Voters Guide: Diane Sheehan for At-Large Alderman

Name: Diane Sheehan, currently serving as Ward 3 Alderman

Age: 46

How long have you resided in Nashua? 

Off and on since I was 6, this most recent time, 14 years.

Your background /education: 

I attended Nashua High School and Billerica Memorial High School, and University of New Hampshire at Manchester

Experience/Occupation: 

My experience in the private sector includes retail management, Pitney Bowes New Hampshire as sales manager, extensive management in Telecommunications, most recently as an Indirect Distribution Manager with a multimillion dollar budget accountability, managing managers with down-lines of hundreds of employees. I volunteer extensively, including running Greater Nashua Freecycle with over 6,000 local members.

Prior elected offices: 

Proudly serving my second term as Ward 3 Alderman.

Personal info and interests outside of politics: 

I am married to Patrick Sheehan, former city employee now privately employed, and we have two sons in the Nashua public schools. My father, Kevin McGinn lives with us in the home we own in the historic district at the tip of French Hill, Foster Square. We have a dog and a bird, and all these in one home keep me quite busy, however I find time for my hobbies as well. I am an avid flower and food gardener, voracious reader, and chronic volunteer for worthy causes. My involvement in many community improvement efforts are what brought me to getting involved in local politics, as I saw potential for improvements with the right efforts and resources being directed at them in a way that involved the community driving the changes desired.

Should you be elected, how will you connect with your constituents to learn more about issues they care most about?

I make concerted efforts as a Ward Alderman to be available to constituents privately for individual concerns, neighborhood meetings and crime watches, coffee hours with open time for conversations and publicly by engaging daily in social media in a meaningful civic way. Additionally, I regularly communicate with my counterparts on a City, Regional, and State level, attending board and committee meetings of different branches of our government, maintaining a collaborative relationship to get the best understanding and results. I also maintain relationships with a cross section of community leadership outside the government, including non-profits, businesses, and educational, and faith based leaders. Understanding the needs, knowing the opportunities that lie in front of us, and knowing who my subject matter experts are gives me the knowledge and resources to make the best decisions, or put together the best plans.

In your opinion, what are key issues affecting your Ward? 

The issues with the largest impact touch the value of people's homes, and quality of life reflect on the value of their homes, school quality, safety, and economic stability and growth. This is reflected by my involvement in these issues, regularly interacting with the Board of Education, and parents about the concerns of class sizes and school quality issues and the general safety of the schools, inside and out. We have worked together to make improvements, but the school scores still have a way to go, so we need to understand what is needed and prioritize and budget accordingly. Safety has been a concern for a long time, as a member of a neighborhood watch, it is what got me involved in my community. 

I continue to dialogue with the Police department to share concerns and opportunities, and participate in crime watches, including the first business neighborhood watch in our state, the Railroad Square crime watch. We have seen these efforts make a marked difference there; it has gone from a blighted area to a destination for people all over our city. With the recent spike in violent robberies, these efforts must be continued, and new policies such as the overnight parking pilot must be done taking these issues into account so that we can make thoughtful policy changes that enhance the quality of life instead of enabling more crime. 

Economically, both of these impact the economic outlook of our community, as businesses look at both of these metrics when choosing a community to move to. Our infrastructure must be intermodal to bring industry here, and we have huge opportunities in front of us if rail is to come through Nashua. Having a reputation as a collaborative community is key to driving the long-term growth, and reducing the burden of taxes to property owners, shifting that burden – currently about 73 percent on the homeowners – to other revenue sources to pay our budget costs. It is a dynamic that affects our home values, most folks' largest investment, and more importantly, our quality of life.

Why are you running? 

I am running because I enjoy what I am doing, and have realized that much of what I am working on is a policy level consideration. It was a long thoughtful process to decide to go At-Large, because of my love of my Ward. Knowing I have a strong collaborator in Paul Shea to continue my work in championing my Ward, I would like to work on larger policies, and assume more leadership. I will however continue to be there for anyone who needs help, as I have in past never turned from helping someone based on where they live.

Why should voters choose you over your opponents (what uniquely qualifies you to represent the public)? 

As a homeowner and mom of school-aged kids, I am touched daily by things that the local government does, such when a teacher is added to a school, or paras are cut, I see and feel the difference. I see and feel the difference when we are at full complement in our police department, or have added cops on bikes. I use the parks frequently, and library and understand the impacts these and many other programs have. I have time to attend to the business of our city because of being a stay-at-home mom, while at the same time, I have in the past managed a multimillion-dollar business, and so I rely on that experience. The time I spend with non-profit groups helps me to leverage our resources in ways that maximize our efforts, and bring to the table all these experiences and perspectives.

During your time served previously as an Alderman, how would you characterize your leadership approach? What will be your legacy to the city for having served? 

In the four years I have served, I would summarize my approach as a collaborative, reasonable, open, available, thoughtful, common sense leader who considers with each vote, “will this make Nashua better” as my main test. Finding the positive opportunity to make things better takes us in a direction of growth, and we need to grow, as communities are like gardens in that way. Although we have accomplished much during my tenure, purchasing a water company, breaking ground on the Broad Street Parkway to alleviate Main Street traffic, Main Street improvements, my Ward's downtown renewal is what I will remember most fondly. I think my legacy will be the turn around of Railroad Square, and Ward 3 downtown area, that was blighted, but now is the jewel that its prominent location warrants. Also Cotton Mill Square and the related improvements that are coming for walk-ability, including the extension of the Riverwalk. French Hill is becoming a more desirable neighborhood, and the efforts and resources have visible positive improvements. Areas that had been ignored and neglected have been improved, and are now assets to our vibrant community.

Feel free to include a summary statement or platform below if there are any other particular points you would like to relay to voters. 

I would like to stress that off-year elections, such as this one, traditionally have the lowest voter turnout. Historically, satisfied people stay home, and think they will be happy with the outcome of the election. I urge supporters of the work I do to take a few minutes to come out and vote on November 5th, so that I may continue to work hard on the important work of Nashua's progress.

Click here to see Sheehan's roll call voting record, via the City of Nashua's official website.