finished January 2025 we’re 0 for 1 on the monthly “informationals.” This says nothing about the 23 meetings from May 14 to the end of 2024 in which we heard little about the Plan.

Last night, Councilors defended their decision(s) on the Smith Baker citing “business decisions” and “beliefs.” As a viewer, I’d feel less grim if the public could be assured that these weekly decisions and discussions fit with a larger coherent strategy.

In other words, tell me that Spring is coming and what we’re going to do when it does.