July 13, 2025

The Lowell City Council met on Tuesday night, but first I’ll mention an event at UMass Lowell on Monday at which the University welcomed its newest partner, Weston & Sampson, to the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor (LINC).

Weston & Sampson is an employee-owned, environmental and infrastructure consulting firm with over 1000 employees including many UMass Lowell graduates. The firm was founded in Reading, Massachusetts, in 1899 by Robert Weston and his associate, George Sampson. At the time, they were instrumental in developing new approaches to the emerging science of water treatment, a field that continues to be a big part of the company’s business.

In her remarks to the more than 100 people gathered for this reception, UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen said that LINC is a model for how cities and universities can work together. Chen then highlighted the compatibility of the missions of Weston & Sampson and the University’s Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy which will share the former Brewery Exchange building at 201 Cabot Street.

Recently, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education named UMass Lowell a platinum campus which is the highest rating a college or university can achieve. In fact, UMass Lowell is the only school in Massachusetts with that designation (and just one of eight in the US, and one of 15 in the world).

Among the benefits of this Platinum designation is that it will attract prospective students, faculty, researchers, and business partners (like Weston & Sampson) who prioritize environmental and social responsibility. It also opens doors for new partnerships and funding opportunities related to sustainability and energy.

In his remarks, Weston & Sampson’s CEO Frank Ricciardi said, “the Rist Institute’s focus on sustainability, climate change and renewable energy aligns perfectly with our strategic initiatives and our mission to protect, improve and sustain the natural and built environment to enhance quality of life.” He cited the recent flooding in Texas, problems with storm surge, sea level rise, and climate change as challenges that cry out for a collective response. He said the firm is thrilled to employ so many UMass Lowell graduates and hopes to hire many more since there is an acute shortage of engineers in the United States. Ricciardi said that 100,000 new engineers are needed in the US every year but that our schools only graduate about 70,000.

Congresswoman Lori Trahan, who was at the event, said, “Every time I step on [the UMass Lowell] campus, I’m reminded of what can happen when bold ideas meet committed leadership.” All who spoke praised Trahan for securing the funding that was used to bring the 201 Cabot Street building into the LINC orbit.

In his remarks, City Manager Tom Golden said that the “power of partnerships” between government, higher education, businesses, and the nonprofit sector in Lowell is what separates Lowell from other Gateway Cities in Massachusetts and indeed, other midsize cities in Post Industrial America.

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City Manager Golden’s Monday comments on the importance of partnerships are a good segue to Tuesday night’s Lowell City Council meeting where the main item on the agenda was a presentation by representatives from the Urban Economy Forum which this year named Lowell the first Frontrunner city in the United States.

When the Urban Economy Forum designates a city as a "Frontrunner City," it means that the city is recognized as a global leader in implementing innovative solutions for sustainable urban development. This designation is fundamentally tied to helping cities achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11: "Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable."

The Frontrunner designation increases Lowell’s visibility around the world but also provides access to expertise and networks that can assist the city and increases the potential for investment and funding from sources that would not otherwise be available.

After the UEF presentation (which was partly in person and partly done by Zoom), City Manager Golden said he was excited about the “global partners we are bringing to Lowell which give us vastly greater resources than we had before.” Before turning things over to Assistant City Manager/DPD Director Yovanni Baez-Rose, Golden said “[the Frontrunner designation] is going to make a difference to the next generation of Lowellians.”

DPD Director Baez-Rose then gave an overview of the Lowell itinerary of the UEF group. There would be a presentation from area nonprofits, then a bus tour that would visit sites of potential development opportunities, both business and residential. Then the visitors would meet with local developers, “people who have been doing work in Lowell for years who will explain what drew them to Lowell.” Next the group will tour LINC and meet with UMass Lowell representatives. Finally, the UEF group will meet with government officials including Congresswoman Lori Trahan, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, and other high-ranking state officials.

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The importance of trees in an urban environment got a shoutout with twin motions regarding sidewalk construction on Barasford Ave (which runs from Andover Street to East Merrimack Street in the Belvidere neighborhood.) One motion, by Erik Gitschier, asked the city manager “to have the proper department outline why all the trees on Barasford Avenue were taken down during sidewalk and road paving project” and a second motion, jointly filed by Corey Belander and Rita Mercier, requested the city manager “to find ways and means to put in cement sidewalks on Barasford Avenue as opposed to hot top.”

It's been a long time since I’ve been on Barasford Ave, but Google Street View shows a residential street with two dozen well maintained homes. Cement sidewalks run on both sides of the road with the sidewalks separated from the curb by narrow grass strips. At intervals within these grass strips are half a dozen large trees. In most places, the roots of the trees have dislodged the cement sidewalk panels leaving an uneven surface.

From the context of Tuesday’s discussion, the appearance of the street has changed. It sounds like the city or its contractors cut down the street-side trees, removed the cement sidewalks, and replaced them with hot top. Part of the discussion on Tuesday involved several councilors urging the city manager to replace the new hot top with cement, reasoning that since the residents had cement sidewalks in the first place, that’s what they should have now.

A companion discussion involved the apparent removal of street-side trees from the road. Councilor Gitschier was critical of how the city handles these road and sidewalk projects, saying that opting for what seems cheaper in the short run (i.e., removing all the trees and employing hot top for paving) ends up costing more in the long run due to shorter life and increased maintenance costs. Regarding roadside trees, he said other communities have figured out how to make such trees compatible with ADA appropriate sidewalks, so it was frustrating that Lowell continuously fails to do that same.

Other councilors, while sympathetic to the Barasford Road residents, pointed out that residents in their districts who currently lack any sidewalks would welcome those made of hot top or any other material. In the end, the council passed both motions.

As a frequent walker in my upper Highlands neighborhood, I have witnessed first-hand the city’s practice of removing all mature trees that border paving and sidewalk projects. Sometimes they replace the large trees with saplings, but those often seem stuck in the ground without much care and don’t always survive to become big trees.

Besides the aesthetic harm tree removal like this causes, there is also an environmental impact. Two weeks ago, as we labored through a heat wave with temperatures in the upper 90s, midmorning walks through the neighborhood felt like two different walks: Anytime we passed underneath a large tree, the air felt comfortable and tolerable, but the minute we emerged into the sun, the black top magnified the heat of the sun’s rays which felt uncomfortable and intolerable.

This problem is made worse in the city’s denser neighborhoods where streets are narrower, side and front yards are smaller, and residents feel compelled to pave over grassy areas to provide parking needed for all the vehicles associated with multifamily homes. These factors squeeze out trees which magnifies the detrimental impact of rising temperatures.

The incongruity of the city’s stated policies that draw environmentally friendly firms like Weston & Sampson and agencies like the Urban Economy Forum and the city’s practices when work gets done poses a threat to Lowell’s reputation as a leader in urban sustainability.

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One of my early criticisms of this city council and its predecessor was the historically high number of motions councilors made each week. My objection was that the City Manager, his staff, and the city’s department heads, spent so much time providing formal written answers to council motions that they had little time to do their actual jobs of managing the city.

Last July, I tried to quantify this by counting how many motions each councilor had made over the first six months of the year. I repeated that exercise in January to track motion volume over the second half of the year. Now, with 2025 half over, I’ll do it again for the first half of this year.

Three housekeeping notes: My totals come from looking at each weekly agenda and counting the number of motions each councilor made that week. If two or more councilors made a joint motion, it counted as one motion for each of the moving councilors.

The number of council meetings are not divided equally between the two halves of the year. Because the second half of the year includes the every-other-week summer schedule and big holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, there are fewer meetings from July to December than there are from January to June.

Finally, midway through last year, John Leahy resigned from the city council and was replaced by Corey Belanger, so the 2024 numbers show a hybrid score for the two; Belanger has held the seat for the entirety of 2025, so the numbers are attributable to him alone.

To review, here are the number of motions made by councilors in the first half of 2024 ordered by the most to the fewest motions made:

Corey Robinson – 65
Erik Gitschier – 45
Vesna Nuon – 35
Paul Ratha Yem – 22
Kim Scott – 16
John Leahy – 14
Wayne Jenness – 12
John Descoteaux – 9 (tie)
Rita Mercier – 9 (tie)
Sokhary Chau – 7 (tie)
Dan Rourke – 7 (tied)

Here are the numbers for the second half of 2024:

Corey Robinson – 38
Erik Gitschier – 34
Vesna Nuon – 21
Wayne Jenness – 20
Kim Scott – 19
Corey Belanger – 17
John Descoteaux – 10
Paul Ratha Yem – 8
Rita Mercier – 7
Dan Rourke – 4
Sokhary Chau – 3

Here are the numbers for the first half of 2025:

Corey Robinson – 57
Erik Gitschier – 50
Vesna Nuon – 28
Corey Belanger – 21
Kim Scott – 18
Wayne Jenness – 14 (tie)
Paul Ratha Yem – 14 (tie)
Rita Mercier – 7 (tie)
Dan Rourke – 7 (tie)
John Descoteaux – 5
Sokhary Chau – 3

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This week on richardhowe.com:

Paul Marion wrote about the Sky Bar candy bar, and how it was emblematic of growing up in Lowell in the 1960s.

Jessica Wilson reminisced about a college-age experience that shaped her view of the United States and of life in general.

Louise Peloquin reported on how the Seine River in Paris is now open to public swimming.

Leo Racicot wrote about his experience living in Cambridge in a neighborhood with a cluster of famous authors.