Mayor Responds to Main Street Inquiry

French Hill resident Paul Shea with the city's Urban Forestry crew earlier this week, as they were busy working on Main Street.

He was drawn by the sounds of chippers making light work of the long-standing  trees. Although he knew there were plans to repair and replace sidewalks, he hadn't been able to find any documentation on the city's web site outlining the details of the plans for said improvements.

Wrote Shea:

"For example, what kind of trees will be planted? What kind of lighting will the city be using on the bridge, and the rest of the street, as the project moves forward? Will it be more efficient than the street lamps we have in place now? Will it minimize light pollution and waste by casting light down? The point that I am trying to make is that I would like to see a lot more on our city's website about the downtown improvements that are coming our way. It would bring a greater sense of ownership and pride among our city residents about our downtown if there were a greater amount of information available, and perhaps even more of an opportunity for Nashuans to provide further input on things as they move forward."

We sent a link to to Mayor Donnalee Lozeau who said she is actually working on getting more information on the city's site.

Here's more from Lozeau:

Info coming to the gonashua.com site?:

"Right now we've only been working with the business owners about what's next. I haven't put anthing together that someone can get up on the website, although I think that's a good idea. I've asked the Streets department to come up with something that might be more descriptive that we can add on the city site, next to the construction icon."

What kind of lights?:

"Yes, we will be using LED lights, and the lights on the bridge will be different because we're replicating the original lights. As for street lights, there will be 25-foot-high poles, and the top light will illuminate the roadway and then there will be a pedestrian height light to illumnate the sidewalks. The mast arms on the traffic lights will have street lights, as well."

What kind of trees?:

"There are going to be all different kinds of trees – eight different kinds. I can't remember all the names, but we'll get that information up on the website. We have to replace the trees, of course, but we're also putting in planting beds, which we've never had before, and that will be great."

Anything else we should know?

"The argument I've had with the aldermen has been about cost and whether it would be cheaper to hire a contractor. I have said it's more affordable to use people on staff, and we're also framing things underground and fixing what was done wrong the last time. We think this is the right way to go. Our goal is finishing up to Water and Park streets this season, and then taking care of some quick hits that need repair. There will need to be legislation to talk about the City Hall block if we decide to change the parking. Our next priority is the Nashua Bank and the Hamlet Carrigan Building.

"Our intention is to continue down Main Street, block by block – we have two landscape archetects working with us. What I do know is that all the blocks will have bricks, concrete, and granite. How those elements are used will change, depending on the character of that individual block, but it will still be cohesive."

"Can we get more info out there? Yes – if I had someone dedicated every day to getting out information, but we're a little short on manpower right now in the office.

What should people do if they have questions?

"You can encourage them to call the office. I'm always happy to answer questions."

Also, in response to Shea's story on Nashua Patch, Alderman Mark Cookson alerted us to a letter he posted on his official Mark S. Cookson Alderman-at-Large site, from City of Nashua Director of Public Works Lisa Fauteux, outlining the short-term progress downtown. Thanks, Alderman Cookson.