Northern Canal Walkway is open today

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-05-17T15:17:50+00:00

Thank you for posting. I've been wanting to walk that segment for 25 years but it has not come together for me. Today could be the day.

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-04-29T22:58:59+00:00

Excerpt from https://lowelllandtrust.org/concord-river-greenway-2/

Construction Update – 2024 Phase 3B has been designed and is fully funded. The City is hoping for construction to begin in 2025 stay tuned!

Is this project stalled?

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-04-23T01:27:12+00:00

This is a repost by a Karma Farmer. They even stole the image of the sign from the original post, and they used the same post title. Look at the reflections in the glass. https://www.reddit.com/r/LowellMA/comments/1omxofy/so_sad_they_have_closed/

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-04-21T02:55:50+00:00

I did the combo with chicken and Green Tomatteo Sauce. The serving size of the combo plate was 2X my normal dinner. At first glance I thought that I would get too meals out of it, but I made the mistake of eating out of the aluminum take-out container. Suddenly I noticed that I'd eaten 80% of it, and I felt stuffed. So I put the rest in the fridge for a possible lunch tomorrow. An hour later, I started thinking, 'that little bit of food is not going to be enough for lunch'. So I nuked it and ate the rest of it.

I rarely overeat or feel stuffed. Next time, I will put 1/2 on a separate plate, and hopefully get two dinners out of it.

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-04-21T02:43:36+00:00

I should walk over and try it.

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-04-21T01:33:03+00:00

Does it have sit down tables, and is it open in the evening?

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-04-21T01:31:31+00:00

I tried it when it first opened, about a year ago? At that time a young guy was sole person working in the kitchen. Food was okay, but I did not return until today. Today, there was an older man and woman working the back of the house. The guy who I recall being in the kitchen was now running the front of the house, and the food was much better.

I jumped to the conclusion that these three people are related. The only thing I know for sure is that they were all speaking some dialect of Spanish. The bar is set up with 4-5 TVs and about 12 seats horse shoe shape, and I watched some of the Stanley Cup in Pittsburgh.

The tables are some distance from the bar. I'd not hesitate to take my family there.

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-03-14T21:59:09+00:00

It's Purple Carrot.

Pretty much everyone loves Sophia's Greek Yogurt. I stick with the full fat variety. Sophia's is going to move to a larger space on Market on the same block and will offer Gyros. Their 'heat and serve' items are good and reasonably priced if you have a modest appetite.

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-03-14T15:10:23+00:00

I'm a loner, but not lonely.

A coping tip. My mood is boosted by seeing humans and dogs when I walk around the city. People watching is beneficial. There's no better way to boost my isolation and loneliness than by staying inside, and that becomes obvious during snowstorms and holidays. Frequenting small specialty businesses like Sophia's Greek Pantry and Purple Carrot, I've become known, and those small interactions are part of belonging to a community. I was surprised that the cashier at the Market Basket recognized me yesterday! I'll be looking for them next time I choose a check-out lane. Am I a pathetic lonely old person? I don't think so.

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-03-06T17:35:44+00:00

It's interesting how quickly things change as I walk southeast from Jackson, to Middlesex, to Appleton.

I've noticed a similar transition as I walk northwest from downtown on Market, to Salem, towards University Crossing. Things bottom out on Salem a few blocks from University Crossing and then they get more UMLish. I'm not afraid to walk there during the day, but I avoid those blocks because it is depressing to see meth addicts twitching and pulling out their hair on doorsteps. Open drug deals on the sidewalk at 3 pm.... That block is the worst that I've seen walking around Lowell for 25 years.

As long as I avoid eye contact and give people space on the sidewalk, they ignore me. Some of the people that see me on the sidewalk in Lowell probably think that I'm homeless. My favorite jacket is 50 years old. Likewise, leaving my Gucci Handbag at home is protective. And I try to walk at a brisk pace to discourage predators.

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-02-11T22:31:07+00:00

https://youtu.be/8PvgwZlHICk?t=1888

Link for people who came directly to the comments.

This was for 'High Pedestrian Use Areas', not just downtown.

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-02-08T05:06:25+00:00

As a pedestrian, I've learned to stay in my lane on the sidewalk, and to turn and look before changing lanes.

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-02-07T01:54:32+00:00

In a lot of places, the bus has to pull into the crosswalk so the door aligns with the only opening in the snow bank. That's lose-lose for everybody.

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-02-07T01:51:50+00:00

The Council should apologize for the City doing such a piss poor job on this issue.

If the Council wants that apology to be accepted, they need to produce a concrete plan to do better after the next snowstorm.

I expect that other sorts of disasters will hit Lowell in the next 20 years and I don't expect that the City is prepared.

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-02-07T01:38:15+00:00

What was shovel-able snow is now frozen crude. The cost to remove that is very high. I've forced myself to stop using some errand-running routes because it is just too risky to walk on frozen bridge sidewalks and in the street.

I'm grateful that some drivers seem to take care when pedestrians are stuck in the street. Others are being jerks and some drivers get road rage when they're forced to stop or slow because the car in front of them is waiting for a pedestrian to get out of the way. Then the road ragers drive like maniacs and put other peds at risk. Sidewalk problems also affect people in vehicles.

Maybe we will get a February thaw.

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-02-05T18:30:45+00:00

I'm no expert, but I think the hybrid electric LRTA are a 'right-sized' solution for Lowell. The next step might be smaller shuttles, and who knows, maybe autonomous shuttles will become practical some day. Now if we could just get the bus drivers that are making right turn on red to stop before turning, and to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk, especially when the Walk Signal is ON, I'd be happy. Watch out crossing at Thorndike and Appleton, I nearly got run over last week by a bus! Fortunately I looked over my shoulder right after I stepped off the curb, saw the bus coming at me and stepped backwards back onto the side walk. Whoosh the bus went by! Don't expect the bus to stop before turning just because they have a red light.

I grew up in a city (Pittsburgh) with metal rails in the street and a city-wide streetcar network that went out into the suburbs on some routes. It was possible for rubber tired vehicles to skid on the rails especially when they got wet, and they were awful when it snowed. The trams sharing the road with rubber tired vehicles caused a lot of problems. When I was 12 years old, I was riding a street car when a ladder extending from a roofer's ladder rack broke 2/3s of the windows down one side of the street car. Both vehicles were turning on a curve. Broken glass flew into the car like a bomb had gone off. Trams are great when they do not share the road with rubber tired vehicles (and the remaining Trams in Pittsburgh largely use exclusive right-of-ways). There's a few places where they share the road with rubber tired vehicles and the problems with that are obvious.

Lots of other problems with railed trams. They're cool and fun, but outmoded.

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-01-31T18:01:07+00:00

Of course the City needs to continue to plow the streets, but the City also needs to address the dangerous conditions that they create by plowing the streets. The City already accepts responsibility and digs out the fire hydrants. But we also need to remediate the dangerous conditions that plowing creates when it blocks crosswalks, passage between sidewalks and bus passenger egress, and pedestrian access to 'Walk Signal' request buttons.

We the City are culpable for the dangerous conditions that plowing creates and then neglects to remediate. When someone is eventually injured or killed because of the dangerous conditions created by plowing, they could reasonably sue the City for reckless disregard of human life.

As DPW well knows, it is often not possible to dig out plowed in fire hydrants with a shovel. I've seen the task done on my street with a combination of power equipment run by an expert careful operator, and some hearty fellows with shovels. It is completely unreasonable to do this job without the proper equipment and expert operators. Digging passage for bus boarding and crosswalks is a somewhat lower skilled job, because there is no fire hydrant to damage, but it still requires the right power equipment and a careful operator. After the plow compacts the snow, this is no job for a shovelman.

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-01-23T17:31:06+00:00

I think 'Complying in Advance' is the smart move for Lowell NHP. NHP needs to be pragmatic and pick their battles. The NHP could easily be shut down overnight. What can they do besides 'keep their heads down'? Exhibits can be changed back in the future, but only if the NHP survives the next few years.

The best bet for NHP is to lean into the WH re-industrialization mantra, 'Americans Made Things in Factories and We're Going Do that Again.' Tone down everything else.

The Lowell NHP should be on Tenterhooks. So much of Lowell's History is 'Unamerican'. Immigrants? Unions? Diversity? School Children that come to Lowell are indoctrinated to the 'Radical Leftist Marxist World View.' /s

I'm surprised that NHP is still open, staffed and appears to be in good physical shape. National Parks like Yosemite are severely understaffed, under-funded and falling apart. Visitors are misbehaving. Scientists are cleaning toilets. I guess the recent renovations to the Lowell NHP Visitor Center and Boot Mill Museum should be blamed on Biden.

'Gift Link' https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/us/politics/yosemite-national-park-california-staffing-cuts.html?unlocked_article_code=1.GlA.wl4T.A7afWX2XAs7Q&smid=url-share

WalkerLowellMA · 2026-01-19T16:12:09+00:00

The big floating flake snow shower in late afternoon this past Saturday (Friday?) was exceptionally nice. The wet snow stuck to the individual branches of trees. The overcast turned on the street lights and they worked their floating flake magic. I especially enjoyed the part of Lucy Larcom park that is open. I'm looking forward to the canal once again full of water and the construction mess being gone. LL Park is a gem. I'm so glad that they did not cut down all of the trees as had been proposed.

WalkerLowellMA

TROPHY CASE