| December 3rd, 2009 What is Ted Gatsas' plan for the state's largest city? A Q&A with Manchester's mayor-elect Manchester mayor-elect Ted Gatsas is taking an aggressive approach to managing the state’s largest city. Even before he’s taken the oath of office (he’ll officially replace current Mayor Frank Guinta on Jan. 5), the Republican has put forth a school district plan that would overhaul the system as residents know it, moving sixth-graders back down to elementary schools and moving ninth-graders down to middle schools, making high school a three-year experience. Gatsas wants to demonstrate not only that he’s willing to innovate, but also that he’s going to encourage new ideas for discussion. He’s already conceded in terms of the school overhaul plan that he’s not the expert — he just wants ideas on the table. Prior to being elected in November in a race against Democratic Alderman Mark Roy, Gatsas had served in the state senate since 2000 and as an alderman since 1999, representing the city’s Ward 2. Prior to that, Gatsas, 59, and his brother Michael operated Staffing Network, a service-oriented business that grew to more than 8,500 workers by the time they sold it in 1998. A lifelong Manchester resident, Gatsas attended the University of New Hampshire on a football scholarship following a high school career at Manchester Central High School. He points to his athletic experience as part of the reason why he’s being so aggressive right away. Gatsas will have been married to Cassandra Gatsas for 29 years as of next year. Gatsas sat down to talk about his — and Manchester’s — past and his plans for himself and the city’s future on Wednesday, Nov. 25, with a few follow-up questions by phone on Monday, Nov. 30. JM: You have a plan to make some major changes to the school system. TG: Well, there’s no question that you come out early and let people know at least what you’re thinking. Discussion is always good. You probably learn more by listening than by talking. Certainly this is not something that’s etched in stone. It’s just something that I’ve certainly gotten a lot of feedback for in the last few days regarding moving the sixth grade back to the elementary schools as a good one and maybe not so much the ninth grade…back to the junior high. But I think those are all things that are on the table for discussion. I think we must start talking about education in a different manner. If you do the math, we’re increasing the number of credits to 22... [The school system has increased the number of credits required to graduate from 20 to 22. Currently, there are some students who take five or six years to complete high school in Manchester.] Every year that they stay in school is an additional $9,000 [per student per year]. Right now we have an additional 140-some-odd kids that are going through their fifth year to get their diploma, which is roughly $1.6 million additionally in cost for education. So we must find ways to get students involved earlier, whether it’s through programs that we have — I think there are five or six colleges here in Manchester — getting them involved and getting credits earlier at the college level so that kids can graduate in the 11th grade, which means we’re saving $9,000 a child [for students that graduate early.] So I think there are things, discussions that should be happening. [Gatsas took part in a meeting on Monday, Nov. 30, to discuss problems on the city and school sides to try to get leaders from both sides on the same page.] So there’s an understanding that the problems on the school side are not unique. The problems we face on the city side are not unique … so that we understand that we’re working collaboratively in an effort to move the entire city forward. So I think it’s important that we have those discussions and I think it’s important that we start participating. And I think that probably making the finance committee on the school district a committee on the whole where everybody is participating on the budget process. My goal is to get a city budget out by March, by the end of March, so we have time to talk about other major issues in the city. Because normally what happens is from January to June we talk about budget and then July and August everybody’s on vacation and we really don’t get to many other heavier issues. So if we get the budget out by March, it’s going to give us opportunities to have discussions about redistricting, talking with Hooksett to see if we can’t get them into a position of comfort to move their students to [Manchester West High School]. It’s going to be an advantage for both the students, the community and also the school district, whether it be giving them a voting seat on the board — I think it’s something that we need to enter into with discussions and an open mind, that it’s going to be best for the students, number one, Hooksett, number two, and Manchester, number three, maybe not necessarily in that exact order but maybe we’re all number one. I think it’s important that we have that discussion. [Other than moving sixth-graders and ninth-graders down,] what are some other components of the plan? … How do we deal with some of the alternative education programs that we have? What’s best suited — probably first agenda item — find the school district a building that is their own, because they are never leaving the city of Manchester and they shouldn’t be leasing space. They should be in a building that the city owns. So I think that that is a top priority. We must accomplish that along with a lot of other things. So there’s no question that we are aggressively moving forward. And certainly the cooperation of alderman members has been very good. They’re all participating. They’re all working hard. It’s difficult times and we must make difficult decisions but we should have all the facts on the table before we make decisions. [Gatsas said his ultimate goal is to help create one of the best education systems in the country in Manchester.] Are you hoping to raise the rate of Manchester graduates attending college or create a more workforce-ready set of graduates? What are your goals in that sense? Well, we have very diverse students and we need to offer as much as we can, either to help them off to college or off to a two-year college or to be job-ready to enter the workforce. Gatsas hopes to draw on his business experience, specifically with Staffing Network, a $250 million company. He says many of the things his company dealt with are similar to items he’ll deal with as mayor, such as health insurance, workers’ compensation, payroll and human resources. Beyond schools, are there other areas within city departments where you’re seeing some opportunities for greater efficiencies? I think that department heads know that I’m a great proponent of answering telephones, giving customer service. I think it’s important that we start looking at that and how we develop it. And work in a collaborative effort where departments are talking to each other, because there could be some redundancies within departments that we really don’t know about because nobody’s talking about it. Give you an example: parks does the plowing for schools. The city does the plowing on the streets. We have other sources of plowing in the city that maintain parking lots. And I’m not too sure if anybody’s ever sat down and said, “OK, let’s divide the city into four quadrants.” And maybe instead of a truck plowing South Maple Street and then going all the way up to North Maple Street, maybe they do Memorial High School. Those are just things that we should look at to see how do we get the work done in a more efficient manner and more constructively. I think the redistricting at the school level is another big issue. Just doing some quick numbers, if you look at three schools on the West Side — [Northwest Elementary School, Gossler Park School, Parker-Varney School] — if you add up the total numbers in each class you get to some pretty equal levels of 22 or 23 kids per class. That’s just a matter of doing some redistricting so that that balloon, when you push it, gets the air moving around. When you look at that as a back-of-the-envelope look, it looks like probably you reduce cost for busing and transportation — and that was only looking at those three schools. … If we can reduce costs, and bring it back to a neighborhood school where kids are walking to school. Parental participation is something that I’m going to advocate for, whether it’s at the school level or a parent asking a child how school was or did they do their homework. That must be started at a very young age. Crime and the city Just this fall, a man was gunned down on Wilson Street in an apparent drug-related murder. Recently, there have been several burglaries and robberies. Two people died in an apparent murder-suicide in October. A girl was attacked on her way to high school. A joint investigation yielded several drug-related arrests this fall as well. With crime seemingly a growing concern in Manchester, particularly violent crime, Gatsas says he’s on board with Police Chief David Mara’s strategies for curtailing incidents in the city. The police department recently added 10 new officers. Is your sense that [the crime] issue is maybe not bigger, but different, than just needing more officers? Well, I think the chief and his reorganization plan, I think it’s just about totally completed. I think it’s important that it’s about neighborhoods, it’s about neighborhood policing. It’s a program that he started and…he’s really put the impetus on it saying, “Neighborhood cops are important.” And I’m willing to support him and work with him shoulder-to-shoulder because I think he’s doing a great job, the Manchester Police Department is doing a great job. His initiatives are in the right places. Certainly I have talked to the Department of Safety at the state level and asked them, if there’s anything if the chief needs, can we certainly help in any way at the state level. The governor has said that he certainly would bring forward any help that we need to make sure we get crime under control. So I think it’s important the conversations that I’ve had and the governor has been very receptive. Being a state senator and having dealt with [Department of Safety Commissioner John Barthelmes], he has offered and extended his best wishes. Certainly I’m going to call and talk to [Col. Frederick Booth], who I have a personal relationship with. Making sure that we can bring whatever resources we can to the city to reduce crime and help achieve the goals that [Chief David Mara is] looking for. Is there a reputation growing statewide that crime is growing… I don’t think that Manchester is any different than any other community in the state. I think that every community in the state has the same fears that there’s a violent situation, that no matter if you had another 200 cops was not going to change the outcome. I think if you pick up today’s paper you will see there was a shooting up north…so that I think those things are here. Certainly I think when we talk about crime, neighborhood watch groups have grown from four to over 50, certainly I will support getting another 50 and trying to get them in place in a very short time, because I think that’s important. Neighbors start looking out for their neighbor, as we saw in today’s paper, somebody driving down South Main Street saw four people breaking into West High School and reported it. So I think those are things that if people are really involved and willing to make the phone call that’s what’s going to reduce the petty crime that we see. We’ve got 100,000 people. This is not something that doesn’t exist. Certainly we want to try to reduce it as much as possible. Certainly getting more police officers on the street is important. Your sense isn’t that people outside Manchester are starting to become afraid to come here? No I think there’s certainly, when you have the number of people coming in to the Verizon center, Fisher Cats stadium, there’s no question we have a lot of people in the city. We have an airport that does $1.2 billion for the state of New Hampshire. Those are things that are going to happen in a big city. I don’t think Manchester, New Hampshire is any different than any other city, — Worcester, Mass. — of its size, Portland. If we’re living there, we’d probably hear about the same things that are happening. But we only see it again here because it is the largest city in the state and the news outlets are here participating. It’s certainly is a city that I won’t tell you is without crime and I certainly commend the chief for all the things he does, his staff and police officers. Let’s talk about some of the positives. Obviously the shooting, two gentlemen who shot that individual on Wilson Street, nothing was said but within two days they were apprehended out of state. That’s a good thing. The SWAT team that was effective in doing drug raids. If you look at the positive things, they come forward. The [police athletic leagues] is something great, a lot of kids are down there participating. So those are things that when you see those things happening in the neighborhoods, those are all good things. When you see police officers riding their bikes and talking to people, it brings you some sort of security… All GOP politics is local Republicans nationally and locally didn’t fare well in the 2008 elections. Reports and studies suggest New Hampshire has moved in a Democratic direction in terms of demographics in the last few election cycles. And, that year at least, the results suggest the same. But with Gatsas’ win last month, a surprise GOP upset win in a Concord state representative special election and the victory of the tax cap in Manchester, the GOP is hoping last month’s elections were the beginning of the comeback. Analysts say people shouldn’t put too much stock in mid-term elections, but wins are wins. Your sense of your role in statewide politics… Being a state senator for nine years you develop a lot of relationships at the state level that as the mayor of Manchester certainly gives you a little bit of a difference of a door opening. Not that the door wouldn’t open, but I think it opens a little bit more quickly, discussions happen a little bit more quickly. As a senator I always looked and asked the tough questions but always looked for solutions and never involved politics in those solutions. And I think those are things that people recognized…and I’ll look to govern in the same way to get people together from both sides of the aisle to come up with ideas that are beneficial to the city. [Is the media making too much of partisanship in terms of the election last month?] Well, you know, that’s why New Hampshire is a great state. People in New Hampshire at the local level are no different than when they look at national candidates. They look at the candidate, they ask the candidate tough questions and as you go door-to-door, which in a lot of states you don’t have that ability, they look you straight in the eye and ask you a question and they’re looking for an answer. I think as much as we want to say that elections aren’t about people, they truly are in New Hampshire. People do answer their door. They talk to you on the street, talk to you when you’re at the grocery store. So they have a pretty good opinion on the candidates that they vote for. I look at it, certainly, the board that is coming in, there’s an awful lot of young bright minds. Certainly, I’m going to look to work with them to bring ideas forward. What are the best things we can do for Manchester and not whether it’s a Republican idea, Democratic idea or an independent idea, it should be what are the right ideas for the city of Manchester. Depending on how things go, Gatsas could end up one of the highest-ranking Republicans in the state following next year’s elections. As a Republican mayor in Manchester, are there ways you can be a spokesperson to help other Republican candidates? I think … endorsements are fine but I don’t think they get you elected. I think it’s about who you are and how you relate to people…. People in New Hampshire are very different. They want to see you in person. They want to look you in the eye and see what answer you’ll give them. … Talking politics is easier said than done because people make their own minds up. … Are there things that other Republican candidates can maybe learn from you or take from your campaign experience to help on the campaign trail? I think there’s no question that the grassroots is something that’s important. No matter how great a candidate you are, you have to have people that are willing to work around you and do a lot of the things, knocking on doors, putting up signs and getting you the coffees and the lunches. So those people were very instrumental in making this campaign happen. The Republican message in the state — a lot has been made of that. Do you think it needs to change? Well, I think the message has to change from all politicians. I think right now that people are very mad. They want politicians, whether Republicans or Democrats, to tell them the truth, look them straight in the eye and tell them what they’re going to do. I think that’s an important issue. People are looking for less government, less spending. I don’t care what side of the aisle that you’re on. That’s the message that they’re sending and I think that’s the message that they sent in this last election. No longer can you win without a crossover of Republicans if you’re a Democrat and a crossover from Democrats if you’re a Republican and independents in the mix. Though Gatsas won and the tax cap passed, the mayor-elect is set to begin his two-year term in January with a vastly Democratic board. You are looking at a board that is largely Democratic. How does that affect you as mayor? I think it’s a very clear vision that as an alderman for the last 11 years, certainly I have worked with people on both sides of the aisle. The last budget was a bipartisan budget that was put together by both sides, agreed to by both sides. It’s about leadership to get people to understand what you’re thinking, why you’re thinking it and certainly making changes that they might say might improve that vision. Working with aldermen that are there today, I have no problem with that. I look forward to it. Certainly, it’s going to be a much different inclusion than maybe anybody’s ever seen before. My door’s open to them. Discussions are always open. Ideas are always good. The tax or spending cap, the cap, how’s that going to affect you as mayor? I think I was clear on that during the election: it’s about process. The people have certainly had their voice heard. … Certainly, I think that any elected official understands that 54 percent of the people of Manchester think a tax cap is a thing that they should look at… I’ve always said if the tax cap were to affect the airport in any way or adversely affect our bond rating in any way … I would ask the aldermen to make sure we override it. The airport is something that we must protect. Does the cap provide an opportunity to cut back in areas that maybe would’ve have been tough to otherwise? ... Does it allow you to say, “OK, this program isn’t really working that well, maybe we should do away with it?” No, I think that truthfully aldermen go in and look at every line item to see if it’s doing what it’s supposed to do. Certainly in this budget process we’re going to … go in and see what everything costs us and see where we’re truly getting the biggest bang for our buck. So it’s different, that’s why I’m starting so early. … I’m looking for initial budgets to come in from department heads the first week in January. So we’re being very, very aggressive looking to make sure we have everybody participating, aldermen and school board members. As I said, we’re looking to open up the aldermen side to school board members to come in and school board side to aldermen so that everybody has a perspective of what we do at different levels. Growing the city With the economy still in a lackluster state locally and nationally, creating jobs and economic opportunities is integral everywhere, perhaps even more so in the state’s and northern New England’s largest city. With much of the city’s building stock of the old and historic variety, officials have said building codes can sometimes prove problematic for developers looking to renovate older structures. There’s no question that … we’ve got a great city with a lot of older buildings. We’ve got to take a look at the building codes that we have, as Nashua and Portsmouth have done, and try to revamp those. So that when people are trying to go in and renovate these buildings, it doesn’t become prohibitive to do. Those codes may be good for new construction but they certainly aren’t always good for 150-year-old buildings when you’re talking about renovation. We must find a way to get 1,500 more people or families living downtown in Manchester, because that’s what’s really truly going to revitalize the downtown area. That means looking at the second and third floors of buildings on Elm Street and upgrading them so people will live in them. We hear a lot from people who have businesses or live downtown…they want more retail downtown… Well, look, I think retail, from the days when probably you weren’t around, I remember walking down Elm Street on a Thursday night and it would take you an hour to go from Hanover Street to either Merrimack Street or up to Bridge Street because there were so many people on the sidewalks and you were stopping to chat. And then you had “Monday Night Shopper” on Monday nights and people used to be down there to get their picture taken so that they could win the $50 shopping card so they could go shopping the following week. So Manchester was certainly a vibrant downtown with a lot of retail space. I think certainly as you look at Portsmouth and Portland, try to bring some of that back is important but we must make sure we find ways to get people into the downtown, allow them to start the retail stores, the storefronts and move forward. We have a lot of great restaurants now and a lot of activity because of the Verizon center and the games at Fisher Cat and the Monarchs. … And again, it’s about taking a look at those building codes and making changes so people will come to Manchester and avail themselves of the opportunities that are here. I asked Gatsas some follow-up questions about business in the Queen City on Monday. Why was Manchester a good spot for you to base your business? It was a business that offered services to small businesses. It’s the place I grew up, along with my brother. It was an opportunity to go in and take some of the pressure, things like doing the payroll, off small businesses. Were there things about the city that were helpful to you as a business owner? I think just being a native of the community, people hold out their hands to natives to try to help them out. ... It’s always been that way and it always will be that way. Are there things the city could do differently to help new business owners with the process of opening up in the city? Well, streamlining the way they get permits — that’s got to be taken a look at. We must make it as easy as possible to get into it. [What about the role of business in Manchester on the region?] There’s no question, rather than just looking at Manchester as a segment, we must start looking globally. How can we interact with the communities around us so that we’re going to enhance the region and the state? Obviously, we have the airport, which is a huge economic engine to the city and the state. We must do everything in our power to keep it going. Rail — maybe For the past five years in particular, the effort to connect high-speed rail to New Hampshire has gotten plenty of attention. The movement seems to be in a holding pattern, as the rail line owner, Pan American Railways, opted out of negotiations with the state. The move by Pan Am left the state without the opportunity to apply for federal stimulus dollars for the project, which would extend rail from Lowell, Mass. to Concord with a stop at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. State officials are still pursuing avenues for rail expansion. What are your thoughts on the importance of bringing rail to New Hampshire and specifically Manchester? The first thing we must talk about is cost, how it’s going to be paid for and who is going to pay for it. But if that conversation continues — and right now it seems like maybe it’s a little off the front burner and onto the back burner — then I-93 must be completed. The airport access road is certainly a big benefit to the city of Manchester, that we can bring more people into the airport from a different portion of Massachusetts instead of having to go all the way up I-495 to I-93. I-93, that must be completed and it must be done sooner than later. The cost to that when it first started was $175 million; we’re now at $785 million and I think that the lives and the accidents and the reports that you hear every morning… You’re placing [I-93 completion] and the access road above rail… I’m saying [I-93 and the airport access road] must be completed. The access road is near completion and I-93 must get there. Because rail, we still have not determined how it’s going to be paid for. In a follow-up interview Monday, I asked Gatsas again about the importance of rail. Is rail important to the region? There’s no question it’s important, but we must first find out how it’s going to be paid for. Gatsas, the first two years As you kind of look ahead…do you have any big projects? Good try. [laughing] I’ll give you credit for that one. Certainly there are things that I’ve talked about with different people in the city of Manchester that hopefully we can bring to fruition in the very near future. Do you want to be more specific? I will leave it at that. I think there certainly will be time for discussions. Certainly the Hackett Hill project…we need to get somebody in and get it moving whether we give them the land and let them work on it for the next five years or develop as it goes, we’re not changing it from any of the initial ideas. I think it’s important that we get that into somebody’s hands that can develop the property. The former Jac-Pac meat packing site is being turned into an urgent care medical facility to be called Elliot at River’s Edge. The facility is one of the largest development projects in state history and could create between 250 and 300 jobs. How important is the Jac-Pac project? Jac-Pac is going forward. I believe permits were pulled. It’s a great project for the city of Manchester. How do you want to be able to describe Manchester two, four or however many years down the road in terms of government and schools? That government is more efficient and more effective than it was in the past and that schools are offering great education to our students. Current Mayor Frank Guinta will have spent two terms in office when he leaves the post in January. Guinta is running for congress in 2010. Thoughts on how long you’d like to be mayor. Well, I never plan forward. I look at the problems we have before us and try to resolve those. Your future is always something that the people will give you a message on what they want you to do and how they want you to do it. I always believed representing the people is the most important thing, giving constituents service and giving back to people is something that’s enjoyable. When that stops being fun, that’s when it’s time to find another profession or go off to the ocean and sit on the beach. I asked Gatsas this week about any future aspirations for state office. Any thoughts on ever running for another office in the state? I haven’t even been sworn in yet. Let’s concentrate on what we can do in the city. When you think about your career as a politician, what do you like about it? Well … when I was a state senator, bringing laws forward that will protect seniors…. This last session I brought forth a bill that extended the penalty for gang-related incidents. … I think those are the important things that you see on a daily basis. I think the local politics side is certainly when somebody calls and says, “There’s a pot hole in front of my house. Can you get it filled?” So I think those are things that we’re going to continue doing. I can tell you…we’re going to have a “mayor’s night in.” We’re going to open up City Hall once a month and allow people to come in and certainly have the availability of the mayor’s office and have department heads there so they can address whatever questions they may have. [He said the mayor’s night in would begin in January.] When did you start thinking that maybe you’d be mayor someday? Well, you know, it’s funny because that question may have been asked five or six years ago and that was never on my horizon. I think that looking at the times, looking at some of the complex problems in the city, I thought maybe I would have an opportunity to help Manchester, being the native son and being able to change some of those things. Why has Manchester been your home for so long? Because it’s a great community. - printed in The Hippo Press 12/03/09 authored by Jeff Mucciarone. Back To News |
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Paid for by Ted Gatsas for Mayor. B. Rivard, Fiscal Agent PO Box 6655, Manchester, NH 03108 603.623.0220
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