Graham, Donna
To: Martha O'Neill
Subject: RE: Downtown Nashua Barriers
From: Martha O'Neil! Qiqqggaaamn >
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2022 3:52 PM
To: Board of Aldermen <BOA@nashuanh.gov>; Graham, Donna <GrahamD@nashuanh.gov>; Cummings, Tim
<CummingsT@nashuanh.gov>
Subject: Fwd: Downtown Nashua Barriers
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wovnnn---- Forwarded message ---------
From: Martha O'Neill <q
Date: Mon, Dec 6, 2021 at 3:20 PM
Subject: Downtown Nashua Barriers
To: <WilshireL @nashuanh.gov>, <BOA@nashuanh.gov>
Cc: <graham(@nashuanh.gov>
Hi Lori!
I hope that all is well with you! Thank you for all the service you provide Nashua as the President of the Board
of Aldermen.
It is my understanding that the Board is considering installing the barriers again downtown next year, While it
was understandable to have them in 2020 to allow the restaurants to have more seating when the Covid space
requirements were stringent, that justification no longer exists. The barriers in 2021 greatly impeded having
adequate parking and traffic flow, besides being an eyesore. How great downtown now looks with the return of
Main Street as it was planned to be.
As someone who has worked downtown for almost 40 years, I have seen the vibrant daytime business life
nearly completely evaporate. It is great that now there are more restaurants and they are open at night, but
promoting the success of the nightlife with the barriers has come at the cost of daytime business. What store or
business wants to open when parking and access are limited by the presence of the barriers? There are actually
fewer restaurants open at lunchtime now than there were before the barriers were put up, so downtown working
people have all the inconveniences of the barriers and don't even have the benefit of many restaurants being
open for lunch.
You probably have also seen the photos of the fire trucks frozen to the building where Martha's is located. Great
historical photo but also a reminder that disasters happen and emergency vehicles need access to buildings, as
well as the ability to get through the streets. We have been lucky there have not been any disasters so far that
were harder to fight because of the barriers, but I certainly have seen many ambulances struggling to get
through downtown with only 2 lanes remaining of the original 4 plus the 2 parking lanes.
My last comment is more subjective and I am sure there are different opinions, but to me the barriers are very
unattractive and spoil the looks of downtown.
