Finance Committee - 03/04/2020 Page 5
We do know, common sense, is we live in the Live Free or Die State but there are going to be people who
ignore the restrictions of parking during a snow storm. So plow trucks are going to have to go around the
parked vehicle. They are not going to be able to two a lot of vehicles.
Also, trash collection, you know, | don’t know if you have cars parked now where you have armed device that
comes down and grabs the barrel, | don’t know. | have several questions with this and this is why as the
Chairman of Infrastructure you know | could very easily like Cinderella or Tinkerbell and throw magic dust and
go park anywhere. But the thing is if that were to occur, there would be some ramifications, it’s the ying and
yang of life that we look at it. | think by having this study as a fresh, complete new start to find out. | think
once we get into it, through the muck and mire of it, | think people will begin to realize, it’s just not saying, “|
want to park my car overnight”. Like | say, it’s the issues with trash removal, plowing, other different things that
do not exist today.
Nashua has never traversed into this since about the 1700’s. People didn’t leave their horses parked out in
front of the house tied to the wagon. So this is something very, very new. That’s why | refer to other
communities that have gone through this such in the greater Boston area like a City like Cambridge and
everything else. | don’t know where this is going to lead to but | am very interested; this is a study that really
definitely needs to be done.
Alderman Klee
Thank you and if you'll indulge me | have two questions. The first one is and it was probably staring me in the
face | just don’t know. | keep seeing Desman and M&M and then M&M will do this report. What is M&M and
who are they?
Mr. Cummings
Thank you Mr. Mayor if | may. Yes, Desman is the lead project consultant, M&M is the acronym for the Civil
Engineering Firm that is a subcontractor to them and is part of the project team.
Alderman Klee
And if | may, | have a second question. The scope of this parking study goes beyond downtown and beyond
metering, etc. We are looking at all parking throughout the City with an eye and a report that will talk to us
about where we need metering or where we don’t need metering, probably not that part. But where we do
need it and where it would be advantageous? Is that correct? For the Public | just want to make sure that they
understand that this not just downtown, this is for everything that will affect the overnight parking, etc. Is that
correct?
Mr. Cummings
That is correct, again Mr. Mayor, if | may. The policy level questions will be brought up and discussed and
brought to the forefront with this report with implantation strategies articulated and it is up to the Board of
Aldermen to decide which direction you wish to go. And then another layer to that is the studying of where
paid parking should be, which is a more focused area traditionally we refer to it as the downtown. How we
define the downtown will be part of this conversation. But | don’t want people to think that we are suddenly
talking about metering spaces or metering streets outside of the downtown. But we absolutely will be having a
policy level component to this study about you know how we want to handle parking outside of the downtown.
Alderman Klee
Just one more Mr. Mayor, thank you. It’s not so much a question as a comment. | want to echo what
Alderman O’Brien had said. | am like all the other Alderman in that we are getting inundated with the overnight
parking. | know | have 7 people literally sitting at my doorstep waiting for us to come up with something and
part of it is because of the increase of apartments to building ration and it is not doing it.
