Free WiFi. Three-hour parking meters. Commuter bike storage near the train station. Mid-street crosswalks.
These were among the suggestions flying around a Morristown conference room Monday, at a “Community Health Summit” of social service agencies and health enterprises convened by the Mayor’s Wellness Campaign.
“There are a lot of resources here in Morristown that people don’t even know exist,” said Marisa Sweeney, owner of the Be Well studio and chairperson of the campaign.
Much of the conversation was about how to change that. Specifically, “how we can work together to make Morristown more healthy,” said Michelle Roers from the United Way.
Invited representatives of downtown businesses, food banks, affordable housing ventures, battered women’s shelters, arts programs, philanthropic agencies, civil rights organizations and other nonprofits bounced ideas off Mayor Tim Dougherty, Council President Stefan Armington and town Planner Phil Abramson for two hours at Cornerstone Family Programs.
“We have so much going on in town, it’s almost overwhelming,” said Kadie Dempsey of Morris Arts.
In some ways, Morristown has become a victim of its own success, said Rosemary Gilmartin of the Interfaith Food Pantry. Her nonprofit had to buy a mobile pantry, to deliver food to people who have moved to Boonton and Mt. Olive because they no longer can afford housing in town, she said.
“If we keep going at this rate, we’re just going to drive people out,” Gilmartin said. “If you’re a working family trying to live here, it’s scary.”
The Mayor countered that more affordable housing has been created on his watch than during the prior 30 years.
“Morristown has turned around. Clearly it’s one of the most desirable places to move. The 28- to 38-age group is coming here in droves,” said Dougherty, who is seeking a third term.
He said luxury units going up across town have subsidized affordable dwellings and enabled cleanups of land that otherwise could not be developed– while bringing ratables that avert local tax hikes, “so seniors can stay here.”
Dougherty launched the wellness campaign in 2014. Its 11-member board includes representatives from Atlantic Health Systems, the Zufall Health Center and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, as well as the Morristown Partnership, Bike Walk Morristown, Grow It Green Morristown and Marty’s Reliable Cycle.
