CENTER CITY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES

January 5, 2010

 

The next informal meeting of the Center City Committee 

will be January 12, 2010

8:30 AM

at

Brew’d Awakening Coffeehaus

 61 Market Street

 

The next meeting of the Stakeholder Representatives

will be

Tuesday January 26, 2010  8:30 AM

The MCC Morse Federal Building

East Merrimack Street

 

 

Present:  George DeLuca, Capt. Thomas Kennedy, Bill Lipchitz, Jamie O’Hearn, and Terry Williams

 

The meeting opened at 8:40 AM at Brew’d Awakenings.

 

The next Stakeholders’ Meeting will be January 26th, and the Annual Stakeholders’ Meeting will take place in March. Dues notices will be sent out soon to all Stakeholder Groups.

 

The meeting started off with a discussion of two recently closed businesses in Lowell: Olive That & More and Second Wind Café, as well as the general business climate in Lowell.  Both closings happened rather suddenly, and the tough economy was most likely the reason. At a previous meeting an idea was discussed about having a space for students and others that would be non-alcoholic and stay open later at night, maybe 9:00 or 10:00 PM. It was suggested that the Olive That & More space would be the kind of physical space needed for such a venue.

 

George brought up the need for Lowell to have a solid economic development team.  Bill mentioned that the Lowell Plan was conceived as a public-private partnership that would address economic development and provide a sounding board for the City on such issues.

 

Bill mentioned that the CCC is also constrained by lack of money, and so its role is more one of discussion and disseminating information, but that all these entities should be part of a larger planning system.  Jamie asked about the goals of  the CCC that were approved at the last annual meeting, and Bill said he would review them for the next Stakeholder’s Meeting. George said he would like to be part of the committee to draft this year’s CCC annual plan.

 

Bill also mentioned that for the next stakeholders’ meeting, he had planned to invite George Proakis to talk about city plans for the Lower Highlands, but since George has recently resigned to work in Somerville, Bill will ask Adam Baacke if he or someone from the DPD could attend the meeting.  George suggested inviting the MIT students involved with that part of Lowell as well. 

 

George also said that the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac organization is meeting with LZ Nunn on Monday the 11th at 4PM at the NPS office about sharing a space with other cultural non-profits for office and meeting purposes. He also reported on a recent meeting of the Pawtucketville Citizen’s Council where the new UML Nanotech Center was discussed. It will be built on the corner of University Avenue and the VFW Highway where two dorms and the Library now stand. He suggested that UML representatives come to a Stakeholder’s Meeting to talk about their plans.

 

A question was asked about how various buildings in the downtown are being used and what kind of empty space is in them.

 

Captain Kennedy talked about an initiative to combat crime in the Bridge Street area; however with the budget being cut, that has been difficult to continue.  He also mentioned that the city has not hired a new officer in two years.

 

The meeting adjourned at 9:30 AM.