CENTER CITY COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
September 12, 2006

Present: Larry Field, Marshall Field, Matt Fitzpatrick, Bob Flynn, Ken Lavallee, Bill Lipchitz, Jeanne Osborn, Russ Smith, and Terry Williams.

The meeting opened at 8:40 AM.

Matt Fitzpatrick gave an update on the activities of the Young Professionals of Greater Lowell. They will be holding a networking session on Thursday at the Tewksbury Country Club and expect 50 to 75 folks to attend. They have a data base of about 200 names and are working on a website whose address will be www.ypgl.org.

Bill announced that the City Manager has agreed to attend the next CCC Stakeholder’s Meeting on September 26th at MCC Federal Building. The agenda will include time for a Q & A with Manager Lynch and reports from the workplan subcommittees.

Marshall Field reported that his committee on Pedestrian Safety has done some work and plan to contact the newly hired Traffic Engineer, Jeffrey Gomes, to discuss it. They hope to be able to do that before the 9/26 meeting. Ken Lavallee said the Police Department has had some new signs made up to be put in the cobblestone crosswalks indicating where the crosswalk is since they cannot paint lines on the stones.

Bill reviewed some of the work of the Paige Street subcommittee and mentioned that a new restaurant called Hookslide Kelly’s will be going into the former “Usual” space on Merrimack Street and is negotiating with the LRTA to use the alley next to them that runs up to Paige Street. Thus would result in some clean up of the area at no cost to the City.

Newcomers’ Night that was held on Thursday, September 7th from 6:00 to 8:30 PM at the Enterprise Bank Parking Lot and was successful in attracting many new neighbors aw well as some regulars. There was a Latin salsa band and free food. The new City Manager, himself a newcomer, addressed the crowd. Destination World Latin America also was held that night, with those activities taking place at the Whistler House Museum and Park.

Ken Lavallee announced that the State Police academy (not to be confused with the local one run by the LPD) will be using the Tsongas Arena for their graduation ceremonies on September 22nd. They will have upwards of 3,000 people in the City that Friday starting at 10 AM. He also noted that UTEC is planning a November move into their new space on Hurd Street.

Bill reported that he had been involved with a wedding reception in August that was held at the Revolving Museum and it turned out to be an excellent venue for such an event. The space was well decorated, the staff extremely accommodating, the food was great and the music was wonderful. The outside deck was also used and added to the ambiance of the evening.

There was some discussion about the 20 condo’s contemplated for the Athenian Corner building on Market Street.

It was agreed that there will not be a meeting next week due to the Primary Election, and that the next formal meeting of Stakeholders will be September 26th at MCC. Don’t forget to VOTE on Tuesday, September 19th.

The meeting adjourned at 9:25 AM.