CENTER CITY COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
August 29, 2006

Present: Susan DiMari, Larry Field, Marshall Field, Matt Fitzpatrick, Janet Leggat, Bill Lipchitz, LZ Nunn, and Molly Sheehy.

The meeting opened at 8:35 AM.

Two of our valued members announced that they are leaving their positions in Lowell. Janet Leggat will be resigning from the Lowell Festival Foundation at the end of the year, and will be heading to Atlanta or Denver in the spring to pursue new opportunities. She will be greatly missed by the Committee and by the City of Lowell. The Lowell Festival Foundation, which exists as a fund-raising arm of the Park Service for events including the Folk Festival, will re-examine its role and possibly restructure itself to better define and carry out its role. In addition, there will be a meeting on Thursday morning at the Pollard Memorial Library to dissect this year’s folk festival and discuss the changes that have been made recently.

Susan DiMari has accepted a marketing position with the Lowell Five and has resigned as Downtown Coordinator as of this week. She will be around and hopefully will continue to participate in Center City activities. Her current position has been posted and candidates are being interviewed by DPD. Susan suggests that anyone who needs to talk with the City call Brian Connors. Susan said she estimates that she spent about 40% of her time on business recruitment, 40% on business retention, and 20% on marketing. Susan has done an excellent job for the downtown and we wish her well in her new job.

LZ Nunn gave a report on the preparations for Newcomers’ Night that will be held next Thursday, September 7th from 6:00 to 8:30 PM at the Enterprise Bank Parking Lot. It will be on the same night as Destination World Latin America, with those activities taking place at the Whistler House Museum and Park.

Newcomers’ Night will kick off at 6 PM with welcoming remarks from the sponsors including the CCC and the City Manager and will feature food from several downtown restaurants and music by the Latin-American group called the Sugar Kings. Many businesses will have tables set up to display their products, and there will be a cash bar. Kathleen Marcin, President of the Lowell Downtown Residents Association is doing a press release that will be sent out to new residents and others, and there will be an article in the Lowell Sun Stepping Out Section on Thursday.

Susan DiMari reported on the joint meeting of the LDNA and the DLBA last night. New City Manger Lynch attended and most of the meeting was taken up with a discussion of the Incident Reporting System that has been developed.

Marshall Field gave an update of the recent activities of the CCC Subcommittee on Making Downtown More Pedestrian Friendly. After touring the downtown and reviewing crosswalks and other issues, they have compiled and typed up notes which they hope to discuss with the soon to be on-board Traffic Engineer. Marshall also mentioned that he heard there was some money in the state budget that could be used for infrastructure improvements.

Bill said the Committee on Long Range Planning has made several visits to the Paige Street area, and has also written up a report detailing items that could be easily fixed and some that will take more time/money. Ali is setting up a meeting with Matt Coggins at DPD to discuss the report. There will be a new restaurant coming into the former La Terazza space on Merrimack Street that would like to use the Paige Street side of the building for outdoor café space, and they have been talking to the LRTA about fixing up the Kiosk back there.

Bill reminded members that there will not be a meeting next week due to the Labor Day Holiday, and that the next formal meeting of Stakeholders will be September 26th at MCC. The City Manger will be invited to that meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 9:40 AM.