CENTER CITY COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
September 23, 2008

Present: Larry Field, Marshall Field, Sara Kuhn, Ted Lavash, Bill Lipchitz, Janet Lopez, Jamie O’Hearn, Theresa Park, Steve Syverson and Terry Williams

The meeting opened at 8:33 AM.

The meeting started off with a discussion about the children’s park located on Shattuck Street.  The official opening had been scheduled for Monday, September 22nd; however it was delayed one day.  Marshall mentioned that the inauguration for the park on Middle Street, adopted by Middlesex Community College, was also on Monday.  President Carol Cowen and other representatives from MCC including Molly Sheehy were in attendance.

Steve Syverson announced that Open Studios would be taking place Saturday and Sunday, September 27th and 28th.  A shuttle bus will be running between the downtown of Lowell and Western Avenue studios.  There will also be reduced parking rates at the garage. 

Bill reminded the committee of the stakeholders meeting next Tuesday.  He is hoping to have James Lichoulas, the City’s MIS point person, and the new LTC director to attend. 

A discussion of Newcomers’ Night held at the Double Tree Hotel ensued.  It was agreed there was a good turnout for the event; however several noted that some people new to the City did not receive announcements.  Jamie stated that flyers were widely distributed.  Bill mentioned that last year letters were mailed out to new Lowell residents, and Ted agreed that that was the way to do it.  Bill suggested that next time each condo association should put up notices about the event in the building. 

Ted mentioned that the Smokehouse Restaurant on Middle Street was scheduled to open the first week of October.  Bill proposed implementing Ted’s idea of interviewing and filming new businesses.  Ted thought the LTC might be interested in helping with this.  WCAP may also be interested in putting something in their local news segment.

Ted also reported that the DNA meeting held last night had a visit from Walter Bayliss, the President of Crimestoppers of Lowell who talked about the program and its success in reporting crimes that led to arrests. The DNA has also been successful in helping to get the Under Impact to control excessive noise on weekend evenings.

Theresa announced that the “Made in Lowell” event will be taking place Friday October 3rd from 10am to 1pm.  The event provides an opportunity for Lowell-based businesses to showcase their products and services, as well for businesses to make contacts with other businesses. The event is a chance for people in Lowell to learn about things that are made in Lowell but are sold nationally or internationally.

Theresa also reported that a lease was recently approved for the Early Garage for a restaurant, and that others are in the works.  Bill said the JAMBRA garage sale at the Early Garage went very well and had between 17 and 18 vendors. 

Sara introduced Janet Lopez to the Committee as the new community liaison for the Police Department.  Janet previously worked in the Police Department’s Family Services division.  Janet has replaced Jackie Ormonde and stated that she would like to work on making sure the Police Department is aware of events going on in the City.

The meeting adjourned at 9:09 AM.