Politics & Government

VIDEO: Aldermen Press Wheeler on Rail Vote

Executive Councilor David Wheeler in the hot seat.

In a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, Executive Councilor David Wheeler told the Board of Aldermen Tuesday night that funding a $400,000 rail study made no sense if there was not $300 million to pay for rail.

Aldermen countered that without a study in hand, how could the state know whether bringing commuter rail made economic sense.

And so it went for an hour, in a meeting meant to get Wheeler , effectively stopping commuter rail momentum in its tracks.

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Wheeler made it clear early on that the state is committed to commuter bus service for Nashua, not rail.

"We've got four studies on this already, most recently in 2003. We don't need another study to tell us that we don't have the $300 million to build it," Wheeler said. He said the $400,000 would have had to come from the general fund, which would have pulled money from other programs.

Find out what's happening in Nashuawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Alderman James Donchess fired several questions at Wheeler, asking him for specific figures from previous studies on cost. Wheeler was at a loss to answer most of Donchess' questions.

"I'm skeptical you couldn't come up with $400,000," Donchess said. "I think for some ideological reason you turned your back on the interests of your constituents," Donchess said.

Several others made the points about the economics of regional rail, including the fact that the lack of a regional rail system connecting to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport stunts business growth.

Board President Brian McCarthy said it was disingenuous for the Executive Council to shoot down rail based on the cost of building it without factoring in the possibility of revenues, to offset the building costs.

Something that could be determined by a study.

Toward the end of the hour-long session, Alderman Barbara Pressly worked hard to get Wheeler to say he would change his vote in favor of a rail study – if Nashua were able to come up with the money to pay for it.

"Do we have a commitment from you if we can find $400,000 that you would go to bat for us, and be the swing vote in Concord?"

"I will certainly entertain that thought," Wheeler said.

After the meeting, Christopher Williams, President and CEO of the said he was disappointed in Wheeler's stance.

"I'm disappointed to hear Mr. Wheeler repeatedly say he is comfortable determining the future of his district using 10-year-old data," Williams said.

He said despite repeated invitations from Nashua's Chamber, Wheeler has yet to respond, or attend a session to discuss the city's future.

"I'd like to see the Executive Council revisit this. It's not too late to rewind the clock and rethink the consequences of that vote," Williams said.

That would require Wheeler, or one of the other two Executive Councilors who voted against funding the study on March 7 to call for reconsideration.

"When Councilor Wheeler says he has as many positive comments on his vote as negative, I'd like to point him to every survey on rail taken, all showing that 70 percent or more of this community favors passenger rail," Williams said.


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