To the editor:

It was a coup.

The annual election of officers and district representatives was held at Thursday’s meeting of the Oread Neighborhood Association. Normally a handful of people attend and, since serving involves a commitment of time and energy, it is sometimes difficult to fill all the spots.

This time the room was strangely full of unfamiliar faces. Fifty or more landlords, developers and tenants took orchestrated turns nominating, seconding and then voting as a block for their candidates. In one instance where they had none (you must live in a district to represent it) they enthusiastically voted out the current member who was willing to continue to serve, leaving the position empty.

Some woman who’s never attended past meetings acted like she was running the proceedings and then marched out the minute the election ended, behind a group of tenants there, I assume, at the behest of their landlords, also in attendance.

The ONA has always consisted of residents, landlords, business owners and students, all interested in different issues but working on behalf of the neighborhood. When the new board took to the table, one of the first to speak said that they were there because of too many obstacles in the way of their projects. I no longer had the stomach to stick around.

ONA efforts have for decades focused on community development, safety, adequate parking, preservation, trash collection, minimizing blight, and I hope that continues. But if it’s now just for furthering individuals’ projects and incomes, maybe “Neighborhood” should be dropped from ONA.

Christy Kennedy,

Lawrence