LOWELL — To represent Lowell on the world stage takes money, and city leadership is investing significant personnel and financial resources in a yearlong effort to bring United Nations-led investment and development to the city through its Frontrunner City for Urban Transformation designation.
For a seat at the global table — in Geneva, Switzerland and Toronto, Canada — as well as to meet the numerous requirements in the memorandum of understanding signed with the Urban Economy Forum in August, the city has had to front considerable costs for travel, for documents and for access.
Although the goal of those investments is clear — to position Lowell, the first city in the United States to receive Frontrunner City status, with international private development — what’s not clear, is how much taxpayer funds the city has actually invested.
“The Frontrunner City Program is a tremendous opportunity for Lowell,” City Manager Tom Golden said by email Oct. 24. “It aligns directly with the Lowell Forward Master Plan, our Green Community designation, and our zoning and infrastructure reforms. It has already opened doors to international partnerships, philanthropic interest, and potential foreign direct investment that would otherwise be out of reach for the City of Lowell.”
At the Oct. 28 City Council meeting, Councilor Erik Gitschier’s motion requested Golden provide the council with “a detailed report on all expenditures for the frontrunner city, including the program, travel and any other expenses.”
That response is pending, but a look at publicly available records shows costs associated with marketing and publicity, council-approved travel expenses, UEF filings and documents, as well as broker and conference fees associated with Lowell’s participation in UEF that could exceed $1 million.
Mayor Dan Rourke kicked off Lowell’s participation last September by attending UEF-6 in Toronto, for an international conference on financing sustainable tourism. Rourke participated as a speaker in the mayoral roundtable and his nominal travel expenses amounted to $1,300.
“I believe this opportunity will greatly benefit our community by enhancing the City of Lowell visibility,” he said in his out-of-state travel request.
It was at that meeting that Rourke first learned of the Frontrunner City opportunity.
One month later, eight people were approved for out-of-state travel to attend the Front Runner Community Initiative Program in Toronto for almost $4,000. The UEF covered the travel costs for hotel, flights and lodging.
This past February, the City Council voted to appropriate $750,000 from free cash to support economic development initiatives, including promoting the Frontrunner City Initiative.
Free cash is composed in part of unspent, unencumbered appropriations from the prior fiscal year.
By July, the city was hosting a UEF and World Pavilion delegation. It is not known how much the UEF contributed toward their visit, nor how much Lowell expensed to host them, which included group meals at the Athenian Corner and Cobblestones restaurants, the latter at which a memorandum of understanding was signed by the city with the UEF.
During their three-day site visit to Lowell, the Department of Planning and Development pitched the UEF team on a dozen development sites including the Hamilton Canal Innovation District off Dutton Street in Downtown Lowell; both the vacant District and Superior Courthouses on Hurd and Gorham streets, respectively; the Gallagher Terminal area where the city owns vacant land; the South Common area in Back Central; and other locations.
But the focus was on the development opportunities in the Jackson, Appleton and Middlesex streets area.
“Lowell’s JAM+ project represents an area ready for transformation and includes infill housing opportunities, new retail and commercial opportunities, improved open space and recreation, improved transit and connections, and a potential geothermal project,” Assistant City Manager/DPD Director Yovani Baez-Rose said in a memo to the City Council.
To attend the UEF and World Urban Forum at the United Nations Palais des Nations in Geneva in August, the city shelled out $33,258 to cover the costs of 11 people — seven councilors and four staff members, including Golden.
The business trip may have included some incidental costs paid by the UEF or other partner associations, which were not disclosed.
“Following the formal announcement of the City of Lowell as the first United States Frontrunner City, we have received outreach and communications from global businesses interested in working with Lowell and the Urban Economy Forum,” Baez-Rose said in an Oct. 7 memo. “The city’s Communications staff have been working closely with the UEF on press coverage for this continued partnership.”
Lowell leadership returned to Toronto for more Frontrunner discussions Sept. 17-18. One week later, Lowell was represented at the Global Expert Meeting in Toronto by Rourke and Department of Public Works Sustainability Director Katherine Moses. Out-of-state travel costs could not be determined for this trip, which may have come out of free cash.
In October, Lowell leadership again traveled to Toronto to attend the seventh annual Urban Economy Forum, a global event dedicated to reshaping urban economies. The almost $10,000 cost to the city was offset by the UEF covering some unspecified incidental costs.
Golden, Rourke, DPD Deputy Director Camilo Espitia, Assistant City Manager for Fiscal Affairs/Chief Financial Officer Conor Baldwin and Councilors Corey Belanger, Corey Robinson, Paul Ratha Yem and Sokhary Chau attended the conference.
The JAM project discussed in July is still in the draft phase, but it was presented during the UEF-7 sessions, which included global investors.
Some incidental costs the UEF may not have covered was the $13,000 to register for the conference, as well as other costs to participate in the sessions and forums.
In addition to an initial outlay of $12,000 in marketing collateral to promote the city, Lowell has purchased other public relations collateral in various real estate and financial outlets, not all of which has been disclosed to date.
“It is important to emphasize that the city has not paid the UEF for a title or designation,” Golden said in his October email. “Rather, we have invested in the infrastructure necessary to support our role as a Frontrunner City. This includes the creation of a comprehensive profile of the City of Lowell to be used to attract investors. These are investments in capacity, not fees.”
Golden emphasized that financial outlays were investments similar to creating Lowell’s Master Plan.
“Lowell’s designation as the first U.S. Frontrunner City was not purchased — we are continuing to work and earn it,” he said. “It reflects over 12 months of work by our planning, sustainability, and economic development teams, and it positions our city to compete globally for resources and recognition. There has been continuous communication and collaboration between the city and UEF staff throughout this time.”
The council is expected to receive an update on its Frontrunner City investment status in the coming weeks, and Golden told the council at its Oct. 28 meeting that a dashboard will be posted to the city’s website soon “with everything that’s been happening with the Frontrunner City.”