jackiedoherty.org

Remember when President Reagan said that ketchup counted as a vegetable in school lunches? Well, apparently today’s youth are not only forgetting to eat their ketchup, but they’re way behind in their consumption of fruit cocktail. (I use these foods facetiously; obviously ketchup is not the best vegetable, nor is processed fruit soaked in corn syrup the best fruit.) According to this article in the Boston Globe, 90 percent of American high school students are not eating enough fresh fruits and vegetables. The Center for Disease Control, which ranked the diet of American high-school students as poor, requires three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit a day for a healthy diet. Another interesting point in the article: Some New England states ranked higher (with Vermont the best of that bunch), and those states with students consuming more fruits and vegetables also had more farmers markets and school vending machines stocked with healthier options.

A few years ago, the Lowell School Committee developed a wellness policy that included healthier food options at lunch, and limited the amount of candy and junk food sold during school hours. Since we started serving fresh fruits, carrots and celery sticks in elementary and middle-school lunches, the children are eating the healthier choices. Also according to the new wellness policy, LHS students were required to stop fund raising by selling candy bars during the school day, and high-school vending machines were stocked with water, low-sugar beverages, and healthier choices. Clearly, however, the problem extends beyond school control and has more to do with what’s happening in our homes. Like most aspects of parenting, the real work is modeling the behavior we wish to see in our children; in this case, it means eating healthy ourselves, and making fruits and vegetables part of our own, as well as our children’s, daily diets.

A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning. The wife said, “You should do it because you get up first, and then we don’t have to wait as long to get our coffee.” The husband answered, “You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee.” To which, the wife replied, “No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should make the coffee.”

”I can’t believe that,” said the husband. “Show me.” So she fetched the Bible, opened it to the New Testament, and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says. HEBREWS.

If you’re not going to the Pats game and are looking for an uplifting activity for Sunday Saturday, you could listen to glorious music in support of a great cause by going down to St Anne’s Episcopal Church from noon – 2:00 pm to hear our own Lura Smith in a Southern Gospel Concert. Lura will be joined by guest artists including Michael Lally, Founder and Director of local favorites, the SRO Players. The suggested donation is $20 per person, payable at the door, with all proceeds going to Prevent Homelessness in the Merrimack Valley. If you haven’t been to one of Lura Smith’s Gospel concerts, you owe it to yourself to get down to St Anne’s tomorrow; you’ll be glowing with goodwill and friendship when you leave, and you can probably still make it home by half-time.

It was early in the day for an hour-long lecture about ways to make downtown more vibrant, but you wouldn’t have known it by the audience as they listened attentively to City Planner Jeff Speck at the Lowell Plan breakfast this morning. Speck visited Lowell this week and presented his thoughts as part of the Lowell Plan’s 30^th anniversary celebration. A “private, non-profit economic development organization” comprising many of the city’s top business leaders, the Lowell Plan can point to many contributions to the city’s re-invention over the last three decades. Add this morning’s breakfast to that list.

Speck was one of those speakers we hope our children get in school: inspiring, entertaining, and educational. Some of his points about Lowell: It has a unique and timeless architecture, the canals are an under-utilized resource, and the high school’s downtown location brings a huge benefit of humanity and energy to the city. Other observations: Our downtown is not walker friendly or enticing to pedestrian traffic, there are too many one-way streets and not enough street signs, we have the least bicycle-friendly city he has ever seen (this point especially resonates as someone who loves to bike and is afraid of cars). Speck showed how a four-lane street downtown doesn’t encourage safe walking or biking, but by reducing it to three lanes—the middle for turning—there is room on either side for bicycle lanes. His point about traffic in general: You don’t want people speeding by your downtown; you want them to stop, walk, and shop. For that, you need parallel parking, interesting things to see as you walk, and lots of other folks around. His final message to the group: the Lowell Plan needs a plan, and it should be one that doesn’t make the mistake of duplicating suburban sprawl, but instead builds on the urban beauty and history that is already uniquely ours.

I’m not an expert on the health care issue, only a consumer who fortunately has spent most of her life with health insurance without ever really needing it—until recently—which has certainly changed my perspective on the whole debate. The primary reason opponents give for not supporting universal care is the expense. If it’s true, as I’ve heard, that health care premiums have gone up 119% over the last 10 years, while payments to doctors have remained fairly stagnant (rates set by private insurance companies), who is getting all the money? An article in Sunday’s Boston Globe got me thinking about cost from another perspective, such as how U.S. spending on health care compares to France:

“…the outcome is relatively cost-effective in comparison with the situations in other industrialized nations, according to tracking by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. France spent about $300 billion for the health needs of its 64 million people in 2007, the last year for which reliable statistics are available, the organization reported. That amounted to about 11 percent of gross domestic product for a system covering an estimated 99 percent of the population, well below what Americans pay for a system that leaves out tens of millions of people. On a per capita basis, France also ranked well below the United States in health expenditures. It was eighth on the organization’s list, while the United States ranked at the top. Despite the lower spending, French people have for years had a longer life expectancy than their counterparts in the United States, currently at 80.98 years compared with 78.11.”

In Lowell, rising health-insurance costs continue to be our biggest budget buster despite efforts to reduce expenses by encouraging employees to switch to less-expensive plans. During these tough fiscal times, the need for health care reform has never been stronger.

Talk about being creative and doing more with less: My eighth grader came home with a letter from the Daley School yesterday about a new program called The Power of One. The program solicits parents to donate one hour of their time to make a difference in their child’s school. Think about it. How many of us could donate an hour, and what kind of difference would it make if 500 parents did at one school? The program requires interested parents to complete a CORI form (policy of Lowell Schools for anyone working with our children). The letter also included a list of potential volunteer opportunities, such as Election Day bake sale, dance chaperone, literacy night, teacher appreciation luncheon, and student of the month. The best part is the Daley School is making a concerted effort to reach out to all parents and officially invite them to be part of their child’s education community. And they’re asking for a one-hour commitment only; even busy parents may be able to find an hour during the school year if they’re asked and made to feel welcome. As someone involved with the Citywide Parent Council and school PTOs for 12 years, I can tell you, the first step is being invited. It will be interesting to see the response they get, the number of new faces, and the difference, if any, one letter can make in parent involvement.

My first stop while in DC last weekend, was the Freer Gallery, which intrigued me because of a connection with our own native son, James McNeil Whistler (I believe Whistler only lived in Lowell for the first two years of his life and, as a Bohemian artist, always denied his industrial revolution roots; however, he was born here, so we get to claim him). As an aside, his birthplace, the Whistler House Museum in Lowell, features a copy of his most famous painting, “Arrangement in Grey and Black”, also known as “Whistler’s Mother” as well as some charming contemporary art work and many of his etchings, and tidbits of Lowell history. What I was particularly interested in at the Freer though, was “The Peacock Room.” This was a dining room that Whistler took over decorating for a wealthy friend and patron, Frederick Leyland. Whistler got carried away and, while the businessman was absent, painted the walls a beautiful rich blue-green, gilded the shelves, painted golden Peacock motifs on the panels and changed the entire look of the room. The two had a falling out over the cost, as well as the artist’s presumption, and Whistler added two fighting peacocks on one of the walls. After Leyland’s death, the entire room was purchased by a wealthy American businessman, Charles Lang Freer, another friend and patron of Whistler’s who also collected Asian art, along with Whistler’s paintings and etchings. Freer had the room installed in the DC mansion that he was having built to house his art collection. In addition to the dining room, we viewed a range of Whistler’s paintings and etchings (he was ranked right up with Rembrandt in etching), and gained a new appreciation of his art. At my next stop, the West Wing of the National Gallery of Art, we saw a few more Whistler’s, including the rather strange “Symphony in White, No 1.” I’m sure there are more Whistlers to be viewed in DC, but all in all, it turned out to be quite a Whistler weekend in Washington!

On Thursday, The Sun featured an article in its news section, claiming that Gail Cenik, office manager for the Election and Census Commission, didn’t understand choice voting: “It’s certainly not rocket science, but it may as well be for all the confusion swirling around proportional-representation voting these days,” began the article. “Even the head of the city’s election department doesn’t fully understand it. ‘If it passes, good luck to us. We’ll just have to figure it out,’ said Gail Cenik…” Well, I called Cenik on Friday regarding the story’s accuracy. Her response: “The article really didn’t convey what I said,” she noted, adding that it was taken out of context. “I’m not stupid. I understand the concepts and the reasons why people support it (choice voting). I don’t fully know how the tabulation works and that’s where I have to do my homework.” Cenik explained that getting those details has not been a priority since her office, which includes herself and two assistants, has had to verify the 8,000-plus signatures needed to put choice voting on the ballot; verify all other signatures required for the upcoming municipal election, including council, school committee and vocational seats; as well as prepare for upcoming special senate elections.

Apparently the complexity issue has cropped up in other arenas from those opposing a switch to a priority voting system. According to today’s Column regarding a debate on the issue on WCAP: “Former Lowell and Cambridge City Manager James Sullivan, who opposes the charter change, said it works in Cambridge because they are more “philosophical…When Fahlberg (Victoria Fahlberg, a lead proponent of choice voting) tried to challenge Sullivan’s comments, asking if he felt Lowell people were not able to comprehend the plan as well as Cambridge voters, host Warren Shaw, who was supposed to be an impartial moderator, shut her off.”

Is ranking your votes too complicated?? Check here for some details and stay tuned for more on this issue from me. On another note regarding media inaccuracy, check Mimi’s post at LiL today regarding a misleading Sun article on council candidate Ray Weicker’s recent vote on the Licensing Commission.

There’s a lot going on around the city this weekend with the Lowell Open Studios and Arts Festival beginning tonight and running through Sunday. This year’s event will also feature a Youth Arts Recognition ceremony in honor of all the young people who participated in the festival. In addition, the Friends of Lowell High School will host a party on Saturday to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the group. Along with great music by LHS alumnus Ralph Funaro, delicious desserts, and a chance to thank founding members for an astounding three decades of supporting one of the best urban high schools in the state, attendees will get to participate in a fabulous silent auction featuring more than 50 items. Money raised from the event will go toward the FLHS Scholarship Fund. Tickets are $30 each or $50 per couple, and can be purchased at the door Saturday evening, Sept. 26, at Long Meadow Golf Club, 165 Havilah Street, Lowell, 7-11 pm. Earlier this week, The Sun published an article about the group’s history and current role at the high school. Saturday’s anniversary celebration will not only mark the group’s longevity and impact on decades of high school students, but should also be a rocking good time.

Last night’s forum offered a tense moment when challenger Fred Doyle, during his opening remarks, accused Councillor Milinazzo of misrepresenting the numbers on the Early Garage at the last candidates’ forum. Doyle was animated and speaking loudly, and the time for his three-minute opening remarks seemed to fly by as audience and fellow candidates watched with rapt attention. Unfortunately, I could only stay for the opening remarks of the remaining candidates, so I don’t know if there was any further discussion regarding his accusations. Today’s Sun reports on the evening, but doesn’t mention his outburst. The Sun article, however, mentions that two more councilors, Jim Milinazzo and Rodney Elliot, are on record as not supporting the meals tax. (Armand Mercier stated at Monday’s forum that he would not support it.) According to The Sun, last night Elliott said: “I know it is included in the budget, but we will have to go back to the drawing board … to make adjustments and reductions somewhere else.” Milinazzo’s plan for the deficit without revenue from a meals tax: more furloughs for city employees.

Last June, when councilors unanimously approved the city budget, $2 million in revenue was based on the meals tax, and 20% of that, or $400,000, went towards the city’s contribution to its schools. Since then, those numbers have changed due to the state raising the sales tax (more on that in a later post). From the perspective of the schools, we will be in a difficult bind if the city reduces its contribution now. Obviously, removing teachers from classrooms or staff furloughs are not viable options in the middle of a school year. The comments may play well as political sound bites, but the practical impacts are much more complex.