Common Sense For New Hampshire

At a special (rush rush rush, as usual) meeting Thursday night at 5:30, the council will have a first hearing on an ordinance to rescind the controversial $7.1 million beachfront development bond and first hearings on ordinances to issue two separate, smaller bonds.  The first of these new ordinances appropriates $5 million and bonds about $4.8 million of it.  I presume this is for the 10th Ave public safety building.  The second ordinance appropriates about $2 million and bonds about $1.9 million.  This will be for a single story 5th Ave replacement for Taylor.  There will be no banquet hall.

I’m glad this time they made separate appropriations for the two projects so we know what we’re paying for each.  Boy, they do seem expensive.  You can live in some of the nicest manses in town for a couple of million and that includes owning the land.  But of course they weren’t built with the most expensive union labor.  Yes, I realize that private dwellings aren’t built to the same stringent (and expensive standards) required of public buildings.  Still, seems like a lot.

I still can’t swallow the mayor’s explanation for all this.  Hard as I try, I gag every time.

It had nothing to do with the over 500 signatures collected demanding a referendum.  That was not a factor at all (gag).  It had nothing to do with all the impassioned pleas (including several by this writer) at the borough council meetings.  They were not even  a consideration (gag…gag).  And it certainly had nothing to do with Judge Lawson’s order to proceed with the referendum and his order to only use badge revenues for parts of the project that are beach-related.  Losing those two lawsuits had nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with the decision to forgo a second story on Taylor.  Couldn’t care less about that (gaaaach).  It was all because when the mayor was out campaigning for his Democratic colleagues the people told him they didn’t want a two-story Taylor.  He had no idea!  Why didn’t they say something?  (GAAAACH……BLEEEECH……..GAAAAAAAACHH!)

You know it would be bad if he were lying about all this, but it would be worse if he was telling the truth!

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BTW, Lawson hasn’t yet ruled on the redevelopment lawsuit.  If the ruling goes against the Borough, we’ll probably be told that while having their Thanksgiving dinner together, Brian, Claire, Jennifer and the mayor got to talking about redevelopment and decided maybe it wasn’t such a good thing after-all.