Special Board of Aldermen 12-21-2020 Page 6
But if the businesses are currently implementing the guidelines the best that they can and we are going
above and beyond and we are trying to keep everyone safe, | really, | think the curfew is just going to do
more damage than good to myself and a majority of others in the industries that are going to be
impacted as well. Thank you.
President Wilshire
Thank you.
Gia Sorry, | muted for a minute, Heather | just appreciate you so much and speaking the truth it means
a lot and it’s a good point to make.
President Wilshire
Name and address for the record, please.
Gia Bonnila | live at 5 Hopey Drive. | am Director of Events & Partnerships at Boston Billiard Club &
Casino in Nashua. So a couple points | want to make, a lot of people are going to speak on the fact that
this could shutter businesses and | don’t want to shy away from that. The fact that there’s been some
people toying with the idea that after 9:30 as a Charitable Gaming Facility we could survive without food
and beverage sales is naive and I’ve crunched numbers, I’ve done spread sheets, I’ve looked at the
numbers, we’ve looked at them. It won’t happen, not for us, we couldn’t do it. It’s unrealistic, | mean |
know charities get 35% of our charitable gaming revenue and I’ve heard people say they should get
more. They do get more because we handle the overhead and the overhead and the payroll and
everything is very, very deep. So without food and beverage it would be impossible, never mind the
risks that, | mean anybody in the industry will tell you that if you want to stay open as a dry business
where people can’t drink, right now we don’t allow people to go their cars. They would go to their cars,
we would have zero control over them. And we can’t say you can’t have a water, you can’t have a
coffee, they are going to have to be allowed at that point to go to their cars and we don’t know what they
are doing.
So that’s important to think about, Charitable Gaming will not survive and many, many, many people in
the community rely on us and | pride myself on that. We want to be there for them, it is one of the most
rewarding parts of the job. We do employ 170 people and frankly | am Director of Events &
Partnerships, if this happens, | would not have a job. And to be honest, if me having to find another
career, another job meant that we saved lives and | actually believed that, then | would entertain it, |
absolutely would. | am not a monster, | care about lives more than | care about even me making a living
or having a roof over my head. But there’s no science that anyone can give me that is behind it. And
never mind that, we were severely let down by the community if they want to pull the rug out from
underneath us because nobody has implemented a back up plan. No one has any resources to keep us
alive or my staff alive or surviving. It’s kind of like we are going to do this and you’re going to have to
figure it out on your own. And that’s not fair. And | will stick up for my team, we do everything we can, |
want people to be held accountable and I'll stand behind that all day. | mean | don’t want to be put with
the same batch of bad apples, | don’t. And we are prepared to make concessions but doing a 9:30
curfew, | don’t want anybody to be confused about what it means. You will be closing businesses and
livelihoods will be lost and people would be put out and they will rely on organizations that don’t have
the means to supplement it.
President Wilshire
You are going to have to wrap up. Can you wrap up, please?
Gia_| appreciate all the Aldermen and | appreciate the time. And | have to say you guys all give us
time and | appreciate it. | just — that’s all | have to say.
