Special Bd. of Aldermen — 11/26/2018 Page 13
Alderman Dowd
Is there anyone else that would be like to be heard in opposition to this? Please come up to mic and state your
name and address.
Barbara Pressly Hello, my name is Barbara Pressly and | live at 11 Orchard Avenue and | am so pleased to
know that my alderman is going to be the first one with the million dollar donation. My primary concern tonight
is the integrity of our local Board of Aldermen. | have always been | guess naive enough but | think a lot of
people are very naive that when something is placed on the ballot for the citizens to vote, that it is rather
sacred. | am deeply concerned | understand putting something on the ballot by the way is not a frivolous
endeavor, it is really hard to do. | am distressed to learn tonight that the group that was so much in favor of
this, it is pretty clear now that they did not understand the magnitude and the complication of a project like this.
| think so many of you are new members to the Board of Aldermen and | think you have been placed in an
extremely awkward position because you did not vote to put it on the ballot. So you’ve been caught in the
middle; do you live up to what was voted on explicitly and exactly or do you find another way to accomplish
what you want to accomplish? | do believe that the plan, | commend the Board and all of the sub-committees
that have worked on this, | think you have really done a good job to find out what it would take to really have a
quality project like this and | commend the work that has been done.
| certainly like the suggestion of Alderman Jette, I’m trying to think of some way that you can sort of save the
integrity, can the public ever trust again anything that is put on the ballot if you so drastically change the
meaning of it through a resolution. And it clear to me that you have learned a lot, you’ve learned that what you
want to do is probably the best way to accomplish this. | thought the idea of getting the money to get the
design might be a solution for you. Nobody wants to give a lot of money or time to something that they can’t
see and understand. It seems logical to me that maybe some way that you can think about finding a resolution
where you do not violate the public decision and you could still proceed with the next step, which clearly is to
get a design. Think about it, if you come in with a really exciting great design, you could have an enormous
amount of support from everybody. | think that would work, | hope you won’t rush into this. In a way you have
the reputation of local government in your laps, not by your own doing or own solution or suggestion. | hope
you don’t feel the need to rush this through and support it and push it through tonight.
I’d also like to mention that a lot of people don’t know about this and a lot of it has to do with the Holiday
Season but I’ve been really quite surprised that people who watch government and there is no press here
tonight so they don’t even know what you are voting on. Well they go the message, so anyway, pardon me?
(inaudible) Well they are not sitting up in the press box anyway you have a tough decision to make and | am
sorry for those of you that are new that you have been placed in this situation but you have.
| think Alderman Jette has come up with a great idea where you can maybe proceed, get the money, get a
good design and not violate the sacredness of a citizen’s vote. And you would have time to do that, you would
have time to get it on another ballot if you want to change what they voted on, let them vote to make the
change. But think your integrity is at stake. Thank you.
Testimony in Favor- None
Testimony in Opposition
Karen Bell 95 Parnell Place, Nashua, New Hampshire. Just a couple of questions, observations and things
since the past couple people have spoken. The Palace Theatre has 880 seats since after they had the
renovation. It was 1,100 seats they had a renovation now it is 880; I’ve been there it is a great venue. | don’t
Fred if these are all facts but if you have a 550 tier, 500 table and 1,000 standing in this, the first thing, those
are the numbers that Fred was saying, the first thing that comes to mind to me doing the math is over 2,000
