WEST ORANGE, NJ – Women’s History Month this year in Downtown West Orange takes on more significance than ever before, due to a recent historic event for the township. On January 2, Susan McCartney was sworn in as West Orange’s first female mayor.

 

As a longtime resident, successful business owner and long-standing community advocate, McCartney brings to her new role a dynamic passion for and dedication to the township she loves and has always called home.

 

McCartney, who has lived in West Orange for 40 years, enters her new role with her own history of highly visible and positive service in the community. She served on the West Orange Township Council for 20 years prior to moving to the mayor’s desk. McCartney is also a well-respected and established member of the business community, having founded and established First Mountain Preschool, located in West Orange, in 1997. McCartney consistently has advocated for a positive and forward-thinking business community for all as a member of the West Orange Chamber of Commerce and the West Orange Planning Board.
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McCartney has also been an advocate for other sectors of the community as a member of the Senior Housing Board of Directors, the West Orange Arts Council, the West Orange Environmental Commission, as the Sustainable Jersey Coordinator for the township and a volunteer member of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

 

“The Thomas Edison quote on our Main Street mural, ‘What you are will show in what you do’, resonates with me,” said McCartney. “I appreciate the community recognizing my years of active public service and now giving me the opportunity to serve as mayor.”

 

“We are excited about this historic appointment of the first female mayor of West Orange, but even more thrilled to have Susan McCartney be that appointment. Her work and dedication to this community prior to becoming mayor is amazing,” said Downtown West Orange Alliance Executive Director Megan Brill. “With a vested personal and professional interest in the success of our businesses, community, and township as a whole, we know we can look forward to growth and great happenings in West Orange in the years to come.”

 

McCartney’s goals as mayor include providing networking resources and grant funding opportunities to the township that will benefit all residents, business owners, community organizations and public schools. She has shared her plan to remediate, re-purpose to rejuvenate commercial properties and plans to pursue the feasibility study she initiated for solar carports in municipal and Board of Education parking lots to offset taxes.

 

McCartney’s “Leading West Orange Forward” trajectory, outlined during her campaign, also includes, but is not limited to, these objectives:

 

• Continued preservation of the historic 18-hole Rock Spring Golf Course;
• Pushing toward the completion of the Downtown Film Services District;
• Coordinating partnerships to pursue the Highland Avenue Transit Village in The Valley;
• Enhancing public place making opportunities for art in the community along The Valley corridor;
• Implementing the township’s Sustainability Management Plan to minimize environmental and economic impacts;
• Implementing a town-wide Mayor’s Wellness Campaign;
• Continue to seek local, state and federal funding to help stabilize the township budget.

 

McCartney and her husband, Joe, bought their home in West Orange almost 40 years ago where they have raised three wonderful children and now enjoy six young grandchildren.

For more information about West Orange, NJ, visit the website or call 973-325-4100.

For more information on Downtown West Orange, visit the Downtown West Orange Alliance website or call (973) 325-4109.

 

About the Downtown West Orange Alliance (DWOA)

 

The Downtown West Orange Alliance (DWOA) is a nonprofit organization that manages the town’s Special Improvement District. The Downtown West Orange Alliance was formed in August 1998 through the ordinance that created the Special Improvement District. Recognizing the unique contributions by the residential, historic, and commercial properties that collectively form our “downtown,” the Township of West Orange created the Special Improvement District to encourage economic revitalization of the neighborhoods of Tory Corner, Eagle Rock, and St. Mark’s, and the Valley.

The Downtown West Orange Alliance has followed the Main Street Four Point Approach™, which is a volunteer-driven, historic preservation-based, economic development program. A nationally successful model for revitalizing downtowns entirely dependent on grants, donations, and volunteer muscle, the Main Street Approach™ stresses historic preservation as the underlying design principle for the revitalization effort. Main Street efforts nationwide aim to maximize the economic potential of each historic commercial district while preserving its authentic character. For West Orange, the volunteer-led teams are critical to the success of the program and involve stakeholders – residents, business owners, and property owners – in making decisions about the future of the Downtown.

 

More information about the DWOA can be found at https://www.downtownwo.com or call 973-325-4109.

 

About West Orange, NJ

 

An historic suburb less than 20 miles from Manhattan with lots of open space and old-fashioned charm, the Watchung Mountain ridges and Manhattan skyline are the backdrops for this Essex County enclave, where some 48,000 people live within its 12.5 square miles. The community boasts spectacular views of the South Mountain and Eagle Rock reservations, five-star golf courses, 12 beautiful public parks, four public tennis courts, an outdoor amphitheater, a dine-in multiscreen movie theater, a state-of-the-art public pool and recreation center, a waterfront recreation complex, a zoo and a skating arena. For more information about West Orange, NJ, visit https://www.westorange.org/ or call 973-325-4100.