
“Glorious architecture, right there at the corner of Wilder Street and Broadway” photos by Tony Sampas


“Glorious architecture, right there at the corner of Wilder Street and Broadway” photos by Tony Sampas

The 1995 election shows how much the order of finish of the candidates can change from the primary to the general election. The previous election – 1993 – had seen six new councilors elected and that 1993 council voted for the ballpark, the hockey arena, and many other projects that helped transform the city. That progress brought an inevitable reaction, however, and in the 1995 primary election a group of new candidates waged a vigorous campaign advocating an abandonment of many of these projects. Their message was heard by the primary voters and they did well. That may have served as a wake-up call for the rest of the community, for in the general election, the order of finish from the primary changed drastically as you can see from the below. In the following lists, the names of incumbents are in italics and the order of finish in the companion election is in brackets.
1995 Primary – October 10, 1995
1995 General Election

Levine was born in Detroit and started teaching at Fresno State in 1958. The university didn’t even have a creative writing program at the time.
His close friend and fellow poet Peter Everwine, who taught with Levine for many years, said the poet laureate designation is a significant honor for Levine that caps a long and distinguished career. And it means more bragging rights for the university.
But there is something deeper to consider: the timing.
“The country seems to be so occupied with who we are, what we are, what kind of country we are,” Everwine said. “We have a dysfunctional government, an economy falling apart, two wars, terrible unemployment. Everyone is sort of saying, ‘Who are we as a people?’ I think Phil’s poetry is directly related to those kinds of things.”
With the passage of yesterday’s deadline for filing nomination papers, the 2011 Lowell City Council field is set with 19 candidates. They are, listed alphabetically with incumbents first followed by challengers:
Four others took out papers but did not return them: Mary Burns, John Descoteaux, Robert Merrill and Patrick O’Connor. My records indicate that the last city council primary was in 1999. They were fairly regular before that (since 1965, primaries were not needed only in 1985 and 1991). I suppose this year there will be the urge to debate the cost of the primary versus the benefit of eliminating just one candidate, but we’ve had that debate often enough and I thought last time, we all promised not to do it again. We’ll see.
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