Sixteen Residents Elected to JP Neighborhood Council

Sixteen people were chosen for the 20-member JP Neighborhood Council in elections held Saturday. All seven incumbents seeking re-election retained their seats on the volunteer advisory committee. The Neighborhood Council makes recommendations to downtown boards like the Zoning Board of Appeals on a wide range of neighborhood issues like liquor licenses and development.

The Neighborhood Council has faced unprecedented attention in the debate over Whole Foods' arrival to Jamaica Plain. Richard Parritz, the candidate who has been the most critical of the JPNC's handing of Whole Foods, did not win election. He came in 54 votes short for an at-large seat. Christian Young in Area C also failed to be elected.

In the past, vacant seats, such as those that remain in Areas A & B, are filled by the council itself.

The new board meets for the first time Tuesday at the Neighborhood Council's . It's set for 7 p.m. at .

Key: * = elected, (i) = incumbent

Area A (Five seats)
*Oliver De Leon 102
*Arazeliz Reyes   96
*Brian Squadrille         73
*Jeffrey Wiesner          62

Area B (Five seats)
*David Baron (i)    184
*Jesse White (i)           170

Area C (Five seats)
*Andrea Howley (i)  179
*Ken Sazama     164
*Karley Ausiello (i)        156
*Hyun Shin              155
*Benjamin Day   154
Christian Young   80

At Large (Five seats)
*Joseph Wight           381
*Francesa Fordiani (i)     361
*Edward "Red" Burrows  (i)       358
*Martha Rodriguez       343
*Michael Reiskind (i)      263
Richard Parritz         210

Notes from Sandee Storey, chairperson of the "ombuds board" that oversaw the election:

• 789 people cast ballots
• The identities and/or JP addresses of 29 voters could not be
• ascertained, so those ballots were not counted.
• 20 people indicated and/or voted in an incorrect district based upon
• their address, so only at-large votes were tallied for those ballots
• 0 people voted twice
• There were some write-ins, but none received significant numbers of
• votes.

About 15 people helped count votes this afternoon at , courtesy also of Action for Boston Commuinty Development, overseen by the ombuds board. No candidate volunteer dealt with ballots in their race.

[Editor's note: The original posting had the wrong location for the Neighborhood Council's monthly meeting for Tuesday, Sept. 27.]