CENTER CITY COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
January 7, 2003

Present: Bill Lipchitz, Joe Lipchitz, Bill McGowan, Susan Siopes, and Russ Smith.

The meeting opened at 8:00 AM. Bill gave a recap of the last meeting that was held at the Nesmith House in December and focused on building owners and their assessment of downtown. It was agreed that the next focus group would be the retailers, and Russ volunteered to help set it up. He will call Kathy Lantagne to see if she has a list of retailers.

Bill reminded everyone that the Center City Committee, Inc. Annual Meeting is set in the By-Laws for the first Tuesday in February, which is only a month away. He mentioned the Lowell Sun Publisher Kendall Wallace had written an interesting column last Saturday about Lowell as a destination city and suggested that Ken would be an excellent choice as a keynote speaker for the meeting. Bill will first find out if he is interested and available and, if so, when. The date of the meeting can be rescheduled with appropriate notice to the membership. Other planning aspects will include: getting in touch with members and ascertaining their interests; the nomination of a slate of officers; and possible awards. Bill will check on the budget and the contacts. Joe will ask at the University regarding a specifically dedicated representative to the CCC.

The Higher Ground Coffee House has opened on Middle Street and owner Scott Landman has offered to let the CCC meet there next week where we can welcome a new business to downtown and get his perspective on the area. It was also the consensus that the CCC meetings should go back to the regular 8:30 AM starting time.

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