The snow emergency parking ban will be lifted as of 9:00 a.m. today, Monday, January 8. Please note that cars taking advantage of free parking in city garages must be removed by 1:00 p.m. or they will begin to incur charges.

While watching the snow and wondering when one’s car will need to be moved again, now might be a good time to sign up for notifications through the LPD’s Code Red. A number of other options for keeping track of snow emergencies are listed on the Snow Center page of lowellma.gov (I personally have more faith in Code Red than in their Notify Me system).

My own preferred way to keep track of snow emergencies is by regularly checking the LPD Facebook page; it also helps that I have a neighbor who follows this stuff more closely and routinely gives me a heads up. That said, please do NOT depend on this website for notifications—if I’m occupied or can’t get to a computer then nothing will get posted.

Additionally, while the board and management do their best to have email blasts go out, that’s not always possible, especially on weekends. It is the responsibility of residents to keep track of the weather and move their cars as needed.

The city has declared a Snow Emergency beginning at noon on Saturday, Jan 6th, with a parking ban six hours later at 6:00pm. All vehicles must be removed from our surface lot by 6:00pm Saturday in order to allow plowing. Any cars still in the surface lot after that time are subject to towing at the owner’s expense.

Starting at noon Saturday, there is free parking for downtown residents at certain city garages, including the Hamilton Canal garage by Canal Place 3 (entrance is from Dutton Street). Parking at the Roy Garage is NOT free, and our Association will NOT reimburse fees.

Once the Snow Emergency ends, owners have two hours to remove their vehicles from the Hamilton Canal garage before charges begin to accumulate.

If you’re over 62 and have an Association-paid pass to park in the Leo Roy garage, please check with the garage office, the lobby office, or management to see if you’re getting the senior discount, even if you know you had it in the past. Some records may have flopped back to full price during a management change or the recent computer hack. Not getting the appropriate discounts is a huge waste of Association money and affects everyone’s condo fees.

For those who should be getting the discount and aren’t, let the lobby office know, and the office manager will see if it’s possible to get the city records corrected all at once without each person trekking over to the main parking office on John Street individually. Lobby office hours tomorrow are 9:00am to 11:00am.

I’ve been asked to let people know that Lieby Bouchard passed away last Friday. She and her husband, Al, have lived here for over two decades and are well known to many in the building. I, and so many other neighbors, are going to miss seeing her out and about and stopping for a chat. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to Al.

No service is planned at this time.

For those who’ve been wondering why the mailroom’s so cold—especially since folks saw a new HVAC unit being put in—the manufacturer shipped us a faulty unit. A replacement part is on order. Management hopes to have it running properly soon.

If anyone has any need of bubble wrap, I have a shopping bag full that I’d rather see reused than go in the trash. I also have a large number of boxes in a variety of sizes headed to the DPW recycling bin tomorrow unless someone has a use for them. Just let me know!

A reminder that there is NO tree disposal on Canal Place property, and that natural trees should be wrapped in a drop cloth or old sheet when removing them from the building so as not to leave a trail of pine needles. The normal rule is to use the back elevator.*

The City of Lowell provides free drop-off sites for natural Christmas trees from December 25, 2023, to January 14, 2024. The sites have changed this year. Numbers 1, 3, & 4 below are most convenient to us.

1. ACRE: Sheehy Park, 499 Pawtucket Street
2. BELVIDERE: Cawley Stadium, 424 Douglas Road
3. BACK CENTRAL: Oliveria Park, 84 Newhall Street
4. CENTRALVILLE: St. Louis Playground, Lakeview Avenue (or 406 W 6 St)
5. HIGHLANDS: Callery Park, Parker Street (or 200 B St)
6. PAWTUCKETVILLE: Campbell Field, W Fifth Avenue
7. SOUTH LOWELL: Ventura Field, Boston Road

Residents should remove all ornaments and lights from their trees before disposal. Only natural trees are accepted.

If residents need help with tree transportation, they can contact the Lowell Youth Ward. To schedule a pickup, call (978) 656-1910 or complete an online form. A $20 donation is suggested.

*(Management is well aware that the back elevator only seems to work lately when the repair company is here, much like the old TV repairman jokes. A thorough evaluation is being undertaken.)

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday!

There was an issue with the heat in the building yesterday evening that has been fixed. If your heat pumps are still blowing out cool air rather than warm, try this method of resetting the heat pump:

1. Identify the electrical breaker that controls each heat pump. They should be labeled in the electrical panel (located in the entryway closet for most units).
2. While the heat pump is running, flip off the appropriate breaker.
3. Wait 5 seconds and turn the breaker back on.

Your heat pump should now be reset—think of it like rebooting a computer to fix a problem. Give the unit 5 or 10 minutes and it should be sending out warm air again.

Although I haven’t confirmed it officially, I’ve been told by a resident that our internet is scheduled to be down overnight tonight from 1 AM to 5 AM. Residents might want to plan accordingly.

Also, there is Rourke Bridge Replacement Virtual Design Public Hearing tomorrow evening at 6:00. If you’d like to hear more about the plans and how to offer input, this is your chance.

Before the arrival of yesterday’s crane, there was a lot of discussion about the old tunnels and where the best place to put the crane would be. One of those tunnels is almost certainly the remnants of the Lowell Canal, the original power source for this mill complex.

The level of water in the canals is very low right now so you can see the walled-off entrance to the old Lowell Canal where it branches off the Merrimack Canal (next to Dutton Street). I snapped a photo of it and thought I’d share. More info about the history of the complex is available on this site’s Building History page.