Meet the candidate: Jennifer Dougherty
1. The mayor is responsible for putting together the city's fiscal budget each year. What do you believe are the three biggest budget priorities? Are there any places where you would insist on more or less spending?
Budget priorities:
* Public Safety -- Promote community policing; expand legal training to minimize risk; place police kiosk on
* Measure Results -- Ensure projects are on time/budget
* Improve city-county tax differential
More spending:
* Economic Development -- Industry specialist(s) (
* Bulk trash pick-up (
* Code Enforcement Board (
* Improve website
* Special projects -- Professional internship program (opioid addition) (
Less spending:
*
2. Now that the proposed downtown hotel and conference center is in the design phase, with public dollars not slated for construction or operation of the buildings, what are your thoughts on the city investing in the project?
I support the downtown hotel and have opposed public funding, but I won't block a good project because I don't like one element. During the approval process, I will make sure city taxpayers know what's happening and work to protect their interests. I will also make sure the hotel operators work collaboratively with the
2A. Yes or no: Do you support demolition of the historic Birely Tannery building or development of the hotel and conference center?
Yes, I accept that the tannery building will likely be demolished to make way for the hotel. I support the inclusion of historic artifacts and the story of Birely Tannery within the new hotel. I've seen 1,000-year old castle walls incorporated into new uses in
3. Talks of a downtown grocery store have been circulating for years and recently the owners of
Yes, but market forces hold businesses back from making the huge investment to open a grocery. I support appropriate infill and adaptive re-uses of older buildings. More importantly, I will propose a parking deck on the
4. There have been ongoing complaints about code enforcement in the city. Some parts of the city are blanketed in citations, others decay into blight. Specific properties are persistent eyesores. What do you plan to do to address these issues?
Be clear, be fair and follow the code. Embrace the help offered by the NACs and watchdog residents who point out problems and address nagging neighborhood issues. Create a Code Enforcement Board to hear cases instead of forcing people to go to court to appeal a violation. Improve technology and transparency to improve tracking and results. Use established laws on condemnation and eminent domain (which I have used successfully) to end the adverse impacts chronic violators have on our city.
5. The lack of affordable housing in the city of
Like many problems, we need to define the problem and set measurable goals for success. I will work with the
Follow
___
(c)2017 The Frederick News-Post (Frederick, Md.)
Visit The Frederick News-Post (Frederick, Md.) at www.fredericknewspost.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Sens. Van Hollen, Cardin Announce $2.35 Million for Assateague State Park Restoration
Sen. Lamar Alexander on health care fix: ‘Put out the fire’
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News