Special Bd. of Aldermen — 11/26/2018 Page 15
together until you’ve put out the bids. And there is just a little bit of a difference in the process working from the
public side. | think all of us have felt that oh | want to do this but oh no | can’t because this is a public process
So | think that there has been a little bit of that that feels very different for many of us who have been involved
on both sides, non-profit as well as public. But no we are not putting 2,000 people in there at one time.
Alderman O’Brien
Having some 35 years expertise in such matters, the State RSA says you can’t build a building that is not
going to be fire safe. It is going to be heavily sprinkled, it is a place of public assembly. Those that do go into
any establishment in our City, you will notice that a Certificate of Occupancy has to be proudly displayed so
that every person can see to make sure that they are not themselves getting themselves into an overcrowded
situation.
The discussion of the movable or floating plans, such as movable tables and seats and everything it sounds
like there will be several certificates of occupancy met with that. The Fire Marshalls will work with that and
come up with that particular amount, because every table and chair takes up a Space, and those are guarded
in exiting the building. So | am quite confident in that, that it will be done appropriately and to our level of
expertise and safety that we in Nashua demand.
Ms. Bell It sounded like a high number when | was doing the math so | was glad you were here and other
members of the Board of Aldermen to answer and thank you so much for your clarification on things. |
appreciate that and | would like to say just as a reader of the Telegraph on a daily basis, that it would be nice if
there were maybe some updates on the funds that have flowed into this project because | think that most
people are in the dark. They were maybe led to believe that there were some initial donors who were stepping
up, they were on deck, they were at the plate with some large funds to donate and | think that people don’t
know, | Know that people don’t know and they would like to be kept a little bit more abreast about what is going
on and even the dollar figure. Because it is people who are considering donating, like to know that there is
something in the pot so thank you again very much.
Dick lannacone , 35 Swart Terrace, there ought to be a group that talk for and against so that is what | would
like to present tonight after listening to the speakers it is very important. First of all for those who think we are
against, our group has probably raised more than $400,000.00 to $500,000.00 for the Performing Arts since
we’ve been in town. We have been very active in supporting the arts. I’m not sure the people who supported
what used to be the Nashua Symphony which is Symphony NH is that for years we looked for support. When |
first came into town | worked with the Symphony and was on their Board, Chairman for part of the time and
during the time we looked for support and could not get the support.
We actually went to the City of Manchester because there was what, the New Hampshire Symphony. Most
people believe if you said the name New Hampshire Symphony that they were the Symphony for the State of
New Hampshire. In very private negotiations a few of us would get together and meet and try and geta
merger of the two organizations, that’s how much trouble we were in. We finally came to the end of the
discussions with New Hampshire Symphony saying we don’t need you. We all know what happened, the
people like Nancy who was the head and Eric who worked for very little in a timeless fashion we survived and
they did not.
| would caution on a couple things here. We have many committees looking for the Performing Arts trust me.
You think the Performing Arts Center we have where the symphony performs is a good place? |’m sorry, even
for a period of time we tried to get some air conditioning in there approved, couldn’t even get the money at first.
It is not an ideal situation. We'd love to have a place in Nashua but | think it’s important what Barbara Pressly
said for the second part. That part is that | don’t have the exact numbers but a vote was taken, how many
votes were actually voted for if they wanted a performing arts center or not, it was very little right, how many
votes? How many total votes?
