Graham, Donna
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From: Nikki W
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2022 11:37 AM
To: Board of Aldermen
Subject: Concerned resident/business partner.
CAUTION: This email came from outside of the organization. Do not click links/open attachments if source is
unknown.
To Whom it May Concern:
| am writing as a concerned citizen, driver, downtown resident and employee of Nashua who uses Main St several times
per day. | frequent Main St. daily for dining and shopping, as both a driver and pedestrian. | fear that cutting half of the
lanes down is not conducive to proper flow of traffic and dangerous for not only pedestrians but also those driving on the
street.
Not to mention the fire and rescue stating it takes an extra minute and nine seconds to get through traffic, that could be
the difference of life or death. The police also expressed safety and concerns about increased response times. The fire
chief said it would be difficult to even operate the Ladder truck on a working fire if needed as they would need to operate
around the barriers. As far as I'm concerned, this should be the end of this discussion. When public safety becomes a
concern, there should be no further discussion about the barriers. During the Covid pandemic, the BOA constantly said,
lets listen to the experts (BOH, CDC, etc...) and follow their advice which has been done with the various mandates. Now
we have experts stating they have concerns about the barriers and they are falling on deaf ears as we are not listening to
them.
I'd prefer to leave downtown as is. Restaurants have been able to get along find before the pandemic and will continue to
do business after. The restaurants are thriving downtown especially on the weekends. Many do not even have the staff to
support their indoor dining, never mind EXPANDED outdoor dining. The restaurants that want outdoor dining may still do
so on the sidewalks like they have in years past. We do not need to change the roadways 24/7 to add more dining seats
that are only used for a portion of the day and are only beneficial to restaurants. The barriers will be detrimental to all
retailers and non-restaurant establishments as the increased traffic and lack of parking deters patrons from coming
downtown.
It's time to start normalizing and living our normal lives again. Stop putting up the barriers. Please.
Working at a downtown business (Nashua Collision Center), I've had many customers in the summer explain they're on
their way but running late due to traffic in the area. | don't want to work late because my customers can't get here on time.
I'm here from 7:30pm to 5pm M-F. I'd like to leave work on time, but the traffic this causes and undue stress is
unacceptable not to mention my customers being very frustrated not being able to easily navigate downtown.
| frequently (4+ times per week) dine downtown. As | mentioned earlier, restaurants do not have the staff (servers,
bartenders and kitchen) to sustain the inside and outside seating. They barely have the staff for a busy Saturday night
with just indoor seating. It's just unreasonable at this point in time.
I'd hate to need a fireman or a rescue and wait a full minute and nine seconds longer than was necessary because Main
St traffic was too difficult to get down.
Let's all be reasonable not only keep traffic flowing but keep public safety in mind!
Nicole Wilde
36 Mason St
Nashua, NH 03060
Nicole Wilde
