According to the SUN on-line, Stephen Greene, V.P. LDNA, has been appointed to the newly formed “Solid Waste and Recycling Advisory Committee”.
Unarguably an excellent choice by Mr. Lynch.
http://www.lowellsun.com/local/ci_10886165
Good luck Stephen!
The Hamilton Canal District Master Plan is now available electronically on the Hamilton Canal District website! Go to http://www.hamiltoncanal.com/document-library/public-docs.aspx to view the Hamilton Canal District Master Plan!
Posted in Downtown, Hamilton Canal District, Lowell
Thursday, October 16th, the city will hold a “ribbon-cutting” at 5PM at the Trolley Playground at Mack Plaza. This will be a nice opportunity to thank Diane Tradd for her efforts over the past two years to complete this project. It may seem small, but it took the vision of Michael Hoerman (who sadly for us, moved to Texas over the weekend) and the committment of Diane to work with all of the parties who have ownership of this tiny space to bring a play area for all of the young children in the neighborhood.
From SUN on-line…
City pulls plug on Under Impact Pub
By Lisa Redmond, lredmond@lowellsun.com
LOWELL — After the city License Commission gave a local gay bar a warning two weeks ago to turn the volume down, one commission member said it was like “spitting in our faces” to have another noise complaint as recently as Wednesday night.
The commission on Thursday voted to pull the plug on the Under Impact Pub & Lounge’s entertainment license until the club at 160 Merrimack St., has professional soundproofing installed.
For the next week or so, until the soundproofing is installed, the commission said can be no bands, disc jockeys or jukebox — no music, period.
Longing for the days of the ‘Downstairs Café’? According to neighbors who attended the meeting and an account on SUN.com; the License Commission has suspended the entertainment license at the Under Impact until they install sound-proofing. Damn! There will be no more music flowing through the streets of downtown until 2AM. I was just getting used to the 60-decibels of base…LOL.
I was especially happy to read this; “I could hear the music from a block away,” commission member Raymond Weicker told Jennifer Delbrey, Under Impact’s treasurer, during yesterday’s hearing.
So! At least one of the commissioner’s has had the experience of enjoying the music from Under Impact; probably from seating at an outdoor bar/restaurant… I have enjoyed their music myself from my table at Fortunato’s; Café Paradiso; Mambo Grill; and Bad Dawgs…not to mention the occasional downtown sidewalk bench on a really nice night.
I know that there will be plenty of the usual, “you live downtown; what do you expect…”, comments about this, however, this particular situation is a very recent phenomenon and it is such an extreme case, even the License Commission has had to do something. There has been a bar in this location, I don’t know, forever…and when the building was converted to condos, (two business and two residential units), all was not perfect. There was music at night in the bar, the upstairs residents asked if they would turn it down a little after midnight; the owners did; communication & compromise…I love it when that happens! The rest of the neighborhood benefited too; you could walk down the sidewalk at night and hear music coming from the building; enough to let you know there was entertainment there, but not enough so you could still hear it when you got to John St. Ahhhhhh, the good ole days…
Enter the “NEW” owners…Whoa! Not the most open-minded, cooperative individuals you would hope will open a business next door to you. And this is a point that is often left out of this conversation…let’s say you own a fine restaurant across the street from this bar…your diners are spending a pretty decent amount of money to have a nice leisurely dinner…when suddenly, the music starts! I’m not exaggerating; I’ve experienced this, (and so apparently has one of the Commissioners). So, it is not just “new people in the neighborhood”, that are being effected; this place has a pretty dramatic affect on neighboring businesses. The owners of Under Impact should have some respect for other bars/restaurants, many of which have been in the neighborhood for a very long time, all of whom (despite the occasional spat) are considerate of one another…and if music hemorrhaging out of this place late at night is effecting the income of other business owners…that’s just not good for anyone.
There is one more thing that bothers me about this (and another recently notorious bar) situation…I don’t own a bar and I don’t have an MBA; but I’m guessing that when you lose your entertainment and/or liquor license, you must lose an awful lot of business = money. Instead of spending a bundle of cash to hire an attorney; install sound-proofing to the bar; wouldn’t it have been cheaper to have just turned down the music a little the last 18 times the police asked you to do it?
Posted in Downtown, License Commission, Lowell
You can find Nancy Tuttle’s story in today’s SUN.
http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_10445642?IADID=Search-www.lowellsun.com-www.lowellsun.com
I am told by someone who has a bird’s-eye-view that there was an incident involving the arrest of the owner of the Dubliner early Thursday morning… there is no mention in the SUN… but I certainly hope they will not suppress a story about what really goes on through the night in some downtown bars…
Rob Mills has a story in today’s SUN with the details of the incident. We’ll see how the License Commission handles this.
Lowell bar owner facing chargesBy Robert Mills, rmills@lowellsun.comArticle Last Updated: 07/27/2008 05:06:55 PM EDTLOWELL — The owner of one of downtown’s most popular bars is facing charges he was drinking in the bar early Thursday morning with two other men and a prostitute, and that he assaulted an officer who was investigating.
Thomas Economou, 52, of Tewksbury, owner of The Dubliner, at 197 Market St., admits he was in the bar drinking at about 5 a.m., but says police have blown the allegations out of proportion.
Police were called to the bar on Thursday about 5 a.m., for what a caller thought was a break-in. Once inside the bar, police say they found Economou drinking and serving two other men.
Officers said they also found Economou in the bathroom with a prostitute, police say, though the woman was not immediately charged. It was not clear if she will be summonsed to court at a later date.
Police also say Economou struck an officer with the bathroom door when the officer tried to enter, and that an undisclosed class B substance was found in the bar.
Economou says he was in the bar’s basement stocking coolers to prepare for the Lowell Folk Festival weekend, with all the lights turned off upstairs.He admits he was sharing a few beers with his helpers, but says there was no prostitute. The woman was just a friend who had just arrived. He says there were no drugs, and that that drug accusation stems from a rolled-up dollar bill in one man’s pocket.
Economou says he did push back against the bathroom door as the officer tried to enter, but only because he did not know who was trying to get in, and was alarmed because no one should have been inside with him at that hour when all the doors were locked.
“They’re blowing it completely out of proportion,” Economou said of police.
Economou was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (door), sexual conduct for a fee, unlawful delivery of alcohol, delivery of alcohol to an intoxicated person, hindering an investigation, and delivery of a class B substance, police said.
He was arraigned Thursday in Lowell District Court and released.
Capt. Jonathan Webb said police plan to take the allegations before the city license commission. Webb could not comment on possible sanctions.
I am volunteering a few hours this weekend at the Revolving Museum during the Folk Festival… I hope that some or all of you will be willing to give the hard-working people at TRM a hour or two of your time this weekend… just think if you don’t have your own youngsters (I have an “oldster” now) this is a great excuse to hang around and play with all the good kid stuff.
We all enjoy this event so much (well, most of us) please call Elaina at TRM and give her an hour of your time.
And one other thing… tomorrow, Wednesday, come meet at Caffe’ Paradiso at 7:30 PM and make a tour of ArtWalk windows. Thank you to everyone who contributed to LDNA so we could sponsor a window again this year.
Posted in Downtown, Folk Festival, Lowell
I just read this one from Kathleen Pierce at the SUN
Breaking news: Sign on the Gorham Street cafe today says “had to close store.” What? I just bought some killer tatoosh beans on Sat. and there was no inkling the cafe was about to shutter. I even chatted w/ the owner Aaron. Now that I think about it, he seemed a little down. I blamed it on being overworked, but maybe he was on the way out. Anyone know anything?Im headed over there now to find out. If this is true (and he’s not taking an abrupt vaca) it’s a big loss to the downtown eating/drinking/cafe scene. Im pissed.
Update: It’s true. No vaca for Aiello. The owner was behind on rent. Look for my story in tomorrow’s sun. Now where can we go for our velvet foam lattes?
I just think I’m going to cry… where will I get coffee…what is a Starbucks junky to do in Lowell?
How can it be that Lowell can support about 1,000 Dunkin’ Donuts, but not one or two really good coffee shops?