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Last week’s big news was a preliminary promise from the House and Senate to put more money into Chapter 70, the state mechanism for funding public education. This is a good idea, especially since it’s an increase in what the governor’s budget had allocated for the schools. Even with this increase, however, the state doesn’t meet its 2002 levels of education funding, nor does it do enough to alleviate the additional financial burdens placed on cities and towns amid rising fixed costs—namely health insurance. In Lowell, we expect health insurance costs to go up between 15-17%. Add to that, increased costs for special education transportation and utilities, and you’ve already bitten a major chunk out of the legislature’s planned increase for education. This leaves little resources for important initiatives in Lowell schools such as expanding student access to high school science labs (one of the requirements of our recent re-accreditation), increasing student retention, and improving student achievement, to name a few. 

House Speaker Sal DiMasi has an interesting twist to the governor’s savings proposal that will require cities and towns to join the state’s Group Insurance Commission, which will provide health insurance benefits at a much lower cost. Whenever savings can be achieved without loss of services, it leaves funding for other priorities. The governor’s municipal aid package also offers Lowell an opportunity to generate more revenue with minimal pain—especially considering our restaurant and hotel taxes would still be lower than neighboring restaurants in New Hampshire and other states. The Governor’s proposal enables cities to decide for themselves–up to 2%–how much added tax to put on restaurant and hotel bills. That means for a $50 dinner, you could end up paying at the most, an additional dollar tax that would go directly into local services for our community. When you consider the number of out-of-towners who stay in our hotels or dine in Lowell restaurants after theater, concerts and sporting events, it’s a much better way to generate funds than putting additional burdens on local property owners. The fact remains: Lowell needs help providing services that directly impact our quality of life here and the quality of education our children receive; both men offer interesting ideas about how to do it. 

How sweet it is! To (finally) not be confined to learning about presidential candidates based solely on their campaign ads and the established media, which often tends to focus more on polls and sound bites than the issues that really concern us. Enter the age of interactive internet and all that has changed. Tonight, for the first time ever, seven democratic candidates for president will be answering questions in a “virtual town hall” that will be streamed live over the internet beginning at 7 p.m. Pacific Time. The questions for tonight’s forum will focus on the Iraq War, but this is only the first of three presidential-candidate forums to be developed and hosted by the activist group MoveOn.org. Based on membership input, the other two forums will focus on healthcare and energy. 

Given the technology of today’s world, the concept of citizen involvement has changed dramatically and it couldn’t have happened at a better time; it is absolutely critical to the success of a democracy that citizens are informed, engaged, and voting. Yet recent trends in voter turnout, especially in local elections, have shown we are desperately in need of a shakeup to get people re-connected to the political process. If my memory is correct, last week’s local election in Chelmsford had about an 18% turnout of eligible voters participating (pathetic and terrifying). In Lowell, I think it’s around 25% of eligible voters have elected our leaders in the recent past.

The use of interactive technology not only allows citizens more direct access to candidates and their views, but it allows us to shape the focus of the discussion, raise the level of discourse, and hopefully put the established media on notice that we require fuller, more meaningful candidate coverage from them or we will turn to other sources. So join in the process tonight, either by participating in one of over a 1,000 small-group gatherings to listen to the forum with others–Locations within a 30-mile radius of my home included Littleton, N. Reading, Hollis, Cambridge, and Boston–or simply check in from your own home. MoveOn will conduct polls afterwards so voters can share their thoughts on the candidates.

I hadn’t been following this one that closely and was mostly aware of the counter-argument that said this initiative would drive businesses out of the state. Whoa, don’t do it! That was my initial reaction, since a commercial tax base and jobs are vital to our local economies. However, Senator Steve Panagiotakos brought this up at the Stand for Children informational meeting last month and gave two examples that seem like accounting chicanery that shouldn’t be allowed in any state:  (1) Corporations  place real estate holdings into a subsidiary entity and then sell the entity rather than the real estate itself to avoid the real estate transfer tax,  and (2) Corporations get to avoid taxes by being classified as partnerships in one state and corporations in another state. There are more loopholes listed on http://devalpatrick.com/issue.php?issue_id=7593861.  I say close ‘em!

It’s funny, I’ve been thinking about the “Taxachusetts” label, especially after a reader used it in a comment (see “Stand gets a plug” below).  I heard that a lot as a kid, and when I was a teenager, my Libertarian parents left the state to escape taxes and liberal politics, relocating to Maine. In the Boston Globe on Friday, I read that for the second year in a row Massachusetts is ranked 28th in the nation in terms of local and state taxes as a percent of income. In New England, the tax burden is higher in every state except, predictably, New Hampshire. Ironically, Maine’s tax burden is among the highest in the nation, at 14%. Massachusetts, largely because of its flat income tax, comes in at 10.6%, but it will always be Taxachusetts to some.  It’s interesting how the label outlives the stereotype.

I realized today that my perspective on candidate forums has changed since becoming a politician myself. (I was first elected to the school committee in 2003.) As I listened to the candidates, I found myself struggling with the voter-in-me who desperately yearned for substance behind the sound bites and the politician-in-me who knew you had to keep it short and simple. In fact, the participating candidates for the 5^th congressional seat: Eileen Donoghue, Jamie Eldridge, Barry Finegold, James DiPaola, Niki Tsongas, and David O’Brien each had a total of only eight minutes to answer questions during the hour-long session, which was held at UML as part of a New England News Forum conference. 

Through it all, I struggled to find deeper meaning and sincerity in their answers—even when the answers sounded annoyingly similar and seemed to be exactly what we wanted to hear: bring troops home from Iraq, healthcare for all, repeal tax breaks for the very rich, fund education etc. Then I noticed the questions, which used words like “specific” and covered foreign policy, economy, taxes, education, prison reform, and immigration, and I realized something else: This was no run-of-the-mill audience; these bloggers (aka citizen journalists) were informed and quite serious about quizzing the candidates on some of the most compelling issues facing the country today. 

That led to my third surprise—the high caliber of the candidates themselves. They all came off pretty well—no major blunders, lack of information, or inability to articulate. Certainly this is going to be a race worth watching closely, and despite the innate limitations of forums and other campaign trail maneuvers to help voters get at substance—they are the only way we have to judge a candidate’s knowledge, position, and ability to communicate on the issues. And yes, sometimes they may even reveal a little bit about deeper meaning and sincerity. That said, the following are a few highlights of the candidates’ responses that resonated with me:  more »

Yesterday’s Boston Globe featured articles regarding new security cameras on MBTA buses, promises from Governor Patrick for increased funding to combat youth violence, and a Supreme Judicial Court ruling that the identity of jurors be kept secret in gang-related murders. These changes are attempts to deal with the problems of gang violence. It’s no secret there have been several recent attacks that have been particularly disturbing and have brought the gang issue to the forefront again, but the truth is it’s been a problem for a long time and it isn’t going away anytime soon. The governor’s plan is to establish a statewide anticrime council and add $1 million for summer jobs grants. It’s not clear how much of this additional funding will make it to Lowell, but the city has made great use of the Shannon Grant, which is not in the governor’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year, but absolutely should be re-instated by the legislature. (Local reps are aware of the grant’s importance and seem committed to continued funding.) Worth more than $800,000 to Lowell for gang prevention programs, the grant was split between the police, the schools—who used it for truancy and family outreach—and youth providers such as UTEC, ONE Lowell, the Parks, and the Boys and Girls Club. 

Lowell’s Gang Prevention Task Force Advisory Board, which meets monthly, has developed its own set of actions—much of it the outcome of several Gang Prevention Summits over the last few years. On Monday, the board met for an update on City Manager Bernie Lynch’s plan to get more businesses to provide summer jobs for youth. Expanding job opportunities is one way to engage youngsters in positive activities, especially during the summer when there is often an increase in gang activity.  Using the Career Center to provide job training and other support to help teens become successful employees, the board’s goal is to get more businesses involved as partners in our community by providing them with tax and recognition incentives. Solving the gang issue requires strong collaboration—something Lowell is known for being able to do—and is the only way we will make headway with this complex issue.    

Stopping in for an impromptu lunch at Lowell health food oasis, Life Alive, several of us bloggers sat with Enterprise Bank Chairman George Duncan.  The conversation ranged from health food to local politics (MA-05 in particular) and quite naturally to blogging, about which we had a lot to say, as you might imagine. Lynne of Left in Lowell mentioned that she is an artist (in addition to being a blogger, radio host, political activist, web designer, etc), which led the conversation to art, which led to us getting a mini-tour of Enterprise Bank’s Middle Street offices where Mr. Duncan proceeded to show us some of the local art he has purchased to adorn the office walls. There were some beautiful Lowell-themed pieces by Tom Gill that looked great on the exposed brick walls; however, the piece that stood out for us was Heidi Jackson’s “Have we met someplace?” which is shown below:

When Mr. Duncan goes on an art-buying expedition at the Brush Art Gallery or the Western Ave Studios, he brings back his choices and lets bank employees select which ones they would like in their offices. While chatting and viewing the soon- to-be-expanded office space and the beautiful conference room that is available to community groups, we learned that Enterprise Bank was voted the #1 best place to work of mid-sized companies in Massachusetts (Boston Business Journal, 2006). Looking around at the light, art-filled offices and the smiling employees, we weren’t surprised.

By the way, to learn more about Heidi Jackson, you can visit her at her website or go to Western Ave Open Studios this Saturday. As on every first Saturday of the month, from noon to 5:00 pm, the Western Ave artists will open their doors to the public. Who knows, you too might buy a cow or other unusual piece of art!

Governor Deval Patrick was in Lowell today to deliver the first $4 million in state funds for the new Nanotech Center at UML. As the photo to the left depicts, State Senator Steve Panagiatakos made welcoming remarks before Governor Patrick spoke. To Patrick’s left is Dana Mohler-Faria, his special advisor for education, and to his right is UML Interim Chancellor David MacKenzie. State Rep Kevin Murphy, chair of the Higher Education Committee, is shown in the far right photo.

 It was inspiring to hear the speeches about what a great opportunity the nanotechnology center will offer not only Lowell, UML, and the Merrimac Valley, but how it could very well be the catalyst of as Governor Patrick put it “one piece in an overall plan” to bring robust economic development to the state with far-reaching impact within the global marketplace. Why not have Massachusetts–specifically UMass Lowell–be the world center for nanotechnology research and product development? As inspiring as those words are for those of us who call this place home, I couldn’t help but think about our K-12 students and how we have had to downsize our science programs since 2003. We no longer have science teachers for our elementary students, who now receive science instruction from classroom teachers with little time to prepare experiments or do hands-on science work. At the middle school level, science has suffered time crunching to make way for more math and reading instruction. At the high school, a poorly equipped, limited number of science labs result in only a small percentage of students getting exposure to science experiments, and even for those students, it is in inadequate increments.

So, of course, when Governor Patrick asked if there were any questions from the audience, I wanted to ask. (I didn’t but I wish I had, and next time I will.) I should have asked because for me it was the elephant in the room that needed to be addressed: How will Lowell public school children have access to nanotechnology studies and the opportunities UML will offer if our science education is inadequate to prepare them to meet the challenges? What is the governor’s or the legislators’ plan to make sure our kids get the quality science preparation they deserve and that is required in the world we live in today? Just adding a science component to MCAS, which is all I’ve seen so far, won’t cut it.

I’m not sure if people know that much about the Non-Profit Alliance of Greater Lowell. Based on the premise that a collective voice can have more influence, the group draws diverse non profits together to explore shared agendas and to learn more about each others’ work in the community. Part activism, part networking, part collaboration – the group has become even more cohesive and effective in recent years. Besides the annual Legislative Breakfast, the group has launched an ambitious image-marketing campaign called “Lowell Works”. With the assistance of Jericho Road, a series of posters has been designed, each one showcasing an actual client’s story from 10 different agencies. Each month features a different agency and that agency poster is displayed at different locations around the city. The full set of posters can be viewed at City Hall and other prominent locations around town. If you see one of the posters, take a minute to read the client’s story and see for yourself what the Non-Profit Alliance is all about!