For the past two years, under the leadership of Mayor Ruais and the previous Board of Aldermen, our annual city budgets came farther under the tax cap than any budget before them. Those moves were celebrated at the time. Unfortunately, the chickens have come home to roost.
I was a child in the custody of the state of New Hampshire when the abuse began. The people who were paid to protect me did the opposite, and for decades the state looked the other way. I carried that alone for years. No acknowledgement, no accountability, and no voice.
Two recent disclosures—one from the New Hampshire Office of the Legislative Budget Assistant and another from the office of Kelly A. Ayotte—give us an answer that should concern every taxpayer in this city.
At the State House, where I serve, we debate budgets, oversight, and fiscal responsibility every day. We review reports, question spending, and argue over priorities because taxpayer dollars demand accountability. But those conversations depend on a shared premise: that rules matter, and that they apply equally.
If you live in Manchester, you’re already feeling the pressure—higher property taxes, strained schools, and growing demands on local services.
Since President Trump signed his signature tax cut law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), last year, the impact of changes to health care under the new law has contributed to a growing chorus of lawmakers calling for increased affordability.
Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans promised to bring down the cost of gas.
They lied.
99% of individuals kidnapped or detained by ICE who are detained are status offenders, not violent criminals. The methods in which this partnership was secured and the scope of work Auburn’s Police Department are committing to are not clear.
Members of the New Hampshire National Guard, including men and women who live and work in Manchester, could now find themselves deployed into a conflict whose purpose and duration remain uncertain. These are our neighbors. They coach youth sports, attend our churches, and work in our hospitals, construction sites, and small businesses.
In early January 2025 a business leader was quoted anonymously celebrating the ability to use “retarded” again in polite company thanks to Donald Trump’s return to power. At the time, I had a bad feeling, this was a harbinger of things to come.
At the February 3, 2026 meeting of the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen, I spoke during the public comment portion to raise a practical issue related to snow removal and winter parking enforcement that many residents experience every winter, and to provide the Board with draft ordinance language for its consideration.
Trump wants a ballroom citing national security and a simple argument: ballrooms are protected play spaces. The ballroom resembles a fenced sandbox. A $400,000 sandbox, but a sandbox, nonetheless. Guests can safely play. Trump exiled respectable reporters from the White House, so he’ll get positive coverage of his ballroom playdates. Is it necessary?
With this in mind, we invite the state representatives who made what many believe are discriminatory statements to a meeting to discuss their motivations and intent with their comments and how they align, or not, with the ideals for which this nation was founded and how they serve, or not, to eliminate the inequities that exist in our society.
Manchester is New Hampshire’s largest school district and serves many of the State’s most disadvantaged, and most vulnerable children. HB 1831 removes the cap on the State’s education aid – a cap that applies ONLY to Manchester. Under current law, this cap will strip at least $10 million annually in anticipated and fully warranted funding from our district beginning next year.
Republican leadership in New Hampshire, including the Governor, must decide whether it is appropriate for someone who has expressed support for segregating students for any reason to be the leading voice on education in the State House. That is not a rhetorical question. It goes to the heart of what public education is meant to be.
A year into Donald Trump’s second term, friends who live outside the United States still reach out in disbelief. Is it really that bad? Are you safe? I usually answer with a shrug. Not because things are fine — but because, like so many Americans, I’ve learned how quickly the unacceptable becomes routine.
Bringing back the death penalty is not justice, it’s the ultimate form of slavery. It is inhumane to believe that taking another life restores safety or peace. The New Hampshire legislature repealed the death penalty in 2019 by a bipartisan, two-thirds majority. Since then, there has been no rise in homicide. In fact, New Hampshire has the lowest homicide rate in the nation.
On Wednesday, a 37-year-old mother was shot and killed by an ICE agent. I don’t have words to express my grief and outrage, but I know we cannot continue down this path.
New Hampshire has never believed in kings.
From the town meeting floor to the State House, we are a state that insists power must be earned, justified, and restrained. That is why what happened this weekend should alarm every Granite Stater—regardless of party.
I’ve relied on Manchester’s public bus system for decades, beginning in 1989. Over that time, I’ve seen how effective transit planning can make daily life possible for people without cars — and how changes to routes can unintentionally leave some residents struggling to meet basic needs.