LDNA meeting Monday January 24, 7PM, at ALL Gallery 22 Shattuck St.
Agenda
-Discuss inviting downtown businesses for bi-annual presentations.
-Discuss city elections and charter change proposals
-Public Safety and the cost to increase number of police officers
-Nominations for officer elections in February
What’s a democrat to do? I’ll be inconsolable for few days…
The big issue on my mind today; are we all going to have to buy new clothes? Republicans are all so well-dressed; perfectly coiffed and well let’s face it they all look like Scott Brown and Monica Crowley. What’s a frumpy New England democrat to do?
This could be great for all those downtown nail and hair salons; we’ll all be getting $300. low lights and having our nails done weekly. I bet even Giovanni’s does well; they have a nice selection of stiletto’s…and we’ll all be wearing those while precariously trying to navigate the cobblestone streets while our toes turn blue from the cold. I also think this will be a great opportunity for Marc Caputo to use his outstanding design skills to teach us all how to put together an outfit…not to mention accessorize (I had to spell-check that word). I guess I’ll have to just look at it as a learning experience. Eleni I need help!!!
Now that that’s out of the way…I can get on to thinking about the more important issues like:
Will Marshall’s be replaced with Stein Mart?
Will Lady Antebellum replace Joshua Tree at Winterfest?
Cheers!
Posted in Downtown, Downtown Economy, Election, Live Music, Voting, Winterfest
The SUN is reporting that Fair vote Lowell turned in enough signatures yesterday to put this question on the November ballot! Great work!
‘Choice-voting’ question going on Lowell ballot
By Jennifer Myers, jmyers@lowellsun.com
LOWELL — A question will appear on this November’s city election ballot asking voters to change the city’s current voting system to a proportional system.
Elections Office manager Gail Cenik reported that Victoria Fahlberg, the executive director of ONE Lowell who is spearheading the Fair Vote Lowell initiative, turned in 5,126 valid signatures yesterday, more than 900 above what was required for ballot placement.
Under “proportional” or “choice” voting, voters rank their candidates by preference, filling in the “1” oval next to the name of their top choice, “2” for their second, etc.
In counting the votes, a formula is used to determine the number of votes a candidate needs to reach to win. The most common formula divides the number of votes cast by the number of available seats plus one. One is then added to that figure.
For instance, if 12,000 voters cast ballots, a candidate would win a seat by earning 1,201 first-choice picks. Once a candidate reaches the magic number, the remaining ballots on which she was the first choice would be doled out to the second-choice candidates on each. Any candidate who reaches the threshold is automatically elected.
http://www.lowellsun.com/local/ci_13222165
Posted in Election, Elections, ONE Lowell, Voting
Update: 7/30/09
In a SUN story headlined…Move to change charter for elections under way
is this quote by City Councilor Kazanjian “Let the people decide. It is their primary.” http://www.lowellsun.com/local/ci_12936636
I prefer not to call anyone a hypocrite because on any given day depending on the circumstances…there’s a chance I could become one myself (if that happens I hope someone calls me out on it). Just in case… I will say good for him for “seeing the light”. It is the people’s primary and those are the people who should decide.
Also, this just in from Greg’s blog:
http://anewenglanderinlowell.blogspot.com/2009/07/quick-5w-fair-vote-lowell-organization.html
What: Fair Vote Lowell Organization Meeting
Who: ANYONE interested, regardless of past or current involvement level with this initiative
When: Friday, 31 JUL, at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Saint Ann’s Church, 8 Kirk Street
Why: To discuss strategies for gathering enough valid signatures to get the petition on the ballot
Best Point of Contact on this, or any other upcoming related events, would be Dr. Victoria Fahlberg — vfalhberg@onelowell.net
The saga continued last night… there will be no primary election!
If you were not able to attend or watch on television…please take the time to watch your current city government in action before they start asking for your vote this November.
Simply stated by Bob Forrant comment on www.RichardHowe.com
I’ve said elsewhere and I will say it here too, using my real name, that it is a perversion of democracy to have individuals in power vote to change the rules of the game while the game is in progress.
I was happy to see that Dick Howe has video posted of each councilors reasons for/against holding the primary
http://richardhowe.com/category/2009-election/
…except for CC Lenzi, he was absent; as he has stated in the past, it is only convenient for him to attend two CC meetings per month.
If you want to see more of CC R. Mercier’s reasons for “NOT” holding a primary, hop on over to www.leftinlowell.com
In addition there is the statement by CC candidate Partick Murphy…he sounds like a reasonable guy…we should get to know him better.
Posted in City Council, Election, Elections, ONE Lowell, Voting
Be sure to check out Greg’s post about last night UML Discussion Series.
http://anewenglanderinlowell.blogspot.com/2009/04/fair-vote-lowell-and-diversity.html
Posted in Downtown Lowell, Elections, ONE Lowell, UML, Voting