My coverage has been spotty lately – work, family…the whole catastrophie. Until Inside Lowell hires me an understudy, these things will happen from time to time. To the dozens who missed the blog, kindly accept my apologies. Due to an overflow of unfinished business at the September 12th Meeting, the council elected to convene last…

1. More Unfinished Business Let’s start at the end. Once again, the Council failed in its task in completing the agenda. At the end of the night, there were some 20-odd Motions remaining (and maybe some other stuff – it’s hard to tell when 75% of the items are taken “out of order.”). Councilors Mercier…

1. ADUs: “We’re Really Close Here” Those were the words of Councilor Scott as the Council appeared to be on the precipice of voting in favor of an ADU ordinance that a majority could live with. However, the process by which we seem to be arriving at the final product got messy – and it…

Does 7-11 sell crack pipes? Apparently, we have variety stores in this city that are.  If they do, can and should the city make it illegal to do so? These are two of the many interesting questions raised last night. Let’s get into it. 1. ADUs? Not Yet There was to have been a public…

I’ve missed a couple of meetings of late. I went to Hong Kong to be accepted into the Kumite – a highly secret and extremely violent martial-arts competition. While trying to gain access into the underground world of clandestine fighters, I also had to avoid military officers who considered me to be AWOL… Wait, isn’t…

Strange night. 1. Should We Even Be Having This Meeting? Things got off to a rocky start when it was revealed that the Manager’s Office provided the Council with 50 pages of corrections to the budget just minutes before the meeting began. A visibly frustrated Councilor Gitschier took exception with the last minute changes and…

Despite the title, the actual budget doesn’t get presented. Normally, the “presentation” or outline comes out in late May as part of a regular meeting. The full budget is debated a few weeks later. This year, the schedule got disrupted by the “cyber incident,” so the council called a brief “special meeting” to receive the…

1. A Broad Motion With A Specific Intent C. Gitschier – Req. City Mgr. Have The City Solicitor Provide The City Council With A Report Outlining Haw A Resident Can Appeal A Zoning Board Decision With Estimated Cost To The Resident. I’m no big city lawyer, but I’m pretty sure you can find this answer…

1. Homelessness Is Now a Public Health Crisis – “But what does that mean?” This was the the question posed by Maura Fitzpatrick, our director of Homelessness Initiatives after the Council voted 10-0 in support of the following motion: C. Rourke/C. Robinson/C. Scott/C. Yem – Req. City Of Lowell Declare Homelessness A Public Health Crisis….

As the city had a computer issue last week, there was no new agenda for this week’s meeting. Rather, the Council used this week’s time to clean up a small handful of items that they did not reach last week. Clocking in at about an hour and a half, this was a relatively quick meeting,…