Board of Aldermen 07-13-2021 Page 22
Alderman Lopez
(No audio for several seconds) foothold or foot in the door here for this particular opportunity and then it
doesn’t go to other communities and other places. So above all of that this is a referendum so it gives the
Nashua taxpayers, again, the opportunity to weigh in on it. And a lot of the feedback that | got from the last
election is they were not clear on what was going on with this particular referendum item the first time it went
around. So | think there is an opportunity to do a better job with messaging, make sure that taxpayers are fully
informed and at the ballot they are able to vote. And if they turn it down again then their voice is clear, but |
think we owe it to the businesses in Nashua to provide this opportunity economically.
President Wilshire
Alderman Klee.
Alderman Klee
Thank you Madam President. | want to echo the words of both my colleagues here today. There are a limited
number of licenses and yes this was on the ballot before. It was defeated and as Alderman Lopez pointed out it
was defeated because | believe many people didn’t understand it. | got a lot of phone calls afterwards saying,
why wasn’t this explained to us, why didn’t we understand it. The truth is | actually thought that the Gaming
Association and so on would have explained it a little bit better. | think they realize the error of their mistakes
and | think (audio cuts out / no audio) .... A charitable gaming organizations that we have right now. As
Alderman Lopez and Aldermen O’Brien pointed out, the money does not go — there’s no portion of it that goes
to the charities but just like when they have a blue light special at K-Mart and yes | am aging myself, it brings
people in and they buy other things and that’s kind of what happens. They come in, the place a bet on a game
or something of that nature and then they go sit at a table. So it kind of brings them in, | wish that on the State
level we hadn’t quite organized it the way we did but that is already the done deal and | think we are missing
out on an opportunity as | think Alderman Lopez was trying to say by at least not giving the voters a second
bite at that apple. So thank you.
President Wilshire
Alderman Jette?
Alderman Jette
Thank you. | am against (audio cuts out /no audio) business but this not about whether or not we are legalizing
sports gambling or sports betting. The State has already done that and this as has been pointed out the
money doesn’t go to our charitable organizations. The charitable gaming facilities do contribute a lot of money
to help our non-profits and | know the non-profits have become dependent on that money. | think it is
unfortunate that that’s how the State chooses to support non-profits but that’s the way it is (audio cuts out / no
audio). .... You know are going to be spending less on the gaming portion of the business which a portion of it
does go to the charities. But that’s not what this is about, this is just putting it on the ballot (audio cuts out / no
audio) ...
