The Gazette offered all of the candidates for the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council the opportunity to submit biographical statements for publication on our Web site.

The election will take place on July 12 at Jamaica Plain Orange line stops, as well Hi-Lo Foods in Jackson Square, J.P. Licks, and in the parking lot next to Star Fish in Egleston Square. Polls will be open between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. and again between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
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Steve Backman is a candidate for re-election to the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council. Steve Backman works as a technology consultant to Boston area nonprofits. He started and leads the technology strategy and web development consulting group, Database Designs Associates, with nonprofit, education, labor, public sector clients locally and nationally. Steve and his wife Linda Roistacher will soon celebrate their thirtieth wedding anniversary and are proud parents of two grown children, Daniel and Lisa. Steve has also been a community activist in Dorchester and then Jamaica Plain for thirty years. With both of his children growing up in the Boston Public Schools, Steve became an advocate for equity and quality in the public schools. He is a former co-chair of the Citywide Parents Council, vice-chair of the statewide Coalition for Authentic Reform of Education (MassCARE), a participant in what is now known as Work for Quality, and recently joined the board of Citizens for Public Schools. Steve also has been active in challenging the new wave of gentrification and the loss of affordable housing in Jamaica Plain and citywide, helping form the “Whose Boston” Coalition. Getting involved two years ago in the Neighborhood Council came as a natural step, and Steve now takes part in the JP Neighborhood Council’s Housing and Development Committee. Steve has been a political advisor to City Councilor Felix Arroyo since his first election. Steve also is a founding board member of Water Way Arts for Health and Energy, a nonprofit organization whose activities include operating the longtime Brookline Tai Chi school.