Board of Aldermen 04-12-2022 Page 4
Matthew Gouthro
Matthew Gouthro, 104 Fawn Lane. Good evening Madam President, Mayor, Aldermen, and staff. I’m here to speak on
the proposed legislation that would unfortunately create traffic gridlock, reduce parking, and a potential safety hazard in
our historic downtown district. Also, more taxpayers can provide expanded outdoor dining for our restaurant community in
downtown Nashua. I’ve watched and spoken at every one of the Board of Aldermen and joint Task Force meetings held
on this subject. | say | enjoy outdoor dining and our expanded sidewalks on Main Street in downtown provide ample
space for those activities but to block off areas of Main Street is absolutely ridiculous. Not once during this process do we
hear of an economic viability study, a traffic study, a land use study for outdoor seating, or any kind of metric to support
the need for this expenditure for one year and certainly not three years.
What we did see is that in 2021 there was a 6 percent utilization rate of expanded outdoor restaurant seating in downtown
Nashua — 6 percent to have those ugly, clunky barriers in place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for months. Think of it this
way if you received only 6 percent of the vote in your Ward or citywide, you probably wouldn’t be sitting in this chamber
right now. What we were provided was an unusual parking study consisting of only two day in mid-October to justify
moving over 40 parking spaces from our downtown district during the height of our summer season. Our residents are not
going to park and walk blocks to get their haircut, pick up prescriptions, visit the dentist, have their garments tailored, do
their banking, or shop with other retailers. During the Task Force meetings, we heard that the legislation was going to
turn downtown Nashua into a dining destination for out of towners and those out of State leaf peepers heading north. We
heard no plans on how we were going to promote downtown Nashua as a destination whatsoever. So ask yourself this
questions, what fuel is Tim Cummings using to drive our economic engine because so far the proposed legislation in front
of you essentially states the City of Nashua’s plan is to spend thousands of our tax dollars is if we build it, they will come.
That’s not good enough for me and countless residents and business owners who have either spoken or written to this
body overwhelming in opposition to this legislation. Ladies and gentlemen, you were tasked with the purse strings of the
city.
Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager
30 seconds
Matthew Gouthro
In this case, | certainly hope you’re making decisions on how to spend our tax dollars on data driven initiatives and not
dreams. | employ you to vote down the recommendations from the Joint Task Force on this proposed legislation that’s
essentially nothing but a pie in the sky economic boondoggle. Thank you.
Ken Bois
Good evening. Ken Bois, 19 Woodbury Drive, Nashua. | would like to thank all of the members of the Task Force, and
teams, and Aldermen, and business owners that contributed all of their hard work and time to support this initiative. |
really firmly believe having been a born and raised in Nashua for over 70 years with numerous friends that thoroughly
enjoy being downtown again for the last two to three years to see filled storefronts. Besides way beyond the dining
experience, those storefronts, people walking, chatting, being together, being viable, being active. | really feel this is a
positive step for Nashua to get these barriers going and find a better way of barriers in the next three years but obviously
we are about 3 to 4 weeks behind other cities who are already opening their outside dining with great success. | sincerely
urge a very positive outcome. Thank you very much.
Laura Colquhoun
Laura Colquhoun, 30 Greenwood Drive. First, it is the job of the Mayor to appoint three members to the Board of
Registers not two as this Board is currently doing tonight. Just because the Mayor does not like the other political party
does not accept and accept their applications does not make this situation very democratic. | would ask the Mayor
forward the applications to the Board of Aldermen and have them review the applications. By doing this, Nashua could
actually have fair elections.
Secondly, a lot of Nashua residents do not want the barriers. However, the Mayor, and the restaurants, and the bars want
them so Nashua will get them. The Nashua Mayor keeps saying that the restaurant and bars downtown made millions
and millions of dollars last year. The owner of Stella Blu is very vocal about wanting these barriers and how they have
increased his profit. My idea was to let Stella Blu pay for the barriers. In doing this, the Nashua peasants would get a
break and | don't live in the north end or am | a member of country club.
