Board of Aldermen 12-08-2020 Page 34
Gia Bonilla Ok.
President Wilshire
Alderwoman Kelly?
Alderwoman Kelly
Thank you Alderman Wilshire. Alderman Lopez said a lot of what | normally want to say around COVID. |
know that everyone is tired and we are going into the holidays. And | just urge everyone to sort of look at
what's ahead. The vaccine is on the horizon and you know one holiday at home with just your family is
definitely, | Know that’s what | am going to do. We did that at Thanksgiving and it wasn’t so bad, we had
Zoom open all day. So | just encourage people to just hold the line.
The other point | was going to make that as you are thinking about holidays if it's something that you
celebrate and you are looking to get gifts, the downtown businesses are open, they are small, you are not
going to stand in line at the mall and they all really, really rely on the community to come out for them. So if
you are able to and you can wear a mask and come downtown, we have a lot of really great businesses
down there that can help you. So that’s it, thank you.
President Wilshire
Thank you. Alderman Tencza?
Alderman Tencza
Thank you Madam President, just briefly the Jewish Celebration of Hanukah begins in a few days before
we will meet again so | just wanted to wish all of our friends and neighbors who are celebrating a Happy
and safe Hanukah.
President Wilshire
Alderman Clemons.
Alderman Clemons
Thank you very much. | just want to thank Gia for coming forward this evening and speaking. Her
comments reflect a lot of the business community's comments that | have gotten and you know and really
the issue | mean and to them is about being responsible, following the Governor’s protocols, following the
Nashua Ordinances, the Mask Ordinance and where the City is lacking | believe is in enforcement. And we
have a lot of work to do in that area. It is a lot harder to, | knew that this was going to be an impossible task
to enforce this with the resources that we currently have. So we are getting into a worse situation than we
were in the spring. | think it is incumbent upon us to have the conversations that Alderman Lopez was
talking about because yes we need to listen to our Health Experts, | absolutely agree 100% with that.
On the other hand, we need to listen to local businesses and we need to understand the financial impact
that it is going to have, that shutting down will have on a business and what that is going to do the
employees and the long-term stability of the community at whole. And it is not about putting economics
above health, what it is about is the fact that in the spring, when the State went for a shutdown, we had
Congress that was working with the American people and working with the States to get us things like the
PPP Loans and helping with a stimulus check and helping with the $600.00 extra in unemployment so that
people had the stability, people could stay at home and they could social distance in a responsible way.
