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.

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.

The snow emergency ended at 11:00 this morning. People with cars parked for free in city garages have until 1:00pm today to move them before they start getting charged.

 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?

Lowell has announced a snow emergency starting at 10:00am tomorrow with a parking ban starting at 4:00pm. Condo policy says that cars must be removed from the surface lot during a snow emergency to allow for plowing. Cars left in the lot are subject to being towed at the owner’s expense.

There is free parking available in certain garages for city residents during the snow emergency; unfortunately not in the Leo Roy garage next door. The official announcement appears below or can be seen by clicking here.

Just a reminder to pick up your mailroom fob in the atrium this evening between 6:00 & 8:00, or on Saturday morning from 10:00 to noon. A lot of the fobs were picked up last evening—it would be great if we could get the rest out this evening and eliminate the Saturday session.

There will be one fob per unit for now; each household will need to share when it comes to picking up their mail and packages. The new fobs will not be active right away but an e-mail will go out in the next few days about the exact time of the switchover. Make sure management has your e-mail address when you pick up your fob.

These fobs are currently for mailroom access only. DO NOT discard your old fob—it will continue to be needed for entry to the building. In a few more weeks we should be switching all the doors to the new system. At that time management will supply each unit with additional fobs based on how many each household currently has. Extras will be available for purchase.

In short:

New fobs are available in the Atrium tonight 6-8pm or Saturday 10am-12pm. One per unit for now.

Fobs will not work immediately. Will become active for mailroom in a few days, replacing old fobs. Email notice will be sent.

Keep using old fobs for doors into the building for now. Doors will switch to the new fobs next month.

If you’ve noticed that the basement garage door is having issues, I’ve been told by a reliable source that it’s scheduled for repairs early this week.