Board of Aldermen 03-08-2022 Page 29
to re-refer, | thought okay good well it will go back to committee and we'll be able to discuss all these things and avoid
what happened tonight, you know.
Everybody was talking about this ordinance and I’m not sure a lot of you have read it because this ordinance doesn’t
allocate one dime to the Court Street building. All it does is establishes an account., in this case an expendable trust
account to which money can be, in the future, allocated. When | asked questions at the committee meeting, every time |
ask about how does this work, how does this trust fund work, | kept being told we support the arts. The arts are important.
Well I’m all for the arts. That’s not the issue here. The issue is what is the purpose of this expendable trust fund. Is it a
good way to manage this thing or is there another way of doing it better and that’s what the questions are all about. How
do we best accomplish supporting this building? When | hear somebody say a tenant wants to make sure their money is
being used for the building. These tenants are paying $100 a month, $250 a month. We just spent over $600,000 on that
building. Since I’ve been an Alderman, that’s how much they’re spent on that building. So if they’re questioning if we are
using their money to support that building, the evidence is pretty obvious | think, but thank you for indulging me. Thank
you Madam President.
Alderman Lopez
| have notes. So my first one is that | just want to clarify for June 11 the Best Buddies Friendship Walk. | can walk. As
everybody knows, | like to Zoom around on my Segway, but | can do a little analog walking every now and then for a good
cause. So if anyone is interested in doing that, I’m definitely interested in participating.
| believe it was Alderman Comeau, | think, somebody from that side who mentioned that there was already some action
being taken or intended to be taken with regards to the library grounds. The Court Street grounds and the Library
grounds abut each other. That little terrace area - there is a plan to renovate it. There was a plan except 2020 got in the
way and the Library decided that maybe during the time it was literally shut down and there wasn’t a lot going on in terms
of like security in what our revenue would be coming back from COVID. It might not be a good idea to start a big
development venture. So their dreams kind of got crushed with that, but they have a very good looking proposal in plan
and all that kind of stuff that I'd love to see them pull the money together to do it. That’s what the Library Trustees do.
Additionally, the Court Street Theater is eligible for a lot of different art supports and a lot of art grants. We've already
started getting some of those or at least started to get grants not specifically for 14 Court Street, but ARPA arts funding.
So renovating the building is definitely a concern and as | said something that has been on the radar at least as long as
the Performing Arts Center if not before that. | can only speak to the year | started as Alderman, but | think it’s very
important to renovate that building to update it and upgrade it because while it may seem on the outside that the City is
well you pay your rent and the City is investing $700,000 and all that. A lot of these companies haven't actually seen that
fully realized because they haven’t been able to do shows and they haven't been able to rebuild their own programs.
There has been some publicity criticizing the Performing Arts Center. | don’t know if anyone else has seen it, but there is
concern among the performers there that there is anti-art sentiment and that half of Nashua that is art enthusiast is so
focused on the Performing Arts Centers that they're not paying attention to community arts and the other half doesn’t want
community arts or of the same mindset that we don’t need art in schools or that type of thing. So just because from our
perspective in looking at the budget and the money we put in, we feel that we are investing in that building. That doesn’t
mean its meeting the building’s needs. It doesn’t mean that the constituents and non-profits organizations operating out
of there agree with us. They may feel like a lot more needs to be done. We may agree that a lot more needs to be done
but have to make budgetary decisions. We can’t just say “okay well this is how much renovation has to happen”. Let’s
just pull it out of the escrow, or let’s bond it, or whatever.
Using the process, using Community Development, trying to apply for grants and find other funding sources for that is part
of the picture. Capturing the funds that are generated by that, you know, the new Liquid Therapy rentals and things like
that and making sure that they are supporting the building and don’t get pulled away for a rainy day project or some other
situation. That's part of the sustainability plan. | know that Director Kleiner has been very involved overseeing that.
Before her, Director Cummings was working on it. | think presentation is probably long overdue as to what’s more
immediately happening on that. Definitely would have been a good thing to have in the Budget Review Committee, but a
lot of my comments earlier tonight were made specifically because of public comment that was made which attributed in
my opinion our motivations for doing something at Court Street to a detail | was not aware of even really being relevant.
So | was interested in clarifying the value of the building and the importance of it, as much as establishing a vehicle in
which to fund it and create sustainability. | don’t think that’s the total plan, | don’t think that’s going to solve every problem
as was pointed out - maybe a third of just the operating expenses but it is a step toward actual sustainability for that site
which is long overdue. | hope we have further discussions on that, | hope it gets vetted more thoroughly in Committee
and we’re able to make progress on that, and | hope we are reassuring to the tenants that are there that our engaging
families, and organizing children to pursue their dreams, and all that kind of stuff they’re not going to be ignored,
neglected, or marginalized.
