Board of Aldermen 09-09-2020 Page 33
So | just want to leave it at that, please stay safe. | wish the Mayor the best. And | want to thank our
incredible City Workers for everything that they’ve done.
Alderman Lopez
This has been a really difficult month for Ward 4, | mean in general I’m sure, but it does feel when you are
in a neighborhood like that’s the one that’s suffering the most. So | wanted to echo Alderman Clemons’
sentiment regarding Dennis Hanson. | worked with him for about 14 years with Nashua Soup Kitchen. He
used to do a lot of work for people who are homeless and a lot of families that were struggling and at risk of
being homeless to repair their cars. And | can’t even tell you how many hundreds of thousands of dollars
he must've written off. We had a running joke though that as much as he could fix a car, he could not use a
FAX machines, invoices all that kind of stuff. So | am really going to miss him, | really miss his down to
earthiness. But! think he left behind a community that’s very grateful for everything that he did with it,
assuming I'll also be joining Alderman Clemons in Heaven, | will wish him well when | see him.
| also wanted to comment on 243 Main Street. There’s been discussion regarding it since the front fagade
started to bow outwards and looked like it was in danger of falling into Main Street. We have worked very
closely with the landlord, myself, neighbors and some of the Departments to make sure they are able to
house everybody over (audio cuts out) a lot of the supportive service were closed. They were in a tough
spot because suddenly they had to pay in cash for all of the residents to be in a motel. Their banks were
closed the motel wouldn’t take multiple bookings because of COVID-19 so there’s a lot of navigating that
Jessica did on the part of the landlords and she’s been coordinating with the residents to make sure they
could all get in and out of their apartment. There’s a snake in it and it needs to be fed daily so we are
making sure that he gets what he needs. And she is working with the Code Enforcement Department to
make sure that it is safe to return to because as much as people don’t want to live in Motel 6, in working
with the residents, they are just as concerned about going back to a building where the front of it may fall
down. That’s where their entrance is and that’s where their elevator is. So the landlord is working very
closely with Code Enforcement to make sure it is safe to return to and that’s there a plan for developing it. |
am working with Jessica to make sure she has the resources she needs and then we are connecting with
any residents that were displaced due to it.
And on that note, | noticed that the Fire Department had to respond to a fire on top of 23 Temple Street so
this would be a really good time to bring up to the Board that we need to really fine tune our Emergency
Response Protocols to make that we know clearly what to do as Aldermen because if you experience
something like that in your neighborhood, there isn’t a clear blueprint for who you are supposed to talk to,
what Departments you are supposed to check in with, who you are supposed to refer residents to. So
that’s definitely an area to look at. | have reached out to Alderman Schmidt regarding discussing that in
Substandard Living Conditions so that we can refine that plan and make sure that any experience by
residents are being heard but also any; of the Departments that feel like they need more resources or
legislative authority that we are actually addressing those needs as well.
| do want to thank Megan Doucette who organizes Southern New Hampshire Emergency Alerts and Carol
Chapman who are volunteers as well. But they took the lead, when the Soup Kitchen and United Way
were closed in making sure lasagnas were made and brought to the residents in Motel 6, because that’s
got to be the worst Labor Day experience | can imagine. So | really appreciate that human touch when
neighbors were able to come together for each other for things like that.
| want to express my condolences also to the family and friends of Lulu. She was really well known on the
Rail Trail. She struggled with a lot of substance abuse issues and she did pass away due to overdose. We
all cheer for her when she’s out and she’s interacting with people and she’s looking good and healthy. We
were concerned when she would disappear for a month at a time. So we got word last week that she had
passed away. So it’s very difficult right now dealing with the COVID outbreak and the needs of restaurants
and businesses downtown struggling economically to also see that a complete discouraging surge in
overdoses and suicides and mental health issues.
