and the barriers, but strongly against it.
We brought a petition with us, and fifty business owners were against the barriers and extended
dining and two lanes of traffic, and any thoughts of extending this for this upcoming 2022
season. Many have shared their sentiments and there letters are in your package.
There were many new businesses like Elitonde at Sky Market, Rita at Subzero, Ruth Boland at
NH Craftsman, Gloria at Glorious Possibilities, Colleen at Bella Boutique, and many more that
want their parking back. They expected when they lease their property the city wouldn’t “take “
their parking spots with barriers and most often
empty tables and chairs. Some long time practicing lawyers with offices in Nashua like Morgan
Hollis, Bob Shephard, Peter Tamposi, Tyler McAfee, Mark Kanakis, Martha O’Neill, just to
name a few, want to return ONLY to a downtown as it was before Covid. We have Julia at
Charron Medical who has a fleet of drivers that deliver medical supplies and Bill at
Soprano’s who has a fleet of drivers that delivers pizzas, and they say the pre-Covid delivery
times of ten or fifteen minutes are more like forty-five minutes to an hour, which adversely
effects their service levels, and is frustrating for both employees and customers.
At our pharmacy we have over a hundred customers a day. We can turn a parking spot three to
four times an hour. The Block decided after one of the Infrastructure meetings when we were
“accused of being in the minority” to put a petition out just after the barricades were removed,
which were up for almost nine months, to see how many were against it.
We had almost six hundred signatures in the one month. I understand Kristen Wilson put out a
Facebook petition and got 275 signatures “against” in a short period of time. I have been told the
Nashua Telegraph put out a petition and thousands responded and eighty percent were against.
Everyone asks why three or four restaurants are catered to and get special treatment for, at the
expense of the hundreds of non-restaurant businesses. I have talked to many of the restaurant
owners and they admit it is unfair. They admit they would be against it if it were them. All the
restaurants confess they are below their normal staff levels. There was a report in the National
Association of Restaurants a few weeks ago claiming a large number of pre-Covid restaurant
employees have left the industry. The majority will be not coming back, and that will not change
in the next three years.
There are almost zero customers in the extended dining areas at lunch hours. A lot of restaurants
are closed for lunch. Yet, the non-restaurants have their daytime parking spaces full of barriers
and are discouraging people to come downtown. Some restaurant customers can not find parking
and they resort to restaurant options with good parking on Amherst St, and DW Highway, and
avoid downtown completely. I talked to Jake at the Flight and he does not need the “Extended
Dining”, the same with Whitney at Joanne’s Diner, Christie and Basil at Main St. Gyro, and
Chris at Fratello’s. The general manager at Peddlers Daughter said outdoor sales were lower in
2021 verses 2020. Why does JaJa Belles take more than half a block and closes at 2PM. Why
are all the restaurants blocking the parking for customers for the barber, the jeweler , the print
person, the haberdasher, the insurance man, the pharmacist, the banker, the dentist, the financial
planner, etc.
We at Wingates Pharmacy do not want any more tables or chairs or umbrellas or barriers in front
of the boundaries of our pharmacy business. We want the parking for our customers. The most
disheartening and frustrating issue that ours, and all the customers and employees of the Block
have experienced, are having repeat customers, and new customers, coming in extremely
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