It didn’t come as a surprise that there wouldn’t be enough (7) candidates to make a competitive contest for the yearly North End/Waterfront Neighborhood Council (NEWNC) election.
For the past three years the same situation has occurred and every candidate that filed nomination papers with 40 signatures from Ward III, Precincts 1, 2, 3 and 4 were automatically placed on the Council for two-year terms.
One reason for the lack of candidates was attempting to get the signatures during the stay home suggestions and the closure of many neighborhood organizations, making it a real challenge to secure the proper signatures.
“NEWNC waited as long as possible before canceling the election,†President Brett Roman stated.
NEWNC apparently did everything possible to conduct a public community election to no avail.
Another obstacle was the availability of the Nazzaro Community Center, NEWNC’s usual polling site, is closed and there was no word from the city when and if it would be open in time for a September 19 election.
The candidates that did take the time to secure the necessary signatures to become Council members by default are: Marie Simboli, Joel Faller, Rory Harrington, Kevin Drew and Kevin Fleming.
NEWNC has elected officers and committee chair.