If you missed picking up your free at-home COVID-19 tests last Saturday, the city will be handing them out again from 9:00 to 10:30 this morning at the Lowell Senior Center. These are for Lowell residents only—proof of residency required—and if you already picked up your two boxes on Saturday please resist the urge to go grab more. For more info, see the Lowell Sun story.

It has been brought to my attention that the mandate applies to multi-family dwellings (meaning us) as well as public businesses. The Board has been working over the weekend to clarify signage. After consulting with the City, new signs should be going up around the building some time tomorrow.

The City means business and is threatening fines of up to $300 for violating the mandate. Even more serious are the numbers coming out these past few days showing a much more transmissible variation of COVID-19 taking hold. Please mask up every time you leave your unit.

The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Regulation of the City of Lowell Board of Health is accessible through this link and also appears below.

Lowell has instituted a new indoor mask mandate effective today. According to Monday’s article in the Lowell Sun, numbers are up significantly:

“Today at Lowell General Hospital, the two ICUs are full and two other floors were converted to ICUs, just like in April and May of 2020. There was a day last week that the nearest ICU bed to Lowell was in Virginia,” Galvin said. “The reason I’m here today in support of this is anything we can do to slow it down. If I can prevent one person from coming to the hospital needing a ventilator that we can’t give one, I’ll do it.”

I know a lot of us have been enjoying a more relaxed attitude regarding masks in the common areas—including myself—but please be aware that the situation has changed for the worse. Masking up is an important tool to help keep us all safe and I’d like to put out a personal plea for everyone to keep that in mind when in the building’s common spaces, especially enclosed ones like the elevators and mailroom.

Georgi has a new phone and is desperately looking for help getting it set up:

Hi – I need technical help!

When I am at home I can’t access my email or any other system that requires an internet connection, even though, when I go to Settings, it tells me I’m OK and I’m connected to my own system.

I’m confused and I’m afraid to press the wrong buttons that may mess up my system even more.

I know there has to be someone at CP that understands this stuff a lot better than I. Is there anyone who might be willing to give me a little of their precious time at this time of year to help me get this really frustrating problem straightened out? 

Call me at 978-764-5570 (THAT’s still working, thank goodness!).

Georgi May, Unit 406

There’s a policy in place regarding buying stickers from the office to place on certain large items that can then be left in the basement near the dumpster for Ron to remove (please check with the office for specifics). Please, please, please leave such items where they won’t impede traffic or block doors, preferably against a blank wall if possible. Someone was unable to get their car out today.

Just a reminder to be sure to wrap any real holiday trees being brought through the common areas—we always carry ours in in an old sheet—and please use the back elevator, not the front one. This becomes even more important when taking a dry tree out after the holidays. And if you do shed a few pine needles, please be a good neighbor and clean up after yourself.

When it comes to getting rid of your tree after the holiday, here’s what the City says about disposal: There is no curbside collection of Christmas trees. ​ ​Drop-off at one of nine sites from December 26th through the second Saturday in January or request the scouts from Lowell BSA Troop 23 to pick it up for a fee (email: lowellwardyouth@gmail.com)

That said, the Boy Scouts haven’t yet put up any info for this year’s tree pickup (https://sites.google.com/view/lowell-youth-tree-pickup). The last time we had them pick up our tree several years back I believe the fee was $20.

Also, we have a neighbor offering up a free bed frame (see below). Please contact admin@canalplaceone.com if you’re interested and I’ll pass the word along.

Hello Neighbors,
I am giving away a FREE Queen Size Platform Bed from Jordan’s Furniture. I live next door in Canal Place 3. It’s a beautiful dark wood, and it’s in great condition. It would need to be disassembled before moving to CP1, but I can help you move it. Pictures attached. You are welcome to stop by and take a look.
—Thanks, Julie

Lowell’s annual City of Lights Festival is tomorrow, the 27th. There will be food, crafts, music, photos with Santa, and more. The City of Lights Parade begins at 4:30 and the City Hall Lighting takes place immediately thereafter.

This event will involve road closures so please allow extra time if you’re planning to go out tomorrow afternoon or early evening. On the bright side, several city garages will have free parking all day (see below).

Lala Books, the new bookstore across the street from us on Market, will be hosting artists and other vendors from noon to five tomorrow. This is a great opportunity to do some Christmas shopping just a few steps from our front door.

From the Lowell Police Facebook page: The City of Lowell’s annual City of Lights Parade will take place this Saturday, November 27 beginning at 4:30 p.m. The parade will launch from Jackson Street and proceed to Central and Merrimack Streets before ending at City Hall.

Downtown parking will be restricted with no parking allowed on Jackson Street after 10 a.m. on Saturday. Nov. 27th.The parade route along Central and Merrimack Streets as well as Arcand Drive and Fr. Morissette Boulevard will also have restricted parking with no parking allowed after 2 p.m. Free parking will be available all day at the Tsongas Center, Market Street, John Street and Middlesex Street garages on Saturday, November 27.

There will be a Canal Place Board meeting tomorrow evening at 7:00 via Zoom. Owners are welcome to attend and should have received an e-mail from Cathy with a link. If you are missing the link, please check your spam folder or contact Cathy for it.

This question is coming from a resident. The asbestos question should really go to the management, but I’m posting it here anyway because anyone who can answer the first question has probably already looked into the second.

I was wondering if any residents had any luck with popcorn ceiling removal in their condos.

• Are there any companies they recommend to do popcorn ceiling removal?
• Asbestos was present in popcorn ceilings before the 80s, but can still be found in late 80s buildings. Do we have info whether there is asbestos in Canal Place One popcorn ceilings when the building was converted to apartments?

The bubble wrap mentioned in the last post already has 3 takers lined up so I think that batch is spoken for. But given how quickly that went, I would encourage people to recycle packing materials whenever they have a quantity of clean material in good shape by sending me info to post on this bulletin board. It’s such a shame to send it to a landfill when it could be reused.