Pericles? Parry, Please

While the Lowell Sun devoted considerable The Column real estate to the unexplained migration of a Pericles bust from a secure location in City Hall to another secure location in City Hall, located maybe 20 feet away from the first, the Boston Globe ran this piece by John Laidler about Lowell leading the way among five cities selected (Lowell, Amesbury, Somerville, Woburn, Worcester) to receive a $373k grant to help set the example across the Commonwealth for performance-based management.

That's worth filing under 'Big Deal.' Especially when some reactionary types still question why the city needs a data analyst -- never mind the cost savings that the position has provided us so far, which are backed up, by, well, data.

The grant paves the way for Lowell and the other named cities to compare their municipal governing practices in order to find ways for all to improve performance and efficiency while minimizing costs. That collaboration will set the tone for the other 346 towns and cities to follow suit.