CENTER CITY COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
July 16, 2002

Present: Brian Baraby, Marshall Field, Matt Fitzpatrick, Robert Flynn, Kathy Lantagne, Janet Leggat, Joe Lipchitz, Bill Lipchitz, Bill McGowan, Colin McNiece, Russell Smith, Germaine Vigeant-Trudel, and City Councilor Dan Tenczar.

In addition to the above, the Center City Committee was honored with the visitation of a delegation from Berdiansk, Ukraine consisting of Mayor Valeriy Baranov, his two deputy mayors assisted by a translator and guided by Frank Falcetta of Middlesex Community College.

Today's meeting was held at the Lowell Small Business Assistance Center.

Bill gave an outline of the Center City organization and asked the members present to introduce themselves. The delegation was interested in just what functions and role the CCC plays and how it influences activities and developments in the City. Bill explained the history of the CCC and its evolving role to think tank and information exchange organization. He noted that the City plan for downtown called for such a group to help "manage" the downtown, and that the CCC is interested in playing such a role. There was a discussion of the similarities and differences between the governmental structures of Lowell and Berdiansk.

Dan Tenczar spoke of the need to resolve parking issues and the problem of how to organize the parking garages so that adequate fees can be collected and appropriate maintenance can be carried out to keep the garages in good shape.

Marshall Field raised the issues of trash collection in the alleys and the managing of the alleys in general. The plan should provide the framework for managing such issues, and Colin McNiece of DPD said that the plan should be ready by September 1.

Bill invited Councilor Tenczar to return to a future meeting so that he and the committee can discuss some downtown issues further. Councilor Tenczar agreed to do so.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 am

View a discussion of various issues on the Issues Page and see what's new on the News Page.