Board of Aldermen 04-12-2022 Page 22
relationships with a lot of different restaurants as positive and engaging where those restaurants have to meet categorize
those is very different. There are a number of people that had asked me to support outdoor dining that were represented
on the petition that was presented to this Board opposing outdoor dining, including San Francisco Kitchen. That petition
was represented as being business owners and concerned property owners on Main Street were a number of the
individuals who signed did not represent the businesses, several business owners said that they didn't fully understand
what was being asked to them. Being a host and a welcoming establishment that's trying to operate a business and
having somebody present who is not taking subtle hits, they regretted signing in order to have that person leave because
ultimately they had to answer for that in a lot of other ways.
So this has been a very contentious issue. | think when you have two neighbors who need the same resources and the
same aspects, it is the role of the city to arbitrate and to manage with structured guidelines so that there aren't
expectations that compete and interfere with each other and so that there is a communication that people put out in the
heat of the moment that they can't necessarily retract later. | respect greatly what Lina and Ruben Gomez have had to
put up with being essentially the focal point of much of our discussions. In addition to them also trying to run businesses
and | appreciate that they came in to sustain San Francisco Kitchen after the previous owners were essentially ready to
sell it. | think it's been a positive influence downtown. Wingate’s has certainly had its history downtown as well and | don't
think we should be making legislation or policies that absolutely deny one or the other access but | also think that there's
been a lot of articulation around compromises that really weren't made. | received an e-mail even today from Mr. Wingate
requesting that | just absolutely say no and indicating that he's absolutely opposed to it despite constant articulation of
compromise and interest.
| think when it comes to business and it comes to passions that individuals have, compromise is not as easy as it sounds.
| think that we as Aldermen have seen that and none of these situations are particularly simple or straightforward. We've
referenced King Solomon's decisions a couple of times and his choice was a little bit risky as | recall it and | think we need
to be very careful and very mindful of this. So in looking at the amendment that Alderman Klee is offering and listening to
the testimony from the Gomez, | think adding a parking space back is fair to give them enough space to do what they
actually need to do with the space. | think if the property owner is willing to let them put the tables out there, it will be
used, and | think we have been compromising and made accommodations for Wingate’s to a reasonable extent that
they're not the only business on the block. So | will support the legislation. | am as Alderman Jette pointed out fully aware
that there can be further conversation about making adjustments and that type of thing. | also support the future plans to
recoup some of the expenses that we lose from parking revenue by charging restaurants. | just think we need to make
sure we have a plan for where that money is going. We have to have a clear understanding of what we're charging for
and that has to go through the same transparency processes that we use for everything else. Thank you.
Alderman Thibeault
Thank you Madam President. So you know we've heard a lot about some of these restaurants on Main Street not paying
Nashua taxes. Well the Gomez’s live in Ward 6. They live here in town and | don't know if they own or not own their
home but if they're renting, that tax is being put into their rent. So they are Nashua citizens. They live here. In their own
words, in the e-mail that they sent to all of us, they said that they felt bullied by people on their block. They felt like they
were being looked at differently than a Martha's, or Michael Buckley's restaurants, right. You Know they haven't been
there as long owning this business. They weren't eligible for the - and she didn't bring it up tonight, but she’s brought it up
before. They weren't eligible for the COVID loans that some other businesses got. And so it's taken more than just, you
know, a COVID free couple of months and even though we're not really COVID free, but you know what | mean. COVID
free enough that people can go into their restaurant. It's taken them a lot longer to recover from that. Like | said, no one's
going to Billy or Michael but they feel like they need to bully them.
| don't think giving them one spot back so they can try to really establish their restaurant even more with them as the
owners get back on their feet. | know supply chain has been tough. Everything's gone up in price. They have a great
establishment there and | would like to see them get that spot back and | think it was a great idea to add the handicap
spot back as well. | think that was perfect because we need one on that side in that area so thank you.
Alderman Sullivan
Thank you, Madam President. | just wanted to say | cannot support this amendment nor this legislation as a whole and I'll
speak to the amendment first. | did read the e-mail today and now I'm trying to keep track of side conversations that were
had and now we want to make an amendment to this amendment because of side conversations that were had. | can't
support that.
