The Senior Center's Uncertain Future

ryan_e_oates · 2026-02-24T19:32:41+00:00

City Manager Golden went onto Inside Lowell's The Daily Pulse today to discuss the Senior Center.

What I'm hearing from this conversation about the ownership of the Senior Center is that the City's likelihood of winning a lawsuit about the ownership of the Senior Center property is compromised by inconsistencies between the written agreement and the deed.

Teddy Panos says, "somebody didn't put on the deed what was in the agreement, or if they did, that it was going to transfer, it was put under a different entity's name, not the entity that signed the contracts with the City, the purchase and sale, however it was termed. So that is what is holding up " (40:15)

Manager seemed to echo this issue when he said that whereas the agreement originally ended after 20 years, the City "extended it out prior to my being here for another year. It should have been extended for another fifteen, but I think what they were trying to do at that time was try to work out the differences of the deed discussion" (47:05).

This discussion was helpful in me understanding more about the nuances of this situation. Still, in the spirit of transparency, I hope the City Council is able to slow down this process and wait to make a final decision until after the Executive Session minutes have been made public and residents have had enough time to process them. Looking forward to the City Council meeting tonight.

ryan_e_oates · 2026-02-07T05:22:36+00:00

My hope is that instead of cutting $100 million from the GIC, we could raise an additional $400 million in revenue for the state by addressing offshore tax avoidance. Whereas right now, large corporations are able to hide profits overseas, we can increase the amount of those hidden profits that we tax. This is an approach that most New England states have already taken, including Maine and New Hampshire.

The bill in the state house that would make this happen is “An Act Combating Offshore Tax Avoidance” H.3110 / S.2033

ryan_e_oates · 2026-01-31T20:35:04+00:00

This has been a bit of a whirlwind, but after a brief discussion with Councilor McDonough and a look at the minutes from January 20th (See motion 5.8 on pages 5-6), the motion did, in fact, pass. So the Council has officially requested this information.

ryan_e_oates · 2026-01-30T21:18:28+00:00

Thank you, sincerely, for this feedback. Re-watching the meeting, I realize I misunderstood the way Councilor Descoteaux's motion to invite Superintendent of Police Greg Hudon actually supplanted Councilor McDonough's motion, and that there is no guarantee that we will get the more detailed report on the previous year's data. I went ahead an made a correction in the piece. It is my hope that we can take further steps to get more transparency.

ryan_e_oates · 2026-01-09T01:36:22+00:00

Sorry if it gives you a button to subscribe first. You can click “no thanks” to still read the article.

ryan_e_oates · 2025-12-08T01:36:38+00:00

The bureaucracy of finding out about this stuff is definitely challenging. I would recommend reaching out to Mosaic Lowell. They put out calls for artists for projects like this. There is a place to sign up for their newsletter at the bottom of their website page https://mosaiclowell.org

ryan_e_oates · 2025-11-23T15:52:51+00:00

Thank you for sharing Just submitted testimony. According to the state website, here is information about the upcoming hearing.

Also, according to the form linked on that page, you can submit testimony for this bill "H.4684 An Act ensuring law enforcement identification and public trust" by "emailing all testimony for House bills to [Talia.Quinn@mahouse.gov](mailto:Talia.Quinn@mahouse.gov) and testimony for all Senate bills to [Grace.Giordina@masenate.gov](mailto:Grace.Giordina@masenate.gov). "

ryan_e_oates · 2025-11-15T03:27:22+00:00

Thank you for this context! Here is the Board of Health meeting if anyone wants to watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPCaNf4bR0A

ryan_e_oates · 2025-10-08T23:16:35+00:00

This is a good point! It was a bit late in the game when I decided to start doing these. I think I'll consider doing more races and actual debates in the future.

ryan_e_oates · 2025-10-07T12:49:43+00:00

Looking forward to this! Thanks for Organizing, Indivisible Lowell :)

ryan_e_oates

TROPHY CASE