Linden/Chambers Residents Elect New Board to Re-start "Local Tenant Organization"

- NEEDHAM, MA   -   A handful of Linden/Chambers residents are back on track to organize the tenants of the Needham Housing Authority (NHA) cluster housing for elderly and the two story brick dorm room studios, into a Union, and more precisely, a "Local Tenants Organization" (LTO), under 760 CMR. 

Ben Echevarria, the Director of Organizing at the Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants oversaw the Months long nomination process and the election, held, as advertised, from 10am to 2pm on May 16, 2024, at the community room at 5 Chambers Street.  A small but sufficient number of ballots were submitted, and the winners were declared that afternoon.   The vote was later certified with a letter of May 16, 2024 to the NHA.

Ross M. Donald and Jim Burke were voted President and Vice-President.  They were Members at Large in a previous Local Tenant Organization (LTO) certified by NHA. 

That LTO failed to sustain community interest, as an organization, due to the authoritarian style of one resident, who stepped up to volunteer to be vice president.  And we were all happy, until the new VP had a problem with the popular LTO President, who was also an elected commissioner, not appointed, claiming that there was a conflict of interest, of some sort. 

Everyone liked having a resident as Commissioner, and in the tenant organization, too.   Things felt interconnected.   Our resident usurper, the new VP, encouraged the LTO President, who was an agreeable person, to step aside.  The new President then, fired the Board Secretary.  The Treasurer quit.   And by the next election, the NHA reported not enough people willing to be nominated to fill the Board, as things were. 

As for the elections meant to continue the LTO, there was a minor little fly in the ointment, in that the new LTO President was working with NHA to run the election, the mailings, the count, etc.  Somehow, another resident assembled a slate of candidates, but that information never got to the NHA nor to the LWV which was overseeing the process, as an independent third party. 

At the time, it appeared that the process had been cut short, and that the LWV had been bamboozled over the nominations and the other candidates.  There was an ineffectual petition calling for elections.  After that the almost ten year old Local Tenant Organization expired for lack of hope. 

The other most recently elected nominees for the new LTO Board were Marlene Costa, Dorina Moriarty, and John Kostuk.  They were elected Treasurer, Clerk, and Member at Large.  The Board will be meeting with Ben on Thursday, May 30, 2024 to draw up By-laws, set up accounts, prepare to hold meetings with the residents, who, as tenants in good standing, are all members of the LTO.

The nominees for office met the voting public the night before election day and plans were

 drawn up to attend a Tenants Union Conference, Sunday May 19, 2024, and a Lobby Day at the Statehouse on Monday, May 20, 2024.