Board of Aldermen — 9/12/17 Page 20
and spending by audiences was $13 million. | heard people complain that it would cost over $1 million a year
in carrying the bond. Greater Concord had $13 million. When you look at Portsmouth who does have the
largest economic impact because they have really worked at bringing tourists to their city, they have $58
million in economic impact and of that $58 million, $36.5 million was spending by audiences. The rest was of
course what the organizations themselves spent and the economy. It’s not an insignificant thing that will bring
to this city in revenue that will affect not only the overall economic impact to the city but to all the other places
that audiences go before and after and bring more people into finding out why Nashua really is New
Hampshire’s gateway to the arts. | thank you for your time and | urge you all to support this proposal. Thank
you.
Michael Reike, 35 Lock Street
Hi my name is Michael Reike. I’m a property owner at 35 Lock Street. Unfortunately | didn’t grow up in
Nashua. | actually grew up in a town about 40 miles west of here, 30 miles south of Keene. I’m speaking here
in favor of the arts proposal because | have experience in two cities. One is a city that | went to high school in.
The town | grew up in was too small so they shipped us to a town on Millers River which travels west unlike the
Nashua River is traveling east but in many ways it was very similar. It was a mill town. We made tools but we
didn’t invest in anything that would draw people there. Today if you travel down the main street of the town |
went to high school in, you’d see main street dotted every other store front by closed businesses. Nobody
goes there. The kids that grew up and high school there they move away and they never come back.
The other city | had a chance to visit is Belfast, Maine. Belfast, Maine is doing quite well today. Its property
values in Belfast are twice what they are in other similar communities in Maine. They have a vibrant farmer's
market. They have a great arts festival in Belfast. You might think well maybe they were just born with a silver
spoon in their mouth but that’s actually far from the case. Forty years ago, Belfast, Maine, in Waldo County
was actually the poorest county in all of the United States. They made shoes there. They processed chickens.
Like many New England towns what they did with the refuge it was just tossed in the water. It was not a place
where people wanted to visit but something changed. There’s a lot of people that made that happen but one
thing in particular that | think speaks out is that 15 years ago they were faced with a decision. You see back in
1926, they built US1 over the harbor from West Belfast to East Belfast. Then about 20 years ago they built a
new bridge and they were faced with the question what do we do with the old bridge. There were many folks in
town, good New Englanders just like | am who said there are costs associated with any bridge. You just don’t
have a bridge. You have to repair it. You have to maintain it. What we should do is we should just demolish
the bridge. There is the serious number of people in town that said let’s just demolish it and then we won't
have to worry about that as an expense. But there were other people forward thinking who said you know
what this could be an anchor for our community. They actually passed the money and several million dollars to
repair and maintain the bridge which is now the anchor of a footpath in Belfast that just doesn’t link West
Belfast to East Belfast but the entire river and the harbor walk. So that has become one of the main things that
has drawn people and made Belfast what it is today a place that’s vibrant, a place that has restaurants
reviewed on the front page of the New York Times. Let this be our bridge to the future of Nashua. Let this be
the place that brings people from Boston, from New York, from other places that say when we think about New
England we want to go to Nashua because that’s a place we want to be. Thank you.
Billy Fokas, 185 Main Street
l’ve been a member of this community and lived and worked in downtown Nashua for the past 57 years. | like
others before me did not plan on speaking this evening but after what I’ve been hearing, | just felt compelled to
get up and say a few words. I’m going to make it short and sweet. My family has been a part of downtown
since 1936. We've lived and reside and done business in Nashua all of our lives. We've dedicated our lives to
the success of this great city. | personally, like my cousin Philip said, have seen many businesses come and
go in the past 57 years in downtown Nashua. | think with the performing arts center that this is very important
to our entire city to look forward to something and to grow and to get people to stay rather than leave our great
community. | just wish and urge everybody to think the long-term greatness of our city to consider this and
let’s move forward for once. Thank you very much.
