Lowell Center City Committee, Inc.
Stakeholder's Representatives Meeting
March 11, 2008

MEETING MINUTES

The meeting opened at 8:38 AM.

The Stakeholder groups were represented by the following members:
Artists, Steve Syverson;
Building Owners, Marshall Field;
Business/Community Banking, Jamie O’Hearn;
Business/Retailers, George Vallaras;
City of Lowell/DPD, Theresa Park;
City of Lowell/Police Dept., Lt. Paul LaFerrier;
Education/Middlesex CC, Molly Sheehy;
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/Resources, Russ Smith;
Business/Restaurants, Franky Descoteaux;
Cultural Organizations, L.Z. Nunn;
Education/Lowell High School, Roxanne Howe;
Education/UMass Lowell, Dr. Joseph Lipchitz;
General Population/LRTA, Jim Scanlan;
General Population/NMCOG, Beverly Woods;
Visitors/CVB, Brad Hunter;
Visitors/Lowell Festival Foundation; Janet Leggat;
Youth/UTEC, Greg Croteau;

Also present:
Alternates: Building Owners, Larry Field;
Lillian Rivera, LPD, FSU

Minutes of Previous Meeting

On a motion by Molly Sheehy, seconded by Steve Syverson, it was voted: to accept the minutes of January 29, 2008

Treasurer’s Report

Treasurer Matt Fitzpatrick was absent but Jamie O’Hearn reported that the CCC has a balance of $1,437.76 as several member organizations have paid their $50 dues. On a motion by Steve Syverson, seconded by Molly Sheehy, it was voted: to accept the report.

Goals for 2008

President Mehmed Ali listed the goals for next year that have been proposed by members attending the informal meetings. These goals will be voted on at the Annual Meeting later this month. They include: • continuing to work on the Newcomers Initiative of welcoming new residents into the city; • expanding outreach efforts to ensure new developments, especially the JAM Area and Hamilton Canal District are fully integrated into the downtown; • working with the administration of UMass Lowell to ensure that students, staff and faculty participate in the downtown; • continuing to work with the City to improve the aesthetic nature of the physical environment of the downtown.

Calendar Project

Ali reported that all the bills have been paid and that the Committee made some money on the project. There are still 3-4 businesses that took calendars to sell that have not reported back on their sales, so he will be contacting them. Lessons learned: get calendars printed and distributed by September.

Annual Meeting Arrangements

The Annual Meeting will be held on March 25th at 8:00 AM at Middlesex CC Assembly Room. The Lowell Plan has agreed to cover the cost of breakfast. President Ali has indicated he will be accepting a work assignment that will take him out of town for the next year and he will not be running for re-election. Members present acting as a Nominating Committee are recommending the following slate of Officers: President: Bill Lipchitz, Vice-President: Molly Sheehy, Treasurer: Jamie O’Hearn, and Secretary: Terry Williams.

Ali also announced that the CCC will be giving 3 awards at the meeting: City Manager Bernie Lynch, Police Superintendent Ken Lavallee, and The Lowell Cultural Council as a group. The Awardees will be offered time to speak. The agenda will include a welcome from Mayor Bud Caulfield, adoption of goals, election of officers, presentation of awards and a keynote address from the City Manager.

Best Retail Practices Seminar

Theresa Park reported on the recent Best Practices Seminar for retailers. There were over 30 businesses in attendance and a lot of useful information was given out by the consultant. Steve Syverson said that he had attended and found it extremely helpful to his business, and he is one of the six retailers chosen for a one-on-one session with the consultant in phase 2. In phase 3, an 80% matching grant of up to $2,500 will be made available to some of those retailers to implement changes in their stores. Theresa indicated that the City plans to repeat this program later in the year.

Reports from Representatives

DPD: Theresa invited anyone interested to view the about to be opened retail space in the new Edward Early (JAM Area) Garage today at noon. She also reminded folks that the Hamilton Canal District charette will be held Saturday March 15th from 10 AM to 1 PM at the LMA.

ALL: Steve Syverson reported on plans by the JAMBRA group to have a festival in the JAM Area on June13 and 14 that will include artists displays and other activities. The Charter School will also be involved. Steve also said that the UMass Lowell Art Department is planning to move to the Wannalancit Building soon and was planning a focus group to discuss ways in which they could get involved in the downtown. The initial date had to be postponed.

Steve also said that Downtown Coordinator Chris Samaras has been in contact with the landlord at 128 Merrimack Street (formerly the store of George’s Jewelry) who is willing to allow an artisit to use the space free while he is seeking a new tenant.

MCC: Molly Sheehy reported that Middlesex is pursuing an art installation in Derby Park on Middle Street that should be ready for the Folk Festival.

DLBA: George Villaras said that the DLBA is working on an awards program with the High School Freshman Academy that will bring students into downtown businesses with $5 gift certificates in return for their success in the academic program.

DNA: Ted Lavash said the DNA postponed their annual elections for a month and are also discussing ways to improve recycling downtown.

CCC: Bill Lipchitz announced that the Center City Website is being redesigned and is now available to be viewed on browsers other than IE. The City has included it on their links page.

NPS: Mehmed Ali said that the National Park will be celebrating their 30th anniversary this year and will hold a 90th Birthday Party for Lowell visionary Pat Mogan on Monday evening, March 24th at 6:30 PM at the Visitors Center.

The next informal meeting will be March 18th.

On a motion by Steve Syverson, seconded by Molly Sheehy it was voted: to adjourn the meeting at 9:30 AM.