Important meetings upcoming

The Senior Center Building Committee is meeting at 5 p.m. on Thursday (April 1) and Mayor Donna Holaday will be there to update everyone on a location. The meeting will be in the City Hall auditorium.

Ward 4 Councillor Ed Cameron said the committee "continues to think of Cushing Park is a good location for a senior center" and that considering other locations at this point is "adding just another big piece onto something that's quite simple."

As we know, Holaday has proposed at least two alternate locations to Cushing Park: the Port Rehab building and now the building where the Fitness Factory was.

The City Council's Planning and Development standing committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. on April 8 in Council Chambers to review the input from the Planning Board on the proposed changes to the wind energy conversion ordinance.

Another location for senior center, maybe

Well, well ... who didn't see this coming?

Another (another) possible location?

The Daily News is reporting that the city is considering yet another site for a senior center - the Port Rehab building on Low Street. Port Rehab may be buying that land on Toppans Lane where last year a developer wanted to build a subdivision.

I heard about this on Monday morning, at the meeting of the COA Building Committee but people were being cagey. Well at least it's out there.

So I don't know about all this switching and changing that's going on now. I went to the Mayor's Energy Advisory Committee mtg. last night because it was announced at Monday night's City Council meeting that the group would be reviewing the proposed changes to the wind energy conversion ordinance.

Of course, the EAC released its report before the meeting and no such item was on the agenda last night. I don't have a copy of this report, but I did glance at it last night and I asked for a copy to be sent to me before leaving the meeting.

-----> Much later in the day ... I was unable to get on the blog all day then I had the brilliant idea of re-booting my laptop ...

So I now have in my possession the report and have whipped up a story for NBPT Biz. It's not online (on the front page) yet, though, because I'm waiting for the rest of the front page to trickle in. This news business is not all it's cracked up to be! I have to have all the new stories for the Biz News section ... or rather, I don't HAVE to have them; it's just easier to construct the module if I have them all.

Boy am I exhausted.

Another possible location?

I was talking with David Hall the other day, and our conversation turned to the senior center.

He said he thought an ideal location would be the closed up restaurant behind Starboard Galley. "Oh," I thought, "so that's what that building is!" I thought it was a boat house or something. See how much (little) I know? yikes

It's part of 51 Water St. but it looks kind of small ... sure adding on to it would be less than building a whole new structure, though. But WHOA - what about Chapter 91 issues?

The building is owed by Newburyport Manager, which is nearly the same as saying New England Development. Keeping track of real estate holding companies is like trying to dig a hole in the sand; I used to work in the real estate dept. of an investment company.

But yeah ... I can see senior citizens bobbing in boats tied up there, holding dances and such in the pavilion and having easy access to Starboard Galley.

And it's flat. I took a gander at the Towle property the other day, and the buildings there are all built into the hill. Doubts are starting to creep into my mind as to its viability as a location for a senior center - although I hate looking at those Tyvek-covered buildings when I drive by.

Good to know we're not in this alone

A big thanks to Tom Salemi for pointing out this piece, from the Boston Globe, about Wellesley senior citizens fighting for a senior center (although I have to confess, when I first saw the title of the post yesterday, I thought it referred to high school seniors and didn't read it).

I believe that this center is of paramount importance not because it's "giving in" to one segment of the population but because it will demonstrate a caring and respectful spirit.

I see all the arguments for making the center multi-generational, but I really think we need a senior citizens center and we need it not 5 or 10 years down the road - we need to get cracking now.

Far from being critical of the Senior Center Building Committee for investigating an option to Cushing Park, I think it's commendable that they set a deadline for looking into the Towle property (although I don't know what they've been doing for the last 3 or 4 weeks) - and if it doesn't work, we'll go back to ye olde contentious site on Kent St.

Update from Ed Cameron

The Senior Center Building Committee is going to meet to discuss the possible acquisition by the city of land/buildings at the former Towle condo project. BUT the meeting is at 8 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 21 in City Council Chambers, and not this coming Monday as reported (or at least implied) in the DN.

I admit it - I'm competitive

At least Ed Cameron didn't beat me to this one ... and he could have, seeing as how he's on the senior center building committee ...

The City of Newburyport is starting negotiations to buy four or more of the buildings in the stalled condominium project on the Merrimack River at the Towle Building for use as the city's senior center. City officials described the negotiations for the long-awaited senior center as "preliminary."

What a cumbersome first paragraph? Who wrote that? ... OH. lol

Also, it would be much better if I could access my own website ... well, our own website ...

Ideas for use of the JFK

As you know, we are about to obtain the famous battleship The JFK ... well, we're not, really, but if we were, here are a few ideas for uses (germinated at my sister's house after Thanksgiving dinner):

• A PARKING GARAGE! AND A PARK! AND A HOTEL! AND A SENIOR CENTER!
• Luxury condos - "a historic residential address"
• Casino
• Jetty (south jetty needs serious repair) ... and then we could ...
• Move houses on PI/Newbury off the dune and onto the JFK, or
• Use JFK as barrier to mainland when PI washes away
  
• Convention center --> invite Repubs in and set JFK adrift (that one came from my mom)
• A re-education center (mom) .... and for whom? (dad)
  
• Airport (then we could use the current airport for the senior center)
• Evacuation center (military ships are very safe, unless the nuclear meltdown is on the ship; but JFK doesn't have nukes)
• Amusement park/venue for fireworks

• Bridge between NBPT and Amesbury and/or Salisbury while Hines Bridge is closed for 2 yrs. (proposed not by a family member, but by Dick Monahan, who was not at my sister's house today) or a permanent link between NBPT and Salisbury. Either of these would block most or all of the egress down the river ...
  

Our problems are solved

Now that I've caught my breath from exuberance over this email I got from Ed Cameron ... take a look at this.

Ed says that he has found the location for a new senior center! But will the JFK fit between the jetties? Think of how much stuff we can pack into that sucker ...

Why not?

I was told - and noticed myself - that the former home of Carlson GMAC real estate on Green St. is up for lease.

This is a big old house with a one-story addition (?) and a HUGE parking lot behind it.

Can anyone say "senior center?"

Something positive, for a change

Perusing the City Council agenda further, I see that Judy Lacroix, that whirlwind of community service, is proposing to donate a granite bench in the memory of Shirley Lattime. The bench will hopefully be placed on Inn St. near where Mrs. Lattime had her hotdog cart for so many years.

(In fact, it's still there, being run by other family members.)

The cost of the bench, its delivery to the city and installation would be paid for by Mrs. Lattime's brother, Harold Gadsby, who has been very generous keeping his sister's memory alive also by sponsoring "Shirley's General Store" at Yankee Homecoming.

As most of us know, Shirley Lattime was much more than just a vendor of hotdogs. I wrote this story for the Current, just a little more than 3 years ago. Since then, Linda Fonseca, Lattime's daughter who inherited the cart, has also passed away.

An attached photo of the proposed "Shirley's Place" bench looks to be a fitting tribute. Perhaps if/when the senior center is every built, the powers that be might consider naming it in her honor.

I never met Mrs. Lattime - many times I walked by her cart, saw the line, and thought "someday I'll have to write a story about her" - but I left it too late. I was and still am very sorry I never took the time.

Another message from Ed Cameron

They have to stop having these meetings so early - and on Monday, to boot!

The Senior Center Building Committee is meeting on Monday, June 8 at 8:00AM at Newburyport City Hall to discuss input from the two recent public input sessions. For more information, please contact co-chairs Councillor Ed Cameron (at edcameronNBPT@gmail.com) or Councillor Brian Derrivan (at derrivan@comcast.net).

One too many "inputs" in the same sentence, Ed!

Signed,
The Editor

Draft schematics for senior center on line

See the DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT schematics for the proposed senior center here, on the city's website.

Note: At the last meeting of the Building Committee, everyone liked Plan E best.

But they are DRAFTS.

"Note the use of the word DRAFT," writes Ward 4 City Councillor Ed Cameron. "....we need community input at the Tuesday, April 28th 6:30PM meeting at the Library."

Senior Center public meeting April 28

The Senior Center Building Committee is hosting a meeting for public input on Tuesday, April 28 at 6:30PM at the Newburyport Public Library. Working with Court Street Architects, the Committee is looking at several options for the Senior Center at Cushing Park.

For the ultimate design to be successful for the entire community, the Committee needs input from seniors, neighbors, and all citizens. For more information, please contact co-chairs Councillor Ed Cameron (at edcameronNBPT@gmail.com) and Councillor Brian Derrivan (at derrivan@comcast.net).

Walk on the wild side

As regular readers should know by now, I go down to Gloucester Thursdays to visit my mother.

Today we ventured out to Walgreen's, which is conveniently located right near the senior citizens center, a bank and the harbor.

Also located right near all of these things is a Papa Gino's (and a Dunkin' Donuts, but I resisted the urge to sip a second latte within a 3-hour time period).

I don't think I had ever had a pizza from Papa Gino's before today, but my brother the pizza critic once told me that PG's had "a decent pie."

I liked it! The crust was thin the way I like, the sauce was piquant and with just a hint of aged wood ... oh, wait ... the sauce was piquant with just a hint of garlic.

The best thing of all is that the mushrooms were fresh, as opposed to the slimy canned ones some places use.

The large pie with pepperoni, onions and mushrooms was a little pricey ($16.26), according to both my brother and my sister.

I look forward to tasting a pie from Nick's real soon!

#9 in "Random Things About Me:" (I counted them up, and adding "I can't flirt," I'm up to #9!

Almost everything I write is delivering more than one message (no pun intended).

Yay Helen!

Thanks to Ari for pointing out (on Twitter) this blog by an 82-year-old woman living in Texas, Helen Philpot.

She got 540+ comments on a post about Sarah Palin!

Now, a lot of people think she is not an 82-year-old woman at all. Some young people claim that she's too old to be blogging ...

May I point out that my 78-year-old mother has a Facebook? My nephew thinks it's a hoot, but honestly! Senior citizens aren't what a lot of people think they are ... demented old coots.

WHICH IS WHY WE NEED A FRICKIN' SENIOR CENTER!

Council approves re-designation of Cushing Park

Hallelujah brothers and sister!

This was kind of a surprise, given that a couple of days ago it seemed the order was doomed to failure.

So now Cushing Park is turned over to the mayor yada yada funds secured within 5 years (as opposed to 10) yada yada but no alterations can take place until sufficient funds for completion of entire center have been committed yada and this decision does not preclude siting the senior center somewhere else.

The vote was 8-3, with councillors Connell, Ives and Shanley voting 'no.'

Shanley noted that he had to vote as the ward councillor (Cushing Park, if I'm not mistaken, is in his ward) and too many people had asked him to vote against the proposal to re-designate the 'park' from municipal parking to municipal parking/senior center.

The vote took more than 2 hrs., with the council struggling over words and conditions to the original order, which was to re-designate the park and turn it over to the mayor.

Friends of the Council on Aging will now attempt to secure funding to build the estimated $5M building within 5 years. The funding, not the actual building, has to take place within 5 years or it goes back to the Council.

So let's see if it flies - but once again, the City Council has stepped up and made the tough decision. I'm encouraged!

See Tom Salemi's blog for much more coherent detail.

City Council or Red Sox?

This is my dilemma. One could be just as ... pardon me ... dismal as the other.

On the other hand, the Red Sox are playing Tampa Bay and there could be another brawl.

The City Council is debating whether to change the designation of Cushing Park so (maybe) a senior citizens center can be built there, someday. There could be a brawl here, too, only of a more verbal nature.

I see all kinds of comments and opinions on this issue, most notably in the Daily News and on Tom Salemi's blog. This is the latest, from community activist and open space advocate Mary Harbaugh.

I wonder if Mary is in any way related to Jim Harbaugh, former quarterback for the University of Michigan (go blue)?

Well, I have driven by Cushing Park a lot in the last few weeks (mostly when lost) and I have yet to see anyone frolicking on the huge expanse of pavement there. Or parking there, for that matter.

I gather from recent conversations that this area has for a long time been a hotbed of discontent. If I understood correctly, there was a vacant factory building there and when someone came along and made it into a working factory, people bitched.

Now residents want to preserve that expanse of pavement for emergency snow parking. Who clears out that lot when there has been a heavy snow? The residents?

I don't think so!

Who clears out where I park when there's been a heavy snow? One guess.

Think like an old person

Nothing noteworthy in the newspaper today, except for senior center and senior center ... see Tom Salemi's blog.

I was speaking with an older gentleman yesterday. He's 86 years old. He does not consider himself to be a "senior" and even objects to getting discounts based on his age.

This, and a conversation I had earlier today with a friend, made me think about this in a different way.

One: While it's true that baby boomers feel NOW that they wouldn't patronize a senior center (I certainly feel that way), I realized that it surprised me when my own parents started going to their local senior center. So I guess I have no clue what I'll be wanting or needing when I'm my parents' age, if I make it that far.

Two: I guess the notion of a center just for senior citizens is a little isolating and disenfranchising. But on the other hand, I definitely would not go somewhere to socialize, even now, where there was a multitude of noisy kids running around, shrieking, as some children will do.

One gets grouchy in old age (no excuse for that young woman at RMB&G, though, as she was young). Well, I get grouchier the older I get, anyway.

But my mother likes going to her Scrabble group at her senior center (I mean, where else is she going to play Scrabble? And canasta?). It has nothing to do with lack of funds to go elsewhere, it's that, I think, there are people there of a like age and with similar past experiences.

This older gentleman I met yesterday has a pool table in his basement, where he entertains his male friends. My mother has no such single source of entertainment in her home and would be jangled beyond measure at the thought of entertaining 5 or 6 people, at her age and in her condition (she has bad arthritis), at home.

I know my mother, who will be 78 this year, loves her grandchildren, but after a couple of hours with them in the house (especially when they were younger), you can see her nerves going haywire. She would never confess to this, however.

Gloucester's senior citizens center is right on the main drag, across the street from the harbor, and adjacent to a shopping plaza that has a grocery store, a bank and a drugstore. There's also a free-standing Dunkin' Donuts ....

But then, Gloucester, I think, has not 'sentimentalized' its waterfront.

Are we disenfranchising our senior citizens by building a place just for them? Is there a subtle message being sent that they are not good enough to mix with the rest of us? Or is there another, not so subtle message being relayed?

I don't know! All I know is that, as Ed Cameron writes in his letter to the DN, other communities around us either have one or are planning on building one in the near future (Newbury excepted, of course, as theirs disappears into the fog).

I decided to not make a decision

It's getting kind of irksome to me how nothing substantial gets done here!

Now the senior citizens center looks to be a "no-go" at Cushing Park, I don't know what's going on with the proposed park(s) replacing the NRA parking lots, and whatever else is sitting out there on the table.

I think the city should just give up proposing stuff. Honestly, I mean that. Aside from our economic woes, which everyone is having, why change anything?

You know where they should have "forced" a senior center? At that new condo complex that's going up at Cashman Park.

Why not make Karp build one, as part of his luxury compound? Or better yet, since it's already there, what about the former Newburyport Lighting location? (I think someone has already proposed this.)

That's just been sitting there, empty, for months ... AND it's by the water, it has plenty of parking, close to senior housing (some of it), and the seniors won't feel like they're being shoved off to the side somewhere.

If Karp really loves Newburyport, he'll pony up that empty storefront that no one else wants to use. Give him Kelley School in exchange, or something. JUST DO SOMETHING or drop it and move on!

By the way, congratulations to James Shanley on his appointment by the Governor to the NRA. I think he's a reasonable person to have put on the board. Don't look for a waterfront park anytime soon. Which is fine with me.