CENTER CITY COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
January 9, 2007

Present: Mehmed Ali, Sara Khun, Ted Lavash, Janet Leggat, Bill Lipchitz, Jacqueline Ormond, Chris Samaras, Steve Syverson, and Terry Williams.

The meeting opened at 8:35 AM.

The Calendar Fundraising Project subcommittee was present. Janet Leggat reported on her conversation with Ted Davis regarding his experience with the Keep Lowell Beautiful Calendar that was published a couple of years ago. The first time, they used a local printer, produced 3,000 copies that sold for $10 apiece and did well. The second year, they used a cheaper printer from the Midwest and did not get the calendars in time for the Christmas season. The distribution of the calendars became problematical because it wasn’t coordinated. However, the volunteer program at the National Park did buy a block of them to distribute. They did not do another one last year. Steve Syverson suggested that there be a blurb on the cover explaining the purpose of the calendar is to raise funds for the CCC, thinking that might get some people to buy it as a donation. There was some discussion about listing events whose dates are certain and whether that information is known enough in advance. Mehmed Ali will chair the subcommittee that currently includes Janet and Jackie, and he will set up a meeting soon. Anyone else interested in working on the project should contact Ali.

Downtown Coordinator Chris Samaras announced a change in the structure for the Downtown Summit. It will be a series of three meetings in January, March and May with the first, January 24th featuring several speakers and a Q & A session from the audience. The second meeting will have a panel of downtown stakeholders discussing critical issues in the downtown, and the written plan will be presented at the third meeting with reaction from the attendees. The speakers at the January meeting will include Theresa Lynch form the Main Street Program in Lexington, Kentucky, a person from the Urban Land Institute based in Boston, and the consultants hired by the Lowell Plan to look at the Cultural Plan. The CCC urges its members to attend.

Chris also gave a Winterfest update, saying planning is proceeding as expected and snow is being prayed for.

There was a brief discussion about potential new stores downtown. Chris said there were some restaurants on the horizon, but not much in the way of retail right now. He reported that the now-closed used furniture place at 45 Market Street was being cleaned out by the building owner, hopefully for a new use. Steve reported that ALL will be leaving their space at 67 Middle Street and is looking for about 2,000 sf of very affordable space for their gallery.

Sara Khun reported that Acting Police Chief Ken Lavallee continued his crackdown on late-night revelers leaving the bars on weekends. Last Friday, aided by the Massachusetts State Police, police made 10 arrests and handed out 71 motor vehicle citations and 11 parking tickets. The LPD also conducted a package store sting, finding several local establishments that failed to card an underage buyer.

Janet announced that the Lowell Festival Foundation is continuing their search for a Director of Development to replace her. She also said the Kiwanis Club will be holding a “Meet the K Club” get-together at Cobblestones on Tuesday evening, January 16th at 6:00 PM, and encouraged anyone interested in joining the service organization to attend.

Because of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday on the 15th, and the fact that the Downtown Summit will be Wednesday the 24th, The next formal meeting of Stakeholders will be January 30th at the MCC Morse Federal Building in the first floor Assembly Room at 8:30 AM (please note change of room) and the next informal meeting will be February 6th at the Coffee Mill.

The meeting adjourned at 9:20 AM.