Voting Questions

[Union Square Neighborhood Council]

Hi everyone, 

Just a quick note to say we have seen your emails, comments and questions. We hear you. Currently we are taking a moment to pause, welcome the new board members, and exhale after the Herculean effort it took to organize the vote. We plan to respond to your concerns on Monday.

Thanks for your patience.

Michèle Hansen, Matthias Rudolf & Emily Doran

Co-Chairs & Secretary 

[Daniel Coughlin]

Should we expect an update or response? 

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[Daniel Coughlin]

Aaron,

It should be simple enough to count “resident” vs “non-resident” voters, as a first step. All USNC members should have their address on file. Therefore tallying voters who live inside the catchment vs. outside the catchment should be straightforward. It gives the community a baseline understanding of who voted to approve the CBA. 

For part two - counting the participation of residents, workers and volunteers - why not simply count the voters based on how they were listed in the membership? For instance, voters listed as volunteers should count as volunteers, voters listed as workers should count as workers, etc. Respectfully, this would be the most transparent approach. Attempting to retroactively review (and possibly change??) how members are listed, feels inappropriate. I hope the USNC isn’t attempting to affect how voters are categorized, especially if it’s to reflect a certain outcome. 

Finally, as Pat mentioned before, there are many USNC members ready and willing to volunteer as needed. They have attended endless meetings, organized against well funded special interests, and participated at the highest levels throughout this process. Many have lived in Somerville for decades and deserve some clarity on basic questions about who’s deciding the future of their neighborhood. Let’s get the data, share and learn from it, and move on. 

Regards,

Dan  

On Tue, Jun 17, 2025 at 9:21 PM Aaron Weber <aaron....@gmail.com> wrote:

Daniel,

We spent a great deal of our Monday night meeting discussing this issue, and we're working on it. One complication is that individuals may be eligible for membership under multiple categories. For example, someone who works, lives, and volunteers in the square might be in our membership list as only one of those things. That makes it difficult to provide a simple breakdown.

And please, do remember that we are an all-volunteer organization, so we appreciate your patience as we work on your requests. 

Best,

Aaron Weber

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[Aaron Weber]

Dan, 

Thank you for your patience and politeness as we work on your request. 

Warmly,

Aaron Weber