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Statewide, voter registration forms must be postmarked TODAY in order to vote in the Sept. 16 Massachusetts Primary. (Oct. 15 is the deadline for voting in the national election on Nov. 4.) To vote, you must be a Massachusetts resident, a citizen, and at least 18 years old, and you must register 20 days before the election. Register by completing this form and mailing it to your town or city’s election department. If you are a first-time voter registering by mail, you must provide a copy of your identification or you will be required to show proof of residency at the polling location on election day. You may also register in person. In Lowell, you have until 8 p.m. tonight to register in person at City Hall, 375 Merrimack Street. New citizens may register to vote after the deadline by bringing their dated naturalization papers to city hall by 4 p.m. the day before the election. Also, poll workers are needed (bi-lingual and otherwise) and interested applicants should visit Lowell City Hall to complete an application or contact Seda at 978-970-4046. It is a full day of work and pays between $96-$125. Please, if you know non-voting citizens or recently turned 18-year-olds, urge them to get involved, informed, and VOTE! It matters.

The Revolving Museum has done it again: they see a need and fill it! I was amazed at how few art classes for adults seemed to be available in the area, and now I see that there will be several classes offered by the Museum in September. They will have drawing, beading and sculpture taught by highly-qualified Massachusetts artists; see the brochure for class descriptions and fees. In addition, they will be offering an interesting course entitled “Everything You Wanted to Know About the Creative Economy but Were Afraid to Ask”. Taught by UML Professor Bob Forrant this looks to be a provocative analysis of the current economic situation in the region with an emphasis on how creative individuals contribute. This should be of great interest to all stakeholders in the Valley. Bob Forrant doesn’t sugarcoat things either, so expect some stimulating discussion and bold ideas.

I was in Trader’s Joe’s in Nashua Tyngsboro today when I noticed a collection of reusable grocery bags for sale. The brightly colored red bags with a black-and-white store motif caught my attention immediately, and then I realized they were made in Lowell! The tag, printed on recycled paper, noted that not only were the bags “distributed and sold exclusively for Trader Joe’s, Monrovia, CA,” but they were made of “heavy duty 100% cotton” with reinforced stress points. At a cost of $2.99 each, I decided to buy one even though I had my own collection of reusable grocery bags with me. At the checkout, I mentioned to the cashier that I couldn’t resist buying a bag made in Lowell, and he told me I was the second customer this week to comment on them. He also pointed out that he had seen a five-fold increase in the number of customers bringing their own bags to the store in the last year, a fact he attributed, in part, to TJ’s efforts to provide incentives for East Coast customers to bring their own bags—something they’ve been doing in California, where the company is based, for years. (When you use your own bag, you enter a drawing to win $25 in TJ products.) My otherwise uneventful trip to the grocery ended on an upbeat note: more folks getting away from using environmentally unfriendly plastic bags and quality workmanship being made in my home city. Now if we could just get them to open a store downtown…

Well, now you can find out. As the parent of a too-soon-to-be driver, I was thrilled to read in yesterday’s Boston Globe about a new program “Steer Straight” that provides parents with a way to monitor their teen drivers. Created by two moms, it is modeled after commercial-driver programs that use bumper stickers asking “How is my driving?” and a call-in number to report inappropriate commercial drivers. Since car accidents are the leading cause of death in young people, the notion of checking up on your teen’s driving habits with a similar program makes sense. The bumper stickers for Steer Straight read “How is my teen driving?” along with a phone number and vehicle-identification number a caller uses to report the driver. The call is taped, and the information relayed to the teen’s parents via a call-in center. The program, which costs $99 a year, provides parents with two bumper stickers and access to the call-in results. For inexperienced drivers, it’s an incentive to take care on the road, and for worried parents, some peace of mind. Months ago, I wrote a post about the crackdown on young drivers and specifically a friend’s teen who received harsh punishment for going eight miles over the speed limit on city streets (a 90-day license suspension, two classes, a $500 reinstatement fee, and other fines). The Steer Straight program, although not necessarily punitive (depending of course on the reaction of the parents), is a small price to pay for safer driving. Now wouldn’t it be great if we could get a break on the excessive under-25 insurance rates too?

It was lucky that the torrential rainfall held off as long as it did on the last day of the Lowell Folk Festival, letting loose around 4:00 pm and sending everyone running for shelter. We consoled ourselves with sushi at The Blue Taleh and then headed home. The downside was that I missed getting my bag of mulch from the festival recycling center located across from Lowell High. (Since I don’t want to carry mulch around all day, I usually pick up a bag while heading back to the parking garage). I was reminded of that today when someone forwarded information on WasteCap, a public-private, non-profit initiative formed to help Massachusetts businesses find cost effective ways to recycle and reduce waste. WasteCap touts the festival as “the premier example of a major entertainment event with waste reduction, composting and recycling programs.” In case you don’t know the extent of the recycling and trash management that goes on at the Lowell Folk Festival, here is what WasteCap says about it:

What is remarkable about the LFF recycling program is the plan that starts with eliminating waste before it is generated. Most beverages were delivered in reuseable crates; bottles and cans are recycled and food related waste is composted. All food vendors or sponsors agree to use compostable service ware, including the utensils and waxed paper cups. The trash receptacles in the area of the food service areas are collected for composting. Throughout the Festival area, trash barrels are paired with recycle containers for bottles and cans. Volunteers collect the recyclables including corrugate and large containers for sorting and recycling. The compostable waste is sorted by volunteers to remove the extraneous non recyclable materials that may have been thrown in the trash. Each year the Recycling Center hands out bags of the previous year’s compost and the bags of compost always run out. Potted plants at the Recycling Center were planted in last year’s compost by the Community Greenhouse which also uses the LFF compost.

Just another reason to love the Lowell Folk Festival!

In 2003 when I first ran for school committee, the local paper spent the previous year publishing quasi-news stories and editorials centered around two basic themes: the school committee is failing the community because of the teachers’ raises and we should change to an appointed board. Sound familiar? At that time, as an outspoken member of the Citywide Parent Council, I was confused by the vehemence against the board and disappointed by the lack of balanced reporting of the challenges facing our schools. I was also uncomfortable by the silence of the committee, and so began my own journey of letters to the editor, running for office, and eventually this blog. (As we have all seen, taking on an entity that buys ink by the barrel is not without consequences.)

Meanwhile, the drum roll for an appointed school committee continues: Fewer people are running, the leaders are not held accountable, people are not voting, voters are not paying attention etc. Aside from the fact that an appointed committee will not do one thing to improve these concerns—particularly voter apathy and sophistication, which is another reason why excellent schools are an absolute necessity—I cannot get beyond the simple question of who will do the appointing and how will it ensure accountability? Instead, I fear we will end up with an appointed board of connected politicos with agendas that will not be held up to public scrutiny.

There is an area, however, in which the paper and I agree: the lack of people running and voting is alarming. In a post last week, I mentioned how less people are running for school committee, which is true of most elected seats these days.  In www.richardhowe.com Marie wrote about this fall’s state elections, “Senators Panagiotakos and Tucker, Representatives Golden, Nangle, Garry, Miceli, Finegold and Tucker have no primary or Republican opposition.” (my bold) Yes, our democracy is in crisis, but appointed boards are not the answer. In the end, we get the government we deserve, and that means fighting to keep democracy alive rather than hastening its demise.

Times were bad in the Merrimack Valley when we bought our house in Lowell in 1992. My husband got a job with Wang, and they declared bankruptcy the week we were to close on the house. We had money down and couldn’t back out of the deal. The housing market continued to slide after we bought, the house was uninsulated and cost a fortune to heat, downtown Lowell was rather grim and empty, we were insecure about the quality of the public schools, and so on. Well, in the last 16 years, we’ve seen housing values rise (and start to fall again), our son went through the Lowell school system and is now in college, Wang is gone but we’ve survived (despite a wild ride on the dot-com rollercoaster), and downtown Lowell has undergone a remarkable renaissance. One thing I remember about our early days in the house (besides sitting in patches of sunlight on the rug to stay warm in the winter) is the way people would come around on trash day, sifting through the recycling for returnables or scavenging through the trash for something of value. Gradually, as times improved through the nineties and beyond, that sort of activity diminished, but now I’ve noticed it again – lots of cars and vans circling the streets on Friday mornings, checking out the recycling bins and picking up the odd bit of furniture or scrap metal from the side of the road. While talking to a friend at a local financial institution, she remarked that for the first time in 15 years, they’ve had to hire a collections person to follow up on borrowers who have fallen behind on loan payments. Another troubling story showed up in the Globe Northwest Weekly section on Sunday: people who can no longer afford to care for their pets are dropping them off at the Lowell Humane Society. According to the animal care supervisor, Lisa Forbes, “there has been an influx of surrendered pets requiring medical attention.” (An anonymous donor has sponsored a matching gift program to help care for these animals). The foreclosure rates, the sliding stock market, the endless war, the rise in gas and food prices fill the headlines and the tangible effect of these forces can be seen all around us. These are sad signs of the times indeed.

I was sad and surprised to hear that Cafe Aiello has closed its doors. They always seemed to do a good business, despite a somewhat awkward location and limited parking. This ranks right up there with the loss of Capo’s from the downtown music scene, but the formula for success in the restaurant business is difficult to distill: is it business smarts, marketing skills, consistency, convenience or some combination of these? Aiello had a good product and great ambience, but obviously something was lacking. In the meantime, some new daring souls hung out their signs and opened doors for the festival weekend. Ole, a Spanish tapas restaurant is still waiting on their liquor license, but they were proactive in holding an open house during the festival with free Paella tastings. The location, right on Merrimack Street, is a good one, and the interior is beautifully decorated with rich colors, leather banquettes and an authentic looking suit of Spanish armor in the entrance way. They are hoping to open officially by the middle of August. Another new venture, C’est, next to the Welles Emporium, got their business permit on Friday at 3:00 pm and opened their doors by 4:00 pm. They have a unique model as a flower shop with interesting foods to go – cheeses, breads, pates, etc., all supplied by local establishments. They will be offering “fun” wines as well. Good luck to both of these businesses!

I’m honored to be an elected member of the Lowell School Committee and serve my community.  But that’s what it is: community service. My passion for excellent schools, my teaching experience, and my willingness to speak out and work hard to better educate our children are qualities that make me good at the job. I have no other agenda.  Come election time, voters will have the opportunity to demonstrate whether they believe my efforts have made a difference or not, and that’s fine with me.

Regarding the assistant superintendent vote that has caused me excessive, repetitive trashing from our local paper (more than a month of articles, editorials, and columns; four days this week alone), what is the motive behind all their ink?  The leadership at the paper will tell you they want excellent schools, but they do not want to pay for them, nor are they willing to acknowledge when the schools make progress.  Instead, they gleefully headline the challenges and social problems that impact the education of our children and claim it is all the schools’ fault, while bashing us for attempting to keep quality leadership as if it doesn’t matter. They will tell you they protect the taxpayers’ interests, but they do not provide objective, balanced, or even accurate reporting.  As Dick Howe writes here, they even continue to trash former Supt. Baehr because she wouldn’t kowtow to them.  (Count me in that category as I have been consistently ink whipped since being ungrateful for their endorsement last fall.) They have also been exceptionally critical of City Manager Lynch—expelling reams of paper about his contract extension and emphasizing negative stories but not once mentioning he hasn’t taken a raise or providing fair coverage of the many positive results of his leadership—all because of a personal friendship with his predecessor.  

Our media leadership has forgotten the ideals of the fourth estate, and this is a disservice to our community. Maybe they’re tempted to heighten conflict and sensationalize news to combat declining readership, but blatant abuse of the power of the press to punish some, protect others, and promote your own agenda is unethical and harmful. (Too bad they can’t be voted out.) Then again, if they had their way, we’d have an appointed school committee to increase accountability and voter interest. Right. Any guess who would want to do the appointing?

Tonight, beginning at 6:30, the Friends of Tyler Park (FOTP) will hold their second in a series of three outdoor concerts this summer. (The music plays from 7-8 p.m.) This is one concert you won’t want to miss and it’s FREE. Tonight’s group, Take Two, is one of my favorites; these guys really put on a good show that will have you tapping your feet and singing along. So, pack up the kids, bring a blanket or beach chairs, and head to lovely Tyler Park on Westford Street in the Highlands (one block from the Pine and Westford Streets intersection). I can’t think of a better way to spend a balmy summer evening, especially when it’s a fullish moon and the sounds are just right. Free lemonade, popcorn and hotdogs are also provided by FOTP. Hope to see you there!