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The fifth annual NPA Legislative Breakfast was held this morning with over 100 people from local agencies and organizations in attendance.  The local delegation was represented by Rep. Kevin Murphy and State Senator Steve Panagiotakos.  Steve Panagiotakos, who is slated to be head of the Senate Ways and Means committee, told the audience that revenue growth will likely remain flat at about 3% for this year and next year. As this does not even keep up with the rise in healthcare costs, it will be a struggle just to maintain current programs and services, never mind increasing funding.  The current projected gap between revenues and expenses is over $1 billion (about 4% of a $26 billion dollar budget). In the last 2 years, revenues grew by 6%, but that was mostly fueled by capital gains. As the Senator pointed out, with the stock market stuttering and the real estate market wavering, capital gains are no longer a reliable revenue source. Income tax is the most stable source of revenue and Kevin Murphy urged the audience members to be outspoken in the media about the need for increased revenues. Increasing jobs, closing corporate loopholes, giving local municipalities the power to tax meals and hotel (something that most states already do) or tax utility poles (could bring $1million in revenue to Lowell) were all mentioned as ways to close the gap. 

When we were kids and our parents talked to us about stranger danger, it usually meant avoiding being in the presence of adults we didn’t know. Today, with our children’s access to the internet part of their daily lives, the term has taken on a much broader and even more critical meaning.

Here’s some of what I learned about internet safety at the Resource Fair, which was sponsored by the Parent Information Center, the Citywide Parent Council and Gear Up Lowell, and was held at LHS on March 28.  Along with about 300 parents and children who attended the fair, we learned about the popular website myspace.com and the risks our children are exposed to when they are on these sites–especially if they develop their own site (which many of them do) and include any personal information, such as name, town, school, or interests.

Some key points of advice were to make sure your child has a non-public site that only allows “buddies” to get on it and that you discuss the importance of protecting privacy and all that entails. As parents, we need to be aware of our children’s internet activities–even to the point of having our own site on myspace and being one of our child’s buddies. This involvement includes locating the computer in a common area of the home where you have immediate access and regularly looking over your child’s shoulder and discussing their computer activities.

The event also included a presentation about bullying by the Lowell Police. As a victim of bullying myself (who hasn’t been or at least witnessed it), one of the points that struck me was that bullying is not just a part of growing up. It is not acceptable–ever. (I can also speak from personal experience about what a life altering event it was to finally stand up against the bullying.) We saw a video currently shown to middle school students to help them develop strategies to deal with bullying, whether they are a victim or merely a bystander. None of those strategies advocated violence, but instead suggested telling an adult, avoiding the situation, using humor and unexpected responses, such as drawing attention to the situation by yelling loudly to be left alone. The fact that we have such programs in our schools is important and is certainly an improvement from when I was a youngster and bullying was pretty much ignored or something to be ashamed about.

In addition to helpful presentations, which were taped by Lowell Educational TV to be broadcast on channel 22, the fair included a wonderful assortment of healthy foods and information booths by various youth organizations. My kudos to PIC, Gear Up, and the CPC for a fun and informative event.