Twelve candidates have been certified to run in next month’s election for the 20-seat Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council (JPNC), according to an official nominee list provided by the election’s ombuds board. The low number of candidates means the Oct. 19 election will be noncompetitive and the council will have to fill some seats by appointment.
Among those running are current JPNC chair Benjamin Day and former chair Kevin Moloney.
The council is a neighborhood association for all of Jamaica Plain. It regularly reviews zoning variance and licensing requests, and also serves as a forum for a host of local issues. It was founded in 1985 by former Mayor Raymond Flynn to advise the City.
The JPNC is currently involved in a controversial lawsuit against the City and a developer that claims the planned redevelopment of the former Home for Little Wanderers property at 161 S. Huntington Ave. was improperly granted. Day is the plaintiff in the lawsuit, with the JPNC’s approval, and Moloney advised the council about the suit.
Any JP resident ages 16 or older can vote in the JPNC’s biannual election.
The full list of candidates follows. The Gazette will publish biographies of the candidates prior to the election.
At-Large (all of JP; five seats)
Dave Baron
Michael Reiskind
Area A (Egleston/Hyde/Jackson Squares; five seats)
Martha Rodriguez
Jeffrey Wiesner
Area B (eastern central JP, part of Forest Hills, Parkside, Stonybrook, Sumner Hill; five seats)
Anne Barrett
Erin Colgan-Snyder
Jamey Lionette
Jerry O’Connor
Carolyn Royce
Area C (western central JP, part of Forest Hills, Jamaica Hills, Pondside, Woodbourne; five seats)
Benjamin Day
Bernard Doherty
Kevin Moloney