by Gerry Nutter
Gerrymandering: I was thinking of using that name for my Blog. It means playing around with district lines for usually political purposes.
It will be interesting to see if a Supreme Court ruling has any effect on Lowell’s Council districts. In my view, the city’s second Majority-Minority district should have been in Lower Centralville for our Hispanic population who were part of the original lawsuit.
I couldn’t get into a meeting on what a district should look like for a School Committee member, so they wouldn’t have listened to me anyway. I’d like to see how many communities that have districts have School Committees representing approximately 26,000 people while City Councilors represent 13,000 in their districts? Talk about GERRYMANDERING!
Rourke Bridge Groundbreaking: It was great to see this project finally beginning and that former State Representative Susan Rourke was recognized and thanked for her contributions to the city by Manager Tom Golden. I also hope a city or state official follows up and answers my question about the rededication and new plaque.
ALL Politics is Local? That’s what former House Speaker Tip O’Neil once said. But apparently some local councilors, and on occasion school committee members, forget that. I’ve never been a fan of local boards voting or roll call voting on state, and especially national or international issues. Let’s face it; Ukraine / Russia aren’t going to end the war if the Lowell City Council votes on a motion asking them to cease hostilities. Skate your lane!
I wish I learned to cut and water grass! Lowell parks need to be well maintained without a doubt, but a “seasonal position” for a Lawn Care specialist that doesn’t list weekly hours or a timeframe for the “season,” but does list a salary of $70 an hour, is a job that I’d take tomorrow. Except I’ve never had a lawn. But if someone works 20 hours a week for 30 weeks (March 1st -Sept. 30th), that’s $42,000. At that price, all our parks should look like a PGA Golf course and MLB /MLS athletic field.
Weird Endorsement Time: My dad was a Union Steward at the Post Office for many years, as was a cousin of mine. I’ve always respected Unions and in this case, the Merrimack Valley Central Labor Council. But I have to question; What the hell are you doing?
I don’t ever remember the Labor Council endorsing candidates in a preliminary election, nor do I recall interviewing candidates, then saying on some races we will wait until AFTER the preliminary to endorse. Why endorse anyone before a preliminary then? Nor do I remember the Labor Council rejecting endorsing someone because they didn’t like an answer, or a court case, or votes against the homeless. How many homeless people pay Union dues? I’m hearing many board members were on vacation, which again makes me ask; Why endorse BEFORE a preliminary?
BTW if you’ve won an endorsement in a district race and the other candidate (or two) didn’t even interview, how strong is that endorsement? Congrats to at-Large Council Candidates Rita Mercier and Eric Gitschier and District 4 Council candidate Sean McDonough on their endorsements. Longtime union members Corey Robinson and Francisco Maldonado were apparently not supported by the Labor Council???
National Tension not appearing here: It is great to see that, even with three districts holding preliminary elections, the tensions and negative campaigning nationwide hasn’t appeared here in any of the council races. All the candidates remain civil, and though they may not agree on everything, they seem to agree there is no place for personal attacks or high amount of negativity.
Water and Sewage do Mix (in this case): Congratulations and best wishes to Aaron Fox, who was named the city’s first Chief Utility Officer. The goal of the new position is integrating the city’s regional water and wastewater utility departments. With so much work being done on infrastructure regarding Lowell’s water and wastewater, it makes perfect sense to combine these departments.
Rental Cost up! To no one’s surprise, Lowell has seen the fastest rent growth over the past year. The overall median rent for a two bedroom was $1,855 in July, up nearly 6.7% over the last twelve months.
According to apartmentlist.com, rent for a single bedroom in Lowell cost $1,1412 while a two bedroom is now averaging $1,948 as of August 1st. I (chart at bottom of column)
Homeownership for young adults more Challenging! A recent Boston Globe article shows that young people in Massachusetts are finding it very tough to buy their first homes. The report states: Massachusetts had the fourth lowest homeownership rate for adults aged 25 to 34 of any state at around 34 percent, according to the Globe’s analysis of data from the US Census Bureau. In contrast, the national average was 41 percent, the most recent available data from 2023 show.
Mayor in Picture: Congratulations to Mayor Rourke on the unveiling of his Mayoral picture. The picture looks great, and he isn’t walking away from the city, plus his family got to celebrate without the police having to be called.
Bring the Buses back Downtown? Heard an at-large candidate on WCAP saying he wants the LRTA to go back and bring every bus route back downtown. Not the full-size buses, just the smaller buses! He says he will be downtown next week soliciting signatures from the public to help in this “grass roots” effort.
Thoughts?? Does LRTA have that many smaller buses?
7 responses to “Gerrymandering More Nutter Sunday Notes (August 17, 2025)”
Did Lowell City Council really pass or at least vote on a resolution regarding Ukraine? That’s the kind of category error that Chicago and S. F. make all the time; imagining that they are big players on a national scale. Pretty laughable, but maybe it’s some weird part of the recent UN deal?
The chit-chat about election districts seems completely broken. Districts should be selected according to some principled randomizing method, the way the Founders no doubt intended (but didn’t have the mathematical technology to achieve at the time).
I think unions used to be run by people who had come up through the work that the members of the union did. The top positions in a plumbers’ union were occupied by ex-plumbers. Now, as far as I can tell, they are people whose job has been their whole life to run unions and other things. No understanding of or empathy with the people they represent. Probably true of the Labor Council as well.
Lower Centralville isn’t big enough to be its own M-M district. It would need to cross the river and pick up Lower Belvidere.
I think there should have been a third such district based on LB, and the Belvi district modified to pick up some of the suburban part of South Lowell near the town line.
It’s kind of funny how no one can articulate what should be the goal of having districts in the first place. Maybe everybody needs to back up and tackle the difficult question of why are there elections, first.
The Merrimack Valley Labor Council consists of many current Union members from all different Unions in the whole Merrimack Valley! The Building Trades, Teachers, Firefighters, Nurses, IBEW Members, Bus Drivers, etc… Many different Unions are ALL part of the MVCLC!!
Tom Raiche: is the representative from the carpenter’s union a person who worked for at least ten years as a carpenter? Is the representative from the bus driver’s union a person who drove a bus for at least ten years? If not, then my point is supported. If yes, then I’m at least partially wrong. But which is it? Your response has no obvious bearing on this speculation of mine.