There are plenty of other restaurants in the city where there is appropriate outdoor dining without
making a mess of the downtown. When each of the downtown restaurants first opened, they knew
their original footprint for operating their business and had space enough to serve their customers. If
they want outdoor dining now that the pandemic is winding down, they should just use the limited
sidewalk or alley space they have without inconveniencing everyone who frequents downtown and
the other businesses; or maybe they should just move out of downtown and find another location that
will accommodate their outdoor dining without ruining our downtown.
We, ourselves, do everything we can to avoid the downtown area with the barriers up. It's very
frustrating sitting in a traffic jam idling our gas and time away just so that diners can eat and drink in
the street instead of on the sidewalk or - if you can imagine - inside the actual restaurant. (As an
aside, what is the advantage of dining in car fumes and filth kicked up from moving vehicles? If they
think it's to dine in the fresh air, they should think about what they're actually breathing and eating just
a few feet from the slowly moving traffic. It can't be healthy.)
Lastly, the barriers are ugly. No matter how they're painted, they will still be ugly. They make our
downtown look like an uninviting construction zone. Not one more penny of the hardworking
taxpayers’ money should be spent on these bad-idea barriers. The mayor should stop obsessing over
this bad idea, stop wasting everyone's time and the taxpayers’ money on it, and concentrate on better
serving all of the citizens of Nashua.
So please stop shopping for better-looking barriers; they're a waste of money, our money, the
taxpayers' money, and a bad idea for the majority of the businesses and citizens. Sell them to a
construction company and get some money back for them. They served their purpose during the
pandemic and, hopefully, the restaurant owners are grateful that everyone else sacrificed for them
during the pandemic. It's time to get back to normal and be considerate of everyone who values our
beautiful downtown and aiff of its wonderful businesses.
But above all, please get rid of the barriers for the safety of our citizens; for the first responders who
need every possible second to do the job we entrust to them, to save lives.
Thank you for listening.
Respectfully,
Bill & Chris Wenrich
35 Greenwood Drive
Nashua, NH 03062
