As of today, Arcand Drive is shut down to set up for Winterfest. On top of Winterfest Friday and Saturday evenings, there are multiple sporting events in town. If you plan to drive anywhere on those evenings, be prepared for detours and lots of traffic. I suspect that the local bars will also be ramping up for St. Patrick’s Day (it’s truly amazing how many downtown bars are suddenly Irish this time of year), which is not going to help.
Personally, I think I’ll just walk over to Winterfest or plan on staying home this weekend!
For anyone who hasn’t noticed, we lost an hour last night with the time change to daylight savings. Remember to reset any clocks that aren’t self-resetting and check the batteries in your carbon monoxide detectors (I’m assuming everyone’s smoke-detectors are hardwired and don’t use batteries).
The rescheduled Winterfest is next weekend. The temperatures should be out of the frostbite zone this time around; just keep your fingers crossed that we don’t have some form of H2O falling from the sky!
And if anyone actually bought and read The Raven Coronet, the fantasy novel that I mentioned back before Christmas, please consider reviewing it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Even a brief and/or mediocre review lets people know that it’s being read by actual humans. Thanks!
For anyone who plans to be out in the middle of the night and likes to be forewarned about potential traffic and parking issues, the following comes straight from the Lowell Police Facebook page:
“Downtown snow removal by the City of Lowell DPW will take place on Wednesday, February 25, beginning at 11:00 p.m. and ending at approximately 6:00 a.m. in the Middlesex Street area.
Removal operations will also take place in the Bridge Street business corridor and Cupples Square during the same time frame.”
Everyone should have received a notice today about changes to the building’s master insurance. I have put a pdf of the notice online at www.canalplaceone.com/insurancenotice2-15.pdf for anyone who hasn’t gotten theirs or anyone who misplaces it. The beauty of having it online is this: If you’d like your insurance agent to take a look at the info and make sure your condo coverage is sufficient, all you have to do is contact them and give them the link!
Also, the trash chute has gotten blocked twice in the past week. Please DO NOT put large bags of trash, chunks of cardboard (like pizza boxes) or other items too bulky to drop down smoothly into the chute. If an item can’t be broken down or tied up adequately to insure that it won’t get stuck, please take the time to walk down to the basement garage and place it in the appropriate dumpster—there is a dumpster for clean cardboard only and separate ones for regular trash. It costs us all money every time someone has to spend time clearing the chute. Thank you!
As well as the previously mentioned board meeting in the office tonight, there’s an LDNA meeting at Lowell Telecommunications Center (across the breezeway from the Visitor’s Center) at 7:00.
The agenda is as follows:
Opening greeting.
Approval of minutes.
Treasurer’s report.
Annual election of LDNA officers.
Police report.
Introduction of Councilor Corey Belanger who will discuss proposed changes to the city’s parking ordinance.
Just a reminder that there’s a board meeting tomorrow evening (Monday) in the lobby office at 7:00. Residents welcome.
And, if you’re interested in local history, I came across an amusing oddity recently while researching my book on dancing during Lowell’s first hundred years. As a result, I couldn’t resist putting together a three minute video in honor of the 101st anniversary next week of Lowell’s Tango Trial, which took place only two doors down from us on March 4th & 5th, 1914. Just follow the link for a smile!
The snow emergency officially ends at 10:00 AM today. If your car is in the garage and you don’t have a monthly pass, you have until noon to move it or risk incurring parking fees.
And once again, a snow emergency has been declared as of 6:00 PM today. The city starts enforcing their parking ban at midnight; the condo association considers their parking ban in effect as soon as the emergency is declared. Please move your car out of the surface lot by this evening.
It appears that Winterfest has succumbed to too much winter. Only a few of the events are going on as planned. The rest are being rescheduled for mid-March as a celebration of the end of winter (here’s hoping). For more info, check here.
Sharing a little goody from the Police Dept. FB feed:
According to some sources, Lowell is currently the snowiest city in the country with 111.” (Other sources give the title to Worcester)
I’m not sure this is a title any of us wanted, but it makes it particularly appropriate that Lowell’s Annual Winterfest is coming up next weekend. The city is still planning on holding the Human Dog Sled Races, although there’s always a chance that the DPW will be too busy removing snow to take the time to groom snow into a track. Soup contests, snowman villages, live music, and lots of other events are on the schedule. Keep your fingers crossed that this extreme cold lets up a bit!
