Board of Aldermen 09-22-2020 Page 70
Ms. Scaer To address the Mayor’s comments concerning the Right to Know Request, if Laurie didn’t keep
finding big problems with the Assessing Department, she wouldn't keep filing Right to Knowrequests. |
mean the Mayor went on as if the Right to Know Requests were all frivolous and not leading anywhere. But
Laurie has found many problems, she keeps finding problems. | am delighted that she keeps doing it
because |am a homeowner here in Nashua and | want my assessment to be fair. The Mayor just sounds
really upset that Laurie has got the Assessing Department under a microscope and you knowif you fix
things, if he cleaned the Department up, if he got a good leader for it, you know these problems wouldn’t
happen. Thank you.
President Wilshire
Anyone else wishing to give public comment? Seeing none, remarks by members of the Board?
REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN
President Wilshire
Alderman Lopez?
Alderman Lopez
Yeah, | just wanted to address some of the comments that were made at the initial public comment
regarding some things that | said before the meeting started. | apologize if somebody’s feelings were hurt
by my expressing my opinion, but! do have the right to express it. | received a picture which | found
amusing from a constituent asking why there was a mask ordinance when City Hall was closed due to
COVID-19 and the picture had like 3 people in it and two of them didn’t actually have posters they had
pieces of cardboard that they had written on. They didn't look like the most organized mask demonstration
Pve ever seen. So! found it amusing. After our first mask ordinance the real one that we passed initially,
there was a much larger, more organized presentation and | attended that because | wanted to see wnat
people had to say. | wanted to spread information about what our Ordinance actually was and | talked to a
lot of the people there. And respect their right to free speech and | respect the concems that they had
about this intrusive newidea of having to wear a mask and all that because it was very early on in the
pandemic and we were just reopening. So | felt some explanation was in order.
Six months in and 200,000 people dead, 20 of them from Nashua alone if not more and our Mayor just
getting over COVID-19, | don’t have those feelings anymore. | respect somebody's right to free speech and
| understand that the First Amendment says, “We will make no law to infringe upon it” but that doesn't
mean | respect the opinion behindit. | think at this point, fignting masks and protesting is not time well
spent and it's frankly a little bit embarrassing. So maybe if it was a bigger, more impressive event | might
have felt differently because sometimes appearances are everything. Maybe if you had just gotten a better
leader to organize it, then | would feel differently. But! really think that wnat it comes down to is somebody
overheard my speaking in my free speech moment and felt that their free speech overrides mine. If during
a meeting | am disrespectful, | appreciate the opportunity to be called out. So | do want to apologize to
Alderman Clemons if he feels like | was threatening himin a previous meeting. | was intending to jokingly
suggest that people could use his name for Police Reports and | would like to clarify to the public that is not
a serious suggestion. If you are making a call to the Police, they are going to need to know your
information so they can followup with you. | don’t believe Alderman Clemons was actually feeling
threatened by that, | trust that a Legislator with his experience would have immediately called me out on it,
but | do want to apologize if in my formal role as Alderman | did overstep a little.
Alderman Clemons
No apology needed, Tom. | understood the humor and it was fine. Thank you.
