Board of Aldermen 10-13-2020 Page 13
President Wilshire
Thank you. Next up | have Rich Lannan.
Rich Lannan Good evening | am Rich Lannan with offices in 7D Taggart Drive in Nashua. | spoke a fair
amount two weeks ago so | will make it brief. | am the Chair of the Nashua Community Arts, the non-profit
for the PAC. And just wanted to make a point to the Board and the public is listening in for the first time
tonight that even in spite of what we have all witnesses in the last 8 to 9 months with COVID, the Capital
Campaign Committee has continued to raise funds even though we had our hiatus for a little while due to
COVID that made our lives a little difficult. But we are here, as you already know that the total of the $4
million dollars has been raised, including $1.5 million dollars of private money along with the New Market
Tax Credits. We have | believe it’s about 174 individual donors that made up that. So it’s not just two or
three or four big ticket donors, it just shows that there is a lot of commitment from the public, from the
businesses. We continue, we are not done, we are not at the end of our road. We are going to continue,
we are in conversations with many, many other business owners and individuals throughout Nashua that
are very committed. We are seeing a lot of people; the interest level has just continued to rise. And justa
lot of people have been involved in this with the various committees and the boards and obviously
employees of Nashua that have committed a lot to this. And we’ve gone this far and we are right at the end
pretty much on that finish line and | hope that the Board of Aldermen can see that and see all the people
that have been talking about it at least so far this evening. This is not important just for downtown but the
entire City of Nashua and quite frankly the region. So we would love your support this evening and look
forward to that. Madam President, | have a question if | could. Kate Luczko of the Chamber asked me to
read just a couple of quick sentences, since she couldn't be with us tonight if that’s ok with you.
President Wilshire
It is Rich.
Mr. Lannan. Yeah and Kate did read, she was part of the meeting two weeks ago and she read nota
lengthy letter but a letter with a lot of facts from the Art Economic Impact Study which | will not repeat.
There are a lot of very interesting facts about benefits of Performing Arts Centers from all over the country
and again it’s already in the minutes. So basically Kate just wanted me to reiterate from the Chamber and
the Board on behalf of their entire membership stand in support of this Performing Arts Center. And she
wanted to thank everybody for their time, thank everybody who has contributed to the project and
encourages the Board to please vote affirmatively this evening. Thank you.
President Wilshire
Thank you. Next we have Fawn Gaudet? We need your name and address for the record please?
Ms. Gaudet My name is Fawn Gaudet | live in Rumney, New Hampshire. Ok, hello, my name is Fawn
Gaudet, | live in New Hampshire and | am requesting Columbus Day change to Indigenous People’s Day. |
have strong pride in ancestry and | am a descendant of the Black Feet Nation. Growing up in New
Hampshire as a child | was keenly aware of the injustices committed against Native Americans, this being
our nation first. Before the Columbus era, there were millions of indigenous people in North America,
Central America and South America. The Abenaki known as the people of (inaudible) lived in New
Hampshire long before colonists arrived. There is the (audio cuts out) Abenaki that are strong leaders that
Catherine just spoke about. And indigenous people lived here and thrived in harmony with (audible) which
means world for the Abenaki. Their culture is rich with tradition, honor and respect for their people, land
and wildlife. For me, Columbus Day is not a day of joy, it is a day of mourning. During this period of
terrorism, indigenous people were massacred, raped, enslaves, tortured and genocide occurs. Changing
this Holiday to Indigenous People’s Day offers honor and respect to our people. As Columbus Day, the
Day only marks a false representation of what happened in the past. We must never repeat this. By
changing the name to Indigenous People’s Day, you will offer truth. It is a chance for New Hampshire
residents, indigenous and non-indigenous to honor those who came before them and respect indigenous
