Board of Aldermen 02-15-2022 Page 5
Expanded outdoor dining from May through September has proven to be a boon to downtown businesses, to the
many restaurant workers who depend on it for jobs and income, and to the City as a whole. Although we began the
program as a way to save restaurants devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic, it has attracted thousands of people
downtown. It is clear that people love to sit outside for a meal or a beer in Nashua’s downtown.
The positive economic impact of the expanded outdoor dining cannot be overstated. A 2021 study of visitors to our
bars and restaurants during the summer months reveals that at least 400,000 patrons came downtown to enjoy the
expanded outdoor dining. If we consider how much each person spends, this adds up to millions of dollars, millions of
dollars in additional revenue. A recent Economic Development survey revealed that 80 percent of visitors to Main
Street come for the restaurants and bars.
| have heard from the owners of one of our downtown restaurants who say they will go out of business without
expanded outdoor dining. Other businesses are concerned about how their business would be affected without it.
Now hundreds of Nashuans contributed to the recently adopted /magine Nashua master plan. This Master Plan says:
“The temporary outdoor seating... along Main Street... presents the community with a vision of a new downtown...
[T]he increased option of outdoor seating and reclamation of a significant slice of the street away from purely
automotive traffic has shown that a dramatic rethinking of the public realm can work in Nashua... It is the opinion of
this planning group that the benefits of these temporary improvements should be made permanent and even
expanded as the city looks forward to a broader reinvigoration of the downtown businesses.” Imagine Nashua goes
on and the hundreds of people recommend that in the longer term, the City rebuild Main Street, narrowing it to one
lane each way, and by adding trees, wider sidewalks, and more public pedestrian space.
With the expanded outdoor dining, there are some valid concerns about traffic congestion and removal of parking
spaces. Last year, the expanded outdoor dining removed some 70 parking spaces, but remember that there are a
total of more than 3,000 parking spaces downtown.
| am proposing to the Board of Aldermen a compromise to address concerns about congestion and parking. | am
proposing that we shorten the outdoor dining season from 8 to 5 % months. We will have outdoor dining on fewer
blocks where there is a high concentration of restaurants and lower traffic impacts and | will be proposing that we
reduce the expansion on the west side of one block where two of our businesses have objected. But we must keep in
mind that other retailers, like DesignWares, Scontsas, and Camaraderie have indicated that the additional foot traffic
resulting from the outdoor dining helped enable them to grow their sales and strengthen their businesses. | believe
that the Board of Aldermen will approve a modified outdoor dining plan so that we can retain the many benefits while
alleviating concerns.
COMMUTER RAIL
Our businesses, our citizens, and our Board of Aldermen are solidly behind our efforts to bring commuter rail from
Boston to Nashua and Manchester. Connecting us by another mode of transportation to the largest economy in New
England will help us add jobs, and grow opportunity, and it will enable us to attract the young families we need to
ensure our future success.
Our employers often have jobs without people to fill them. These job creators tell me that when they are trying to
attract qualified applicants from outside the area, a common question is, “Does Nashua have commuter rail?” Young
people often see the train as an attribute that they want in a community in which they choose to live. We are making
progress. The State of New Hampshire Department of Transportation has hired engineering firm AECOM to perform
the required final planning phase of the Capitol Corridor Rail Project. Also former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, now the
Secretary of Transportation in Washington, has shown an interest in considering commuter rail here as a potential
project to be funded by the Infrastructure and Jobs Act passed in DC.
There is one dark cloud on the horizon when it comes to commuter rail. There is a bill in the legislature — HB 1432 -
that would prohibit the State of New Hampshire from spending one dime on commuter rail. Some State funds will be
required to make commuter rail a reality.
MASTER PLAN
As | mentioned, during this past year the City completed our first Master Plan in twenty years. A citizen’s advisory
group from across our City and chaired by Amber Morgan helped lead this effort. We focused on a number of areas -
the South End commercial district, the Amherst Street corridor, Daniel Webster College, downtown, and Northeastern
Boulevard. These are areas where we see future development that can strengthen Nashua’s economy and
