I got an e-mail this morning asking if it was possible to be informed electronically about parking bans, which is a very reasonable question. Here’s what I know:
You can sign up for the City of Lowell’s Civic Alert System which one would expect to notify you. Unfortunately, this time, it didn’t (I’m not the only one who noticed the omission). In the past, I’ve gotten automated phone calls. I’m not sure if they just overlooked activating it this time or something has changed. It’s not a bad idea to sign up in any case.
You can follow the Lowell Police Department Official Page on Facebook. I hadn’t been doing it before but I just clicked their “follow” button this morning so that their announcements will now appear in my FB feed.
If you DO hear about something that might be significant for us downtown residents, shoot me an e-mail so I can post it on this bulletin board. That’s how I found out about the ban this time (thank you, Brian); unfortunately, I didn’t see his e-mail until very late.
Thank you all, and my apologies for not posting the ban until so late last night!
Folks who use Twitter on their phones may find it helpful to follow @LowellParkingMA and turn on mobile notifications. They (and the police department @LowellPD ) tweeted about the ban yesterday.
The parking department account tweets less often and only about parking, so might cause less spam. They do also post when garages are closed, around the folk festival, etc.
The obvious solution for Canal Place alerts is a text service for alert bulletins. Most unit owners and tenants have cell phones. I would guess there are specific Canal Place only alerts that would be nice to receive immediately. Something for the board to consider and look into if they have not already. City Hall has a very nice way to sign up and select which bulletins are emailed, texted, or called. I’m sure this type of application is out there for sale.
I’m curious as to what sort of information you would want to receive a text about. Between social media and municipal alerts as well as mail and lobby bulletin board posts from Royal I honestly feel pretty informed about what’s going on in and around the building and I’m not sure what information you feel like you’re not getting.