Let’s call a spade a spade and recognize SB406 for what it is, an urban blue senator’s effort to flip a neighboring red district. However, its selling points to the Senate Finance Committee when Rosenwald (a member) introduces it to her peers at the January 13 hearing will be all about removing the Daniel Webster College (DWC) campus from Chinese ownership. Plenty has already been said about Chinese buyers of property near the water supply and the airport, and the mayor’s ongoing efforts to shirk responsibility and evade public reprimand. Let’s all agree that foreign property ownership with CCP ties is indeed a problem, but SB406 is NOT the correct solution, and for a variety of reasons. My list is not exhaustive, but let’s look at a few of them, in no particular order.
State funds used to buy property should make the property STATE property rather than city property, and be repurposed for the benefit of ALL of NH, not just the city where the property is located. Furthermore, anytime private property becomes government property, it’s no longer a revenue-generating parcel. Suppose $20M, the appropriation that Rosenwald is requesting in SB406, is the correct market value; that’s $20M in city budget expenses that must be made up by spreading that liability among the remaining taxable property. This concept is frequently illustrated after appraisal time in many communities, which is usually every 5 years. I will add that the city hall blindsided almost all of Nashua with a surprise appraisal only 2 years after its worst residential property tax assault in recent history. Even some aldermen were caught off guard as Alderman Tyler Gouveia of Ward 1 (where the DWC property is located) used the words BIG SURPRISE and BLINDSIDING when speaking to WMUR.
Now let’s talk about the gorilla in the room, which is what to do with the DWC property regardless of which level of government becomes its new owner. The Uniparty is and has been high on “Housing Bill Madness Kool-Aid,” as is our NASHUA governor, who happens to reside at stone-throwing distance from the parcel of interest. The mayor is certainly salivating over the prospect of bringing his beloved “workforce housing” not just anywhere in the city, but into one of the best voting districts. I’ll say it another way: the least blue parts of Nashua are Wards 1, 2, and 5.
Wards 1, 2, and 5 are an extra special target for the enemy camp for a few reasons. Ward 1 sometimes elects people who are not part of the enemy camp. A few examples, in chronological order, are former rep Tom Lanzara, Alderman Tyler Gouveia, who unseated Jan Schmidt in 2021, and Kelly Ayotte. While we all know that a governor is elected by ALL of NH, there are other offices presently red which have constituencies that include Ward 1. Ward 5’s Mike Soucy, the mayor’s 2023 opponent, is the county commissioner and serving his 3rd term. Councilor Wheeler, whom the mayor regularly tries to blame for the consequences of bad city hall policy, represents ALL of Nashua, not just Ward 1. And lastly, the biggest reason for infusing the Ward 1 voter population with trashy new voters is something you won’t hear Rosenwald say out loud at the Senate Finance mic while introducing SB406, so I’m sounding the alarm to Senate Finance myself.
Ward 1 isn’t even in Rosenwald’s district; it’s in Kevin’s. While it’s too early to know what Buckley’s orders to Melanie Levesque are (being Wheeler’s opponent again or being Kevin’s, also again), it’s common knowledge that he sees Kevin’s seat as the low-hanging fruit. Well, maybe one might argue that Buckley and Donna Soucy are just as busy planning their attack on our “Granite State Edward Durr,” freshman Victoria Sullivan. Denise also claims that she’s on Buckley’s radar, which is probably true, and Rochefort might be making the same claim. Districts 1, 9, and 18, however, have no direct ties to the DWC property.
Buckley’s personal “master plan” is to infuse District 12 with blue voters and building what Iron Marshal calls FAVELAS on the DWC campus is one pathway to that goal. Another might be to invite Kevin’s nemesis, Planned Parenthood, to become a tenant. That would give the mayor plausible deniability, wouldn’t it? I could go on talking about Buckley, but I’m sure there’s no shortage of discussion about him elsewhere. My ultimate point is to call attention to this bill and the nefarious intentions behind it. Please click on the Senate remote sign-in portal, select January 13 and Senate Finance, and register your OPPOSITION to SB406.
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