Lowell Center City Committee, Inc.
Stakeholder's Representatives Meeting
October 30, 2007

MEETING MINUTES

The meeting opened at 8:33 AM.

The Stakeholder groups were represented by the following members:
Artists, Steve Syverson;
Building Owners, Marshall Field;
Business/Community Banking, Matt Fitzpatrick;
; Business/Resources, Russ Smith;
City of Lowell/DPD, Chris Samaras;
City of Lowell/Police Dept., Tom Lombard;
Education/Lowell High School, Roxanne Howe;
Education/Middlesex CC, Molly Sheehy;
Education/UMass Lowell, Dr. Joseph Lipchitz;
Non-Profit Corporations/CTI, Bill Lipchitz;
Residents/Lowell DNA, Ted Lavash;
Visitors/Lowell National Park; Mehmed Ali

Absent:
Business/Chamber of Commerce, Jeanne Osborn;
Business/JAMBRA, Tim Shanahan;
Business/Lowell Plan, Jim Cook;
Business/Restaurants, Franky Descoteaux;
Business/Retailers, George Vallaras;
Cultural Organizations, L.Z. Nunn;
General Population/LRTA, Jim Scanlan;
General Population/NMCOG, Bob Flynn;
Visitors/CVB, Debbie Belanger;
Visitors/Lowell Festival Foundation; Janet Leggat;
Youth/UTEC, Greg Croteau;

Also present were:
Alternates Larry Field (Building Owners), and Kathleen Marcin (Residents/DNA),and Guests Chuck Carney, Susan Johnson and Melissa McNeely, City of Lowell Parking Department.

Minutes of Previous Meeting

On a motion by Marshall Field, seconded by Joe Lipchitz, it was voted: to accept the minutes of September 25, 2007.

Treasurer’s Report

Treasurer Matt Fitzpatrick reported the CCC has a balance of $2,129.00 not counting the bulk of sponsorships for the calendar project which have been billed but not received. On a motion by Bill Lipchitz, seconded by Joe Lipchitz, it was voted: to accept the report.

A discussion ensued as to the CCC making its annual donation to the Holiday Stroll program. Given the fact that not all the sponsorships for the calendar have been received, and that the printer will have to be paid soon, it was the consensus of the group that the CCC should donate to the program but that cash flow is a concern. Previous years donations have been in the $250 range. On a motion by Bill Lipchitz, seconded by Chris Samaras, it was voted: to authorize to the Officers acting as an Executive Committee to determine how much and when to donate to the Stroll program

Downtown Coordinator’s Report

Chris Samaras, in addition to working on the Holiday Parade (November 24th at 4:30 PM; parking in the garages free that day from 2:00 PM on) and the Downtown Stroll which takes place on Thursdays in December starting the 6th, he is also working with retailers to dress up their store windows and will hold competitions on Saturdays December 1, 8 and 15. Meanwhile, art students will be working to dress up vacant store fronts as well.

Invited Guests

City Parking Director Chuck Carney was welcomed by the group, and he introduced his staff Susan Johnson and Melissa McNeely. Chuck reported that the garages are operating on a profit basis and previous deficits have been erased. Security is vastly improved and the Department, which is operated as a cost center so that their revenue and expenses (including the debt service on building new garages) stay within the Department, has invested $2.5 M in the infrastructure including new lighting, painting, repairs and the latest, state-of-the-art technology for payments. Security has improved so much over the last two years that as of last week, there were no security issues reported at all.

The next technology improvements will come to the parking meters by instituting a kiosk style process. Each kiosk will cover 9-10 meters, with spaces marked as connected to a particular kiosk. IN the new JAM Area garage, for example, there will be 40 spaces on the first floor that are metered. So a motorist would park in a numbered spot, go to the appropriate kiosk and punch in the space # and the time requested up to 2 hours, then can pay with coins (including nickels and dimes) or by credit or debit card. They will get a receipt that they will display on their windshield. This will eliminate problems often seen with meters: no jamming (machine is alarmed if tampered with) no stealing of the meters, and time-stamped receipts. Meter Maids will have ”Sky Pads”, hand held computers that can look remotely at kiosks and tell if the car parked there has time left or if it has overstayed. The new kiosks cost about $11,000 and will be put in the JAM Garage first, later will be put on the streets for those meters. The Parking Department is looking at a 6-7 year payback on the cost of the machines. The first kiosks will be in place in mid January when the JAM Garage opens, and be on some streets like Merrimack and Middle Streets about 4-6 months after that. Spaces on the street will be re-marked to indicate which kiosk applies.

Chuck said the parking system is being designed for businesses and their customers. Another issue is the abuse of parking privileges by people who falsely use Handicapped Persons placards. Handicapped Drivers are allowed to park in any legal parking space (not just those marked handicapped) for free as long as they display the placard. There have been cases where people have either illegally duplicated them or obtained them from others. One problem is that the Registry, who issues them, does not collect them back when the HC person doesn’t use or need it any more. He also said that Middlesex Community College has recently renegotiated its agreement for parking at terms equal to other similar entities and are paying their fair share.

Members noted that the Meter Maids have a tough job, but there are complaints from parkers about over-zealousness. Chuck said the new staff are being hired and he wants them to be ambassadors for the City. He also said that the Meter Maids check for broken meters twice a day and report them immediately. He referred further questions to the Parking Department website FAQ page .

Announcements

The change to two-way traffic on Middlesex Street is going so well that the police detail has been removed.

Kathleen Marcin reported that the first charette regarding plans for the Hamilton Canal District will be held by Trinity Financial on Thursday, November 29th. Details can be found on the Lowell DNA website.

Molly Sheehy reported on the recent meeting of JAMBRA where close to 100 people attended including several city councilors and candidates as well as business people, residents and representatives from Trinity Financial. There was a lot of positive energy and a willingness to work together demonstrated.

Kathleen Marcin also reported that the City Council Economic Development Subcommittee met recently to discuss the Hamilton Canal Project and the issue of the Lowell Transitional Living Center homeless shelter that is located on Middlesex Street. Since it is a fact of life that it is there, the city and others need to help integrate it into the neighborhood, improve its physical appearance, and improve its operations so it can co-exist peacefully as other shelters have done in other cities. Police Lieutenant Lombard said that officers will be meeting soon with the shelter board to discuss some of these issues.

The next Stakeholder’s Meeting will be Tuesday, November 27, 2007.

The next informal meeting will be November 13th.

On a motion by Steve Syverson, seconded by Joe Lipchitz, it was voted: to adjourn the meeting at 9:43 AM.