On Tuesday night, the Charlestown Neighborhood Council (CNC) unanimously voted to send a letter to the Department of Neighborhood Services as well as Mayor Menino’s office expressing concern over bypassing the CNC in the decision making process for Sullivan Square. This is the first time that this has happened in recent memory.
We share the CNC’s concern.
At the CNC meeting on Tuesday night, no one knew who was on the committee or what the criteria was for being appointed to this Advisory Committee for Sullivan Square.
The CNC has done an outstanding job in letting the residents of Charlestown know and participate in discussions on all local projects.
On a regular basis, our neighbors come to the CNC monthly meeting or to special meetings to voice their opinions on any number of projects that are happening in our neighborhood. As CNC Chairman Tom Cunha has pointed out, “we are a sounding board to let city officials know what the residents of our neighborhood are thinking. We have no authority to deny any project.”
Since 1987 when the CNC was first formed this type of public sounding board has worked out very well.
We hope that the reason to now change the role of the CNC in the decision making process on Sullivan Square is not the start of stacking boards with city hall appointed members who only see the positives of a project and not any negatives.