Board of Aldermen 3-10-2020 Page 18
The Board didn’t always look like this and there is a reason why my sign says Alderwoman. Because if
there’s a little girl in Nashua who wants to be on our Board, | want her to know that she can be. So it’s not
just a name change.
Alderman Lopez
While | understand and appreciate the eloquence of Alderman Mc’Brien’s comments regarding names, |
think they do make a difference. | know we’ve already had a debate and half of us were on the Board when
we decided whether or not to remove the word “man” from the end of “chair’ on the Committee roles. And
the apparently persuasive argument was that if we lose the word “man” from it, people might think we are
talking about furniture in the minutes. | think whatever gymnastics we go through to justify continuing to do
things the way they always are, flies in the face of progress. | think this does no harm, it just enables and
empowers somebody to feel a little bit more welcome. And | would argue that if it makes someone feel
more welcome than it is needed. To Alderman Clemons’ point, we do set up a standard and a precedent
for future Boards, and they do have the authority to remove it if they feel passionately enough and if they
can persuade their fellow Board members to do so, then they can do so. But that would be a very intrusive
argument. And | hate to say it, but | think this is a pretty intrusive argument for people who are non-binary
or not of equal gender privilege because we are talking about their right to be called what they want to be
called, a right that many of us have already and they don’t. | mean | agree with Alderman O’Brien and |
was kind of poking fun when | called him “McBrien” before, but | do think we should make a statement of
equality; but at the same time | do think people can be very sensitive to names and how they are
presented. Given that the word “alder” means older, | would just argue that anybody who thinks there is no
sensitive issue here, would you prefer to be called “senior” or “elder”.
Alderman Tencza
So | may be the fifth person that Alderwoman Kelly referred to as being under 40 for a couple more months.
You know, | did a little research too just to see around the country who else or where else the Board of
Alderpersons is found. And where | found the areas where this is used in the Midwest, do not strike me as
being you know in a progressive period or that it used in a way that’s meant to be anything other than
respectful to the people who are serving on the Board. Just a quick Google search shows that Burnsville,
Missouri, Crystal Lake, Missouri, a number of towns in Wisconsin, all refer to their Board as either
Alderpersons or the Board of Alderpersons. So | think this is kind of bringing us up with the times. And as
Alderwoman Kelly stated before and Alderman Clemons stated, it makes it more inclusive for anyone who
wants to think about serving on the Board.
Alderman Laws
So there is nothing that | can contribute that is as eloquent or well said as some of my colleagues here. But
just simply, the reason | am going to support this is that for the people that it is important to, it is part of their
identity. And for the people who are against this it is just a matter of their personal opinion. And for me,
when you weigh those two things out, you want to support the person. You want to support someone’s
identity, more than you want to support someone’s opinion. So thank you.
Alderman Jette
So as someone who is neither under 40 nor a woman, | still feel part of this Board. You know | kind of,
since I’m not a woman, although | am a person, but you know right now we allow people to be referred to
as Alderman or Alderwoman, and | am sure that is someone wanted to be called Alderperson we would
allow that also. You know, | agree with whoever said that this this Legislation | don’t think is really
necessary but | am going to support it because this is what we are doing now and | am sensitive to the
people who feel that it is necessary to do so. But! also share Alderman Kelly’s observation that people
who aren’t from Nashua, even people who are from Nashua, have trouble understanding what an Alderman
means, what it is.
