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Perhaps there will always be homeless among us, but how our city deals with this issue has long-term implications for our entire community. While I understand some councilors’ concern about the location of the Transitional Living Center and its impact on the revitalization of the city from a business perspective, the idea that moving these folks to Tewksbury will solve the problem is shortsighted. To think we can shift our homeless population, and the associated problems of vagrancy, substance abuse, poverty, and under employment will disappear is a dangerous oversimplification that makes no attempt to develop real solutions to this complex issue. Just as it is our responsibility to educate our children and care for our elderly, a city that does not attempt to mitigate the circumstances that result in homelessness is doomed to repeat past mistakes. Under the city manager’s effort to develop a 10-year plan to end homelessness in Lowell, several groups have been meeting for a year to address key issues, such as lack of job training, employment opportunities and housing, along with substance abuse, mental illness, poor health, and limited support systems and resources. The job and education group, for example, set as its challenge: “Providing individuals who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless with the resources and support necessary to obtain and maintain a job with sufficient income to afford decent housing.” As complicated as this issue is, I prefer to focus on finding real long-term solutions rather than sweeping the problem into a more convenient corner and hoping it goes away.

I seem to remember just a few years ago when sneers and laughter greeted the idea of being able to email the City Manager or anyone at City Hall. Now, not only can we email those on the City Council or the School Committee, but City Manager Bernie Lynch has started his own blog! (Click here for initial entry or see blogroll to the right).  This is not breaking news: Lynch started blogging on January 11, and I first heard about it on richardhowe.com. Since then I’ve been checking in and noticed that he’s posting pretty steadily, getting a good amount of comments and, more important, is replying to all of them.  Last Sunday, he received a mention in the Globe under the Community Briefing section of Globe Northwest (for some reason, I can’t find a link to it).  They give the blog address (www.lowellma.wordpress.com) and quote Lynch as saying:   

I see the blog as another means to get information out to the public in keeping with our ongoing commitment to provide our residents with timely and relevant information regarding the city and the operation of its government.

I see it as another example of the new transparancy in our local government, and I applaud the Manager for his efforts and innovation.  

Bob Martin, gritty poet and songwriter of Lowell’s past and present, will be celebrating the CD release of his first album, Midwest Farm Disaster, first recorded in 1972, tomorrow night, 8:00 pm, at the Brewery Exchange.  I’ve seen Bob perform many times, at the folk festival and in other venues around town and I can attest that he just keeps getting better. I own his last two albums (The River Turns the Wheel, and Next to Nothin’), but never got my hands on the first one, which will be available tomorrow night. To top it off, he’ll be joined by local singer and songwriter, Sandy Spence.  They put on a great show with many tributes to the city they both know and love so well. For information, see Bob’s website. 

I finally got back to the New England Quilt Museum to view their current exhibit (which ends today!).  “Lowell: Inside Out” is a juried exhibition featuring 26 quilts inspired by the Mill City.  This is such a great show! I don’t have time to elaborate, but if you have a chance, stop by.  The colorful ”Lowell Spinners 10th Anniversary” quilt is the first to catch your eye at the top of the stairs; next, I was drawn to the fabulous “Canal Walk, 2007″ where a photo taken from behind the Doubletree Hotel was divided into 6 pieces.  Each quilter took a piece, they shared fabrics, and the result is amazing.  The pieces are all individual, but work together beautifully in a triptych-like manner to show the whole picture.  I really like these ’art quilts’ that depict scenes through creative use of fabric and clever stitching, but there are many abstract quilts that reward close inspection. Seriously, if you’re downtown today, take a look.  

Jackie and I just spent a couple of hours down at Lowell Telecommunications at an orientation session where we learned about the benefits of membership and the classes they offer.  It was interesting and informative. The staff are eager to talk about what LTC has to offer and to help guide new members in taking advantage of their services.  If you want to find out more, you can attend another (free) session tonight, at their office at 246 Market Street, beginning at 6:00 pm.  You don’t have to be a member to attend the session. If you do decide to join, you can attend the Annual Meeting (next Wednesday, January 16, 6 pm at the Wannalancit Mills first floor Conference Room). It’s a potluck dinner and awards ceremony and a good way to meet the other members, staff and board of directors.

One thing we learned today is that LTC offers streaming video of all the government meetings (City Council, Sub committees, School Committee, etc.) on their website.  So, if you can’t attend or catch a meeting on TV, you can watch it on your computer at your convenience.

Mimi’s post on LiL yesterday talks about, among other things, improving recycling efforts in Lowell, which would save the city trash fees and be good for the environment.  I just got back from a trip to California where we spent a few days on Mammoth Mountain. One thing that immediately struck me about this huge ski resort was the concentrated focus on recycling. Every trash container included separate bins for recycling cans, paper, and plastic, as well as significant signage making folks aware of their responsibility to diminish waste. This is not unique to California. I also noticed it at UMass Amherst last spring, where the cafeteria trash containers featured recycling bins right next to them. Contrast that to Lowell, where the schools, theaters, cafes, restaurants, and streets only provide trash disposal receptacles—no containers for recycling—even if you want to do it. I’ve also heard that Worcester, a sister city to Lowell in many ways (except bigger), manages to recycle 50% of its waste while we coast along recycling only 10%. City and school leaders should work together to aggressively improve recycling, and here are a few ways to start: First, provide the receptacles and pick up necessary for public buildings and along busy streets. Second, make it mandatory for businesses to participate and support their efforts to do so, and third, conduct a comprehensive public awareness campaign to make Lowell citizens aware of the importance of recycling. As a city with a history of initiative, innovation, and partnership, it is unacceptable that we don’t take the lead on this important economical and environmental issue.

I loved the new play at the Merrimack Repertory Theatre, 2 Pianos 4 Hands by Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt, which opened tonight to a packed house. Judging by the quick standing ovation and cheers from the audience, I wasn’t the only one. The musical comedy is worth braving the cold to see and runs until Jan. 27, but don’t wait to get your tickets. (The rest of this weekend is already sold out.)  The play is a fun-loving romp that includes live musical performances spanning Beethoven and Chopin to “Great Balls of Fire” and “Benny and the Jets.” The laugh-out-loud antics and facial expressions of the two talented piano-playing actors (not an easy find) were exceptional in the context of their often hilarious, intense piano feuding. For anyone who has ever played an instrument, taken lessons, or forced someone else to take lessons, this journey will especially resonate. Ultimately, as with most good art of whatever form, there is a universal truth about the human condition that speaks to us all. To experience that truth together, amid laughter and the wonderful sounds of two grand pianos, was well worth the price of a ticket, and I can’t think of a better way to spend a January evening.

Bad enough to leave sunny southern California and return to Lowell in time for a New Year’s Day storm, but to wake up this morning to icy temperatures in the single digits was too much. (We all came down with nasty head colds and coughs too, which didn’t help our transition back to New England.) No wonder Massachusetts is losing residents! Who in their right mind chooses to live here? Okay, I know there are a lot of us—hearty types with a penchant for pain and ruggedness.  We can take the icy winds stinging our faces, watering our eyes, and slicing through our clothing. We’re tough. The way I figure it, it’s the people who keep us here—friends and family, and authentic folk who are not afraid to be themselves. On that note, I’d like to remind you to be a person who shares warmth by helping others when you can. One way is to take coats you don’t wear or that don’t fit your kids anymore and bring them to Anton’s Cleaners. They also take scarves, mittens, and hats. Anton’s will clean them and get them to area shelters and distribution centers where they can be put to good use keeping someone warm.  It’s also a good excuse to clean out your closets, but don’t delay: baby, it’s cold outside today, so share the warmth now! According to their website, Anton’s will be collecting Coats for Kids until Jan. 15.

After many complaints from parents across the city regarding poor cleanup of December’s snow storms, the following update on clearing Lowell’s sidewalks was provided by Jay Lang, assistant superintendent for school finance and operations: The school department is in communication with the city’s health department and has requested that they investigate, enforce, and issue citations to residents who have not cleared the sidewalks in front of homes leading to and from the city schools. The school district will also continue to work with the department of public works to clear the access ways to and from schools, the parking lots and sidewalks in the proximity of schools, and to salt and sand these areas as needed throughout the winter. With some recent warmer weather during vacation week, custodial staff was able to more thoroughly clear away ice and snow banks at the schools. 

The other day, while cross-country skiing through a winter wonderland, the trees all wearing coats of snow, the green pine branches laden down and chastely filtering the light, I kept thinking of a line from a favorite poem by A. E. Houseman: 

“And since to look at things in bloom, fifty springs are little room,

About the woodlands I will go, to see the cherry hung with snow.”

There are a few weeks in May where some trees by Boarding House Park look as if they are covered in snow, perhaps they are a type of cherry, I don’t know.  However, we don’t have to wait for spring!  There are times when winter can redeem itself with beauty and getting out and seeing it is reward and compensation for living in this climate.