CENTER CITY COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
October 21, 2008
Present: Marshall Field,
Sara khun-Leng, Bill Lipchitz, Janet Lopez, Jamie O’Hearn, Theresa Park, Chris Samaras, Molly Sheehy, and Terry Williams.
The meeting opened at 8:40
AM.
The meeting opened with a discussion of the recent article in the Lowell Sun by Bob Forrant and John Wooding. They were advocating more connections between the University and the downtown, a subject that has come to the fore again lately. The downtown would benefit from having a presence, like a faculty club or a classroom building of the University located downtown. The Smith Baker Center, for example, has been suggested as a site where a private developer might renovate it for performing arts activities and rent it to both UML and MCC. It was mentioned that the Lowell Plan is going to do a study of the economic impact of the University on downtown Lowell, and it was the consensus that it would be good to invite both Professors and someone from the Lowell Plan to an upcoming meeting of the Stakeholders to discuss these ideas. Bill agreed to contact Bob Forrant and John Wooding and talk to Jim Cook at the Lowell Plan.
The discussion then turned to a discussion about the newly opened Village Smokehouse restaurant which seems to be doing very well. This led to the topic of filling vacant retail space in the downtown. Some available spaces include 9 Central Street (former Garber Travel), the former Sals Pizza on Central Street, the former Lush Beads on Merrimack Street (Lush Beads moved next door to larger space), and the former unfinished furniture store on Merrimack Street. That space has been subdivided and a cell phone company will use part of it. The feeling is that the economy is having an effect on retail businesses with credit harder to get and customers cutting back on spending.
Bill talked about the agenda for the upcoming stakeholders’ meeting. The new director of the Lowell Telecommunications Corporation and the person in charge of the City’s MIS operations had both been invited but were unable to attend the previous stakeholders’ meeting. The LTC Director did not seem to be familiar with the CCC and its mission, so Sara Kuhn offered to speak with her. It was also suggested that the manager of the DoubleTree Hotel come to a CCC meeting to talk about developments regarding the hotel. Chris said he would get in touch with the manager.
Chris Samaras updated the Committee about the upcoming City of Lights parade. This year the event will start earlier, at 12 noon, and will include additional activities in an effort to make it a real downtown event. Businesses are encouraged to offer food, carolers will make their rounds, and Santa will also make an appearance. Chris also reported on the Best Practices program.
The meeting adjourned at 9:20 AM.
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