Alderman At-Large Dan Moriarty Biography

About Alderman At-Large Dan Moriarty

You almost certainly know one famous person from my home town of Atchison, Kansas: Amelia Earhart. It's unlikely you know that she grew up on the same street as me although obviously not at the same time. I like to tell people that I grew up in the inner city - inner city Atchison, Kansas, population 13,000. Typical of most mid-western towns the streets are laid out in a grid and there's an alley between every street. My neighborhood is 1/4 acre zoning so the houses are surprisingly closely spaced for being in a state with so much open space.

Atchison looks very similar to Nashua's North End with all its Victorian homes. My mom's house was (still is) a medium sized Victorian with a big porch in front. Since Atchison was settled in the 1760's it is filled with many impressive homes made of stone and brick, one with a set of gargoyles on the roof keeping watch. The house I grew up in is still there, same phone number since before I was born. A symbol of stability and reliability that has contributed to my personality.

Atchison residents are mostly blue collar, with the largest employer being the steel foundry along the river, formerly owned by Rockwell. Their claim to fame is having the ability to make the largest (at least while I lived there) single-pour castings: tank turrets, railroad trucks, etc.The second largest employer is Midwest Grain Products. Allegedly they produced more alcohol than any other location in the country, used in low-cost beverages such as vodka and gin that comes in plastic jugs and the grain-mash would be used for livestock feed.

I went to Central School (public) from K-5 and walked to and from home since 1st grade. Imagine these days letting your 6 year old walk home from school, make a snack, and wait for you to return home from work. note: never in my life did I have a key to my house because we never locked our doors. We often toss our car keys on the floor when we get out to go shopping. I spent the weekends with my dad who travelled during the week as a sales rep in the casting industry. My mom worked full time to support us five kids first as a waitress then for most of her career keeping the books for payroll at Rockwell. There were days I was home sick from school watching educational TV on PBS. My mom would call from work to check up on me (which annoyed me to no end). Now days that would be frowned upon but the whole arrangement instilled a sense of personal responsibility.

My dad was a sports nut and as such I first started competing in swimming when I was 6 and "retired" when I was 11. After that it was baseball, football, basketball, and soccer. Eventually I managed to stop playing basketball which I was never any good at and wrestled instead. By the end of high school it was just cross-country in the fall and track in the spring. I ran every single day for three years and managed to get 11th at the state champs in the 2 mile (10:02) and 4th in the 4x800 relay (8:17). The next day I hung up my shoes and essentially didn't run again until the summer before my 30th birthday....because while at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology my main focus was academics. There were times during the latter parts of the semesters when there weren't enough hours in the week to get everything done. So, we would skip lectures in order to get the homework done. Quizzes were a treat because it meant there was no eight hour homework assignment due that week. I was in electrical engineering which was the largest department at the Institute. I remember one class being so oversubscribed, (MIT had a policy that you could go to any class you wanted without ever having to get on a wait list) that the professor decided to crank up the difficulty of the homework until the students began to drop out of the class. Eventually through attrition he got the class down to a manageable size. (6.013, fall junior year.)

Aside from the obvious technical training, probably the single biggest thing I learned from MIT was what I call their "No Excuses Policy." If there was an assignment due on Monday and a gigantic snow storm left two feet of snow on Saturday morning making it next to impossible to get to the lab, the assignment was still due. You were supposed to know the storm was coming and start early. If there was any conceivable way the work could get done it shall be done. At the same time the students could apply this policy on the administration. There better be benches and test equipment available. The electronics better be available, and same with the teaching staff. The 'Tute gave us infinite resources and flexibility to accomplish our work and expected nothing short of perfection.

After getting a doctorate in applied physics in the department of Nuclear Engineering, my first job was in Los Angeles at TRW, an aerospace and security company. After two years I returned to New England to join the MIT Lincoln Lab, then four years at a telecom startup. Most recently, 9 years at BAE Systems where I am now. This is a great place to work: almost no corporate politics, a meritocracy, plenty of resources, driven toward deliverables. It's a lot like MIT; but, without the competition between peers. In my role as Alderman I often resort to my experience at my current employer as a guide of how things should function. At the moment I envision myself retiring here at BAE Systems.

I have one real hobby: racing triathlon. It's almost a profession since I train about 10 hours per week (150 miles on the bike, 25 miles running, 2 hours in the pool). My first race was in Hyannis, Mass in 1999. Since then I've competed in about 50 triathlons from sprint, to Olympic distance, to half-Ironman. I've raced three times for Team USA at the Age Group World Championships: Gold Coast, Australia; Budapest, Hungary; and Beijing, China. My best ranked performance was 10th in my age group at the Beijing World Champs.

My four kids keep me busy every other weekend and a few weeks a year. Amelia is now 13 and after a great first season of track is back to ballet. Rebecca, 11, is interested in gymnastics and saving money. Charlotte, 11, likes ballet and has a goofy sense of humor like her brother. Owen, 8, just finished his first season of T-ball. The girls, especially Amelia, are amazing artists.

Nashua suits me. It has everything I need and no traffic. But, I do miss the thunderstorms of Kansas' springs.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Finance Committee - Legacy Playground Location Study

There was one item on yesterday's Finance Committee meeting, the resolution to fund a study to advise regarding possible locations for a universally accessible playground.

There were three Aldermen in attendance who aren't on the committee who helped us make good use of our time exchanging ideas. There were about twenty people from the audience who spoke for and against the resolution.

My summary:
The Board of Aldermen is being asked to over-ride the twenty year moratorium on development in Greeley Park to allow the Legacy Playground be located there.

In my mind the decision comes down to two questions: does the Legacy Playground belong in Greeley Park? And, Is there no other location that is equally suitable? Because of the moratorium I feel that both of those questions must be answered "yes" to allow the project to proceed.

To answer the first question we must bear in mind that the problem is not necessarily with the playground itself but with the infrastructure, such as a parking lot, that is needed to support the playground. Simply, I don't believe a parking lot should be built over Greeley Park. A less ambitious playground should suffice.

Regarding the second question I believe that there is more than one location in this city suitable for such a playground. However it is fair for an aldermen to feel the need to have qualified and accurate data to help them draw a conclusion and then to use as a basis to defend their decision. Because this is such a significant issue it warrants the city spending a moderate fee for a study.

I feel the need to dispel the mischaracterization that the playground issue has been over-studied. To the contrary the closest thing resembling a study so far is the survey performed by the Leadership Greater Nashua group who have decided that the playground must be in Greeley Park. There are several specifics about that study which I find flawed. This sheds doubt on the validity of their survey. So, as I said at the meeting, just as when you purchase a car or a house you hire your own inspector.

Besides each of the aldermen drawing their own conclusion, it will be helpful to the city as a whole to have a third party's input - just as is often the case when two disagreeing parties enlist the help of a mediator. The Infrastructure Committee was proceeding at a good pace toward a consensus and discovered the need to have an outside professional's input.
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