I attended a Human Affairs committee meeting on July 11, 2022 as they reviewed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), relief funding that flowed out of the Pandemic. The City has about $16 million to spend. Unsurprisingly, the City is planning more studies and projects for Downtown Nashua.
One of these studies, “enhancements” to Main Street and W. Hollis St study, will cost approximately $600,000. Mr. Cummings stated that these high costs are because the City wants to engage the public and encourage their participation, especially on the Main Street Downtown project. Really?
It seems as though the City has a predetermined plan for the development of downtown and any input that doesn’t jive with the Mayor and Mr. Cummings is disregarded or worse, the public is criticized for expressing a differing viewpoint.
Remember what happened with the downtown barrier issue and the input of business owners and the community? Alderman O’Brien and Mr. Cummings encouraged their respective boards to ignore the input of the public. They decided that voluminous input and petitions were not representative of the community and the barriers must be in place downtown for the next three years. The final goal is to remove automobiles from Main Street. This was a very contentious issue with few concessions made for the public.
Six Hundred thousand dollars is simply a ridiculous price for a study of two roads. Mind you this is not coming out of our tax dollars but out of federal money. However, once the study is completed, the recommendations will be there to act on. That is when the project bonding starts and the costs to taxpayers for expensive projects begins.
While the Mayor and Mr. Cummings are not interested in your voice, send your Alderman a message that this study should be canned. Move the money to another part of Nashua that could use a boost.
