Bernardsville Borough Council Candidate: John Donahue

BERNARDSVILLE, NJ — John Donahue is one of the four candidates running for borough council in the contested Bernardsville Borough election being held on Tuesday, Nov. 6.

There are two candidates vying for the four-year mayoral seat, including: Democratic Councilman Thomas O'Dea, Jr. and Republican Mary Jane Canose.

There are also four candidates vying for two three-year seats on the borough council including: Democrats Jeffrey Hammond and Matthew Marino and Republicans John Donahue and Lloyd Sems.

John Donahue

Description:

I’m originally from Miami, Florida but have also resided in Connecticut, Texas, Thailand, and Japan. I attended George Washington University for undergrad and hold graduate degrees from Penn State University and New Jersey City University. I’ve lived in Bernardsville for 10 years and have two children at Bernardsville Middle School. I’m an avid runner, road cyclist, and mountain biker.

Why are you running?

I never had it in mind to run for public office and the journey here has been exciting and unexpected. I’ve always felt that Bernardsville has tremendous unrealized potential and at the outset of this journey I thought my best opportunity for helping our town was to volunteer my time to the effort.

So, in 2015 I joined Mayor’s Economic Development Advisory Council (EDAC), a non-partisan Bernardsville improvement committee that met that year with frustratingly little effect and was something of a forerunner to the committees addressing the same issues today. However, I did discover during this time that Bernardsville residents have a lot of passion, imagination, and energy to put to work for our town, but they are also wary of the difficulties faced trying to effect positive change. There is a feeling that change, even positive change in our town, is only hard won.

I learned this firsthand at EDAC where we set as our first goal to achieve something small but tangible and get the ball rolling. “Welcome to Bernardsville” and in-town way-point signs seemed like a straight forward and great start and back in 2015 we got as far as presenting vendor designs and proposals to the council, but then, inexplicably, nothing happened. It's almost four years later and we are still talking about it!

Having been a volunteer for years, both for Bernardsville and other organizations, I am acutely aware that volunteer time is precious and I strongly believe that the positive change we all want for Bernardsville comes from the grassroots and we all want to see our time and effort yielding results. I also believe an important function of local government is to foster, encourage, and assist these efforts and if I am given the opportunity to serve on the council one of my over-arching goals will be to overcome the perception of an immutable status quo and bring into the fold so many of the people ready to help but understandably remaining on the sidelines.

What issues would you like to see addressed if elected?

We need a park close to downtown. I’m a firm believer in the holistic benefits of an active outdoor lifestyle, having also started the Somerset Hills VeloRaptors youth mountain biking team, and I’m especially interested in turning Moraine Crest Park, a 16-acre wooded and underutilized lot situated between Mt. Airy Road and Conklin Avenue (which many don’t even know exists!), into a walk-able park with recreational amenities and possibly a dog run.

The park would be a place for residents to gather, connect neighborhoods, and boost surrounding property values – everything we always talk about in our improvement surveys. This year we took the first steps when we appropriated money for the various surveys needed to begin developing a plan for the park and if I have the opportunity to serve a full term I’ll be an advocate of seeing this vision through.

— (If you are a candidate and would like to participate in the profile, please email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com)

(Image provided: John Donahue)

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