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Chris Williams is upside candidate

By Staff | Nov 1, 2015

Nashua is fortunate to have two outstanding candidates for mayor, when some cities are lucky if they have even one.

For the better part of six months, Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess and former chamber of commerce executive Chris Williams have laid out their visions for the city.

One of them will be elected mayor on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Donchess has reminded voters that he was mayor during the 1980s and ’90s, an especially prosperous stretch in the city’s history, which included the development of the Pheasant Lane Mall and the Clocktower Place. At the same time, Donchess has noted his opponent’s lack of experience in local government.

Williams has pointed out that, while he has no experience in city government, he has represented the business community for the past nine years, allowing him to gain valuable insights and contacts that he wants to use to grow the city. He has noted that Donchess had no mayoral experience when he was first elected to run the city, either.

The two candidates are similar in a lot of respects: Both favor bringing commuter rail to Nashua and say they would be an effective voice on that front; both have identified the opioid epidemic as the city’s most pernicious social and public health problem; each favors bringing a performing arts center, a business incubator and more housing to downtown; both say they are capable of increasing the city’s tax base and keeping taxes low. Each has also raised unprecedented amounts of campaign cash.

One difference between the two can be found in their views on the Broad Street Parkway, which is nearing completion and seems likely to influence downtown development in at least the near-term. Donchess said he "would have been more cautious about deciding to spend $25 to $40 million on the Broad Street Parkway," while Williams said he consistently supported it from the start because he recognized the potential such an infrastructure upgrade could have on development.

In some ways, that sums up the major difference between Donchess and Williams.

The former is a safer choice who has served the city well as a mayor and alderman.

The latter is a higher-risk candidate who offers what we believe to be a significantly higher upside.

As we said in September, Williams favors big changes like turning the area around the Millyard into a technology park, bringing in a higher-education partner, using the performing arts center to develop Nashua’s downtown waterfront into a regional destination and the return of angled parking to Main Street.

One thing that is striking about Williams is that many of his proposals about his "vision" are specific and detailed. In the area of economic development, for instance, he has talked about using the office of mayor to actively seek out and recruit employers to the city. Williams is a smart guy, and it’s clear that he has given the issues that confront the city a lot more thought than some have given him credit for.

As we said, Nashua is fortunate to have two good candidates for mayor, and both have committed followers who are passionate in support of their candidate.

We think voters should give Williams a chance to see just how high Nashua’s upside can be.

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