Also on today’s menu:
Reprieve On State School Sale
Dialing Back Law Enforcement Dominance
Those who support both railroads and multi-use trails got welcome news this morning when they learned that the backers of the Winnipesaukee-Opechee-Winnisquam Trail unanimously support a trail extension that loops through the city without creating problems for the Hobo/Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad.
The new Opechee Loop trail would cover roughly five miles, starting at the Lakeport Square end of the WOW Trail, traveling the length of Elm Street, going through part of the former Laconia State School property and Ahern State Park, along Shore Drive and parts of Holman Street and Gale Avenue, then along a three-block-long section of Pleasant Street to reconnect with the lower portion of the WOW Trail in Veterans Square.
Until Mayor Andrew Hosmer offered to broker a dispute between the WOW Trail Board, the railroad, and residents along the right of way in the South Down and Long Bay condominium communities, extension of the trail was in doubt. Former Mayor Ed Engler had little regard for the Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad and was firmly behind the WOW Trail Board in litigating the matter to be able to tear up the tracks and push the trail through the residential neighborhood.
This alternate route, combined with the two miles of the WOW Trail between downtown Laconia and Lakeport Square, would provide a seven-mile, multi-use trail for non-motorized recreation that loops around Lake Opechee, but would not be considered part of the WOW Trail itself. The board still hopes to eventually extend its route to Weirs Beach — something that could be accomplished by deviating from the railroad right of way, but at a higher cost.
Reprieve On State School Sale
Executive Councilors Cinde Warmington and Joe Kenney persuaded their fellow councilors to table a contract with CBRE, a commercial real estate services company, that would sell the former Laconia State School property that has lain largely vacant since the closure of a state prison facility in 2009. The State School, an institution for people with developmental disabilities, had closed in 1993.
Mayor Andrew Hosmer and the Laconia City Council objected to the CBRE contract proposed by the N.H. Department of Administrative Services because it gave the city no opportunity to take part in the strategy the firm would use to find potential buyers for the property which consists of about 250 acres and 27 buildings.
A seven-member Redevelopment Planning Commission has been preparing a comprehensive development plan for the entire parcel, but Gov. Chris Sununu bypassed that process though a rider in the state budget that would have New Hampshire hire a real estate firm to find someone willing to buy the property as-is “with all its faults.”
Dialing Back Law Enforcement Dominance
Members of the commission charged with developing recommendations on handling police misconduct complaints in order to restore public confidence in law enforcement — a concern since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement — praised the hard work that the director of Police Standards and Training had put into a draft legislative proposal, but some objected to the dominance by law enforcement personnel in deciding on the outcomes.
While an independent committee would be established to vet the complaints, Director John Scippa’s proposal would leave the ultimate decision on whether complaints are sustained rest to the Police Standards and Training Council which he wants to expand to include 10 law enforcement personnel and three members of the public.
Attorney Julian Jefferson of the Public Defenders Office said that plan places more power with the PSTC and negates the focus on an independent, neutral panel handling complaints. “You’d have to reshape the PSTC at the council level [to balance the membership] because they are the biggest participant in the process,” Jefferson said.
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