RichardHowe.com – Voices from Lowell & Beyond

Seen & Heard: Vol. 8

 Welcome to this week’s edition of Seen and Heard, in which I catalog the most interesting things I’ve seen, heard and read over the previous seven days. 

Book Review: 1929: “Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and How it Shattered a Nation” by Andrew Ross Sorkin – This book has been on the New York Times best seller list for many weeks – with good reason, it turns out. I’m familiar with Sorkin from his economics writing for the Times and the various business conferences he organizes. At the beginning of this book he explains that after his last one, “Too Big to Fail” which was about the 2008 financial crisis, he became intrigued by the 1929 crash. I’ve studied that event in history class, read several books about it, and assumed I knew what I needed to know, but Sorkin’s book puts it all in a much clearer context. Specifically, the 1929 crash was triggered by people going crazy with stock market investments. Established figures on Wall Street, before things like insider trading were illegal, manipulated the market to make themselves fortunes and thought there was nothing wrong with it. Countless others in the country wanted to become wealthy too and jumped into the market. Like real estate promoters before 2008 who said the value of real estate never goes down, stock promoters in the 1920s said the same about that market. To accelerate their gains, people bought stock “on margin” which meant putting up $1000 of your own money and borrowing $9000 from the brokerage so you could buy $10,000 worth of stock. The stock was held by the broker for collateral. The market went up and up and up until it didn’t. In our hypothetical, when the value of the stock sunk below $9000, the brokerage would demand more cash from the investor to make up the difference. If the investor didn’t have the cash – and most did not – the brokerage would sell the stock to recoup its money. More stocks being offered for sale drove the price further down which is what precipitated the crash. The revelation to me was that within two years the stock market had stabilized and was behaving rationally. But in the meantime, thousands of banks across the US failed. With no deposit insurance, people lost whatever savings they had. More importantly for the economy, banks were unable to extend credit which froze up the economy. Sorkin suggests it was a crisis of confidence as much as one of economics. The new president, Franklin Roosevelt, had mixed success with the solutions he proposed, but his positive demeanor and cheerful personality made people feel more confident which is one reason why Roosevelt was deemed to be so successful. At the conclusion of the book, Sorkin sounds a bit pessimistic. He says in 1929 as in 2008, it was clear to many that the economy was at great risk but because so much profit was being made hardly anyone was willing to apply the brakes. He sees that as a function of human nature and is doubtful we will learn any lessons from these past mistakes. 

Television – Winter Olympics week 3 – I didn’t see much live Olympic coverage this week but tried to catch the highlights on YouTube and follow events online. US women Olympians finished the week strong with the hockey team coming from behind to beat Canada for the gold medal. Skier Mikaela Shiffrin won a gold medal in slalom, and Alysa Liu won a gold medal in figure skating. Then on Sunday, the US men’s Olympic hockey team beat Canada in sudden death overtime. The Olympics ended Sunday but I’ll do some concluding comments next week. 

Newspaper feature – Last weekend, the Boston Sunday Globe Sunday Arts section launched a new feature. “One Special Thing” is a weekly series in which a member of the Globe Arts section “will choose something that speaks to us and sings to us, something timeless that we return to in good times and bad.” The opening essay was about “The Friends of Eddie Coyle”, the 1970 debut novel by George V. Higgins which was later made into a classic movie that starred Robert Mitchum. I think what the Globe plans to do is a little like what I try to do with this Seen & Heard column so I look forward to seeing how they handle it in the weeks ahead. 

Newspaper article: “Inside the Debacle That Led to the Closure of El Paso’s Airspace” in New York Times on February 14, 2026. Late on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, the FAA announced that the air space over El Paso, Texas, was closed for national security purposes for the next ten days. I remember seeing that news and thinking, are we about to attack Mexico? Is there a terrorist threat? Neither of those made sense because the response would not be limited to one small segment of the US-Mexican border. Early the next morning I watched on Reddit as people who’d been scheduled to fly into or out of El Paso had their plans upended with no warning. Then by mid-morning, the restriction had been lifted. A multiple choice flow of explanations ensued from “administration sources,” none of which sounded credible. This Times story offers some explanation and context. The US military has developed some kind of laser that can be used against drones. It’s important to develop such capabilities because the use of drones by Ukraine and Russia are revolutionizing warfare and the US has to be prepared. But the “Secretary of War” wants to use the weapon to shoot down drones purportedly being used by drug cartels to carry product across the US border. Because the US Customs and Border Patrol is charged with defending our national border, they wanted access to this weapon. However, the FAA, still scarred by the preventable tragedy that occurred last year when an Army helicopter collided with a passenger plane landing at Reagan Airport killing all on both aircrafts, wants everyone to proceed cautiously with this weapon lest innocent aviators and passengers be shot out of the sky. In this El Paso incident, the military and border patrol ignored the FAA’s concerns and shot off the laser at a supposed drug drone. With its concerns being ignored, the FAA promptly closed the air space which then got everyone’s attention. You’d like to think the adults in the room will figure this out so innocent people will be safe but that would be wishful thinking. Oh, and multiple sources told the NYT that the target was not a drone but a mylar balloon that slipped away from some kid’s birthday party and floated across the border. 

Obituary – Jesse Jackson – Rev. Jesse Jackson died on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, at age 84. In its obituary, the New York Times called him “the nation’s most influential Black figure in the years between the civil rights crusades of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the election of Barack Obama.” Jackson was a superb orator who ran twice for president. His speeches, particularly at the Democratic conventions in 1984 and 1988, were inspiring. I want to say that Jackson was ahead of his time because many of the positions he proposed which seemed radical back then make abundant sense today, especially in view of our current political climate. But rather than being ahead of his time, perhaps Jackson helped shape our present in a good way. Jackson’s 1984 Rainbow Coalition, which sought to mobilize racial minorities, the working class, LGBTQ individuals, and other marginalized communities into a powerful political movement never materialized but should still be pursued. It’s needed more than ever today. 

Obituary – Robert Duvall – Actor Robert Duvall died on February 15, 2026, at age 95. He had been in too many movies to mention and all of his performances that I recall were excellent. The one that always stood out for me was his portrayal of LTC Kilgore in the 1979 film Apocalypse Now. Kilgore commanded an air cavalry squadron that conducted an air assault on a Viet Cong village. This portion of the movie was subordinate to the plot but it was my favorite part of the film.

Happy 100th to the town become a city!

Happy 100th to the town become a city!  – (PIP #98)

By Louise Peloquin

 L’Etoile – March 1, 1926 front page

 LOWELL IS JUBILANT

     It is estimated that one fourth of the population is participating today, one way or another, in the three different events to celebrate Lowell’s 100th anniversary – Grandiose ceremony at the Auditorium this afternoon broadcast by WEEI.

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BALL AT THE MAGNIFICENTLY DECORATED AUDITORIUM THIS EVENING

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     We count a total of approximately 30,000 people expected to participate today in the various centennial events to celebrate Lowell’s incorporation as a“town.”

     This morning at 9:30, thousands of children attended the commemorative ceremonies at the High School Cyrus W. Irish Memorial Auditorium and in different rooms and classes of the other city schools.

     This afternoon, as we go to press at 2, a compact audience is gathered at Memorial Auditorium for the most grandiose choral, musical and speech program Lowell has ever had. The program is broadcast by Boston radio WEEI to an innumerable audience up and down the East coast. It is the first time a Memorial Auditorium event is transmitted by a major station.

     This evening, at 8:15, a grand ball will be held at Memorial Auditorium. One of the evening’s most unusual decorations will be an enormous birthday cake, lit by 100 candles and displayed on stage. It is so big that a man can hide behind it without being seen. This cake is relatively inexpensive considering its size and its decoration made of real cream. An expert pastry chef worked on it all day yesterday.

    The directors ask the public to take special note of the fact that this is the first time Lowell is honored in its own auditorium by a radio station as reputable as WEEI. To properly fulfil its task, WEEI had to bring $2,000 worth of equipment to Lowell and install it in one of the apartments off of the balcony. From this location, newscaster A.F. Edes will transmit the program to Worcester where it will be relayed to the central station in Boston.

     Mr. Edes, seated in the rear, will have a headset, a microphone and, with one press of a button, will broadcast the entire program to a vast audience. 

     At the ball tonight, ticket holders will be admitted at the East Merrimack street entrance from 8:15 to 8:45. Afterwards, the main doors will open to those without tickets. The public will be admitted until Fire Chief Saunders informs the police that the room is filled to capacity.

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THE CENTENNIAL BALL

     From 8:15 to 8:45 this evening, Centennial Ball ticket holders will be admitted at the East Merrimack Street Auditorium entrance. At 8:45, the main doors will be opened to those who do not have tickets. Doors will close when the hall is full, on the decision of Fire Chief Edward F. Saunders. The Grand Centennial Orchestra will give a one-hour concert, to be followed by traditional dance demonstrations and then the ball will be in full swing. At midnight, all of the lights will be dimmed. Confetti and streamers will rain down upon the dancers and attendees and everyone will sing the Star Spangled Banner.

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     SPECIAL MENU AT MARIE’S RESTAURANT

MARIE’S restaurant on Central Street, famous for the quality of its dishes and for its warm atmosphere, is offering a special centennial celebration menu. Before the theater, the Auditorium ball or late in the evening, perfect, first-rate service will be offered to all. (1)

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1) Translations by Louise Peloquin.

A Lurid History with Lessons for Today by Marjorie Arons Barron

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog.

King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild was first published in 1998, but its 2020 relaunch, with a forward by noted author Barbara Kingsolver and the author’s own afterword, attests to its relevance today. A dogged historical researcher, Hochschild documents the shameful capture of Africa’s Congo river and territory by the rapacious megalomaniac King Leopold II of Belgium, with particular focus on the 1885-1908 formation of his wholly owned Congo colony.

The subtitle of the book is A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, the signature themes could as easily feature barbarism and brutality, courage and cruelty, power and profligacy. The effects of Leopold’s ruthlessness are still manifest today in the continuing problems of much of post-colonial Africa. And sadly, throughout history, the atrocities were not unique to Belgium. A century ago, the Congo was raped for its diamonds, gold, ivory and rubber.  Today, it and other African countries are exploited for the rare minerals necessary for computer chips and other modern technologies.

King Leopold’s Ghost displays Hochschild’s brilliance as a non-fiction writer, driving the narrative by bringing alive historical figures, many of which we may have only known by headlines. (It was a technique I greatly appreciated in his noteworthy books American Midnight and Spain in our Hearts.)

His writing tends toward the cinematic. While King Leopold starts with a centuries-old history of slavery, Hochschild captures the imagination with American journalist-turned explorer Henry Morgan Stanley. Adopted as an orphan, Stanley went on to became an international celebrity for finding missing Congregationalist missionary/explorer David Livingstone, who had disappeared for five years in the uncharted territory of the Congo.  Stanley’s often-wildly-exaggerated newspaper articles and lectures about his travels up the Congo River caught the attention of King Leopold, keen to use Stanley to further his goal of acquiring a colony in Africa. Stanley confiscated land for Leopold, in the process abusing his porters and torturing them to secure their work output.

Former American emissary to Belgium Henry Shelton Sanford worked for the King, lobbying in Washington for U.S. recognition of the King’s claim to the new Congo region, support driven by Southerners’ post-Civil War hope that newly freed American slaves could be persuaded to return to Africa.

To feed his greed and raise more money for his misnamed Congo Free State, Leopold franchised corporations to exploit tribal properties, taking half their profits to expand his dominion. In the name of bringing civilization to savages, he turned a blind eye to the kidnappings, torture, starvation and disease that befell the exploited natives forced into labor.  Many of the perpetrators became the models for characters in author Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Mark Twain’s King Leopold’s Soliloquy used satire to oppose Leopold’s atrocities.

There were good guys too, including George Washington Williams, a black American Harvard graduate and newspaper man who became pastor of Boston’s 12^th Baptist Church and later was a member of Congress from Ohio.  He decried the “crimes against humanity” in an open letter to King Leopold, incurring his royal wrath but helping to fuel the nascent reform movement.

Also figuring prominently was Edmund Morel, a clerk for a British shipping company, who noticed that what was being taken out of the Congo far exceeded the value was going back in.  His sustained efforts to publicize the truth about Leopold’s criminal endeavors became an international human rights movement (the Congo Reform Association) to fight the exploitation. A contemporary of Morel was Roger Casement, who worked for the British diplomatic service, also bravely exposed atrocities in the Congo and went on to fight for Irish independence.

Beyond Leopold’s empire building, he was noteworthy for his multiple dalliances with very young women (his longtime favorite a 15-year-old call girl). He had no interest in literature or music. His energies focused on constructing of lavish chateaux, elaborately decorated pavilions, promenades and parks, most embellished as monuments to him. He loathed the journalists who investigated his crimes but was a master at manipulating compliant press.

Hochschild has been criticized for not naming native African sources for his revelations. But even access to general reports of investigations of slave labor were kept archived in Belgium until the late 1980’s, when people were finally allowed to read them. Critics have also questioned his estimate of eight to ten million deaths from forced labor in the Congo.

Again, the problem is one of record-keeping – or lack thereof – and what one infers from diminished numbers of already sketchy census totals.  Some official sources still gloss over the scope of the atrocities, and Belgian’s Royal Museum for Central Africa is silent.

Belgium is unique neither in its slave trade nor the reluctance to admit to the extent of the barbarism. The value of this book, even a quarter of a century after its initial publication, is its resonance with today’s authoritarians, corporate plunder and enduring racism. It is a well executed historical narrative that stands out for the quality of its writing and its capacity to illuminate the heights and depths of human beings.

Lowell Politics: February 22, 2026

At its Tuesday meeting (February 17, 2026) Lowell City Council addressed residual problems with snow removal from the big storm at the end of January. In the past, I’ve criticized councilors for micro-managing city operations but that didn’t happen this time. Instead, councilors were critical of the city’s procedures, or lack of documented procedures, for how to deal with a major snowstorm and its aftereffects. At least one councilor called it a “make it up as you go along” approach.

Councilors cited examples of neglect. Councilor Corey Robinson mentioned a school bus stop in Centralville that services 15 children that is still covered by a massive snowbank and Councilor Sean McDonough asked about clearing snow from the Broadway sidewalk on the bridge over the Western Canal which is a critical passageway for downtown residents walking to and from the Acre Market Basket for groceries. Neither of these were instances of councilors cherry-picking areas to be addressed. Instead, they illustrated the city’s failure to prioritize critical spots that should be promptly cleared in the aftermath of a storm.

In their defense, city officials pointed to the substantial snowfall of this storm and its long duration; the unrelenting cold weather that followed which prevented natural melting; the failure of (some) residents to remove cars from the streets which inhibited plowing; and the practice of residents and contractors of taking snow from driveways and dumping it onto the street. Another challenge is the region-wide shortage of private contractors willing to perform snow removal, a crucial supplement to the city’s own workforce.

Councilors pushed back, observing that even though it’s been years since we’ve had a multi-foot snowfall, it is a common enough occurrence that the city should be prepared for. (Like tonight, for example, if the current weather forecast is accurate.)

This discussion occurred in the context of a combined response to a handful of council motions related to snow removal. In the end, I believe councilors sent the response back to the city administration with a demand it be returned to the council once a more systematic policy is drafted.

One observation: Many of the problems cited flow from a political and governing culture in Lowell that values automobiles over people. The priority of snow clearance is streets and parking lots with sidewalks and bus stops an afterthought. Similarly, most people who leave their car on a street in a snowstorm have nowhere feasible to put the car. In the past, councilors have asked for snowstorm satellite parking areas for those distant from downtown parking garages but I’m not sure anything has come from it. In the bigger picture, creating infrastructure that promotes using transportation other than a privately owned vehicle would be beneficial in the long term. We are far from having the ability to be a carless city, but there are strategic steps that could be taken which over the long term might reduce 24/7 dependency on cars but rather than pursue them, we reinforce our car centric ways by spending more than $20 million a year repaving roads.

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The council received an informational report with an agenda heading of “refuse.” It previewed a couple of big changes coming to the city’s trash and recycling operations. As part of the coming fiscal year budget, the city manager will ask councilors to increase the residential trash fee from $225 per year to $325 per year. He will also ask the council to create a Refuse Enterprise Fund with the goal of making the fees charged for trash and recycling pick up cover the full cost of the services.

City Manager Golden explained that through skillful contract negotiations, his team has kept the cost of pickup of both trash and recycling reasonable, but that the cost of disposing of material to be recycled has skyrocketed. He explained that up until approximately 2018, “a country” (China, I think) would take most US recyclables at an affordable cost, but that country has gotten out of that business and the unrelenting increase in the cost of disposing of this stuff is the biggest driver of increased costs to the city. (State law mandates municipal recycling so just combining it all in the trash is not an option.)

Although the proposed increase will not affect the discounted fee charged to seniors, the council is unlikely to rubberstamp this request although my guess is that after some perfunctory council protests, it will be enacted, mostly because other pressures on the budget and the disappearance of the last of the ARPA funding will make this year’s budget very tight in other areas.

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Massachusetts General Laws chapter 90, section 14, requires drivers to stop when approaching a school bus with red lights flashing and a stop sign extended and remain stopped until the flashing red lights are turned off and the stop sign is retracted. This applies to drivers behind the bus and to those approaching it from the other direction. There is a substantial fine for violating this law.

Despite the fine, it seems that many in Lowell ignore the red lights and drive past buses that are picking up or dropping off children. Left unaddressed, disastrous consequences will ensue, so the council on Tuesday took up several measures intended to enforce this law.

First was a vote to adopt a state law that permits cities and towns to install and operate “a school bus violation detection monitoring system on a school bus” to enforce violations of this law. The vote passed with Councilors Chau, Descoteaux, Juran, Liang, Mercier, Robinson, Rourke, Scott and Mayor Gitschier voting yes, Councilor Nuon absent, and Councilor McDonough recused.

Second, the council amended a city ordinance to allow the installation of “a school bus violation detection monitoring system” which involves cameras mounted on the bus that record any vehicles passing in violation of state law. Software and the private company operating the system identify the vehicle then pass that along to the police department which reviews the finding and mails a citation to the vehicle owner. This also passed with the vote identical to the previous item.

Third, there was a vote to establish a “School Bus Stabilization Fund” that would deposit the money raised by the violation citations into a dedicated fund to pay for the system. This required the support of two-thirds of the council, which would be eight votes. This came up later on the agenda and only received seven votes which means it failed. While no councilors voted no, two had supported the related matters that came earlier – Councilors Robinson and Rourke – were recorded as absent when the vote was taken so the vote didn’t achieve the needed two-thirds majority.

Perhaps the defeat of this third item was just a procedural glitch, and it will come back when the full council is available, or maybe there is some passive opposition to the measure. Time will tell.

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Councilor Sidney Liang got his “welcome to the city council” initiation when his colleagues substantially pared back his motion requesting demographic information on the city’s workforce. Here’s his motion:

“Request City Manager have the HR Department provide a summary of a demographic report, including city staff residency (Lowellians vs. non-Lowellians) by leadership level; additionally, include the percentage of respondents who answered “YES” to the question: Pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 268A, please indicate if you have any family members employed by the City of Lowell in the City of Lowell’s Employment application form.”

Councilors were surprisingly hostile to this motion. Liang was accused of trying to embarrass city employees whose relatives also work for the city. Others asserted that the city should seek the best qualified person for the job regardless of where they live, so it is wrong to measure how many city employees live outside the city.

After a sustained – but not universal – barrage of similar critiques, Liang consented to a scaled-back version of the motion, presumably concluding that it would be better to keep the issue alive than to have the motion defeated outright, which would have happened given councilor comments.

In the aftermath of this episode, I looked at Liang’s online campaign presence for anything related to this issue and found a May 29, 2025, interview he did with Ted Panos on Inside Lowell which is available on YouTube.

In the interview, after Liang talked about issues specific to the Acre (the neighborhood he sought to represent on the council), host Ted Panos asked Liang about citywide issues. Here is the relevant portion of the Google Transcript of the interview, lightly edited for clarity:

Panos: What do you see as the most important issue facing the city today, not just your district?

Liang: I know there’s stuff in the news, for example, housing, of course homelessness, but for me I would say jobs. I look at it a little bit differently where I like to see Lowellians, you know, doing the work not just for the Acre district but for the whole entire city. I want us to get more high paying jobs for Lowellians. We can’t be just the regular worker, but we want to be in a managerial executive leadership role as well and sustain that. So, therefore, we can spend the money that we earn in a city so we can improve our economy, you know, so therefore, we’re going to spread it all around the city.

Panos: All right. Very interesting.

In making this motion, Liang was following through with what he said was his priority during the campaign. He was elected, so the voters of his district ratified his agenda and supported what he’s trying to do.

Per the 2020 census, the people of Lowell were 39% white, 22% Asian, 20% Hispanic, 14% Black, and 5% two or more races. If you accept that having a municipal workforce that reflects the community it represents is a good thing, I suspect Lowell has a long way to go. Consequently, it was entirely proper for Liang to inquire as he did.

As for multiple members of the same family working for the city, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Though they might deny it, children tend to be drawn to the occupation of their parents and having a family tradition of public service is a noble thing. Still, there is no harm in the public learning how many city workers are related to each other, particularly if the individuals are not identified in the report.

I recall a decade ago another councilor questioned the demographics of the city workforce. When asked how job openings were publicized, the reply from the city administration was, “mostly by word of mouth.” Because those already working for the city and others with political connections would be in the best position to learn of job openings in that system, their relatives would have a head start in seeking that job. I believe city administrations have sought to cast the employment net wider, but old habits die hard which is another reason why Liang, who likely sees his constituency as those who aren’t privy to the “word of mouth” pipeline, was further justified in asking these questions.

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This week in my Wednesday “Seen & Heard” column, I wrote about week two of the Winter Olympics, the podcast Uncanny Valley from Wired magazine, an Op-Ed about the demise of the Washington Post, and a book review of King of Kings which is about the Iranian Revolution in the late 1970s.

Finally, you can order a print copy of my new book, Lowell: A Concise History from Lulu Press at this link or download full PDF of the book for free at this link.