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Board of Aldermen 10-13-2020 Page 28

underneath the apartment building, 50 spaces at a cost of $2.5 million dollars. So the deal that the
developer originally proposed where he would pay us a net of $800,000.00 is now turned into a deal where
we are going to pay $2.5 million to build this garage plus $100,000.00 in infrastructure improvements in
exchange for getting $900,000.00. So the net that | see is selling this building to this developer is going to
cost us, instead of getting money, we are going it’s going to cost us $1.75 million dollars.

Now the argument that is made is that the tax revenue generated by this new apartment building is going to
pay for all of this. The revenue that is estimated and by the Fiscal Note says that the revenue that we are
going to get is going to be between $1.4 to $1.5 million over five years. So that’s $280,000.00 to
$300,000.00 a year in tax revenue from this new building. The $8 million dollar bond that we are being
asked to authorize, the Fiscal Note says is going to cost us $426,569.00 a year. So the revenue from the
new building is not going to pay for this bond, it’s going to be short. Plus, the Performing Arts Center, don’t
forget, the original $15.5 million dollar bond, the Fiscal Note says that’s gong to cost us $1,075,000.00 a
year so the original $15.5 million plus this $8 million dollar bond we are being asked to authorize tonight,
you know the total combined is going to be $1.5 million dollars a year in cost, it’s going to cost us $1.5
million dollars a year to service this debt.

So this doesn’t sound like a good deal to me. This doesn’t sound that we ought to be going ahead with
this. So for those reasons | am going to be voting against this.

President Wilshire
Anyone else? Alderman Clemons?
Alderman Clemons

Thank you, Madam President. | appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight. So obviously things change,
projects change, timelines change, it’s the world we live in. | was supposed to go to Las Vegas for the first
time this April and it didn’t happen because of COVID-19. So you know, stuff comes up and then you’ve
got to deal with it. So we have the project for the Performing Arts Center which was approved by the voters
back in 2017. So that was 3 years ago and the project came across a couple of different changes that had
to be made that were unforeseen at the time because nothing is perfect. And you have to approach things
that sometimes things are going to change.

The key here is that the spirit of the project is still well intact. We have raised the $4 million dollars for the
Performing Arts Center and we have also fulfilled the cost gap that the $5 million dollars here and paying
for that without affecting taxpayers negatively. So yes | believe that this project is very, that this School
Street Project is very tied to the Performing Arts Center. The School Street Project itself has gone through
iterations, back from when it was originally proposed to be developed. | was on a steering committee back
in, | want to say it was 2016 and that was with the former Alderman from Ward 9, his name escapes me.
And Alderman McCarthy and we were talking in that meeting in what was an RFP that was going out for
what would be the uses of that particular lot. And the things that were discussed at that time were the
potential of a hotel being there. And of course retail was also discussed as well as building an apartment
unit.

My preference obviously back then and up until recently was to build a hotel. | also didn’t like the project
because it took away the parking. And | thought that was a need that wasn’t addressed properly the way
that it was originally designed. So you know, as all plans come out, the public hears it, the public gets word
of it, especially the abutter and they shared my concerns as well. All of them. And in that process the City
came up with a compromise and the compromise was, well we will pay for the parking that we are going to
keep and you can utilize that and yes it will reduce some of the spaces but you'll get to keep the majority of
them and will still get to build the project. Nothing in life is perfect. But! can tell you this, having been a
part of this project since its conception in 2016, really 2015 before that, this is a project that has gone
through iterations like any other project. And the good news on this one is that we have a developer that’s
willing to work with us, that’s willing to listen to the needs of the abutters and the businesses that are there.

Board of Aldermen 10-13-2020 Page 29

And in addition to that, we have a developer that is going to fill a need in the City that the Mayor spoke
about earlier which is a need for smaller unit apartments, studios and one bedrooms. | have to say that |
agree 100% with everything that Alderman Lopez had brought up previously. | couldn’t have said it better
myself, to be honest. And you know, it’s one of those things where | wasn’t elected to simply be an echo
chamber. | was elected to make decisions that are going to be for the benefit of this City, not only in the
moment but for years down the road. The decisions that we make today have impacts that will last through
this City for generations to come. And there are many examples of that and | am proud of some of the
accomplishments that I’ve had. And | hope that | can add this one as a feather in my cap as well.

And again, none of these things have happened without compromise. Look at the Broad Street Parkway.
It was supposed to be a four lane parkway that was going to be designed or going to be built with no
taxpayer money. Well that didn’t happen but we still got it done. It’s a beautiful road and it serves our City
well. We weren’t supposed to buy the Pennichuck either. We were going to take it over by eminent
domain. But we bought it and it is run as a private company. That wasn’t originally the plan. Nothing-
Nothing that comes before this Board is usually the way that it originally came in, especially with big
projects like this. It’s just the reality of life. And we should accept that and we should understand that
compromise is not a dirty word.

| can understand the need or the want for wanting the project to have affordable housing component, not
liking the fact that we are raising it, maybe it’s ugly to some people. I’m going to lay it on the line for your
folks, this is it; if you want the Performing Arts Center to happen, then you should vote “yes” on this,
because otherwise it’s not going to happen. | can tell you that right now. This is our chance, this is our
chance. So my recommendation would be that we move forward with this and we understand and we
recognize that it is a compromise that is not perfect, that has a lot of moving parts. However, it is the best
option that we have to get to our end goal, which is to have a Performing Arts Center in this City. So | would
strongly, strongly encourage my colleagues, if you want to see a Performing Arts Center in Nashua, | would
strongly encourage you to vote “yes” tonight on this because | don’t foresee us having the opportunity to do
it for much longer. Thank you.

President Wilshire
Thank you. Alderman Schmidt?
Alderman Schmidt

Thank you, Madam President. I'd like to echo two things that Alderman Clemons just said. He said that
this is about the future and all things go through an evolution. That’s how Cities run. We don’t make a
decision and make it happen immediately; things have to be talked over, discussed, planned and changed
when necessary. And this was certainly something that needed to be evolving. Before | was elected,
Alderman McCarthy started talking about having a Performing Arts Center in the City. And this was so
exciting, so exciting that | took some time to study what was going on in Concord and in Portsmouth with
their arts and performance programs that they had. It was stunning the amount of people that were coming
in, the business that was hitting downtown, keeping it a healthier and more vibrant area. And this is what |
knew we needed downtown because sometimes you go down and it’s dead. So | firmly support the
Performing Arts Center because of what | studied, because of so many people in Ward 1 that | talked to
that said they wanted it, just under 50% of the people in Ward 1 voted for this. | had one criteria that we
had to come up with the $4 million dollars, it’s there, we’ve got it. I’m so pleased.

The other part of this is the building that’s going to be new housing downtown. We need this, it’s perfect for
that area but | wouldn’t vote for it until we had something to do with more parking in the area, because we
know that that was a real need down there. We couldn't just go ahead and build more housing without
having prepared something for the future. So that evolved as well and so a garage underneath is perfect.
Aligning these two together in one bill is absolutely, it’s the smartest thing to do. | am supporting this 100%.
| hope everybody will join me in this. | think it’s good for the City’s future. Thank you.

Board of Aldermen 10-13-2020 Page 30
President Wilshire

Alderman Lopez.

Alderman Lopez

| just wanted to comment on some observations that were made earlier that | kind of want to make sure
(audio cuts out) efficiently here. We were talking about how many single parking spaces were being added
by the parking garage versus how many were lost. Now we don’t need a parking study to tell us that if we
put a building on a parking lot, we lose those parking spaces. And we don’t’ need it to tell us that if we
raise that building, we don’t lose those parking spaces. And it is important to remember that if we did lose
those parking spaces, then we have to get those parking spaces from somewhere. So what was being told
to us from Economic Development was that they were going to get the parking from the parking garage,
which is staking spaces away that (audio cuts). The businesses that benefited from having parking across
the lot from them, there is a business that has its own parking lot that was objecting strenuously, they
weren't going to live or die by that particular change. They were, in fact, much more concerned about the
impact construction might have on them and they resolved those concerns.

There was another business which didn’t benefit from having free parking it needed it, the same way that
other restaurants and other businesses need parking because you don’t make any money or generate any
revenue if people can’t park in proximity to your location. It wasn’t like a want or a wish it was an absolutely
for that business to survive, especially given the climate where you know now we are dealing with COVID-
19 and closing down restaurants. And that business also rightly pointed out that they have contributed a
huge amount of revenue to non-profit organizations over the years (audio cuts out) of their presence
downtown. So it is important to consider the economic impact of taking away what they need. And | think
that with the planning that we were able to recognize a compromise that actually improves the situation by
adding new residents right across the street from them and maintaining their parking.

So there’s a lot of ways that this project actually improves the situation there other than detracting from it.
There was also a non-profit organization that was concerned about where employees would park (audio
cuts out) first and foremost by not giving away those parking spaces in order to provide a new housing
program. So those parking lots that we were talking about, they are not just individual units that we are
going and being added in simple arithmetic it was a much more dynamic that was at work. And they found
a good solution. | was very pessimistic towards this when it first began, | myself was more focused on
affordable housing, not there, not with that footprint and not in that particular area but | did think it was
(audio cuts out) for workforce housing. Now that opportunity still exists assuming you have the building.

You have a developer who is willing to build a building then things may change over time or over the years,
but this project we get a developer developing a building. He has the opportunity to succeed. And it may
be some future days workforce housing, if that’s the way things turn. In the meantime we can focus our
efforts on expanding affordable housing and low income housing in areas and scenarios that are
appropriate for them. | don’t think it’s ever an appropriate solution to try to move the poor by shoring them
into an extremely inconvenient spot just because you are not willing to look for other options. We have
other parts of the City that need development. We have other buildings that really need to be repurposed
and reimagined. | know Elm Street has been brought up but there’s also buildings on Main, there’s
buildings on Spruce Street.

We do need to look at affordable housing but we should be putting our effort and our time into places that
will yield results that will build quality housing and effective scenario for the people that are going to take it.
So | think the housing project and the subsequent dispute over whether or not there’s parking has
immensely distracted from the other parts of this and | think they need to be considered in total. | think it
was commented that perhaps the Nashua public wouldn’t vote for the Performing Arts Center if it were
introduced again. | don’t know that that’s the case. | think first and foremost personally, I’m not really that
interested in the Performing Arts Venue, I’m really interested in an economic anchor downtown, because
that’s what we were actually trying to do in the first place. We lost Alec’s Shoe Store. We have never been

SECTION 8.03. Covenants. The Company should fail to perform or comply with any
covenant set forth in Article 5 hereof (other than Sections 5.01, 5.06(F) and 5.10) and such failure
continues for 30 days after written notice thereof shall have been delivered to the Company by CoBank.

SECTION 8.04. Other Covenants and Agreements. The Company should fail to perform or
comply with Sections 5.01, 5.06(F) or 5.10, or any other covenant or agreement contained herein or in
any Promissory Note and Supplement, or shall use the proceeds of any loan for any unauthorized

purpose.

SECTION 8.05. Cross Default. The Company should, after any applicable grace period,
breach or be in default under the terms of any other Loan Document, any other agreement with CoBank,
or any agreement with any affiliate of CoBank, including the Farm Credit Leasing Services Corporation.

SECTION 8.06. Other Indebtedness. The Company should fail to pay when due any
indebtedness to any other person or entity for borrowed money or any long-term obligation for the
deferred purchase price of property (including any capitalized lease), or any other event occurs which,
under any agreement or instrument relating to such indebtedness or obligation, has the effect of
accelerating or permitting the acceleration of such indebtedness or obligation, whether or not such
indebtedness or obligation is actually accelerated or the right to accelerate is conditioned on the giving of
notice, the passage of time, or otherwise.

SECTION 8.07. Judgments. A judgment, decree, or order for the payment of money shall
have been rendered against the Company and either: (A) enforcement proceedings shall have becn
commenced; (B) a Lien having priority over any Lien of CoBank shall have been obtained; or (C) such
judgment, decree, or order shall continue unsatisfied and in effect for a period of 30 consecutive days
without being vacated, bonded, discharged, satisfied, or stayed pending appeal.

SECTION 8.08. Insolvency, Etc. The Company shall: (A) become insolvent or shall
generally not, or shall be unable to, or shall admit in writing its inability to, pay its debts as they become
duc; or (B) suspend its business operations or a material part thereof, or (C) apply for, consent to, or
acquiesce in the appointment of a trustee, receiver, or other custodian for it or any of its property; or (D)
have commenced against it any action or proceeding for the appointment of a trustee, receiver, or other
custodian, or a trustee, receiver, or other custodian is appointed for all or any part of its property; (E)
have commenced against it any proceeding under any bankruptcy, reorganization, arrangement,
readjustment of debt, dissolution, or liquidation law of any jurisdiction; or (F) make an assignment for
the benefit of creditors or commence any proceeding under any bankruptcy, reorganization, arrangement,
readjustment of debt, dissolution, or liquidation law of any jurisdiction.

SECTION 8.09. Casualty or Condemnation. All or a material portion of the assets of the
Company: (A) are destroyed in a casualty or like event (regardless of the cause); or (B) are actually taken
in a condemnation action or proceeding or in a like proceeding or are sold or otherwise transferred in lieu
thereof or pursuant to any right of any governmental authority to direct the sale of transfer thereof.

SECTION 8.10. Material Adverse Change. Any material adverse change occurs, as
reasonably determined by CoBank, in the condition, financial or otherwise, operations, business or
properties of the Company or in its ability to perform its obligations hereunder, under any security
instrument or document, or under any other Loan Document.

ioe

Board of Aldermen 10-13-2020 Page 31

able to regain the momentum and the inertia that having such a draw and such an attraction brings to the
traffic downtown.

Paul Shea and Great American Downtown has come up with 20 different ways that we have never (audio
cuts out) in the intermediate time whether it is the New Muse Festivals or Farmer’s Market or all that kind
of, you know, keep the pilot light alive and keep businesses downtown having customers come to them.
Even most recently with the COVID-19 when we had to manage how to give them outdoor seating, we
have been working very hard to keep downtown (inaudible) and flourishing place. But that is taking its toll
and | think those are opportunities that if we actually had the anchor we lost in Alec’s Shoe Store, those
efforts would be much, much more effective. So | think we need to look at the bigger picture here. We
need to move this Performing Arts Center forward, my biggest dissatisfactory note as Alderman, that we
have taken so long to push this project forward when it is so needed downtown.

And | understand what the need was for process and | am glad we’ve managed to bring some of the more
advocate opponents such as Mr. Teeboom around by making sure that it was designed in a way that was
well thought out, but it is well passed time that we do this. We need it more than ever, we are looking a
likely economic downturn and the first thing that people are going to want to do in the next year and the
year following is go out and be around people again. And this is an opportunity for us to give our residents
the opportunity to do that in a new venue and a new place while giving it the best possible chance for
success. So | hope Aldermen will join me in doing this because this effort and this project that we are
working on has now already yielded results, it’s time to harvest it, it’s time to move forward, it’s time to get
the building projects off the ground. It’s time to start building housing and it’s time to start building a
Performing Arts Center.

President Wilshire
Anyone else? The motion is for final passage? Not seeing anyone. Would the Clerk please call the roll?
A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:

Yea: Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Klee, Alderwoman Kelly, Alderman Dowd,
Alderman Clemons, Alderman Lopez, Alderman Tencza,
Alderman Schmidt, Alderman Laws, Alderman Cleaver,
Alderwoman Harriott-Gathright, Alderman Wilshire 12

Nay: Alderman Caron, Alderwoman Lu, Alderman Jette 3
MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-20-071 declared duly adopted.

R-20-076
Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman Skip Cleaver
Alderman Thomas Lopez
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
AUTHORIZING AN ENERGY PERFORMANCE CONTRACT AND LEASE FINANCING
ARRANGEMENT

Board of Aldermen 10-13-2020 Page 32

MOTION BY ALDERMAN HARRIOTT-GATHRIGHT FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-20-076, BY ROLL
CALL

A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:

Yea: Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Klee, Alderwoman Kelly, Alderman Dowd,
Alderman Caron, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Lopez, Alderman Tencza,
Alderwoman Lu, Alderman Jette, Alderman Schmidt, Alderman Laws,

Alderman Cleaver, Alderwoman Harriott-Gathright, Alderman Wilshire 15

Nay: 0
MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-20-076 declared duly adopted.

R-20-077
Endorsers: Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman Skip Cleaver
Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
RENAMING COLUMBUS DAY AS INDIGENOUS PEOPLE DAY IN NASHUA
Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERWOMAN KELLY TO AMMEND R-20-077 TO CHANGE PEOPLE TO PEOPLES’, BY
ROLL CALL

ON THE QUESTION

| feel badly that as a writer | did not see that grammatical error and | hope that the Board will indulge me for
a moment to make sure that that gets done correctly.

President Wilshire

Ok do you have a motion Alderwoman Kelly?

Alderwoman Kelly

| said | move to amend.

President Wilshire

OK, any discussion on that?

A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:

Yea: Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Klee, Alderwoman Kelly, Alderman Dowd,
Alderman Caron, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Lopez, Alderman Tencza,
Alderwoman Lu, Alderman Jette, Alderman Schmidt, Alderman Laws,

Alderman Cleaver, Alderwoman Harriott-Gathright, Alderman Wilshire 15

Nay: 0

Board of Aldermen 10-13-2020 Page 33
MOTION CARRIED

MOTION BY ALDERWOMAN KELLY FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-20-077 AS AMENDED, BY ROLL
CALL

ON THE QUESTION
President Wilshire

The Motion is for final passage as amended; discussion on that motion?

Alderman Lopez

She can talk first, this is her motion.

Alderwoman Kelly

This is the second time | did this tonight. It was not intentional, thank you. | will keep it short. | just want to
thank everyone for entertaining this piece of Legislation. Most of what | had planned to say was brought
forward by other constituents. As you can see by the people who came to speak at Public Comment and
also the letters that we have received there is definitely support especially in Nashua and also in our
indigenous people in New Hampshire. So | think this is an important piece for us to do. And | just want to
thank everyone for coming forward and sharing their stories. So thank you.

President Wilshire

Thank you, Alderman Lopez.

Alderman Lopez

| just want to clarify some comments that were made earlier and observations in public comment. | feel
slightly maligned just because the commenter himself is usually extremely diligent about detail and he kind
of did not provide some context for the comments he objected to. But when | was saying that we need to
have an opportunity for the public to discuss this and to debate it and weigh in on it that was being taken
into account by the Committee. | had initially — like this is a big step and other members had said we
shouldn’t necessarily move on this without getting any kind of input. | had objected to just changing the
name cosmetically without getting any kind of input and creating that kind of dialogue from the community
in general.

But as we all know, Columbus Day has passed so this Legislation doesn’t impact anything until next year.
And as was stated in the meeting, we can amend or enhance the Legislation further. We change or we
(audio cuts out) names or we make declarations of certain days as a City all the time. This one in particular
| guess is special but | just was advocating in those comments for making sure that we had not only just a
name change but a celebration or some substance behind it where we actually talked about the history of
indigenous peoples in Nashua and maybe took a careful look at how we described the history of our City in
that context. Because there definitely are some merits when it comes to what was going on during
(inaudible) War and King Philips War. We sort of just start up in the middle of the era and go from there.

So | look at this as an opportunity, Alderman Kelly has started the ball rolling and this is the opportunity for
us to recognize that we have something to celebrate. But | think we do have to have that dialogue coming
up over the next year over how we are going to celebrate it and what it actually means.

President Wilshire

Alderman Clemons.

Board of Aldermen 10-13-2020 Page 34
Alderman Clemons

Thank you. Yeah | will be brief as well. | know | also want to clear up something that was said in public
comment and | do want to also recognize that | completely understood from the perspective that Alderman
Lopez was talking about in the sense that my objection that evening was to see if we could move it to get it
done for this Columbus Day which was not possible due to the calendar. | think people brought up that we
wanted to hear from constituents and have more time and things like that. The Bill went through the normal
process. Just like anything else, so to say that it didn’t have, you know, that nobody knew about it or
anything like that is just false. It went through our normal Legislative Process.

The other thing that | want to clear up as well is that it is not without precedent that this City changes the
name of a Holiday because we have done it before. When New Hampshire refused for years to adopt
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Nashua did it well before. There is precedent here for doing that and | think
that we should move forward and adopt Indigenous Peoples’ Day for all the reasons that have been stated
by my colleagues. Thank you.

President Wilshire
Thank you. Alderman Klee?
Alderman Klee

Thank you, Madam President. | have to say that | went through school like so many other people learning
that Columbus discovered America. The truth is that | have now learned that Columbus didn’t discover
America, he discovered the lands that were called the Americas. And he never stepped foot on the soils of
North America. And it confused me why within North America we were celebrating a man that never
actually stepped on our soil. So | decided to do a little homework as to why we are here. So if you don’t
mind, I’d kind of like to share some of my knowledge, very little knowledge. And you know what they say
about people with little knowledge.

The very first recorded day of celebrating Columbus Day was New York City in 1792. That was the 300"
Anniversary of his voyage to the Americas. This was lobbied by the Knights of Columbus which was
primarily an Italian Roman Catholic membership to create a proclamation urging Americans to celebrate the
day. In 1937, FDR created the first federal observance of Columbus Day. In 1972, President Nixon
established the modern holiday by Presidential Proclamation.

So what | learned is that this Holiday was originally created to celebrate Italian Americans. And the name
of Christopher Columbus was just kind of “insert here”. So | believe that, as | said, Christopher Columbus
was an easy grab. The truth is I'd love to see we celebrate and honor Italian Americans and not celebrate
Christopher Columbus who never set foot on our soils. While | am giving my opinion I'd also like to see an
Indigenous Peoples’ Day created and become a Federal Holiday. | don’t think that they should get a
recycled holiday. | know it’s to cover up the Columbus, the name of Christopher Columbus and | don’t
blame people. I’m sorry, but from everything I’ve read about everything that he’s done, it is horrendous. He
was taken back in shackles to Spain because of some of the things he did as a Governor, granted, political
reasons 6 weeks later they released and gave him money for another voyage, but that’s another story for
another day.

Having said this, | Know that | am not going to be popular with my colleagues, but | would like to make a
motion to put this on the ballot for November 2021. And the reason | want to do this is simply because |
think that we are making a chance and it’s not like Martin Luther King Day where we took Civil Rights Day
that New Hampshire wanted and we changed it to Martin Luther King Day. We didn’t alienate any group.
By doing this, we are alienating another group. | would love to see a Proclamation that made a particular
day here in Nashua, Indigenous Peoples’ Day. | think that would be the right thing to do. | think on the
Federal Level | would love to see a Federal Holiday. But having said that, | don’t know the protocol of
putting a motion through, | feel that it won’t go but! also do want to put it to my colleagues. Attorney

Board of Aldermen 10-13-2020 Page 35
Bolton?

President Wilshire

So your motion would be to put this on a ballot?

Alderman Klee

That’s correct. Is it appropriate for me to do that now?

President Wilshire

Yes.

MOTION BY ALDERMAN KLEE TO PUT R-20-077 AS AMENDED ON THE BALLOT, BY ROLL CALL
ON THE QUESTION

Alderman Laws

Point of order. What is the date of the next election that this could actually be on the ballot for?
Alderman Klee

| think its November 2021. Is that correct Attorney Bolton?

Attorney Bolton

Well you could schedule a special election and do it sooner but the next municipal election is in November
of 2021. | think appropriately this would be considered as being an amendment to the proposed measure
amending it to put the question on the ballot in a non-binding referendum. There is no provision of NH Law
that would allow the Board of Aldermen to delegate its authority to a referendum on matters such as this,
matters within the authority of the Board. But a non-binding referendum has been done before.

Alderman Lopez

So | guess | have a question for Attorney Bolton. If we do this, like we amend this then that means we do
not change the name of the city level celebration of next Columbus Day, therefore we do not have an
Indigenous Peoples’ Day we just put it on the ballot and then kick it down to another year. Is that correct?
President Wilshire

Correct.

Attorney Bolton

Closer to a year plus.

Alderman Lopez

Because we’d have to wait for another (inaudible). Thank you for explaining.
Alderman Clemons

Yes, thank you. | won’t support the — with all due respect to Alderman Klee — who | have the utmost respect

Board of Aldermen 10-13-2020 Page 36

for, but | can’t support putting this on the ballot. And it is going to sound weird but to me it almost is, let me
preface this. | understand the Italian Heritage; | get it and | get the Knights of Columbus. Although | am not
Italian | come from a Catholic background and | understand. I’ve worked in Boston heavily Italian areas and
don’t go to the north end on Columbus Day to try to go to eat without a reservation it’s a bad idea, you
know, stuff like that. | get it. However, | think that you know we have in this country we have done some
terrible things to our Native Peoples. And you know to have a Holiday that celebrates basically a person a
conquistador in all truth who didn’t even know where he was going and just ended up in Santa Domingo, |
think is just, you couldn’t have come up with a better person to represent the Italian Americans.

Alderman Lopez

Marco Polo.
Alderman Clemons

He wasn’t even an American. So the thing is that | felt very similar a few years ago. In fact, on Facebook if
you were to go back into my Facebook profile you will find that about 4 or 5 years ago | put a post that was
very similar to what Alderman Klee said and that is why would we recycle a Holiday. In other words, why
would we want to give a holiday in the name of Indigenous People and sort of replace that with a day of
somebody who savaged indigenous people? Why would we want to do that? We should give them their
own day that is not associated with that.

However, as was mentioned earlier, 12 States have already done this. We are down the road now where
this is going to eventually become the standard. And so we might as well get on board and we may as well
do it effectively through our leadership here. | do not believe it is appropriate to put on the ballot a question
of pitting one group of people against another and basically saying, duke it out. That is what southern
democrats wanted to do through voter suppression and things like that in the 1950’s. They would say, well
why don’t we let the voters decide if we are going to give people Civil Rights? Well if half the population
wasn’t eligible to vote, then that’s an unfair election. And this is similar to that; | have to imagine that there’s
more Italian Americans in Nashua than there are indigenous people. And that’s not to say that people can’t
choose to do something different, but | just don’t think that it’s, in my opinion, that it is an ethical choice.

| think, again, we were here we were elected to make hard decisions. We are not here to divide the
community on such topics like this. And | really hope that my colleagues can understand that and we can
move forward with simply changing the name of the Holiday without having to have the public weigh in, in
what will become a battle royal over a man that doesn’t deserve the attention. Thank you.

President Wilshire
Alderman Schmidt?
Alderman Schmidt

Thank you, Madam President. | don’t this is recycling a date. | think this is overriding a date. | think this is
saying, that one was wrong, we are going to do it right this time. Imagine right now, around the country
statues are being taken down. Why are they being taken down? Because they have the wrong side of
history behind them. This also does, this needs to come down and it needs to have the name changed.
That’s what | think and | really would like everybody to agree with that. Thank you.

Alderman Klee

Thank you so much. First let me make it very clear that | am definitely for an Indigenous Peoples’ Day. |
think its longtime coming and it’s something that we need to do. | also have no problem taking down
statues of Columbus, Christopher Columbus for the reasons as | stated earlier. | also have no problem with
getting rid of Christopher Columbus Day as a federal holiday. If we wanted to rename it, | have no