The annual meeting for Canal Place (One) owners will be held Wednesday, October 12th, at 6:00pm on the roof of the Leo Roy Garage. In case of inclement weather, it will be in the rear section of the Canal Place atrium, same date and time. In either case, please bring your own chair.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the lobby office will not be open this evening, the 22nd. The office will also be closed Saturday morning but will be open that afternoon from 3–5pm instead.

I’m told signage has appeared at the Leo Roy Garage that they’ll be repainting lines this week, Tuesday the 13th through Friday the 16th, beginning with the first floor (which has already been cordoned off). If you’re like me and don’t use your car daily, please make sure to move it as needed so that it doesn’t interfere with the work, and so you don’t risk getting towed.

There will be intermittent total shutdowns—including sidewalks—of the Central Street bridge during the coming week, Friday the 9th through Friday the 16th, to allow for the safe removal of existing steel beams as part of the ongoing repair work. Expect delays and use caution. See below for more details.

Just a reminder that the water to the building will be turned off intermittently on Wednesday, August 31, 2022 from 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM (noon).  Please plan accordingly.

Often, when the water is turned back on, it may appear dirty or rusty.  If this happens, please run the faucets until the water runs clear.  If it appears that the water is trickling out, please remove the aerator at the end of the faucet stem, clean it off, and replace it.  The water should then run fine.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to management.

And now for something a little different. Old mills having been dangerous places, I’m sure there were lives lost in this one, but this is the first time I’ve gotten a question like this. I can say up front that there has been no unexplained weirdness in my own unit (although some of my previous homes were another story), but if anyone has any haunted unit stories to share, please feel free to post in the comments.

From a resident: I have kind of an unconventional question that I feel a little silly asking. I’ve always joked that our unit is haunted, but we’ve had more and more unexplainable things happen that have been creeping us out. Doorknobs locking themselves, things falling off shelves unprovoked, sensations of being grabbed, vivid night terrors that only happen when we’re home, which our guests have experienced as well. Most recently on our security camera we saw a white orb-like thing fly across the screen. So we’re curious if anyone else has experienced weird things like this in their unit too. 

If anyone is interested in making some extra spending money, Lowell has recently raised the pay for poll workers. My understanding is that there’s a pretty widespread shortage, although I’m not sure what the application deadlines are for spots working the September 6th or November 8th elections. For more information, check here.

As mentioned earlier, our polling location has changed. We are Ward 4, Precinct 2, and will be voting this year at the Rogers School gym, 43 Highland Street (near South Common). Hours for all polling locations are 7:00am to 8:00pm. There is more information about important deadlines here.

Early voting began yesterday and is running all week at the Lowell Senior Center on Broadway. The times are 8am–8pm today through Thursday and 8am–noon on Friday. More info can be found here.

When leaving boxes in the cardboard dumpster in the basement, please, please break them down and flatten them. It only takes a minute and makes a huge difference in managing the dumpsters.

It’s probably worth noting here that, for cost and logistical reasons, this building does not have a recycling program. That said, a number of folks take their recyclables to the drop-off bin at the DPW on Middlesex Street. This needs to be done during DPW business hours so they can unlock the bin for you. Click here for more info. (Personally, I adore this bag for that purpose. Ours is still going strong 10 years after we bought it.)

Also, I’ve updated three of the Neighbor to Neighbor pages with additional info, (thank you, Bill, for supplying much of it) as well as adding a photo gallery to share remodeling ideas. Electrical & Energy Efficiency, Smoke & Odors, and Heating & Cooling all have new info. There’s a bit of redundancy but much of it is new and potentially very useful.

Right now the Remodeling Gallery is primarily photos of my own unit but more pics are welcome!

Georgi has found another good place to get just the right filter for your heat pump. Changing your filter regularly is the simplest, most important thing you can do to help keep your system running. Here’s her advice:

Hello All. Sometimes it is really hard to find the right-size filters for our heat pumps. And there seem to be a few different sizes required, depending on the age our systems.

And, without them being installed in the door of our heat pumps, we are putting a very serious strain on very expensive machinery to replace.

So, here is where you can go:

O’Connor Hardware (Also known as ACE Hardware) as 446 Boston Road in Billerica Center.

They have an AMAZING assortment of all sizes of filters; and they come in 3 value points.

Our older systems don’t need the ‘heavy duty’ filters; we are better off using the least expensive filters and changing them out every 6 to 12 weeks, depending on usage. 

It ALWAYS pays to check the filters on a regular basis. I hadn’t been, and it surprised me that my 2nd floor unit was able to ‘breathe’ with my filter being so clogged. I’ve put myself on a 6-week check-up system (especially during the heat of summer and the cold of winter) to keep my heat pumps as healthy as I can. I’d rather not spend the Thousands of dollars to replace a system if I can use about $25 worth of filters a year instead.

Georgi

Some important information about voting has been brought to my attention (thank you, Sally). First of all, our polling location has changed. We are Ward 4, Precinct 2, and will be voting this year at the Rogers School gym, 43 Highland Street. Hours for all polling locations are 7:00am to 8:00pm. If anyone has any connections at Canal Place 2 or 3, it might be helpful to pass the change of location along. https://www.sec.state.ma.us/WhereDoIVoteMA/WhereDoIVote

Secondly, early voting at the Senior Center at 276 Broadway St. (across from Market Basket) for the Massachusetts September 6th primary will begin on August 27th.