SPRING IS in the air with warmer days and more daylight. It’s a time for hope and renewal. For others, though, it will be a time of uncertainty and loss as COVID-era food and shelter support funding ends.
What that means for many unhoused residents of the city is the end of the state-subsidized housing voucher program that placed them in single-occupancy hotel rooms for almost three years. It also means cuts in funding to ancillary programs that provided this community — and others — with additional supportive services such as food and medical care.
The good weather also signals the end of the city’s winter protocol for this demographic, which allowed expanded and extended shelter stays during the day, as well as extra non-shelter beds during the winter.
One bright spot: American Rescue Plan Act funding, which the city is still rolling out.
A recent drive around Jackson, Appleton, Middlesex and Summer streets — the Back Central neighborhood known as JAMS — where the majority of homeless support services in the city are located, showed a noticeable increase of people and activity in the area.
Summer is also a time when drug activity typically increases in the city, and, along with it, opioid overdoses, with the concentration of reported cases consistently occurring in the Downtown, Back Central and Acre neighborhoods. The Lowell Police Department no doubt is briefing its officers to be extra vigilant.
And while it’s always a challenging time to be a police officer, modern policing also requires non-tactical crime-fighting skills such as operational agility, political sophistication, community-building, communication training and technological savvy that uses data to spot and address trends.
Barry Golner, who has been a police officer for nearly 40 years, including this last year as interim superintendent — what other communities call a chief — is set to retire on April 30, and the search is on to find a new chief. It’s a big change in leadership as the city transitions to a future without many state and federal supports that addressed social issues that in previous years may have required a police response.
With only about a month left on the job, Golner is still implementing innovative policing ideas for the community. Earlier this month, the department launched a new website. On Friday, he released a statement announcing a partnership with Lowell Housing Authority to open a new police precinct on the first floor at 145 Gorham St. in the South Common Village.
The precinct is in one part of a rent-controlled complex of eight buildings owned and managed by the LHA that houses more than 400 people, including residents who are elderly and disabled. It’s in an area that has long been a hot spot for disorder crimes such as prostitution and drug offenses.
It’s too early to measure the impact that expanded social safety net programs — maybe even the city’s new district representation — had on marginalized and underserved communities, and how that correlates with crime statistics.
Based on 2020 data from 348 reporting Massachusetts communities, Lowell ranked 22nd in terms of rapes; seventh in robbery, burglary and property crimes; sixth in murder, non-negligent homicide and larceny-theft; and fifth in motor vehicle theft.
Overall, Lowell ranked 10th in reported violent crime offenses. The 10-year FBI Crime Data Explorer metrics show that crime in Lowell peaked in 2011 and rose again in 2019, before dropping in 2020. The newly released 2021 figures show a slight uptick.
Against that backdrop, opening this new community-based precinct is a bold move by Golner and the LPD. According to his statement, “The partnership between LPD and LHA was cultivated to reduce drug and other criminal activity in the neighborhood, unauthorized entry into LHA property and to provide peace of mind to the residents who call South Common Village home.”
The precinct builds on the model the department successful implemented in North Common Village, the LHA’s largest family complex that is located in the Acre.
“It’s an ideal location, and it will lead to a much greater police presence in that area, which is greatly needed,” Golner wrote about the South Common precinct. “This is a great partnership with the LHA and it comes at a crucial time. It’s not cheap to lease office space, so when we had an opportunity to open a neighborhood precinct at no cost, we jumped at it.”
The new superintendent search is part of City Manager Tom Golden’s public listening session scheduled for Monday, March 27, from 5 to 6 p.m. in the second floor Mayor’s Reception Room at City Hall.
In a statement, Golden said he is inviting the public to come discuss important city functions as well as the appointment of the new chief of the LPD.
“It is vital that we, as a City, continue to understand the relationship between public safety and public health and have experience addressing mental health-related issues, as well as be able to pursue a community driven approach to public safety for all,” Golden wrote.
In other words, policing isn’t just about fighting crime, it’s also about preventing crime in the first place by forming partnerships with residents and other stakeholders to strengthen neighborhoods.
Golden’s listening sessions — one of several planned events — gives the public an opportunity to weigh in with their thoughts on what modern policing means to them.
“Public safety is a top priority for this City Council and Administration. I have spent the past few months reaching out to community, business, non-profit, and neighborhood groups to find out what they want in city services, including their police department,” Golden wrote. “I will be holding additional listening sessions, as well as small, targeted focus groups. Over the next few weeks, I will advertise the position and assemble an interview committee to screen the candidates. I look forward to this process and to finding our next Chief of Police … ”
The next man — or woman — is going to have big shoes to fill.
Mooney throws his hat in the ring
AFTER LIVING in Chelmsford for 37 years, resident Charles Mooney decided he would step into the ring of town politics.
Mooney, who has worked in trade compliance for 20 years, is running for the sole open seat on the Select Board this spring. Mooney is challenging incumbent and Vice Chair Ken Lefebvre, as well as residents Erin Drew, a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, and Rodney Cleaves, who previously ran for School Committee and state representative.
But his opponents did not influence his campaign. Rather, Mooney said he’s at a point in his life where he has enough time to dedicate to such a board.
“It was the right time for me to run,” Mooney said. “It had nothing to do with the incumbent.”
Mooney is also running for Precinct 9 Town Meeting representative, one of two contested precinct races this year. Also contested is Precinct 10, where Drew and Cleaves are seeking re-election.
Mooney grew up in Lexington, later studying biology at Boston College, obtaining his master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Lowell — now UMass Lowell — and earning his executive master’s of business from Suffolk University.
He started as a research chemist, then moved into technical customer service, operations, marketing and finally compliance for Xylem, a water technology company where he’s been for the last 12 years.
Mooney and Drew both worked in trade compliance and are licensed customs brokers.
“Two in one place is like lightning striking,” Mooney said of the coincidence.
What sets Mooney apart from his three opponents is his “significant board-level experience” in and out of Chelmsford. Mooney sits on the International Compliance Professionals Association’s board of directors and has previously served on the boards for Chelmsford Youth Basketball, the Chelmsford Girls Softball League, Lexington Little League and Lexington’s St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. Mooney has yet to hold office or serve as a town meeting representative in Chelmsford.
Both of Mooney’s children grew up in Chelmsford, attending Chelmsford Public Schools and participating in community sports. Mooney said he always appreciated how “youth-friendly” the town is and the benefits of its quality education — he raved about his kids’ success out of Chelmsford High School, stating that “Chelmsford served them well.”
When asked why he’s running for Select Board and not School Committee, he said he’d like to be involved in “setting the strategic direction for the entire town.”
“To me, the Select Board sets the policy and direction for the town,” Mooney said, “and they work closely with the other governing bodies … But the Select Board also has liaisons to these groups, and their budgets go up through the town manager, so to me, the Select Board manages by influence.”
Working for “multibillion-dollar corporations” nearly his entire life, Mooney said he feels he has an advantage. In his view, the government is a business and should be run as one, and he plans to “manage by consensus” if elected.
“I’ve been a business leader for the majority of my career,” he said.
A “highly focused business perspective” is necessary in all levels of government, Mooney said, and it’s one he hopes to bring to the table.
“I pay taxes. As far as politics, politics is politics,” Mooney said. “I don’t care if it’s town politics, national politics, corporate politics, politics, politics. To me, that’s where the similarities between business and government really come together. It’s about the spirit of compromise.”
Through his research into the board, Mooney said he understands the sewer capacity is preventing the town from moving forward with development. The issue, however, is complex, and it’s one he acknowledges the board has dealt with for a while now, he said.
Developing a strategic plan, currently up for discussion within the Select Board, is also “a tremendous idea,” he said.
Mooney said he has experience dealing with regulatory organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security and Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, which he would apply to solve the moratorium problem.
Though he has yet to do “a deep dive” into the board’s discussions over the past few years, Mooney said he isn’t worried about a learning curve.
“I’ve been a very quick learner my entire life,” Mooney said, “and I have the ability to disaggregate complex problems and come up with practical solutions.”
Mooney encourages everyone to vote April 4.
“Voting is a privilege and we should take full advantage of it, particularly younger people,” he said. “For the people that are heading to the polls, I’m going to ask them to consider me, consider my background.”
New post for McCall
BUT AS some enter the Chelmsford political arena, we also recognize those who have moved on.
Mike McCall, a Chelmsford native who was assistant town manager before accepting Southbridge’s town manager post in September 2020, has since moved on to Wayland.
McCall became Wayland’s first town manager in late December, starting in the position last month. Last March, Wayland was officially allowed to switch from a town administrator to a town manager through a special act signed by former Gov. Charlie Baker, meaning McCall makes history.
On a trip to Wayland this week, state Sen. Jamie Eldridge met with the town’s Council on Aging, state Rep. Carmine Gentile and McCall in his new role, according to a Facebook post.
McCall has previously served on the Chelmsford Select Board and is an active Precinct 3 Town Meeting representative. Southbridge is currently operating with an interim town manager, Charlie Blanchard.
End of candidate forum gets spicy
FOUR OF the five candidates for two seats on Billerica’s School Committee sat down for a candidate forum on Billerica Access TV March 18 as the April 1 town election nears.
First-time candidates Marion DePierro and Todd Micciche and incumbents Cheri Gargalianos and Mark Efstratiou gathered to give their pitches for why they think voters in Billerica should choose them to help govern the town’s school district. Candidate John Mullan missed the forum.
The forum remained mostly civil throughout, though there were some disagreements, mostly between Micciche and the other three candidates. Though it never escalated to the point of shouting as happened near the conclusion of the Feb. 28 School Committee meeting, the most direct disagreement took place near the end of the forum.
The candidates were each explaining how they would approach an evaluation of the school superintendent, which school committees do regularly as one of their major functions.
Micciche referenced the recent evaluation the committee did for Superintendent Tim Piwowar, and questioned whether committee members had gone to the district’s teachers to talk with them about how they feel about the superintendent.
“Did anybody go and talk to teachers and ask them about their opinions before you did the evaluation?” Micciche asked.
Gargalianos and Efstratiou both said they had done so, but Micciche continued and asked if they had specifically gone into the schools and gathered opinions from groups of teachers at a time.
“Since I’ve started on the School Committee, I have been talking to the teachers about the superintendent, about the department, about what they look for in a School Committee, what they would love, their wish list,” said Gargalianos. “Did I call a meeting with 10 people? No, it was individuals, reaching out, whether it was people I knew already, whether it was by email, to gather information.”
Gargalianos went on to say that she knows from the corporate world that people tend not to be entirely forthcoming about negative criticisms they have of their boss when they are in a group setting with colleagues.
“We will all talk about our bosses a little differently one-on-one,” said Gargalianos, when Micciche interjected.
“Not all,” Micciche said.
Gargalianos could only vouch for herself and her experience in her career, but said that she had seen that sort of hesitancy in group settings in the corporate world, especially when there is a risk of retaliation.
“The corporate world is fake,” Micciche interjected again.
Micciche then kept the conversation on the topic of committee members meeting with teachers, and accused Gargalianos of having lied, saying that she had asked at the Feb. 28 School Committee meeting how the committee members would go about setting up a meeting to walk through Billerica’s schools and “see what is going on.”
Gargalianos quickly responded that it was only the first time she had publicly asked that question.
“I phrase a lot of my questions so the public can hear them for the first time. I ask many questions I already know the answer to so the public can hear the answer,” said Gargalianos.
“So you lied to them?” Micciche again interjected.
“Let me finish my sentence,” Gargalianos quipped back. “I do not lie to people.”
She said she wanted to see the district get back to the practice of having the School Committee, Select Board and the Finance Committee, of which she was once a part, together visiting with faculty and staff in the schools. Micciche tried to keep insisting that someone answering a question differently about their boss for fear of retaliation in a group or one on one setting is lying or at least ungenuine, but forum moderator Jen Myers brought the discussion back on topic.
United they stand
THREE METHUEN city councilors, the city’s acting mayor and several Methuen residents have pledged support for Dracut in its push to prevent “a city being dropped on a farm.” The pledge came at a meeting attended by about 80 opponents of a Chapter 40B affordable housing proposal on the Dracut/Methuen town line.
The phrase was coined earlier in the week by Dracut Selectman Tony Archinski to describe the plan to put 300 units of four-bedroom apartments in East Dracut.
A growing movement in Dracut appears committed to challenging the notion that the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals has no choice but to approve 40B proposals by issuing a comprehensive permit for the Murphy’s Farm proposal. Such a permit bypasses the Planning Board, which has the power to deny applications for housing and commercial developments.
The opponents, Citizens Against Reckless Development in Dracut, are getting pushback from Town Manager Ann Vandal and Town Counsel Dave DeLuca to tone down their opposition.
But the Methuen leaders saw no reason for Murphy’s Farm opponents to halt what they’re doing. “No time like the present,” said Councilor Mike Simard, one of two West District representatives on the Methuen board.
He was joined at the meeting by Acting Methuen Mayor D.J. Beauregard, West District Councilor Allison Saffie and East District Councilor Steven Saba.
“Who builds 300 four-bedroom apartments?” asked Simard, saying there is no market for such apartments. Perhaps, he suggested, the Dracut ZBA can encourage the developer to downsize. His question followed a statement earlier in the evening by Dracut architect and former Planning Board member Phil Thibault.
“We’re here to help,” Simard said. That help extends to joining the various committees that the opponents are forming to investigate several aspects of the proposal.
Methuen is concerned about traffic on the streets in the neighborhood of Methuen Street, Wheeler Road and Wheeler Street. It’s an argument the city advanced a year ago when it passed a resolution that would prevent truck traffic from turning left at the intersection of Lowell Street (Methuen Street in Dracut) and Wheeler Street.
At the beginning of the meeting, Archinski urged opponents to avoid emotional pleas to the ZBA. That advice was supported by Saffie. “Bring hard questions, but leave emotions out of it,” she urged.
The Murphy’s Farm issue is unlikely to die down anytime soon. In Dracut, a tri-board meeting of selectmen, School Committee and Finance Committee members will undoubtedly include it in its discussion of the fiscal 2024 budget when they meet Monday.
This week’s Column was prepared by reporters Melanie Gilbert in Lowell, Cameron Morsberger in Chelmsford, Peter Currier in Billerica and Prudence Brighton in Dracut.
