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Condo Fees Payment

The printer was late this year getting our coupon books done because of the pandemic, and USPS is being slow for similar reasons. As a result, some, if not all, of us have not received our payment books. If you would like to pay by check without waiting for the coupon book, and to insure that you don’t incur late fees, please mail your check to: Canal Place Condominium, c/o Avatar Properties, 163 Main Street, Salem, NH 03079.

Condo fees remain the same as last year. For detailed information about fees and other ways to pay, please see the PDF that Cathy send out via email on December 28th.

Christmas Tree Disposal

The city has posted this year’s tree disposal info (natural trees only). Please wrap your tree before carrying it through our common areas to avoid a trail of pine needles—an old sheet works fine for this. Residents are also asked to use the stairs or freight elevator rather than the front elevator for trees.

Christmas Tree Disposal

Christmas Tree Disposal

There are 9 Christmas tree drop-off locations throughout the City:

Acre – North Common 
Belvidere – Cawley Stadium & Shedd Park 
Back Central – South Common 
Highlands – Hadley Park & Callery Park 
Centralville – Gage Field 
Pawtucketville – Elks Club 
Sacred Heart – Ventura Field (Manning Field)

All drop-off sites are open December 26 – January 15. 

Please remove all lights, ornaments and stands. Natural trees only. No plastic bags. Sites will be under surveillance.

Map of drop off sites here.

Parking Survey

Cut and pasted (with links) from an e-mail I received:

The City of Lowell is using a Housing Choice Grant award from the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED) to conduct a comprehensive parking strategy.

The Lowell Parking Study will review and analyze existing parking conditions including parking inventory, utilization, policies, management, regulations, and pricing, and analyze the parking supply and demand compared to existing land uses. The Parking Study will help ensure that the parking system is consistent with the City’s economic development and transportation planning goals, including the ongoing GoLowell Multimodal Complete Streets plan.

We want to understand more about your experience with parking in Lowell. Please take a few minutes to help us identify what has been working and what can be improved by taking the following survey. The survey is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Khmer. 

Please forward this info to your friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues and ask them to participate. We anticipate hosting our first public meeting in February 2021. For more information on the study, you can follow us on Facebook @GoLowell , check out our website, or email us at parkingstudy@lowellma.gov.

TAKE OUR SURVEY

Plumbing Problems

So, someone e-mailed me asking if other people have problems with slow or clogged drains in the tub or sink. The short answer is yes.

The longer answer is some do and some don’t. The plumbing in this building might be described as having “character.” The tub drains often include a sharp angle that makes them impossible to snake, and the line is prone to build-up—especially, I believe, near the junction with the sink drain. Some people don’t have any problems with their drains; my family does. I’ve often wondered what combination of unit plumbing, family size, and soap choices make the difference.

For information about what my family and I do personally to address the problem, or to add your own suggestions, see the comments.

For actual professional advice, contact the management company: royal.cathy@comcast.net.

And if anyone has any insight as to whether the type of soap makes a difference—say, bar vs. liquid—I’d love to hear it.

Snow Emergency Parking Ban

A snow emergency has been declared for Lowell with a parking ban going into effect at 8:00PM. To allow for plowing, and as per association policy, please remove any cars from the Canal Place surface lot before then to avoid being towed.

The city offers free parking for city residents during a snow emergency at two specific garages but NOT the Leo Roy Garage next door—residents without a monthly pass will still have to pay to park there. The two free garages are the Lower Locks Garage on Warren Street and the Ayotte Garage near the main post office.

The full announcement appears below or can be seen at the city site.

Christmas Tree Etiquette

This is my annual reminder that if you’re bringing a live tree into the building it should be wrapped in something so it doesn’t trail needles everywhere (we use an old sheet). And trees do not belong in the front elevator; please use the freight elevator.

All this goes double for when your take them out after the holiday and they’re shedding needles right and left. If you’re new to the process and wondering how disposal works, the city usually puts a map of free tree drop-off areas online after the 25th. There’s also a local Boy Scout troop that has offered pickup for a fee as a troop fundraiser in the past.

High Speed Internet Question

 A resident is wondering if anyone in the building has Gigabit service with Xfinity.  They’re wondering how fast a web connection our infrastructure will support.

My son did a bit of digging around online and found that the standards for high speed wiring go back further than one might expect but I don’t know when this building was wired for internet. I assume Cathy knows, but perhaps there’s someone else out there who remembers off the top of their head?