Rumor has it that ultra-Conservative Oklahoma-based chintzy craft goods retailer Hobby Lobby will be opening its new store in Keene on Friday. Not that people around here haven't tried to stop them. 

Last year, Jodi Newell and I went down to speak in front of the Planning Board in opposition to Hobby Lobby's request for a building permit.  Jodi made some good points about how the company's ethos is inconsistent with the values of inclusion, as expressed by a recent proclamation of the City Council. For my part, I explained that Hobby Lobby is a crummy company with a reputation for breaking the law, and that City should be particularly careful when it comes to accepting the representations of such a historically bad actor. 

I also borrowed heavily from the NIMBY playbook. For example, I explained how lighting changes to the building's facade could potentially have an effect on migrating birds, dark skies, and the local bat population. Also, I expressed concerns about maintaining the neighborhood character of that particular strip mall.

The Planning Board didn't buy that argument - and maybe that's for the best, legally speaking. But I represent a lot of people who feel targeted by the culture war that Hobby Lobby has been a leader in and that's why it's important to put up a fight about these things. 

More recently, some of us have been having protests in front of their store location on a regular basis. The purpose is to educate shoppers about Hobby Lobby and its work to undermine the secular institutions that make up the basis for our pluralistic society. We aim to encourage people to shop local instead. 

There is nothing we can do to stop Hobby Lobby from coming to Keene, but we can help them be less profitable.

Read my full statement to the Planning Board here.

It's the second day of the blog and already I've put my re-election in jeopardy by posting on the Facebook in support of controversial, if much-needed updates to Keene's downtown infrastructure. A group of local building owners have put together a "Save the Square" movement, that has convinced people that our city's beloved Central Square is somehow being put at risk. (Spoiler: It's not.) But it's pretty clear to me that the actual concern that's driving this movement is that building owners will no longer having access to as many public parking spots, in their immediate vicinity, as they used to. 

There is, of course, abundant parking available in Keene, although many people will tell you different. I have lived in cities with scarce parking: Keene is not one of them.  Keene is famous for its parking. It's reputed to have the widest Main Street east of the Mississippi, and most of that space has been turned over for parking. The sidewalks aren't especially wide, and the only bike lanes we have are useless painted "sharrows," but parking we have in abundance. If you can't find parking on Main Street (and, except for a few peak times over the summer, you can) there is way more parking just around the corner on Gilbo Avenue.  And this is before people get talking about ideas for a new parking garage.

The new plan - which is proposed as part of a needed project to dig up and replace all the ancient water and sewer pipes underneath the area - calls for closing off the north side of Central Square to traffic and turning it into an open pedestrian plaza. That space could feature things like expanded space for outdoor dining or a small play area for children. You know, the kinds of things that bring people into urban centers these days. You can see a map of the proposed downtown changes in the graphic at the top of this post, which I screenshotted from this project document. 

Here is Google Streetview's picture of the 15 parking spots and three lanes of asphalt that are being considered for conversion into prime public gathering and recreational space at the very center of our city.

Lots of people have been very angry about this proposal, which seems unreasonable to me. This is a huge improvement to public space and traffic safety, and it means that people speaking or playing music at events held at the gazebo won't be drowned out by the sound of oversized pickup trucks slamming on the gas behind them. 

At any rate, I'm sharing this in the hope that putting some out actual information, not rumors, about the proposed changes will help people understand that this is a project with huge potential benefits to the community. Despite reports to the contrary, this is not some dastardly plan to destroy the square that people need to freak out over. Even for those who don't share my nuanced views concerning the proliferation of automobile-dominated infrastructure in urban environments, it would be nice if we could at least fight about this issue based on facts. 

My name is Bobby Williams and I am a small-time politician here on the East Side of beautiful Keene, New Hampshire. I’m proud to serve my ward in our City Council, and I’m going into the last year of a four-year term.

I think I’ve done good work while in office, using my role on the Council to push the City to act for housing, for disability access, for public health, and to fix the sidewalks. Serving my community in this role has been an amazing experience and I’m likely to run again.

In my day job I have my own software development shop with a few employees that I have trained, and some clients that I appreciate. I might call myself a tech entrepreneur if that term were not so disreputable. If you are in the market for full-stack web application development and have an institutional budget to work with, maybe hit me up. 

2022 was quite a year for me. Among other endeavors, I ran for an open seat in the New Hampshire State Senate. While I didn’t win the Democratic primary, many other good things came out of the experience. I suppose the real victory was the friends I made along the way. 

2023 brings a fresh start, and with it, this new blog. I’m hoping some of these friends I’ve made in the world of New Hampshire politics and activism will join me in turning this new venture into a progressive space where ideas are discussed, voices are heard, and actions are organized. A community.

I will have much more to say in coming posts, but for today – New Year’s Day – it’s enough for me to get this blog up and running. 

Welcome!