Spring, the Riverwalk, and domestic violence
LET’S PLAY a game called fill in the blanks.
Nothing says spring like _______.
If you guessed a foothigh mound of façade bricks blocking the newly reopened Riverwalk extension, you win.
On March 1, the uppermost brick façade of the Mass Mills IV project crashed at least 30 feet down onto the Riverwalk located between Boott Mills and Lowell Memorial Auditorium. But as of March 19, the debris had not been removed, and the building from which the bricks fell remained undraped by security netting.
The city of Lowell, through the National Park Service, received significant funding to extend the downtown Riverwalk from its current end at the Boott Mills under the Cox Bridge, and around the Massachusetts Mills complex, to a new pedestrian bridge over the Concord River by the Lowell Memorial Auditorium, where it would then link up with the Concord River Greenway. The project started in 2020 and was recently completed, open for only two months before the catastrophe.
The Riverwalk is part of the city’s downtown revitalization project, a 30year plan to create access and walkways to all of Lowell’s waterways.
Just in time for spring, that connecting piece has been severed and remains closed.
The Mullins Management Co. owns the properties of the Mass Mills IV project that fell onto the Riverwalk and into the Merrimack River, and recently received more than $146,000 in Community
Preservation Act funds to renovate the two properties on site into a combined 82 units of affordable rental housing
The two buildings, only one of which is draped with protective netting, lie within the Lowell National Historical Park and Preservation District.
The issue has not been and still is not on the City Council’s Tuesday agenda. Let’s hope CPA funds aren’t used for the cleanup.
While covering the façade collapse, as well as other police and fire actions in the city, a reporter listened to several hours of Broadcastify transmissions, and was struck by two things.
First, numerous patrol cars are still tasking dispatch with running plates for them, a function that officers used to be able to do with computer equipment in their cruisers.
Some of the outstanding issues from last April’s hack of the city’s municipal network included internal capabilities and efficiencies in Lowell Police Department cruisers, which Lowell Police Superintendent Greg Hudon said was being addressed during his presentation to the City Council on Feb. 6.
“We’re nearing the end of Phase 1 with the hardware installation which includes the Cradlepoint modems as well as the antennae and some of the rewiring that needs to be done in the actual cruisers,” he said. “The (Management Information Systems Department) intention is to begin Phase 2 on (Feb. 12) which may take two to three weeks.”
Hudon told the council that the plan was to have the entire project wrapped up and online in about 10 weeks, which would be
April 16.
Hopefully, the Broadcastify transmissions will reflect that restoration of those vital policing capabilities and services.
Of interest, Tuesday’s council meeting includes an ordinance creating another new full-time position in MIS, the department tasked with the cybersecurity of the city’s network.
The MIS mission is to “provide, maintain, promote and support a cohesive and centralized technology roadmap designed to enable City departments with the information necessary to ensure their successful operations and respective missions … .”
Its budgeted expenditures in fiscal 2024 grew by almost $1 million and five positions from fiscal 2023. It is now just more than a $3 million operation staffed by 17 people, including Chief Information Officer Mirán Fernandez.
The second issue that caught a reporter’s attention was the number of domestic violence calls that come into police dispatch on a daily basis. Based on the recordings alone, one would think that domestic violence is rampant in the community.
In one instance, a woman repeatedly calls
911 and hangs up, but when dispatch calls her back, she claims the calls were pocket dials. Later that day, she calls 911 again, asking for a police response to deal with a brother who is threatening her.
Multiple units respond to another address where a man with a restraining order is threatening his girlfriend.
Yet another call comes in asking police to do a welfare check on a woman who didn’t report to work earlier in the week, and hasn’t been heard from or seen since. She doesn’t answer her phone, and isn’t at her last known address. The missing woman allegedly calls in to report that all is well, and the case is closed.
Several callers report violations of their 209A Protection from Abuse and 258E Protection from Harassment claims.
The forms, which must be filled out at the courthouse, are entered into the system and scheduled that same day to be heard in front of the judge who may issue a restraining or harassment order.
That information is then entered into the system and distributed to the police jurisdiction in which the defendant lives, who will let the defendant know there is a restraining order against them.
Domestic violence arrests do not show up in The Sun’s arrest logs that are posted multiple times a week and are one of the paper’s most popular items.
Former Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation in 2014 that requires police to scrub names of those arrested on domestic violence charges from the public police log.
The intent is to protect victims and ensure they report their attackers, but the effect creates the impression that no domestic violence crime takes place in the city.
The recordings tell a much different and far grimmer tale, a reality that Hudon acknowledged during the White Ribbon Day event at City Hall on March 14.
The event is hosted by Alternative House, a nonprofit that supports survivors of domestic abuse and violence and raises public awareness of gender-based harm through public programming and services.
“Unfortunately, the team at Alternative House is busier than they ever have been,” Hudon said during his remarks to an audience that included city councilors and leadership, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, state Rep. Vanna Howard and LPD command and patrol officers.
“White Ribbon Day is a way to do our part to end domestic violence,” Hudon said. “Being a victim of domestic violence has to be a very lonely and frightening experience … cases of domestic violence involve a person you love and trust the most. Today and every day, let us remember that it is never OK to hit a partner or a family members. We are here to help and you are not alone. I am proud to wear a white ribbon today to help end domestic violence.”
But according to police recordings, violence against women — and women are still 91% of the cases of domestic violence nationwide — is still very much a problem in the city of Lowell.
What happens in executive session eventually comes out
THE MOST recent iteration of the Billerica Town Center saga has been resolved for more than a month after voters in a Feb. 17 special election voted to reject the project with 52% opposed to it after it passed 126-61 at the Oct. 3 Town Meeting session.
Preceding that special election was a Select Board meeting on Jan. 12 where the board was tasked with setting the date for the election after a judge ruled that they acted improperly when they voted 3-2 Oct. 26 to reject the petition calling for a vote on the Town
Center project.
Before they set the date in an open session, the board went into an executive session to discuss the issue and their next steps. Now that the issue is resolved, the minutes and audio from that executive session meeting have been released. Here is just some of the detail from that hour-and-a-half executive session.
The closed-door meeting began with town attorney Mark Reich going over the history of the issue and, from a legal perspective, how they ended up in an executive session on a Friday night. At that juncture, he said the board had two options: set a date for a special election, or appeal the ruling.
While the board would of course not end up appealing the ruling, those who supported the center project and voted against the petition inquired as to what the legal basis would be for the board if they were to appeal. Reich said Middlesex Superior Court Judge Patrick Haggan looked at whether those who signed the petition, which supporters of the petition have claimed to be up to 3,700 people, actually understood what they were signing.
The basis of Select
Board members Andrew Deslaurier, Kim Conway and Chair Michael Riley’s rejection of the petition was that it was poorly worded, and that it claimed that Town Meeting performed an action it did not actually perform. The petition was worded as if Town Meeting voted to put the Town Center project directly to the voters, when really was simply a vote to approve funding for the project.
“I do think there are significant issues in the decision of the judge,” said Reich. “I think what this decision reflects is a decision he made from the start … When we first walked into court, the judge said to us that he thought he knew where he was going with this and just wanted to hear what we had to say.”
That being said, Reich told the board it would be an uphill battle to overcome the judge’s determination on appeal, as case law generally favors matters going before the voters.
Soon after, Conway began to take issue with board member John Burrows having his cellphone out during the executive session. Burrows responded by taking issue with Conway and other board members having their laptops open. This led to what ended up being the only real testy exchange of the executive session.
“I would like to ask everyone to put everything away and we just talk,” said Conway.
“That’s reasonable, please,” Riley could be heard saying in response.
“Yeah, no,” said Burrows.
“Come on, don’t be an idiot, put your phone away,” said Riley.
“Don’t be an a ****** , how is that?” said Burrows.
“John, you were in Amazon Fresh videotaping, what you did was inappropriate and what you’re doing here, because I know you’re recording,” said Conway.
Burrows and Riley then engaged in a back-andforth, which did not seem to end with Burrows putting his phone away before they decided to just move on.
As they got back on topic, board member Michael Rosa, who along with Burrows was opposed to the Town Center project and supported the petition, unsurprisingly said that the board should not appeal the decision.
“I said right from the get-go that the board did not have the authority to do what we did,” said Rosa. “In the judge’s decision he essentially echoed those exact same words.”
Deslaurier criticized the decision from the judge, and accused Haggan of “aggressively missing points.” While acknowledging that he thinks a successful appeal is less likely, Deslaurier also asked Reich about whether it would make sense to appeal and set a special election date at the same time.
Reich said the idea was considered, but could be costly to the town, win or lose.
Burrows argued the town clerk and Board of Registrars are the gatekeepers for the validity of petitions, and said the Town Clerk’s Office wouldn’t have spent the time to verify hundreds of signatures if the petition was worded incorrectly.
“Everyone knows what the petition was for,” said Burrows.
Riley asked for clarification on the town clerk’s role, and Reich said the court “sidestepped that issue,” but he thinks that the town clerk’s role is only to verify the signatures, not the wording of the petition.
“She did not opine on the validity of the petition itself, that is outside the scope of her authority,” said Reich.
Conway at one point asked if a theoretical situation could now occur where a petition has some sort of ridiculous premise like “sign this and we will fire [Assistant Town Manager Clancy Main],” while at the same time putting the full text of an unrelated Town Meeting article in the body of the petition. She seemed to be asking if that would be a valid petition in regards to putting that Town Meeting article to a vote. By the sound of the meeting, Main was a good sport about it.
Reich said that ultimately, it comes down to whether the Select Board has a “rubber-stamp” role when it comes to the validity of a petition.
“Two questions I think were at the heart of this case. The first is the approach, the gatekeeping which is where Selectman Rosa’s position is that there is no actual [gatekeeping role],” said Reich. “The second question is whether the discretion was properly exercised, and whether the language was clear, or clear enough.”
“I think the judge was an idiot when he said voters should know that Town Meeting doesn’t have the right to send it to the voters. What voter knows that? That is absurd,” said Conway.
Later, Conway asked whether the Gofundme that contributed to the plaintiff’s defense fund counted as a sort of political campaign, and if the public has a right to see who paid the attorney, Roland Milliard. Reich said that is not treated like a political contribution, and would instead be a private legal defense fund.
Riley at one point reiterated his position that he rejected the petition because of the incorrect wording, and noted there were actually three petitions going around at the time, with one of them having correct wording but not getting enough signatures.
“If they were looking for a referendum they signed the wrong one,” said Riley.
“I believe the judge got it wrong,” he said later.
Riley and others also criticized the lead attorney for the town in the lawsuit, Deborah Ecker.
“I think counsel was horrible,” said Riley, referring to Ecker. “She asked the judge, ‘Do I file this, or do I file that?’ Why are you asking the judge? You should know what you’re doing.”
“She did us a disservice. I apologize … but I have to tell the truth. I’m not the only one who feels that way because many residents watched that and said ‘holy s***,’” said Riley.
Reich said the decision was made to have a litigator on their side of the case instead of Reich leading the legal charge.
“I regret that decision, because I do think I am a subject area expert. I have been doing this for a little while,” said Reich. “I think there are nuances that were not as clearly articulated. Anybody who watched the hearing would have seen my effort to be heard. Once you choose lead counsel you are kind of locked in.”
Those waiting in the Select Board meeting room at one point began to get a little bit antsy as they waited for the executive session to end, and began loudly chanting “set the date,” which could be heard by the board, though at first they did not seem to have been able to tell exactly what the chant was.
“Send them out to get pizzas for us,” said Conway.
As they finally concluded their discussion, the board voted 4-1 to not appeal the decision and set the date for the election, with Deslaurier being the sole “no” vote. When they redid the vote in open session soon after, it was unanimous.
Tick tock, tick tock
WOULD-BE candidates for the Board of Selectmen in Dracut have only a few more days to pull nomination papers. The deadline is March 27 and papers must be returned by April 1. The election is May 4.
Only one seat on the board is open. Thus far, three candidates have emerged to replace outgoing Selectman Joe Dirocco. All three have current or past ties to the Community Preservation Committee.
In alphabetical order, the candidates are Dave Martin, Don Plummer and Josh Taylor. Martin is a current member of the CPC and Plummer its current chairman.
Taylor resigned from the CPC in November
2022 in a dispute with Town Manager Ann Vandal about insurance for activities like skating at Beaver Brook Farm. He also resigned from the Beaver Brook Farm Ad Hoc Committee and the Conservation Committee amid that dispute.
Taylor has run unsuccessfully for a seat on the Board of Selectmen in the past.
Dave Martin and Don Plummer are relative newcomers to elective politics in Dracut. Members of the CPC, as well as most town boards, are appointed by the selectmen.
Plummer is retired from Oracle, a California-based company most famous for its databases. Oracle has offices in Burlington and Nashua.
Martin is a retired firefighter, and Dirocco is a retired Dracut fire chief. It was Martin’s connection to the Fire Department that may have convinced Dirocco to bow out after more than 20 years as a selectman.
Three years ago, after a campaign that was “the nastiest I can remember,” Dirocco made a promise. As he began his seventh term on the board, he said it would be his last. The campaign he’d just been through “shows why people don’t want to do it.”
IN NEIGHBORING Tyngsboro, too, time is running out on candidates for public office. So far, only two people filed papers for the two open seats on the Select Board. The Tyngsboro deadline is March 28. The deadline to return papers is April 2, and the town election is May 21.
Eric Eldridge, chairman of the Select Board, is running for his second term. Eldridge is the chief IT officer at an environmental services company in Burlington
Jackie Geilfuss, a relative newcomer to Tyngsboro and elective politics, is running for the seat being vacated by Katerina Kalabokis. She is a change manager at Akamai Technologies in Cambridge. She served on the 250 Middlesex Road Strategic Visioning Committee. That committee worked for several months in 2023 to develop scenarios for the Winslow School.
This week’s Column was prepared by reporters Melanie Gilbert in Lowell, Peter Currier in Billerica, and Prudence Brighton in Dracut and Tyngsboro.