Archive for February, 2011

February 28th, 2011

“Starving the Beast” by John Edward

by DickH

John Edward, a resident of Chelmsford who earned his master’s degree at UMass Lowell and who teaches economics at Bentley University and UMass Lowell, contributes the following column.

Does the high cost of housing, fuel, and health care strain your budget? Here is an idea for you. Just spend like crazy and load up lots of debt. That way you will eventually strain your budget so much you will be less likely to waste money on heating oil or medicine you could do without.

It sounds like a foolish idea. Yet, it may also sound like what our government has been doing. In fact, some in Washington have advocated just such an approach to managing our money. Proponents call it “starving the beast.”

Grover Norquist, a tax policy advisor for President Reagan, is often credited with coining the phrase. He said his goal was to shrink government so much that he would then be able to “drown it in a bathtub.”

Others credit David Stockman, Budget Director under Reagan, who was the first to go on record – admitting that starving the beast was policy. He came clean only after leaving office, and he eventually repudiated much of Reaganomics in general. Yet, just a few months ago, in a speech delivered in Boston, Sarah Palin pleaded, “Please, starve the beast!”
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CategoryCurrent Events | Comment2 Comments »

February 28th, 2011

Missing student at UMass Lowell

by DickH

The UMass Lowell Police have put out a request for information to help locate the student shown in the photo below. Any information should be emailed to police@uml.edu.

CategoryLowell | CommentNo Comments »

February 28th, 2011

Beat Lit Scholar Weinreich on Franco, Ginsberg & Kerouac

by PaulM

On the Huffington Post, New York City-based Beat Literature scholar Regina Weinreich writes about James Franco, poet Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac. Read her blog post here from the HuffPo. Regina has been to Lowell several times as a guest speaker at Kerouac festivals and conferences.

CategoryCulture, History, Lowell, Poetry | CommentNo Comments »

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February 28th, 2011

Academy Awards: Christian Bale Thanks Lowell

by Tony

This is a video of Christian Bale accepting the Best Supporting Actor Award last night at the Academy Awards Ceremony. Bale in a heartfelt, professional speech thanked the City of Lowell, Micky Ward and Dickie Eklund.

Originally posted by oscarglobe

CategoryCulture, Greater Lowell, Lowell | Comment6 Comments »

February 27th, 2011

On location with “The Fighter”

by DickH

Now that The Fighter has won two Oscars – Best Supporting Actress to Melissa Leo and Best Supporting Actor to Christian Bale – it’s time to put up a link to our Google Map mashup of locations in Lowell where The Fighter was filmed. (Note: There’s a permanent link in the right column).

UPDATE: Here’s a link to Dick Eklund’s website which Christian Bale promoted during his acceptance speech.

CategoryLowell | Comment1 Comment »

February 27th, 2011

City Council election preview

by DickH

In a practice that ended a decade ago, Hynes’s Tavern on upper Gorham Street each year would sponsor a 5-mile road race for St Patrick’s Day. The 1999 race stands out in my mind because so many of the runners and spectators wore “Tenczar for City Council” t-shirts. When first-time candidate Dan finished third in that year’s city council race, behind Rita Mercier and Eileen Donoghue and ahead of Bud Caulfield, I formulated the “Dan Tenczar Rule.” Simply put, the rule says that to be a serious candidate for city council, you should have a bunch of visible and active supporters by St Patrick’s Day. It’s no guarantee, and some have started later and still been elected, but I still think it’s a good yardstick to gauge the seriousness of a challenger’s council campaign.

This year, all the election chatter seems to be devoted to the school committee which is probably just fine with the council incumbents. As for challengers, the newspaper has previously mentioned current school committee member Dave Conway as a possible council candidate but that talk seems to have quieted with the controversy that’s arisen over the superintendent of schools issue. I’ve seen Paul Belley out campaigning already, but can’t recall seeing or hearing of anyone else (which might be more of a comment on my winter reclusiveness than on the vigor of some unmentioned challenger’s campaign). But with St Patrick’s Day less than three weeks away, I thought it appropriate to have the council race pop up onto our community radar. As far as I know, all nine incumbents are running. If one or more chooses not to, that could certainly change the calculus of potential candidates.

To put this year’s council election in some historical perspective, here’s the results of the last election, with mini political biographies of each of the winners (more info of this type is available on our Elections page):

Rita Mercier finished 1st receiving 6882 votes. She also was:
* Elected to Lowell City Council: 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007
* Elected Mayor of Lowell: 2001
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for State Representative (18 Mid): 1998 (Democratic Primary)

Edward “Bud” Caulfield finished 2nd with 6334 votes. He also was:
* Elected Mayor of Lowell: 1995, 2007
* Elected to Lowell City Council: 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007

Franky Descoteaux finished 3rd with 6186 votes in her first campaign for elective office

Kevin Broderick finished 4th with 5722 votes. He also was:
* Elected to Lowell City Council: 2005, 2007
* Filled vacancy on Council in August 2005 after resignation of Rithy Uong
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for Lowell City Council: 2003

Jim Milinazzo finished 5th with 5711 votes. He also was:
* Elected to Lowell City Council: 2003, 2005, 2007
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for Lowell City Council: 2001

Bill Martin finished 6th with 5642 votes. He also was:
* Elected to Lowell City Council: 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007
* Elected Mayor of Lowell: 2005
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for State Representative (18 Mid): 1998 (Democratic Primary)

Joe Mendonca finished 7th with 5420 votes. He also was:
* Elected to Lowell School Committee: 1999, 2001, 2003
* Filled vacancy on School Committee in 1998 when Kathryn Stoklosa passed away
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for Lowell School Committee: 1995, 1997
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for Lowell City Council: 2005, 2007
* Filled vacancy on Lowell City Council in 2007 when George Ramirez resigned

Patrick Murphy finished 8th with 4860 votes in his first run for the city council. He also
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for Congress in the 2007 special election as an unenrolled candidate

Rodney Elliott finished 9th with 4805 votes. He also was
* Elected to Lowell City Council: 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for Lowell City Council: 1995

The remaining candidates in the 2009 city council race were:

10. Armand Mercier (incumbent) – 4588
11. Alan Kazanjian (incumbent) – 3554
12. Paul Belley – 3209
13. Ben Opara – 3144
14. Ryan Berard – 2995
15. Fred Doyle – 2596
16. James Wojas – 2435
17. Jose Gabriel – 2326
18. Ray Weicker – 2320
19. David Koch – 2256
20. Syed Hussein – 1712
21. Curtis Freeman – 1166

CategoryLowell, Politics | Comment5 Comments »

February 27th, 2011

Unused sick days: use ‘em or lose ‘em by Marjorie Arons-Barron

by Tony

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Be sure to check it out.

I’ve never worked for the public sector, except indirectly. I work, I earn money, I pay taxes on that income, which supports public employees, among other things. Most public employees do important jobs for their communities, but too many of the perks they get are beyond my comprehension. Not having to pay more than a small percentage for health insurance, for example. And getting money for unused sick days.

This latter just staggers my imagination. To me, sick days are for when you’re sick. They’re to protect workers, not be backdoor paydays. The recent case of Tom Kinton is an egregious example of the sick day system run amok. Don’t get me wrong. Tom Kinton was the consummate professional at MassPort, both before he became head of the Authority and during his stint at the top. But he exemplifies the problem with sick days. His retirement package, (retirement pay of $200K per year is a very generous one, by the way,) is fattened by nearly half a million dollars in unused sick days that he’ll receive as he departs his post next June.

Before you say there oughta be a law, I should point out that there now is. Now state workers can only cash in a fifth of their unused sick time, something which probably wouldn’t happen in the private sector either. But Kinton and others have been grandfathered in to the 100% cash-out. WBZ’s Jon Keller has done the arithmetic and pointed out that preserving the benefit for some 700 workers grandfathered in because they were hired before 2007 will cost the state $16 million.

There’s a mentality on Beacon Hill that a) we don’t want to change anything, but b)if we absolutely have to, we won’t have it apply to anyone who is there right now. So change comes very slowly indeed.

Some people want a “use it or lose it” approach to sick days. You get so many days each year to be sick and the calendar starts over the next year. But, if a person goes for years without taking sick days and then develops a serious, perhaps life-threatening illness, that worker should be able to carry over the time in some way. But that doesn’t mean taking it out in cash if you leave the job without having been sick enough.

Kinton is top-level management, so this isn’t a union issue. But it’s a public sector entitlement mentality like this that feeds public exasperation with unions, especially the public worker unions. Cashing in unused sick days is enough to make you, well, sick.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

CategoryPolitics | Comment6 Comments »

February 27th, 2011

Boston Phoenix Explores Dubus III’s Life and Writing

by PaulM

Read Nina MacLaughlin’s fine article about Andre Dubus III’s “Townie,” and get the Boston Phoenix if you want more of this kind of writing.

CategoryCulture, Greater Lowell, History, Lowell | CommentNo Comments »

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February 27th, 2011

The state of real estate in Greater Lowell

by DickH

On Friday, the Lowell Sun carried a front-page story about real estate trends in Greater Lowell in which I provided some optimism which in turn was countered by others. Throughout the run-up of the housing bubble in 2003-2006, I took the opposite view, telling all who would listen that the situation would end badly (which it certainly did). But now, I see some positive indicators that are readily available on the registry of deeds website, www.lowelldeeds.com.

Two statistics in particular stand out: from the beginning of October until now, the number of mortgages being recorded is way up and the number of foreclosure-related documents is way down when compared to a year ago. For the entire registry district, which includes Lowell and nine surrounding towns, the number of mortgages recorded from October 1, 2010 to February 24, 2011 is up 38% from the same time a year ago (6536 v 4744) while the number of foreclosure deeds is down 50% (109 v 218). The number of orders of notice (the first step in a new foreclosure) is also down by 57% (246 v 602). The increase in mortgages is a positive sign because it indicates more and more people are refinancing which in turn means credit is becoming more available to homeowners. If this continues, it will eventually translate into more buyers for homes that are on the market and should start to edge home prices up a bit from the precipitous drop they experienced since 2007.

For Lowell itself, the mortgage numbers are good but not as pronounced as for the suburbs. Mortgages in Lowell for the October thru February period this year are up 11% compared to a year ago (1065 v 958) while foreclosure deeds are down 50% (61 v 123) and orders of notice are down 64% (112 v 311).

Some commentators are saying that the decrease in foreclosure activity that we see here is just a temporary lull brought on by some court decisions adverse to the lenders. While that is true to some extent, the five-month long stretch of positive numbers tells me that this is more than a temporary stand-down of foreclosures and instead represents a positive trend that signals a more realistic approach by lenders to these troubled properties. Lenders, I believe, are being more reasonable about modifying loans and in assenting to short sales in which the home owner is allowed to sell the house for less than the outstanding balance of the mortgage. Both of these trends curtail the number of foreclosed properties and decrease the risk of properties being left vacant for extended periods of time.

CategoryGreater Lowell, Lowell | CommentNo Comments »

February 27th, 2011

Boston Globe Praises Andre’s ‘Townie’

by PaulM

Today’s Globe includes an excellent review by author Brett Lott of Andre Dubus III’s new memoir about growing up and prevailing in Haverhill, “Townie,” which should be in bookstores now. Read the review from boston.com here, and get the Globe if you want more. The photograph of Andre and his dad, acclaimed short-story writer Andre Dubus II, is by Michele McDonald (c) 1992, courtesy of boston.com.

Becoming a writer helped Andre Dubus III forge a relationship with his father, but making himself completely whole took more.

CategoryCulture, Education, Greater Lowell, History, Lowell | CommentNo Comments »

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