Board of Aldermen 06-12-2018 Page 2
But the basic work of removing the wet material and all of that needs to be done before the building can be
re-occupied by the residents. The people who are living there have been in the Fireside Motel and in Motel
6 over the last couple of nights. Now we are working with the Red Cross and others to find some shelter
space and it looks pretty good that everybody will be taken care of. But we will be meeting again tomorrow
in the afternoon to again review the situation. If any of you have any questions, just let me know and | will
try to answer them.
| wanted to mention that | know there have been some questions regarding the Cotton Transfer Bridge and
its accessibility. We are working with the owner of the Cotton Mill Square Building to make the north end of
the bridge accessible through the building. That was sort of the intention from the beginning and some
procedures and technology are being added to make sure that takes place.
And finally the dance party which we call “Dancin’ in the Streets” which we are doing again this year for a
second time in concert, no pun intended, with the Symphony, is going to take place on June 23™ out in front
of City Hall. We will again be closing the street. Last year there were several hundred even though there
was a light rain. | think it will be a lot of fun so | hope you will consider coming out.
This coming Sunday the Farmer’s Market opens and it will be on Main Street and | think Great American
Downtown has done a very good job at expanding the booths so there will be more vendors and | think more
patrons and we are hoping that will work out very well.
In any event, that’s all | have Mr. President.
RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR
President McCarthy
Are there are any responses to the remarks of the Mayor?
Alderman Lopez
| just wanted to observe, | know it was in progress all day, but two of the agencies that are helping place the
displaced people at least until the building is reopened, the rescue mission really stepped up. | think it
important to remember when we have large scale housing emergencies like this that are unpredictable, we
need to have solutions in place and capacity that is supported. Our non-profits have a very important role in
making sure that we are able to respond in these gross emergencies, as well as the day-to-day
emergencies that individual’s experience. Larger buildings with older infrastructure are more vulnerable to
this and it causes a problem.
The Red Cross is always there but they have a limited capacity and the City, likewise, they are responsible
for responding to these things and they rely very heavily on the organizations that step up. One of the
things that this particularly impacted was that we don’t have unlimited female shelter space, so they were
particularly difficult to place. So | just wanted to call attention that when something like this happens, it
stretches already stretched thin services even further. We have a history in Nashua of non-profits really
stepping up and making it work. | just don’t want to challenge that system too much and | think it is
something we should all keep in mind.
Alderman Harriott-Gathright
| would like to mention that NTS was very supportive, they had three buses that relocated folks and actually
returned some of them today. So thank you to NTS.
