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Board of Aldermen — 9/12/17 Page 19

comment on the beauty of our downtown. They’re right. It is a beautiful downtown. Like every merchant
behind me, our shops and our restaurants are individual destinations for visitors. | would love nothing more
than to not make jajaBelle’s a destination any more but rather be proud that | have been replaced by a much
bigger and cohesive destination called downtown Nashua.

| believe a performing arts center specifically at Alec will achieve this and put our city on the map. I’m excited
about the arts but truthfully and a lot of people may disagree with me, | think bringing a performing arts center
to Nashua has very little to do with the arts. It has everything to do with bringing culture and vibrancy and life
to our city and the heart of our city. 1’ll be honest with all of you and you’ve heard me say it. If this doesn’t
pass and we can’t come together as a city on the kind of downtown we want not only for ourselves but for our
visitors, | really do need to think long and hard if | want to continue being in my hometown. I’m not saying this
because I’m bitter and I’m not getting my own way but because | have very little faith in those that are elected
can come together to put our differences aside to progress our city.

| would like to read you an excerpt from the business plan that | have for JaJaBelle’s. This is actually
regarding the target market. “In the next few years with the development of a museum, performing arts center,
hotel, and movie theater, commuter rail, and condominiums, the downtown market will continue to expand.
The target age will range from those in their 20s to those approaching retirement age with the same common
bond. They want to live and surround themselves with the art, music and dining provided by our downtown.”
This is proof we have not progressed. This business plan was written with a master plan and | wrote this over
14 years ago. It is absolutely shameful that these words are still relevant today.

To the Aldermen who vote no, well | don’t own you actually but | just want to ask you in 14 years if we were to
fast forward are we going to still be talking about the same thing? I’m not in politics and this is just tiring.
That’s the truth. | want to end it one thing I’m very proud of. | need bookmarks but they don’t seem to help.
I’ve read from my business plan written over 14 years ago. Today downtown Nashua has become a mecca for
growth, revitalization, and community commitment. | am very proud that that spirit still rings true today. Thank
you.

Judith Carlson, 15 Manchester Street.

Hi my name is Judith Carlson. | moved to Nashua in 1963 and into my house at 15 Manchester Street in Ward
3 in 1976. So I’ve lived in Nashua for a very long time, raised my daughter here, and worked as a commuter to
Nashua for many years in high tech. | was in three Fortune 500 companies, Fortune 50 companies that no
longer exist but as part of my job in marketing communications, | ran a $10 million budget and went through
training on financial management for non-financial managers. So I’m pretty good at reading documents like
what we’re presented by the city and | thought the city and the consultants did an excellent job in looking at all
the different aspects it takes to do an evaluation and a business plan for something that is yes an investment
for the city. I’ve been also very active since retiring. | was on the Board of City Arts Nashua for five years and
I’m not on the Nashua Arts Commission. We do have a very vibrant arts community here who is very
interested in what a performing arts center will do to enhance what we already have here. The Arts
Commission has been running some seminars. We just did one with the NH Division of Economic
Development on how to get more people to come to Nashua and take part in what we already have here in the
arts. We formed a collaborative marketing task force with City Arts Nashua, Great American Downtown with
an aldermanic representative and we are looking at ways to make Nashua known as a destination for the arts
because Chronicle Magazine is already calling us the art hub of New Hampshire. We have more public art
here than in any city in this State and we are admired by other cities and looked at for what we’re doing down
here in the arts already. So a performing arts center would bring so much more to what we’re doing now.

But getting back to what Tracy said before. | have just one more thing that | would like to add here. The
American for the Arts which City Arts Nashua has been affiliated with over five years and we see all the
reports. The Greater Rochester area — Rochester mind you — they’re $12 million yearly impact, almost $8
million just $100 under of that came from spending by audiences. That’s $8 million and had a $12 million
impact. The second smallest was the Monadnock Region of their $18.5 million, there’s $5,380 came from
spending in audiences. When you look at Greater Concord, they have $31 million in total economic impact

Board of Aldermen — 9/12/17 Page 20

and spending by audiences was $13 million. | heard people complain that it would cost over $1 million a year
in carrying the bond. Greater Concord had $13 million. When you look at Portsmouth who does have the
largest economic impact because they have really worked at bringing tourists to their city, they have $58
million in economic impact and of that $58 million, $36.5 million was spending by audiences. The rest was of
course what the organizations themselves spent and the economy. It’s not an insignificant thing that will bring
to this city in revenue that will affect not only the overall economic impact to the city but to all the other places
that audiences go before and after and bring more people into finding out why Nashua really is New
Hampshire’s gateway to the arts. | thank you for your time and | urge you all to support this proposal. Thank
you.

Michael Reike, 35 Lock Street

Hi my name is Michael Reike. I’m a property owner at 35 Lock Street. Unfortunately | didn’t grow up in
Nashua. | actually grew up in a town about 40 miles west of here, 30 miles south of Keene. I’m speaking here
in favor of the arts proposal because | have experience in two cities. One is a city that | went to high school in.
The town | grew up in was too small so they shipped us to a town on Millers River which travels west unlike the
Nashua River is traveling east but in many ways it was very similar. It was a mill town. We made tools but we
didn’t invest in anything that would draw people there. Today if you travel down the main street of the town |
went to high school in, you’d see main street dotted every other store front by closed businesses. Nobody
goes there. The kids that grew up and high school there they move away and they never come back.

The other city | had a chance to visit is Belfast, Maine. Belfast, Maine is doing quite well today. Its property
values in Belfast are twice what they are in other similar communities in Maine. They have a vibrant farmer's
market. They have a great arts festival in Belfast. You might think well maybe they were just born with a silver
spoon in their mouth but that’s actually far from the case. Forty years ago, Belfast, Maine, in Waldo County
was actually the poorest county in all of the United States. They made shoes there. They processed chickens.
Like many New England towns what they did with the refuge it was just tossed in the water. It was not a place
where people wanted to visit but something changed. There’s a lot of people that made that happen but one
thing in particular that | think speaks out is that 15 years ago they were faced with a decision. You see back in
1926, they built US1 over the harbor from West Belfast to East Belfast. Then about 20 years ago they built a
new bridge and they were faced with the question what do we do with the old bridge. There were many folks in
town, good New Englanders just like | am who said there are costs associated with any bridge. You just don’t
have a bridge. You have to repair it. You have to maintain it. What we should do is we should just demolish
the bridge. There is the serious number of people in town that said let’s just demolish it and then we won't
have to worry about that as an expense. But there were other people forward thinking who said you know
what this could be an anchor for our community. They actually passed the money and several million dollars to
repair and maintain the bridge which is now the anchor of a footpath in Belfast that just doesn’t link West
Belfast to East Belfast but the entire river and the harbor walk. So that has become one of the main things that
has drawn people and made Belfast what it is today a place that’s vibrant, a place that has restaurants
reviewed on the front page of the New York Times. Let this be our bridge to the future of Nashua. Let this be
the place that brings people from Boston, from New York, from other places that say when we think about New
England we want to go to Nashua because that’s a place we want to be. Thank you.

Billy Fokas, 185 Main Street

l’ve been a member of this community and lived and worked in downtown Nashua for the past 57 years. | like
others before me did not plan on speaking this evening but after what I’ve been hearing, | just felt compelled to
get up and say a few words. I’m going to make it short and sweet. My family has been a part of downtown
since 1936. We've lived and reside and done business in Nashua all of our lives. We've dedicated our lives to
the success of this great city. | personally, like my cousin Philip said, have seen many businesses come and
go in the past 57 years in downtown Nashua. | think with the performing arts center that this is very important
to our entire city to look forward to something and to grow and to get people to stay rather than leave our great
community. | just wish and urge everybody to think the long-term greatness of our city to consider this and
let’s move forward for once. Thank you very much.

Board of Aldermen — 9/12/17 Page 21
Kami Harris, Nathan Lord Road, Amherst

| am one of the co-owners of Camaraderie Boutique. | live in Amherst on Nathan Lord Road. We are a new
business. We're just 7 weeks old today but we wholeheartedly support the performing arts center.

Danielle Skelley, 10 Clydesdale Circle, Nashua

I’m the other co-owner of Camaraderie at 175 Main Street. | am also a resident in Nashua. | live at 10
Clydesdale Circle in Ward 8. | fully, fully support the performing arts center. | had a customer recently come
in and was a little disheartened when she said a friend described Nashua as the armpit of New Hampshire.
Ouch. That hurt. | don’t want to be the armpit. | want to be the heart. | want to be the heart of our city and the
way to be that heart is to nurture that heart. | just want to leave the aldermen with one thing that are maybe
against this. Nothing is changes if nothing changes. We need to change something. Please vote yes.

Bob Cagen, 23 Hampton Drive

| also own a small business in downtown Nashua. | really didn’t Know what! was going to say when | got up
here but after listening to everybody, it seems like everybody is in favor of this performing center except for a
handful of people. So | don’t know what the issue is. Nashua needs people to come down. We have empty
streets. We have empty stores with the exception of restaurants, very few stores. Very few retail businesses
are making it. | think you might be very surprised to see after Christmas much more empty stores. The
restaurants are doing fine but the regular stores aren’t. Where are we going to get our money from to pay for
this thing? We're going to get it from Bedford, Amherst, Windham, Hollis. These are people that go to many
other venues. If we had a venue and they came to our venue, they wouldn’t have to drive 20, 30, 40 extra
miles, wear and tear on their cars, pay for more gas. Everything would be spent here probably saving them
$200, $300, $400, $500 a year. They will come here. They will spend money. We will get new tenants moving
into this city and we will get new businesses moving into the greater Nashua area because when people come
downtown and see a vibrant city, they say this is where | want to open my business. This is where | want to
bring my employees. Everybody is going to be happy here. That’s it. Thank you.

James Tobin, Brady Sullivan Properties, Franklin Street

My name is James Tobin. | work with Brady Sullivan Properties. I’m here independently as a born and raised
Nashua resident. Long-time Nashua resident. I’m happy to be here. | had prepared a letter on behalf of the
ownership group and myself at Brady Sullivan | just wanted to read. “As many of you know Brady Sullivan
Properties is currently rehabilitating the Franklin Street mill building and converting it into residential community
as we have done with several historic mill buildings throughout New England. What is perhaps less known is
the acquisition of over 250,000 square feet of commercial office property here in the gate city. These
developments are clear testament to our confidence and commitment to the community in which the
constituents here tonight live, shop, work, and play. Over the years our company has focused on the long-term
commitment to New England communities most notably New Hampshire and as mentioned most recently here
in Nashua. The decision to cease an opportunity to acquire a sizable share of both the commercial and
residential market in this city came from the believe in the people here tonight and a sense of community in
Nashua. Today we firmly believe that the addition of a performance and arts center in Nashua’s Historic
Downtown would be another major step toward neighborhood revitalization and the ever important civic
attraction of the area between Exits 1, 7 and 8.

Nashua undoubtedly has the infrastructure to support the performance and arts center today. Companies ona
local level continue to grow while Massachusetts base companies have begun to look more seriously at the
benefits of operating in tax free New Hampshire. Even those who work in MA based cities north of Boston are
settling residentially on this side of the border. Between Clocktower Place, the Cotton Mill, our new
development at Franklin Street which we’re welcoming 200 new apartments with the demographic that | think
everybody wants and needs to see in Nashua and potentially twice the amount of residents of the 200
apartments, the number of business people, shoppers, and diners is increasing exponentially year over year.
The ripple effect of strategically implementing this type of civic attraction undeniably would be universally

Board of Aldermen — 9/12/17 Page 22

beneficial what is truly a great American downtown. As committed members of the passionate Nashua
community, it’s our sincere effort that tonight the Board is able to recognize the unique opportunity to present it
here and is without question a paramount decision in the history of the gate city for the future of the gate city.”
Thank you very much.

Arthur Craffey, 107 Chestnut Street

Good evening Mr. Mayor, Alderman McCarthy and the rest of the Board. When | first heard of this, | said this
is great. It’s been a long time dream of this Board, the city, the mayors, and many, many boards. When | sat
in the board it was a dream of mine. Then | got to thinking | walked by Alec Shoes there many times on my
daily walks since I’ve retired. I’ve looked at the size of Alec Shoes. I’m wondering how in the heck are we
going to put a performance arts center in here and actually have something in there that’s actually going to
feasible to pay for itself especially with the city running it. We look at the Keefe Auditorium, you look at Court
Street, and | think nothing seems to be going forward. The lady over here pointed out earlier, it's got to be run
as a business. If you can’t put the Symphony in there, how are you going to put something in that’s going to
pay some money? She said you need 3 or 4 events each year to pay to break even. The Symphony in there
would be great. That’s sold out all the time. The Nutcracker which is our biggest seller you can hardly get
tickets for every year sells out. That would be enough to pay operational expenses in itself. It’s got to be run
as a business yes.

The second thing | was concerned with is parking. Where are you going to park? Handicapped people that
come to these events where are they going to park? You can’t. There’s no place to drop them off. There’s no
handicapped parking. Parking downtown as we know is a pain. You go over to Keefe Auditorium to see them
park. They park in the streets. There’s plenty of parking when they park at Keefe. The other issue | had was
the city running it. | mean come on guys. We have enough with trying to balance our own budgets. We can’t
run it up as ourselves. If we were to take this at all, | would like to see the city just hand it off. Let it be
privately run. Set up a Board of Directors like we did with Pennichuck and let it run on its own. Get our
reimbursement back and say bye, bye. Let it run own its own. Let it be run private. Don’t have the city
involved. Yes we own it but let it run like Pennichuck runs. Their own Board of Directors and let it go. Don’t
let the city have its fingers in it at all. That’s all. Thank you very much.

Shoshanna Kelly, 18 Rene Drive, Nashua.

Good evening. | want to thank everyone for their time — the Board, the Mayor. | think we’ve heard a lot from
our community. A lot of people have shared their personal stories. They’ve talked about feasibility and they’ve
talked about impact. My name is Shoshanna Kelly. I’m at 18 Rene Drive. | think we’ve looked at a lot of
facets of this project and what | want to talk about is energy. | know that the Mayor brought up that the energy
in downtown is really palatable right now. My husband and | we moved here right after college. We were living
in downtown right in Clocktower Place. From there we moved to buying a house, having a child, and I’ve
opened up a business downtown. In that time, I’ve seen the momentum and the energy grow with each stage
in our life and | know that other people have testified to that. | would say also let’s talk about the energy in the
room tonight. There’s so much anticipation. There’s so much excitement for this project and as you go to
make this very important vote, | urge you to think about that and to vote yes.

President McCarthy

That concludes the public comment period. For the audience, | would tell you that the resolution is actually the
first thing on our old business which will come up in a few minutes. We have a couple of formalities to take
care of first but it comes up first.

PETITIONS — None

Board of Aldermen — 9/12/17 Page 23
NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND ELECTIONS
Appointments by the Mayor
The following Appointments by the Mayor were read into the record:
Business & Industrial Development Authority
Deborah Novotny (New Appointment) Term to Expire: September 30, 2018
65 McKenna Drive
Nashua, NH 03062
Cultural Connections Committee
Dominque Boutaud (New Appointment) Term to Expire: September 30, 2020
91 Bartemus Trail
Nashua, NH 03063
Nashua Airport Authority
Farrelll T. Woods (Reappointment) Term to Expire: August 31, 2022
162 Bush Hill Road
Hudson, NH 03051
Sandra Cushing-Adams (Reappointment) Term to Expire: August 31, 2018
5 Scarborough Drive
Nashua NH 03063
Planning Board
Daniel Kelly (Reappointment) Term to Expire: March 31, 2020
9 Lilac Court
Nashua, NH 03062
MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT THE APPOINTMENTS BY THE MAYOR AS
READ AND REFER THEM TO THE PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
MOTION CARRIED
REPORTS OF COMMITTEE
Budget Review Committee... cccccccccccecccsteseeeeeeeeeeeeestseeeeees 08/28/17

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the August 28, 2017, Budget Review
Committee accepted and placed on file.

Budget Review Committee. ..............cccccccccccccccccsttteeeeeeeeeeeetstseeeeess 09/05/17

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the September 5, 2017, Budget Review
Committee accepted and placed on file.

Finance Committee. 20.0.0... cccccccececececceeeceeeeececaececaeeeeaeeeraneettaneetaness 08/16/17

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the August 16, 2017, Finance Committee
accepted and placed on file.

Board of Aldermen — 9/12/17 Page 24
FINANCE COMMITEE... ccc cece cece cece cece cece ceeeeeeeeeeeeteeeeeeeneeenees 09/06/17

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the September 6, 2017, Finance
Committee accepted and placed on file.

Committee on Infrastructure... ccc ccccccecceeccceecececceeeeceeaeeeraueeeraeeeraeees 08/23/17

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the August 23, 2017, Committee on
Infrastructure accepted and placed on file.

Human Affairs Committee ....... ccc cceececececceeececeeeesaneceeaeeeraneertaeess 08/14/17

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the August 14, 2017, Human Affairs
Committee accepted and placed on file.

Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee ......0....0.ccceccececececeeceeeeeaeees 08/07/17

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the August 7, 2017, Personnel/
Administrative Affairs Committee accepted and placed on file.

Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee ......0......ccccececeeeceeceeeereeees 08/21/17

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the August 21, 2017, Personnel/
Administrative Affairs Committee accepted and placed on file.

WRITTEN REPORTS FROM LIAISONS — None

CONFIRMATION OF MAYOR'S APPOINTMENTS

Cultural Connections Committee

MOTION BY ALDERMAN LOPEZ TO CONFIRM BY VOICE VOTE THE APPOINTMENT OF THE
FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS TO THE CULTURAL CONNECTIONS COMMITTEE FOR TERMS TO EXPIRE
JULY 30, 2020: SAMBA C. HALKOSE, 58 WINTER STREET, MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND
ADELINA HERNANDEZ, 56 CHESTNUT STREET, NASHUA

MOTION CARRIED

President McCarthy declared Samba C. Halkose and Adelina Hernandez duly appointed to the Cultural
Connections Committee for terms to expire July 30, 2020.

Oath of Office administered by Corporation Counsel.

Nashua Arts Commission

MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO CONFIRM BY VOICE VOTE THE APPOINTMENT OF ALISON
BANKOWSKI, 35 MANCHESTER STREET, NASHUA, TO THE NASHUA ARTS COMMISSION FOR A
TERM TO EXPIRE APRIL 1, 2020

MOTION CARRIED

President McCarthy declared Alison Bankowski duly appointed to the Nashua Arts Commission for a term to
expire April 1, 2020.

President McCarthy declared a two minute recess.

Board of Aldermen — 9/12/17 Page 25

UNFINISHED BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS

R-17-116
Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy
AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CITY TREASURER TO ISSUE BONDS NOT TO EXCEED
THE AMOUNT OF TWENTY-EIGHT MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS
($28,500,000) FOR WORK ON PHASE ONE OF THE CONSOLIDATED PUBLIC WORKS
FACILITY LOCATED ON BURKE STREET AND THE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE TO AMEND R-17-116 IN ITS ENTIRETY BY REPLACING IT
WITH THE GOLDEN ROD COPY PROVIDED WITH THE AGENDA

ON THE QUESTION

President McCarthy

For the audience and as a reminder to the Board, that amendment simply removes the public works facility
from the text of the resolution.

Alderman Schoneman

Someone brought it to my attention that the resolution doesn’t actually specify that it’s the Alec’s Shoe building
that we are going to buy, just that we’re going to buy a building and retrofit a building.

President McCarthy

No, it doesn’t.

Alderman Schoneman

If we’re amending, I’d like to make a motion to further amend.
President McCarthy

Can we take care of the golden rod copy first?

Alderman Schoneman

Sure.

MOTION CARRIED

MOTION BY ALDERMAN SCHONEMAN TO FURTHER AMEND R-17-116 TO SPECIFY THAT IT IS THE
PROPERTY AT 201 MAIN STREET

ON THE QUESTION

President McCarthy

That would be in the title to add “201 Main Street’?

Board of Aldermen — 9/12/17 Page 26
Alderman Schoneman

And perhaps in the body as well. Under purpose it says: “purchase, renovate and construction a new
performing arts center.”

President McCarthy

In that we would also add “201 Main Street.” Does everybody understand the motion?
MOTION CARRIED
MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-17-116 AS AMENDED BY ROLL CALL

ON THE QUESTION

Alderman Lopez

| am going to support this because | think we have all done our due diligence here in looking at the situation,
looking at the proposals and listening to public comment and listening to the public feedback. To me, it is
overwhelming clear that Nashua wants this; Nashua needs this; and, Nashua is looking forward to this. When
we first started to bring this forward as a final proposal, | had a lot of concerns about how we were going to pay
for it, whether that be CDBG money, where the location was. | think | did my job representing my constituents
and asking those questions and being sure we weren't just going to capriciously borrow $15 million on a
project that hadn’t fully been rendered. What | didn’t really question was the desire of Nashua’s to have this
performing arts center. | didn’t really challenge or have any concerns about the data that was presented by
Duncan Webb demonstrating that a facility of this size could succeed in Nashua because they didn’t try to
continue with the initial presentation and discussion of a much larger site. They didn’t try to put it in the
distance in Nashua at an offsite, large parking friendly location with nothing around it. They tried to integrate it
into the downtown scene, and they wisely course corrected when they noticed the opportunity presented by
201 Main Street. There’s been a lot of public comment over the past couple of months. There has been a lot
of emails that | have received and a lot of in-person discussion, both for and against. | think for me it really
comes down to when are we going to have the opportunity for this property again? When are we going to have
something that really fits in with what we’re trying to do that meets the needs of our community and meets the
opportunity as described by the feasibility study that we conducted? I’m very much in favor of this.

| recognize the concerns on the behalf of my fellow aldermen, and | suggest that they not be confused with
fear. Fear is something that we all have to overcome. Whenever we’re doing anything in public, whether we’re
creating any piece of art, fear is the emotion that we don’t want to listen to. Opportunity is the emotion we want
to listen to. We want to seize the chance. | think we have a huge opportunity here not just to gain something
of value, while the bond rating is favorable, while the community is motivated and energetic and excited, and
while we havfe the opportunity to improve our downtown before we have to start dealing with closing stores
and a loss of vitality that we have been experiencing in recent years.

Alderman Clemons

| appreciate everybody who has taken the time to reach out to me with phone calls, emails, everybody who is
here this evening. Thank you. | appreciate your input on this. When | graduated from college, | didn’t know
what | wanted to do. | went into selling cars, believe it or not. Most people hate the sales process of buying a
car. It’s something that they try to avoid at all costs. But! learned a lot about the business. When you have a
friend who is in the business, people tend to come to you. Even though that was at this point 12 years ago, |
still have friends that when they are ready to buy a car they come to me and say can you help me out, come to
the dealership. Most people know when they need a new car, most people know when they want to go out and
buy a new car. If you are buying a new car, it is pretty simple. You go to the dealership and say this is what |
want. They say what color, they come out with it. You know it’s a brand new car, you drive away with it. Fine.
It's when you buy a used car it’s a little bit different.

Board of Aldermen — 9/12/17 Page 27

We are in the position right now with this theatre of buying what | consider to be a used car, and I'll give you
the analogy. When a person knows what types of vehicle they want, but they don’t know where to buy it or
what to look for, | say look for the car. The reason | say that is because if you have a particular vehicle in mind
with the internet you can go and search. | want a Chevy Malibu with this type of features, miles. They will pop
up in different places. You can look at the pictures and decide if this is a deal you want, something you don’t
want. Every once in a while, though, when you're in the position, you say, ahah, that’s it. There it is. That’s the
car | want! | have friends call me and say | saw this car. It will be Monday night. What are you doing next
weekend? What do you mean next weekend? You saw the car online tonight. That means we have to go
tomorrow. Why? Because it is a used car, man. It’s the only one that’s on the lot that’s like that. It’s nota
brand new car. It is a used car. If that’s the car you want and we go there and you like it, you are going to
drive away with it because there is only one of them. It’s opportunity. You’ve got to take it when it comes.

We're at that point with this performing arts center. We have a building that is in the perfect location. It’s
coming up at the perfect time right when the city is studying where to put a performing arts center. We have
the footprint. We have the location. We just need to take that opportunity and do it. Some people will say,
Ben, we don’t have the financing. Some of my friends will say, wait, | don’t have the financing in place. | don’t
know if | can do this. That’s okay. Don’t worry about it. Put a down payment on it. Put a $500 deposit and
they will hold that car for you. You will figure it out. We will call the bank. We'll make sure that we can get you
a loan that you can afford on that car. We are doing the same thing here with this resolution. The same exact
thing. The car is Alec Shoe Store. The car is that building. We're going to put a down payment on it. The
option is $2 million to purchase it. We'll spend the $2 million; we'll get the building. We will secure the
building. We cannot do anything else until $4 million from the community is raised. We hold onto that building,
the community clearly supports this. They come out and they raise $4 million. When they do that, we say
great job. You really are behind this, and we move forward and build that theatre. If for some reason the
community doesn’t get behind it, and everything falls part, the city can turn around and sell the building. We're
not going to take a loss on it either because it is a beautiful property right in downtown. Or, we could use it for
something else.

The point is the opportunity is there. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s something that when you get the
chance, pull the trigger. This ordinance is funny because | wasn’t even there at the meeting when this came
up, but | couldn’t have worded it better. It’s perfect. What it does is it says that the City, itself, is going to
commit to this project and then it turns it over to the community and says now it is your part. Raise that $4
million and then come back to us and we will do the rest. That’s exactly the way we should be doing things in
government. That’s exactly the way we should be doing projects in the future that we want to get the public
buy-in on it. Put the down payment down and let the community do the work.

The community can’t come up with $2 million over night, but the city can. We can tonight by voting yes. Let’s
give these folks in the audience the opportunity to show us that the support is there for the theatre. Let’s give
them the opportunity. Let’s vote yes. This is not a hard decision because in the end, if it doesn’t come
together we can walk away from the property, but we can’t or what we shouldn't do is walk away from this once
in a lifetime opportunity. Thank you.

Alderman Wilshire

| would like to just say thank you to everyone who came out. My vote is for everyone on this paper, on these
pages, that’s who | am voting for. | am a representative of these people. The four or five people that did get
up and speak against it, didn’t sway me but you people did. | agree with everything that Alderman Lopez said,
everything Alderman Clemons said, and | am behind this 100 percent so thank you all.

Alderman Schoneman
I’m grateful too to all the folks who came out. At the committee meeting last week, | said | hadn’t heard from

too many. I’ve heard from a lot more, and | really appreciate that. As folks in the audience here, maybe
around the horseshoe, maybe listening at home can imagine, | have heard from a lot of other people too who

Board of Aldermen — 9/12/17 Page 28

weigh in against it. | will say that nobody was speaking against an arts center. This is not really a referendum
on should we have an arts center. It’s a referendum on should be bond $15 million to commit to a project, as
some speakers said, is a business. We’re publicly funding a business operation. | appreciate, | really do, the
used car analogy. | think it’s a pretty good one. The only difference is we are spending someone else’s
money. We're not spending our own money to buy the used car. We’re not putting our own money. This is
public money. | think spending public money, we have perhaps a higher obligation.

I’m concerned about a couple of things | learned tonight for the first time. One is that we seemed to have
steered, accidently or intentionally, | don’t know, things seem to get steered very easily, steered the consultant,
it sounds like, the minutes seem to reflect that, to the Alec Shoe Store building. Consultants, in my experience,
listen very carefully to what the customer says. They want to provide what the customer says. Granted they
said we can’t do the 2,000 seat auditorium, that’s fine. We stuck with them, they stuck with us. They agreed
that they would go where we steered them. I’m concerned about that. We hire a consultant to help us
objectively determine where we should go. If that was steered, I’m concerned.

Secondly, | wasn’t around when the Court Street theatre transaction was made a number of years ago but
those who have shared the history make it sound very much like the situation we are facing today. | don’t
know why that failed. To some extent, there’s some success there. But there was a lot of enthusiasm, maybe
not a lot of money donated at the time. | don’t know what the circumstances were, but an arts operation, |
think, requires a lot more than enthusiasm. It does require the enthusiasm, and | want to especially thank John
Roache who gave $100 tonight too because that is what it takes. | had a conversation with the woman who
runs the Capital Center for the Arts. They don’t get any money from the government. They don’t get a dime
from the City of Concord. It’s all fundraised. | spoke to the gentleman who runs the Palace Theatre. What |
understand from him is they started with a significant pot of money and then went for other assessments. |
don’t know all the details but that’s the trend of his message that | got from that gentleman.

The pro forma financials and all the paperwork that we have seen have the $4 million endowment. | had a call
from someone today that is in Ward 3, who is a big patron of the arts, donates a lot of money every year. He
wants to see this, but he is very concerned about the way the financials are set up here. He said where are
you going to get this $4 million and he said the $4 million is not going to produce $160,000. You need $6
million to produce $160,000 a year. Not only is he a patron of the arts, but the money that he gets to give to
the arts he makes by being a financial analyst and managing funds. It is very hard to convert that $4 million
into the $160,000 according to him. Both people at the Capital Center for the Arts and the Manchester Theatre
used the same kind of phraseology saying it is a business. It’s a difficult business. It takes a lot of work. |
think they have enthusiastic supporters, but it takes a lot of work. The pro forma financials show that not only
are we getting money from the endowment but there’s a continuing requirement for general fund raising.
Maybe to sponsor programs from corporate entities or maybe just people who are willing to give more than just
the ticket cost. These places are supported by ticket sales; they are also supported by a lot of giving.

| don’t object to the rationale that was shared that can we jump start this in some way. | think maybe we can.
I’m not sure we need to do $13 million. And, how long is it going to raise the $4 million? How long do we
keep Alec Shoe Store at 201 Main Street without the $4 million being raised and without it having anybody in it.
What's the cut off time? A year down the road? Two years down the road? | don’t know. But, in the end, this
is a business. | like an arts center. | want to see it. That’s what tears me on this. | want to see something
happen here. | think downtown needs it. There’s no doubt in my mind that the Palace Theatre and the Capital
Center for the Arts have helped those communities. No doubt, but | don’t want to see it go the way of Court
Street which, for whatever reason, didn’t seem to work out quite right. | think we need to get whoever is going
to run the thing in place ahead of time so they are onboard if anything is going to be outfitted to make sure that
is the right space for them to operate a theatre in. Because again, for whatever reason, maybe just based on
enthusiasm bubbling up from the community and the fact that the store was suddenly available, other factors
but, we steered it. This is such a serious endeavor, | think we cannot steer it. I’m deeply hesitating for these
reasons, and | thank you for your time.