Regina Faticanti What Lawrence Can Learn from Lowell

Publish date: 2024-05-05

>>Valley Patriot>>


What Lawrence Can
Learn from Lowell
Regina Fatacanti, Lowell School Committee

I know, I know, you’ve heard this before, but let me tell you why there’s so much to appreciate about Lowell. It’s the ATTITUDE!   Un-fortunately, by the time you read this article, Lowell will have already celebrated its annual Folk Festival, which we have every July.  I also think that kind of encapsulates the whole aura of Lowell - yes, I said “aura” of Lowell. 

I’ve lived here all my life. If this was an election piece I’d have to divulge my age, but since it’s not, I’m giving you the lie. I’ve been in Lowell all of my 37 years. Yup, I said 37 and I’m sticking to it.  When I was a kid 20 or so years ago (keeping up with the lying theme), Lowell wasn’t such a fun place to be. I remember going to the Strand Theater on a Saturday with my friends and there were 20 people enjoying the delights of popcorn and whatever monster movie was playing that week. There were some stores, like Parrot Hatters and McQuades, that made Lowell a shopping destination.

After shopping, my mom would take me to the Dutch tearoom for a snack. Soon the invention of the mall and the change of styles saw an end to both great stores. People stopped coming “downtown”, and so began the slow and painful decline of a once great city — a city of mills and shops, restaurants and corner stores. 

As I look down the road to Lowell’s sister city of Lawrence, I see the same con-sequences of urban plight. I’ll admit, I do some business in Lawrence now and then, like buying a new 1950s era chrome chair from my favorite quirky antique store pro-prietor, walking down the street to have them re-upholstered, getting my second fa-vorite hot dogs, and buying a pair of shoes right out of the factory. But what happened to the city that once was the home of Caps and other incredible establishments? Un-fortunately, Lawrence has endured much of the same recipe for disaster as my own city. 

But something happened in Lowell which allowed for its comeback. Something which separates us from once thriving cities like Lawrence.  Some of it was our history, but a large part of it was the people. You can ask yourself what makes our recipe different from anyone else and the proof, so to speak, is in the renewal. It’s all about attitude and keeping that attitude checked at the door.  It’s about people putting aside differences, needs, wants and putting a city first. It’s about elected officials who had a dream and upon rising didn’t let the dream fade. It’s about Paul Tsongas wanting to leave behind more than he took. It’s about Dr. Patrick Mogan who saw the historical reality of Lowell and with the energy and clout of others made Lowell a National Park. It’s a school superintendent named Henry Mroz, who came to me one day and said, “Regina, we’ve got to build new schools.” Hey, what did I know; I said OK. 

It was George Tsapatsaris who took the idea and brought it to City Manager Jim Campbell and said, “Jim, can you help us?”  Jim Campbell was quite a guy; he had vision too.  Under his leadership, a school build-ing project began and continues today under the direction of our current superintendent, Karla Baehr. But what if Jim said no? See, that’s the difference. No didn’t exist in our vocabulary. What existed was: “well, let’s see how we can make that work, let’s see how we can put our egos at the back door, toss our separate agendas out the window and remember we’re here for the same reason: to get our city back on track.” 

On track it stays now with former school committee members like Bill Taupier, who could have been making big dough on every other Wednesday night, but was at school committee meetings instead. 
It’s like our newest City Manager, John Cox, who like others before him has brought people to the table, getting them to check their personal agendas, with one goal in mind: the desire to get it done here in this great city and to make it work.  Simply put, it’s people who didn’t bail out for greener pastures, people who dug their heels in and said we’re not leaving, and we’ll show you how it’s done. That’s the formula, my friends.

So I invite you to come to Lowell and sit at one of the outdoor cafés on Market Street. Have a martini at Café Paradiso, then a steak, Greek coffee and dessert. 

There are art galleries, bookstores, jewelry stores and even a brave new proprietor of a fashionable men’s store.  There’s a Chamber of Commerce that says: How can we make it easy for you to do business here? and a business community that welcomes you with open arms. 

That’s our recipe. There have been a lot of cooks, but the soup never spoiled and there was always some left over for a hungry guest — because you know what, we don’t mind sharing.    

See, there really is a lot to like about Lowell. 

 

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