“Now, Let’s See Who You Really Are!”

The theme of the night was rebranding.

First, a marketing team from Fuseideas was present to roll out a new image for the City of Lowell—specifically, a new logo and slogan designed to bring “new life and vibrancy” to the city’s marketing materials, social media, website, and other public-facing communications.

It was interesting to get a sense of how much thought and work goes into something like this. The team explained that the process took roughly a year and included a survey of 400 people, along with 30 interviews of key “stakeholders.” Every design choice—font, color, spacing, layout, etc.—was intentional. (For example, the upward slant of the word Lowell is meant to signify positive momentum, while the lettering stretching across the water is intended to evoke a bridge over the Merrimack).

The result is a clean, modern logo paired with the slogan “City of Opportunity“

I think I like it.  I’m certain that I prefer it in black and white:

Overall, great job by the marketing team and city. How you choose to present yourself is a sign of self-respect, and I appreciate the TLC we’ve been given on that front.

The timing of the brand rollout, however, made for an interesting juxtaposition with the next item on the agenda: the public hearing and vote on a $36 million loan order to cover cost overruns on the Lowell High School project.

The $36M sum represents a repackaging of a roughly $39.9M ask that was shot down by the council in early December. Along with the revised number came with, in essence, a rebranding of Beacon Skanska – the city’s project manager.

To recap, when cities undertake complex school renovations, the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) requires the hiring of a Project Manager (PM). The PM requirement exists to protect municipalities and taxpayers from runaway construction costs.

Our project manager is and has been Beacon Skanska. Until last night, the public face of Beacon Skanska was Jim Dowd. If you’ve watched these meetings for the last couple of years, it would be clear that many council members lost faith in Mr. Dowd’s (and by extension, Skanska’s) ability to protect the city and its taxpayers from those runaway construction costs. Last night, Councilor Nuon came off the top rope to provide a shockingly blunt assessment:

“He was horrible.”

Ouch.  I think it’s a tad unfair to single out one person when we can throw scorn all over the place: arguably, all of Skanska has been terrible. Nevertheless, despite the change in who appears at the podium on Tuesday nights, there has been no substantive change in who is actually overseeing the project. Mr. Dowd remains in place and Skanska will continue to disappoint us at every turn. That fact was not lost on the council. Councilors Nuon, Robinson, Scott, and Mayor Gitschier all expressed varying degrees of skepticism about what this “change” really amounts to.

Rebranding works best as a signal of real change—not as a substitute for it. When it’s used without accompanying reform, it risks becoming a visible reminder that nothing meaningful has changed. It’s merely meaningless propaganda or pathetic spin-control.

In addition, there was little sense of optimism that the $36M sum represents an accurate final figure. Nevertheless, the council reluctantly passed the loan order by a vote of 9-1, with Councilor Robinson voting against and Councilor McDonough abstaining.

Indeed, it’s recently been reported that there’s been yet another surprise discovered on Skanska’s watch:

“Earlier today, InsideLowell learned that what contractors discovered after opening walls entails work that was supposed to be done during the 1997 renovation of the century old building that was never completed.”

Multiple “inside” sources tell us the contractor for the 1997 project is none other than Suffolk Construction, the General Contractor for the current new build and renovation project.“