Riverplace; should Hudson become Salem?

Last weeks HLN included a letter from James. W. Rice where he indicated
he is in favor of Riverplace, despite what "the naysayers like Mr.
Peters want you to think."  This same 'naysayer' had a short letter in
the same HLN issue that provided a very accurate  description of the
geographic impact of Riverplace and other projects, and it is
tremendous.   Far from being a naysayer,  Mr. Peters is being quite the
realist.  Riverplace and the associated after effects, referred to as a
'halo effect' by Selectman Maddox at the conceptual review last week,
will forever change Hudson.

Mr. Rice accuses the naysayers of picking on the working class in
Hudson, and suggests those people move to Colebrook.   He also states
that when he goes to Salem he does not see any of the issues the
naysayers bring up.  I did some research comparing Hudson and Salem at
the nhes.state.nh.us website and found some very interesting things from
the available data from 2005 (most recent available)  I was surprised to
learn that Hudson had several thousand more residents in 2005 than
Salem.  Even more telling, however, were these statistics:  Salem has
3.1% of the population below the poverty rate, while Hudson only has
1.2%.   The median income in both towns is within a $300. But while many
more people are employed in private industry in Salem (17K vs 9.5K), but
the average weekly wage is over $100 *higher* in Hudson.  Based on this
information, the working class and other citizens here in Hudson, have
it better off. Without all the traffic, pollution, congestion, and
dramatic change in our way of life.

Of course, the big item for most people is the overall tax rate.  The
full value tax rate (which means things have been equalized so they can
actually be compared between towns) is $14.00 in Hudson and $11.44 for
Salem (per $1000 of value).   That $3 difference is directly linked to
the school tax rates.   Keep in mind that Hudson recently approved, and
constructed, a new elementary school.   Just for reference, the full
value tax rate for Nashua is $16.02.   A full 2 dollars higher than we
pay in Hudson now.  Londonderry is $16.82, even higher than Nashua.  

There are more numbers of course. But in general, Hudson and Salem are
quite comparable for most figures.  I picked out some I thought would be
most related to the 'naysayers' picking on the working class.   Seems
that is not the case at all.

Mr. Peters and others against Riverplace, myself included, are quite
simply trying to retain those characteristics that make Hudson what it
is.  Do the property owners have a right to develop their property?
Most certainly. No one is arguing otherwise.  What people are saying is
they should do it in a fashion that improves, rather than detracts, from
what this town is and the aspects of it that are so appealing to so many
people.

Would Riverplace and associated development change Hudson for the
better, or would it just change it?  Considering the factual numbers
presented above, would any perceived benefits really outweigh the sure
negatives (traffic, congestion, noise, etc)?

-Matt Harper