Note: this was emailed to JHA members on November 28th and is being reposted here for visibility
Dear JHA Members,
We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We wanted to share a couple of announcements ahead of the December 8th JHA Meeting so that you all had time to review.
- Notice of Special Election for Vice President December 8th, 2021
- Read-Ahead for Columbia Crossing Project Presentation and Vote for JHA Letter of Support
The agenda will be shared via this list as well as updated on our website at https://www.joneshill.com/event/jha-monthly-meeting-december-2021 once it is finalized on Monday, December 6th.
– Your Neighbors at JHA
Notice of Special Election for Vice President December 8th, 2021
The JHA By-laws indicate that “In case of a vacancy in any office, at any time, except the Presidency, the vacancy shall be filled by a vote of the Voting Members at the first meeting following the vacancy, provided that 10 (ten) days’ notice of this special election shall be provided to all members.”
Anyone wishing to nominate a Voting Member (including self-nomination) for the Vice President position needs to email secretary@joneshill.com at least three (3) days prior to the meeting (11:59pm ET on Sunday, December 5th, 2021). Due to the challenges associated with updating the ballot in real-time in a virtual environment, nominations ahead of the deadline are strongly encouraged. However, if no nominations are received prior to this deadline, JHA members will be notified when the agenda is sent out, and nominations will be accepted just prior to the election during the December 8th meeting.
In order to vote or confirm officer eligibility in the upcoming JHA election, please see the attached list of current Voting Members.
Additional Membership Note: Due to the ongoing transition to rolling membership and the new membership management platform (JoinIt) announced over the past few meetings, the Board of Directors has decided to provide an additional grace period to the handful of members who were expecting to renew using JoinIt.
As we continue to get JoinIt set up, renewals of existing voting memberships will be accepted here until the end of the day Monday December 5th. New voting members as of November 11, 2021 (27 days prior to the vote) will also be eligible to vote at the December Meeting. For questions regarding your membership, please reach out to our Treasurer, Stacey Cordeiro (treasurer@joneshill.com).
Read-Ahead for Columbia Crossing Project Presentation and Vote for JHA Letter of Support
At the December Meeting, Gabriel Ramos (gramos@dbedc.org) of Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation (DBEDC) will be sharing information about Dudley Neighbors Inc. (DNI’s) planned redevelopment of the Citizens Bank building on 572 Columbia Rd. DNI has selected DBEDC and co-developer Preservation of Affordable Housing to redevelop the former bank building into a strong arts and community hub for Upham’s Corner residents in Dorchester.
“The development, Columbia Crossing, centers the concept of developing equitably without displacement in Upham’s Corner. They plan to accomplish this by making Upham’s Corner residents the benchmark of the project’s success and have committed to making the project affordable to residents in Upham’s Corner. In summary we will be delivering a mixed-use development featuring 62 income restricted units of affordable housing; 9,000 square feet of commercial space for arts & innovation uses; and approximately 3,000 square feet of public art display & amenity space.”
The team is seeking feedback and letters of support from community organizations like JHA. We will be asking Voting Members to note their support for this letter via a question on the (updated) JANUARY Ballot. While the team will share information about the project at our December JHA meeting, I encourage you to view a copy of the proposal ahead of time https://www.dbedc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Columbia-Crossing-Community-Presentation-4_22_Final.pdf.