The entire building will be switching to a new fob system on Wednesday, the 20th, to enhance security for everyone. This includes both mailroom doors and all other exterior doors (excepting the basement garage overhead door which is a separate system). Canal Place (one) residents received one of the new fobs back in December and will be able to pick up additional fobs next week as per e-mails that went out from Royal Management.

Folks needing access to the mailroom via the exterior door should contact their own management or condo board about obtaining their fob. Signs have been posted in the mailroom to this effect.

Please feel free to spread this information to complex residents who may not subscribe to this bulletin board. Both the Association Board and the management company are eager to have the switchover go smoothly and to minimize any inconvenience.

Just a reminder for people to please, please be considerate of their neighbors when it comes to smoking. Numerous systems in this building connect, and smoke from one unit can seep into neighboring ones via the heating/cooling units, the kitchen/bathroom vents, and the fire corridors. There are health issues involved with second-hand smoke, and those folks with allergies or asthma have real and immediate problems with it.

Please consider taking your smoking outside whenever possible (and 30 feet away from any building entrances as per Association policy). We’ve been blessed with a fairly mild winter so far so a walk outside might offer a bit of relief from one’s pandemic-induced cabin fever!

If anyone has suggestions for blocking smoke from entering a unit, particularly through the HVAC system, any advice added in the comments would be much appreciated.

Someone had a misaddressed package shipped to their unit via FedEx and that resident is holding it until we can find the correct address/recipient. If you’re expecting something from Whirlpool’s parts department and it’s gone missing, and your initials are D.C., please contact me and we’ll see about getting it to you.

(There’s also an email out to Whirlpool’s customer service department; we’ll see which way produces results faster!)

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.

I’m told the mailroom is loaded with packages this afternoon. Please consider taking a look and removing any that belong to you. Many thanks!

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

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.

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.

The Snow Emergency parking ban ends at 6:00PM. If your car is in one of the garages designated free to residents during the ban, you have until 8:00PM to move it or you’ll start being charged for parking.

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.

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.