Board of Aldermen — 2/19/2019 Page 4
This new housing has added tens of millions of dollars to the downtown tax base and has added
1,000 new downtown residents who can patronize Main Street businesses.
Four years ago the banks of the Nashua River downtown were overgrown with weeds and with
invasive species. We had no plan to change this sorry situation. Today, we have developed a
Nashua Riverfront Master Plan and we are starting the work of revitalizing and rejuvenating the
beauty of our Riverfront with lighting, suspended walkways, landscaping and docks. Four years
ago, Pennichuck the water company which the City owns, had its headquarters out of town and
many people ask, “why is this”. And four years ago the Court House Oval in the center of
downtown was sitting vacant. Today, Pennichuck has committed to coming back home and the
company will be bringing 60 people to work at an expanded HQ in the Court House Oval.
Today our City has more life with Nu Muse and New England Roots Music Festivals; with the
VEO Ride scooters and bikes; with a reactivated central fire station; with Dancing in the Streets:
with the Main Street Farmer’s Market and with our Pride Parades.
For more than three decades, we have been working towards a Downtown Performing Arts
Center. | want to thank the Bank of America for recently committing to a leading gift of
$250,000.00 and Enterprise Bank for an important gift of $100,000.00. Soon we will see a new
marque on Main Street and annually 70,000 people will be coming downtown to go to a
performance at the new Performing Arts Center and to spend money dining and shopping.
We also have a plan to restore and renew the inactive green space between the Nashua Public
Library and our Court Street Building. The design for this new park includes a great lawn, café
seating, trees and landscaping and a small playground and basketball court. This is a project
about which | and many other really excited. If you haven’t seen the plan yet, you should check
it out on-line.
Based upon the vision of one our millennial citizens, Amber Logue, we are working towards a
downtown dog park, near the Mill yard entrance to Mine Falls Park. This will be an important
amenity for all dog owners in our City. We are also moving forward to provide the protection of
a fire suppression sprinkler system through the Court Street Central Fire Station including the
Streeter Theater. This will make our Community Theaters safer for the Peacock Players, the
Nashua Theater Guild and the kids and families who use that theater.
Our Arts Community and a thriving arts scene are critical to a successful downtown and critical
to a successful City. The Picker Arts Group on the Pine Street Extension, our annual
International Sculpture Symposium, the New Artist Studios in the Central Fire Station, the
engaging murals around our downtown by Manny Ramirez and Positive Street Art and the
Annual Art Show at Greely Park are all important contributors to our thriving art scene. This fall
we will be working in partnership with the Currier Museum of Art on the first of an annual arts
project in Nashua.
As | have said over the past four years we have added a lot of new downtown housing but we
certainly need more. Housing a critical need for our residents, for our businesses and for a
healthier economy. The vacancy rate for apartments is at a record low of 0.6%. Rents rose
19% over the last four years. We need to add more housing of all types; market rate and
affordable apartments as well as single family homes.
