Board of Aldermen 09-10-2019 Page 23
On the other hand, | see that there is an intrinsic and unquantifiable value to enhancing the educational
experience of students. Thankfully a compromise has been reached and that compromise is that there is a
sunset clause on this and 6, 8, 10, 11, 12 months from now we are going to know whether or not this
program has worked. We are going to know whether or not students have been using it; we are going to
know whether or not they haven't. It is going to be minimal money lost to the Downtown Improvement’s
Committee. It is money that we haven't raised yet; we are talking about it as though it is money that’s being
taken out of the budget, but it is money that hasn’t technically been raised yet.
I’m afraid to go there on Friday morning and catch the arrows for this but and | love everyone on that
Committee and respect them truly but | am going to support this because | think it’s better for the students.
Alderman Lopez
So | guess | have the benefit of being not conflicted. As the Downtown Alderman | see the need that the
students are bringing forward and | agree with it. | am very familiar with the parking space, the lot, the
distance and all those kinds of things. | also appreciate Alderman O’Brien’s commitment to being Chair; if
you feel passionate about something then | guess one approach as Chair make sure that that is known. |
always thought the Chair was more of an opportunity to be a neutral party and preside over meetings. So
we differ on that. | don’t feel any obligation personally to represent other than my Ward, my constituents
and the kids who go there.
| am conscious of the Downtown Improvement Committee’s budget, but | don’t want students to have to
pay for it when it is much more beneficial to have students at the Library contributing to that scholastic
environment that the Library is designed for then it would be to collect $2.25 and have people leaving early.
Or not having the change that they need and canceling their plans or whatever other barriers come up. It’s
not always about the amount of money you have total, it is sometimes about how you can deploy it. So
personally | don’t see the economic value of that particularly because I’ve been at the Library at least 4 out
of 7 days this week and that lot is not full, there are extra spaces. This is not going to make it so that other
people have to park farther away; it is not going to create a massive impact on any kind of revenue being
generated that undermines the Farmer’s Market. It is a small amount of money for a maximum amount of
benefit.
Cottage Street is not quite as adjacent as people might remember. | would encourage any Aldermen who
feel like to and from it is no big deal to surrender their Aldermanic Parking Pass and park on West Pearl
because that’s about the same distance. | don’t think that’s going to happen but | am saying if we have an
opportunity to let students park and encourage them to go to the Library | think we should do that. If we
have an opportunity to better use resources like empty spaces by encouraging students to come use it, |
think we should do that. | think the same logic applies that if you want the students to park on Cottage for 2
hours, but you afraid of having them walk back and forth from their car, it’s the same difference. The only
difference is that they feel like they are able to be closer, they may not have to carry things quite as far and
it could make a difference, especially if they are carpooling, because then not every student has to walk
back and forth. So | support this. | appreciate the presentation that the students did and | will support what
they’ve asked us to do.
Alderman Clemons
I’ve struggled with this one as well but unfortunately in the end | can’t support it for a number of reasons
some of them are more along the lines of what Alderman Dowd and Alderman O’Brien have said about the
parking study. But then the other part of it is there is a value that we have downtown. We, as a Board of
Aldermen back in 2011, made a commitment to the people of Nashua. What we said was if we raise the
parking fees on you the difference that we raise in that money, we are going to put directly back into
downtown. While you know it is a small amount of money, it’s not really the point. The point is that there is
a value to coming downtown, there are different things that are there. There are different resources beyond
the Library, there are different places to go and it costs money to park there for a reason.
