Does anyone out there know anything about dog-friendly alternatives to regular, road-type salt for melting ice?  A resident has asked about using some type of ice-melt on the outside steps that would be easier on canine paws.  I’ve forwarded the request to Cathy but I thought I’d see if anyone else had any suggestions/input.

The NPS Food & Coat Drive at the Visitor’s Center is winding up this weekend.  If you’re like me, and have coats you’ve hardly worn cluttering up your closet, now would be a good time to get rid of them.

And while you’re dropping off those coats, there’s a talk and book signing by Paul Marion, author of Mill Power, on Saturday at 1:00 at the Brush Gallery.  Book sales start at 12:30

A reminder that building security is everyone’s responsibility; the following message is from a concerned resident:

“Once again I have found the fifth floor fire floor door taped so the lock will not catch. These doors are supposed to be locked so that only exiting from the floors to the stairs is permitted in case of an emergency. The last time this happened I found a beach chair opened with clothing on the fire floor appearing as if someone were living or at least spending time there. I would recommend that everyone walk your fire floors periodically and make sure the doors leading to the stairs are not taped open.”

Items left on the fire floors should be brought to the attention of the management.  They will be removed and discarded.

Just a reminder to fill out and return your water savings participation form.  Ours got set aside in the holiday craziness and we finally took a look this morning to see that they’re due back by Tuesday (the 15th).  I’m sure there will be plenty of stragglers but I encourage people to take the high road and get it done now; there’s a whole list of convenient ways to submit it right on the form.

Mill #5 is having another shopping event this afternoon from noon to 6:00. For anyone who’s interested, Serpentine Books at the Mill now has my Lowell history book in stock.

Just a suggestion to consider shopping local this weekend.  There’s lots going on, from a Bazaar at Mill #5 on Jackson Street to Open Studios at Western Ave Studios.  A rundown can be found here.

Or think about buying a well-reviewed, Lowell history book by a one of your neighbors to give as a holiday gift.  (I promised I’d just mention my book one more time, probably around the holidays, and this is it!)

Plus, FYI, some info about the Board and their meeting schedule has now been added to the Contact page of the Canal Place site.

There is a board meeting tomorrow evening, Monday the 16th, in the lobby office at 7:00.  Residents welcome.

One of our residents has her work on display this month at the UnchARTed Gallery, diagonally across the street.  The gallery also serves food and craft beers.  Consider checking them out and supporting this new local business!

And one more comment was added to the Comcast discussion since the last bulletin board post:  https://www.canalplaceone.com/bulletinboard/uncategorized/comcast-problems-and-board-meeting/#comments

I know that several people were following the discussion on cable issues.  Since my software doesn’t send out auto announcements about comments, I thought I’d let you know that there are some new ones: https://www.canalplaceone.com/bulletinboard/uncategorized/comcast-problems-and-board-meeting/#comments

Lots of stuff to do around Lowell this weekend.  Among other things, it’s Open Studios Weekend.  Info about that and lots more can be found here:  http://howlmag.com/events-in-lowell-ma/week/

It may be a tad late for this info to do much good, but if you heard noises in the fire corridor today, a resident sent me this to share:

“Today after hearing scraping and banging behind the fire exit door of my unit on the fifth floor, I found an open beach chair in the fire hallway just in front of the fire hallway door which opens to the stairway and the door’s lock was taped to remain unlocked. At first I thought someone had tried to break in and had been spending time in the hallway after Ron had told me no one was working on the fire floors. Then later I saw Ron again and he said he had just found out that his guy was replacing lights on the fire floors which are right next to the rear unit doors.”

First off, there is a very informative new comment about Comcast from Kate today that I wanted to call to your attention.

Secondly, everyone should have gotten a little pumpkin to put on their door to welcome Trick or Treaters next Saturday from 6:00–8:00 (if you are so inclined).  If yours got lost, let me know and I’ll see about getting you one—or you can just draw one yourself and I’m sure people will know what it means.

Also, Mill #5 is having a Rally for Civic Engagement on Friday from 7:00 to 11:00 that sounds like a fun way to learn more about the candidates before next Tuesday’s election.

Finally, there is a Lowell Downtown Neighborhood Association Meeting on Monday at 246 Market (at LTC, across the breezeway from the Visitor’s Center) from 7pm to 9pm.  The agenda includes information about the Hamilton Canal District development as well as something about a new city garage for our area.

Air Duct Services and Restoration will be cleaning all the dryer vents and roof stacks between October 26th and November 4th.  They need access to every unit to properly clean the vent pipes.  Ron will be accompanying them into any units where the owner isn’t home.

As of this evening, the management has permission slips from exactly half the units.  If you have not already done so, please return your slip to the office ASAP.  If you do not have one, you can contact Cathy directly or let me know and I’ll see about getting a blank one to post on the website for downloading.

Cleaning the vents will reduce fire risks, allow your dryer to operate more efficiently, and keep us all safer.

I’ve removed and replaced flexible dryer hoses before to clean them myself, and believe me, I’m thrilled to let a professional come in and take care of it for me instead!

I believe there’s a board meeting Monday at 7:00 in the lobby office.  Residents welcome.

Also, is anyone having problems with Comcast?  This from a resident:

Is anyone else in the building experiencing problems with Comcast?  We’ve seen problems off and on starting on Friday 25 Sept.  I know of at least one other person who has experienced a problem.  Comcast insists that the network is okay.  I suppose at some point one of us will have to either take off work or otherwise cancel a good portion of our daily activities to wait for a technician to come and verify that the problem is further upstream, because apparently Comcast doesn’t look upstream until that happens.  Thanks, Randy.

As for us, we had to reboot our internet connection about a week ago but it’s been fine since then, and no problems with anything else.