Portsmouth must prioritize its needs over its wants: Letters
Portsmouth must prioritize its needs over its wants
Nov. 19 — To the Editor:
It is time for Portsmouth's big spending City Council to finally show some fiscal restraint and do some smart prioritizing. The top concern of this council must be to provide a functioning police station with a healthy environment at a reasonable cost. There can be no higher priority than our safety.
The quotes for this project ranging from approximately $62 million to $73 million are disturbingly high. The town of Exeter has been considering spending in the range of about $16 million to $17 million for a combination police and fire station. Although Portsmouth has a slightly larger population and more tourism than Exeter, this still shouldn't account for such an enormous disparity in price. I suggest that our council and administration consult with Exeter's leaders to gain more insight to help us bring down the projected costs for our police station.
I totally agree with Department of Public Works Director Peter Rice that we must "really look closely at what investments and core functions should be a priority, versus a lot of things that we would like to have." (I completely disagree with Councilor Kate Cook who, as always, opposes spending constraints.) It is obvious that our city cannot afford a new police station and all of the other projects being planned. We must distinguish between our wants and our needs and consider cancelling or postponing some projects. For example, narrowing our downtown roads and widening the sidewalks would be an unnecessary expense, and it could increase the number of car accidents while reducing the number of potential customers for our downtown businesses. A postponement of the Pannaway Manor housing project could also be considered since it would create the need for an immediate expenditure for athletic fields and future expenses for items like extensions built onto schools and the hiring of more highly paid city workers.
It is time for Portsmouth's City Council to realize that we cannot have our cake and eat it, too. They must refrain from extravagantly spending taxpayer money to the point where they will drive out the middle class, and where they may even make the city of Portsmouth unaffordable for some of the council's own members.
Christina Lusky
Portsmouth
I will work diligently with the police department to keep our city safe
Nov. 19 — To the Editor:
I would like to thank the voters of Portsmouth who supported me in the last election for police commissioner. I am honored that you trusted me for this position and I look forward to serving on your behalf. I will work diligently with the Police Department to keep our city safe, and to find the best solution for the coming challenge of a new facility.
Thank you again!
Francesca Marconi Fernald
Portsmouth
Councilor Stevens should fund family planning
Nov. 19 — To the Editor:
New Hampshire’s Executive Council will soon vote on funding towards access to birth control, STI testing, cancer screenings, and more preventative health care for the fifth time in just over two years. I urge Councilor Janet Stevens to invest in access to affordable, quality family planning care and approve all New Hampshire Family Planning Program contracts.
The New Hampshire Family Planning Program, which covers preventative sexual and reproductive health care for low-income and uninsured Granite Staters, is one of the contracts the Executive Council approves or denies as part of their responsibilities as an elected body. Councilor Janet Stevens has voted against contracts for Equality Health Center, Lovering Health Center, and Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) four times since June 2021. In 2020-2021, these three reproductive health providers delivered care to nearly 80% of patients within the entire statewide program.
Councilor Stevens’ votes have jeopardized access for low-income and uninsured Granite Staters in her own district. Her four votes to defund Planned Parenthood and Lovering Health Center, the only two providers in her district who were in the Family Planning Program when she was elected, have left her own community without any state funding for this essential, preventative health care.
Everyone deserves to be able to access the care they need, regardless of income or zip code. That’s why I’m urging Councilor Stevens to approve all New Hampshire Family Planning Program providers’ contracts!
Patty Keck
Portsmouth
Saddened and outraged by murder of Chief Haas
Nov. 19 — To the Editor:
I was overwhelmed with both sadness and outrage when I read of the murder of Chief Bradley Haas at New Hampshire Hospital.
Apparently, hospital protocol is to hire unarmed security guards. Had Chief Haas been armed, he might have been able to defend himself, but he was a sitting duck with a target on his back.
If that is indeed the hospital’s policy, it must be changed immediately, especially in this day and age where in America an active shooter situation happens every day. My heartfelt condolences to the Haas family for their tragic loss.
Len DiSesa
Portsmouth deputy police chief (retired)
AR-15 style weapons must also be banned for the safety of our communities
Nov. 21 — To the Editor:
For those individuals who believe that there should be no limitations to the Second Amendment, I would urge them to read the Nov. 16 article in the Washington Post entitled: “Terror on Repeat: A rare look at the devastation caused by AR-15 shootings” by reporters Silvia Foster-Frau, N. Kirkpatrick, & Arelis R. Hernandez. Normally these crime scene photos never see the light of day but by the Washington Post publishing this article they reveal the unthinkable carnage produced by these weapons of war. Machine guns were outlawed in the 1930s and their ban reaffirmed in the 1980s. AR-15 style weapons must also be banned for the safety of our communities!
The recent tragedy in Lewiston, Maine, demonstrates that no community is immune to mass shootings. The ongoing carnage will not cease until we come together and pass some common-sense gun reforms: Universal background checks, universal red flag laws, banning weapons of war like the AR-15 from our communities, and banning large capacity magazines. All countries have citizens with mental health problems but only the United States has an ongoing epidemic of mass shootings! It’s the guns!
H. Dixon Turner, MD
Portsmouth
Thirty years after the Claremont decision
Nov. 23 — To the Editor:
What a difference 30 years makes. A recent article stated that the adequate educational funding amount for New Hampshire students was too low after a reevaluation of the earlier Claremont decisions. It is interesting then, that there has been other news out of Claremont recently. The former president spoke at Stevens High School at a Veterans Day event. You could argue that he has not received an adequate education in history. The only other explanations are that he has forgotten or been afflicted with the same condition as his late father, which was Alzheimer’s.
The words used reflected a period of dark history in the world, which resulted in World War 2. It also brought to mind who would be allowed to exist in our nation if No. 45 becomes No. 47. It sounded as if anyone not descending from a Presidential German and Scottish ancestry, or someone who came over on the Mayflower, would be out of luck.
Another thought was having been able to donate about four gallons of my “vermin” tainted blood that was willingly accepted by the Red Cross over the years. Perhaps at his next rally, he can share the designs for his political enemy detention/concentration camps. It would good to know where many of us may be sent in 2025. If you would like to read about similar sounding rhetoric from the past, check out the Oct. 16, 1939 edition of Life Magazine here. From page 36: “I contested every point and kept calling his statements inaccurate but the only effect was to launch him on some fresh tirade.” It is increasingly obvious that a large number of Americans could certainly benefit from an adequate historical education. Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Don Cavallaro
Rye
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth must prioritize its needs over its wants: Letters
