Panel chief targets downtown issues
By Lyle Moran | Lowell Sun
Instead, the 30-year-old Tugbiyele has become a community leader trying to bolster the city’s downtown.
He spends his days as a senior career adviser in the workforce-development division for Community Teamwork Inc., and in October was named the new president of the Center City Committee, Inc.
The Sun recently caught up with Tugbiyele to find out more about the Center City Committee, his goals for the group, his thoughts on the downtown and job market in the region.
Q: What does the Center City Committee do?
A: It is made up of a cross-section of anyone with a vested interest in downtown issues. There are a lot of issues that groups are dealing with on a daily basis, and there is a beauty of having other people who may not identify with those issues push the process and advocate for those issues. I’m not at the United Teen Equality Center or the Lowell Community Health Center during the day, but at our monthly meetings, I can hear about issues they are facing.
Q. What changes would you like to implement?
A: I want us to identify the downtown issues and advocate around some actual solutions. Talking about ideas and voicing your concerns and complaints is one thing, but doing something about them is different. I want us to talk about and determine the action plans.
Q: What about the city has drawn you to become so engaged?
A: The best thing about Lowell is the people, because they are so willing to collaborate and want to do good things. Lowell is also a good foundation for people with great ideas who want support. People in Lowell will not say no to you if they believe in what you are doing.
Q: How do you feel about public safety downtown?
A: I get a lot of emails about problems downtown around the bars at 2 a.m. The easy answer is: Let’s identify what the core issues are. If the core issues surround individuals getting let out of the bars at that time, let’s focus on that. If the issue is lack of adequate policing at that hour, we should come up with solutions to address that.
Q: Do you have any ideas to improve public safety downtown and its image?
A: I’m working on a proposal called Signs With Fines. If you go to New York and honk your horn after a particular hour, the fine is $250. This proposal would be signs pointing out fines around a particular action. The signs are about changing the tone of the downtown and letting people know downtown Lowell is not a place where you can do whatever you want. If you are going to do something negative, there will be an associated fine. This project is in the planning stages, but the goal would be to bring the proposal to the public-safety subcommittee of the City Council.
Q: Are there other pressing issues you would like to see addressed?
A: You go downtown, you are not going to be hungry because there are so many places to eat. But we do need more diverse retail and more opportunities to keep people here other than to eat. I think a lot of what is downtown now caters to a young crowd, especially on the retail side. If someone would like to buy a tie, shoes or watch, it would be great if they did not have to go to the Burlington Mall to do that.
Q: What do you think about the downtown music scene?
A: I think it is great. I think it is growing. Between 2005 and 2008, Evos Arts, where the Village Smokehouse is, was a place where artists could perform. After that, there was a long time where musicians were looking for a place to play. But in the last year and a half, there has been a resurgence in jazz and blues. There are also a lot of establishments like La Boniche, Blue Taleh and Back Page that have had live-music nights. It is part of a growing creative economy, which gives people more reasons to stay in Lowell.
Q: How is economic development in the downtown?
A: Businesses are not just going to come here because there is an available workforce. Businesses are going to come here if it safe or there is something to do on the weekends. They will come here if their employees can go out and purchase a suit and if the streets are clean.
Q: You work at CTI with people seeking jobs. What is the job market like?
A: It is touch-and-go. There are some industries we are noticing are doing well and they coincide with the local and national reports. We’ve placed people in different hospitality establishments and in manufacturing. We are seeing companies wanting to hire individuals to do production work, but the downside is, we are not seeing a lot of companies converting entry-level employees to full time. There is a lot of contract work.
Q: How is CTI helping people get ready for the job market?
A: We have a five-week job-readiness training program. We have bankers come in to give financial literacy advice to help people manage credit and increase their credit scores. We partner with UMass Lowell and have computer consultants help people work on their computer skills. I lead the career-advisory classes and try to help get people to the point where they can market themselves and be competitive.
