In an email sent to InsideLowell earlier this morning, Governor Maura Healey’s office says last night’s report about the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center being ruled out as an emergency migrant shelter is “inaccurate.”
“The state remains in ongoing negotiations with UMass Lowell about potentially entering into a short-term lease for the ICC in downtown Lowell to house families in our emergency shelter system,” reads the statement from Karissa Hand, Press Secretary for Governor Healey.
Our report last night indicated that the state had ruled out using the ICC after strong pushback from local officials, residents and the business community, and that the effort by Middlesex Community College to use the facility for it’s Hospitality program and to house students would allow Downtown Lowell to maintain its only hotel. The report also indicated an official announcement on the migrant situation would be coming this week.
When asked about when an official announcement would be made, Hand responded that “Negotiations remain ongoing and we will provide updates as it progresses.”
3 responses to “Stop the Presses: Healey’s Office Calls Report Inaccurate”
Something is not adding up. If ULowell is reporting they haven’t had communication with our wonderful Governor and our City administration is reporting there’s been no communication with our wonderful Governor, WHO IS INVOLVED IN THESE “ONGOING NEGOTIATIONS “?
Hahaha all those people celebrating are now quiet. What’s the word Belvi? Wassup? Funny how they do this every single time a wave of migrants come then show up to flag raisings a year later and pretend like that they stand with them. Let’s continue pretending like some elected officials pretend that they are inclusive yet continue to vote against measures that help these people.
Is there a reason why the Governor thinks Lowell shouldn’t have access to a single hotel downtown? The US hotel industry is a critically important part of the US economy. Hotels in America generate billions in wages, salaries and taxes, employ millions of workers, and hotel guests bring billions in spending to local economies; the Hospitality sector contributes 11% of Global GDP. Boston has one (1) hotel room for every 34.5 residents… Lowell has one (1) for every 356. Should Lowell be allowed the same opportunity for developing its Downtown? Or should it be a place for Boston to offload busloads of people they don’t want gumming up their city so their hotels are available for tourism and visitors and their economy can keep growing?
It’s nice that Lowell is a Gateway City — but some think this means we should treat it like a starter home that people are expected to grow out of and leave. But the real goal of the Lowell City Council, our State Representatives/Senator, our community Partners, etc. should be to make Lowell a place where people want to stay and where they benefit from economic prosperity. We should expect our local and state government to want to make Lowell a place where businesses can grow and where people want to stay. Hurting our Tourism industry doesn’t do this; hurting the Hospitality industry doesn’t accomplish this either. Taking an economic driver away from a struggling city is not the act of a good leader, or a good Partner.