The City of Lowell has lifted their parking ban as of 9:00am this morning. Downtown residents who’ve been taking advantage of the emergency free parking in one of the designated city garages have until 11:00am to move their cars or they’ll be charged a fee for parking.

The City has declared a snow emergency and parking ban starting late Friday. All vehicles must be removed from our surface lot before 10:00pm tomorrow or risk being towed. There is free parking for downtown residents at the new Hamilton Canal garage behind Canal Place 3 starting at 4:00pm. The full statement from the city appears below.

Also, the “Contact” page of this site has been updated to reflect the change in property managers resulting from Cathy’s retirement. There will be further changes in a few weeks as the management company itself is restructured but the revised information should be correct for now.

Statement from the City of Lowell: A Snow Emergency Parking Ban has been declared for Friday, January 28, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. The ban shall be effective six hours later at 10:00 p.m. 

There shall be no parking on all City Streets from 10:00 p.m. until such time that the ban is lifted. Motor vehicles parking in violation of such ban (City Ordinance, § 266-103: Parking prohibited) are subject to towing under the authority of the Lowell Police Department and such towing will be at the owner’s expense (§ 266-104: Removal authorized; charges). Motor Vehicles shall also receive a parking violation ticket. 

FREE Parking for City residents who do not have access to “off-street” parking during “Snow Emergency – Parking Ban” is available beginning at 4:00 p.m. at: 

George Ayotte Parking Facility  
1 Post Office Square 

Lower Locks Garage
90 Warren Street 

Hamilton Canal Garage
Dutton St. @ Broadway St. 

Once the “Snow Emergency” is lifted, any City of Lowell residents that have parked in the free parking spaces will have 2 hours to remove their vehicles from the facility without incurring any additional expenses. Vehicles not removed within two hours will be assessed a fee from that time until the vehicle is removed.

Just a reminder that there’s a Board meeting tonight which is open to owners. The Zoom link should have come to everyone via an e-mail yesterday morning from our new property manager, Patti Forde at Avatar Properties. If you didn’t get it please check your spam folder.

Also, I have a question from a resident looking for advice from folks with longtime experience with our heat pumps. She’s finding their recent energy bills to be almost double last year’s despite their best efforts to insulate and conserve. Has anyone had a similar experience? Did it turn out to be a problem with the heat pumps? Please post any info in the comments. Thanks!

The City of Lowell has declared a parking ban tonight which means that cars MUST NOT be left in our the surface lot overnight. Please move your car to either the Hamilton Canal garage behind Canal Place 3 (free to residents as long as the ban is in effect) or to the Leo Roy garage (NOT free unless you have a pass card already) as soon as possible. Cars left in the lot may be towed to allow for plowing.

The city announcement appears below.

Snow Emergency Parking Ban

A Snow Emergency Parking Ban has been declared for Thursday, January 6, 2022 at 5:55 p.m.  The ban shall be effective six hours later at 11:55 p.m. 

There shall be no parking on all City Streets from 11:55 p.m. until such time that the ban is lifted.  Motor vehicles parking in violation of such ban (City Ordinance, § 266-103: Parking prohibited) are subject to towing under the authority of the Lowell Police Department and such towing will be at the owner’s expense (§ 266-104: Removal authorized; charges).  Motor Vehicles shall also receive a parking violation ticket. 

FREE Parking for City residents who do not have access to “off-street” parking during “Snow Emergency – Parking Ban” is available beginning at 5:55 p.m. at:  

George Ayotte Parking Facility 
1 Post Office Square  
Lowell, MA  01852 

Lower Locks Garage 
90 Warren Street 
Lowell, MA 01852 

Hamilton Canal Garage 
Dutton St. @ Broadway St.

Once the “Snow Emergency” is lifted, any City of Lowell residents that have parked in the free parking spaces will have 2 hours to remove their vehicles from the facility without incurring any additional expenses.  Vehicles not removed within two hours will be assessed a fee from that time until the vehicle is removed. 

The back elevator is currently out of order. I don’t have specifics, but given the holiday and the weekend I’m guessing it may be a few days before it’s fixed. Without the back elevator, it may be necessary for dogs to occasionally use the front one. Please be patient and considerate, whether you’re a dog owner or someone for whom sharing the elevator with a canine is uncomfortable. If someone asks you to take the next one, please be kind and do it.

Also, if you’re getting rid of your Christmas tree, please wrap it carefully in a plastic bag/drop cloth or an old sheet when taking it out of the building so you don’t trail needles. This is especially important if you feel compelled to take it out via the front elevator rather than using the stairs or waiting for the back one to be fixed. Again, please be considerate of your neighbors.

A map for real Christmas tree drop-off locations can be found here.

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.