Nashua is less than 2 months away from the 100th anniversary of the fire that destroyed the previous Main Street bridge. If you’re a paid member, you can read the Telegraph article about the impact that its absence had on transit. I won’t get into the weeds of comparing 100 years ago to today, but keep in mind that the police station and both hospitals are on the same side of the Nashua River. Everything is all fun and games until the next emergency involves you or someone near and dear.
Many years later, there was a Main Street obstacle known as “The Bottleneck,” which was on its west side and just south of Water Street and removed in the late 50s. It was the last of the prominent 19th-century buildings sticking out enough to obstruct Main Street from having two lanes for traffic on each side. There should also be old Telegraph articles on that. Or you can talk to some elderly natives, like my mailman.
The Main Street bridge is a major choke point for emergency response time, and I’m sure the PD, FD, and ambulance drivers have something to say about that, but let’s move on to a few more talking points aside from squeezing traffic into an hourglass just south of it.
Local Grokster Burton Janz wrote a series of pieces (here and here) about city property being restricted (the right lane on each side of Main Street, plus some of the sidewalk)to the exclusive use of just a few chosen pet businesses without them compensating the City. He essentially made the case that the handful of restaurants entered into a tenant-landlord relationship but at the expense of the rest of the city’s freedom to use that space. Like many government officials elsewhere, our mayor was and is totally ok with hand-picking the winners and losers. Not every restaurant is on Main Street, and not every Main Street business is a restaurant. When Mike Soucy was the mayor’s opponent last year, he took the time to survey 118 business owners and has the receipts.
Last year, at this time, I was canvassing Ward 2, which is quite far from the Jersey barriers, and I had erroneously underestimated them as a Ward 2 issue. I would introduce myself as Alderman Dowd’s opponent and hand over my business card, which had room for five bullet points in my chosen graphic design. After listing opposition to government overreach/COVID mandates and unnecessary spending, and support for free speech/public comment and transparency/91A, I had room for one more item and chose to populate it with “supports a Jersey barrier-free Main St.” Well wouldn’t you know that it became the focal point to every eye looking at it while I watched. Rather than commiserate about property taxes and other critical issues, multitudes of people were quick to vent about what was my afterthought. Some even said things like “you’re against the Jersey barriers, I’ll vote for you” without any interest in other issues. The sales experts always advise against talking too much after you make the sale, so I stuck with that and kept moving on so as not to lose the sale.
Why am I telling you all this? A social media post was brought to my attention, and it said there will be public comments at city hall Wednesday night regarding the future of the Jersey barriers. The author pointed out that commenting in the thread doesn’t move the ball forward, and she’s right. I’ve given you just a few ideas for crafting your three minutes of mic time or email to the BoA@NashuaNH.gov and you can use one or more of these other talking points. Some of them are parking, handicap/delivery parking, bike/pedestrian safety, flow of traffic, or general scenic appearance. It’s certainly not an exhaustive list, but you can make any combination of what’s important to you, the reader, your own.
It’s high time that our mayor and many of his water carrier aldermen be reminded that they(especially after voting themselves a raise) work for us, so come to the mic or send an email to “give them instructions.”
