Biography
He was sworn into his first mayoral term of office on January 1, 2010. He won the mayoral race with 65% of the vote, defeating Republican candidate and local businessman James Gervasio. [1] Dougherty's election involved eschewing negative campaigning and building a diverse coalition of voters. [2] In June 2009, Dougherty defeated the incumbent mayor in the Democratic Primary, thus winning his place on the mayoral ticket. [3] Dougherty was re-elected for his second term as mayor on January 1, 2014.
The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States; the other is its historic rival, the Democratic Party.
Prior to being elected mayor, Dougherty served as a Morristown Councilman and as Chairman of the Morristown Zoning Board of Adjustment. [4] He has also served on the Board of the Southeast Morris County Municipal Utility Authority. [5]
Dougherty's priorities include restoring trust in Morristown's government by allowing greater transparency and resident participation. He is a proponent of "Smart Growth" in new development: balancing the character of a given neighborhood with a project's impact on the environment. He also advocates the development of a comprehensive traffic safety plan that includes traffic calming measures to address speeding and aggressive driving. [6]
Transparency, as used in science, engineering, business, the humanities and in other social contexts, is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. Transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability.
Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl. It also advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood schools, complete streets, and mixed-use development with a range of housing choices. The term "smart growth" is particularly used in North America. In Europe and particularly the UK, the terms "compact city", "urban densification" or "urban intensification" have often been used to describe similar concepts, which have influenced government planning policies in the UK, the Netherlands and several other European countries.
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses the interaction of all living species, climate, weather and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity. The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished as components:
In his Inauguration Speech on January 1, 2010, Dougherty acknowledged the challenges he faced, caused by a fiscal crisis brought on by decreasing revenues and increasing costs. [7]
Dougherty works as a chief engineer at the Prudential Center in Newark. He lives in Morristown with his wife, Mary, and son, Ryan. [8]
Prudential Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the central business district of Newark, New Jersey, United States. It was designed by HOK Sport, with the exterior designed by Morris Adjmi Architects. Opened in 2007, it is the home of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the men's basketball program of Seton Hall University, known as the Seton Hall Pirates. The arena officially seats 16,514 patrons for hockey games and up to 18,711 for basketball. Fans and sports writers have affectionately nicknamed the arena "The Rock" in reference to the Rock of Gibraltar, the corporate logo of Prudential Financial, a financial institution that owns the naming rights to the arena and is headquartered within walking distance of it. In December 2013, the arena ranked third nationally and ninth internationally for self-reported annual revenue.
Newark is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County. As one of the nation's major air, shipping, and rail hubs, the city had a population of 285,154 in 2017, making it the nation's 70th-most populous municipality, after being ranked 63rd in the nation in 2000.
