Two Candidates seek to Lead BHCA

-By Dan Murphy

Two candidates are now in the running for president of the Beacon Hill Civic Association (BHCA) for the 2011-2012 term.

Steve Young, who was unanimously selected as the presidential candidate by the BHCA Nominating Committee, will face Rob Whitney in the upcoming election.

Young has served on the BHCA board of directors and as chair of the Civic Association’s Traffic and Parking Committee for the past six years. He is also a member of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) Longfellow Bridge Citizens Task Force, a member of the City of Boston’s Bike Network Citizens Advisory Group and a past member of the Citizens Advisory Group to the Storrow Drive Tunnel Project.

“I was pleased and honored to have been asked if I would consider being nominated for the presidency of the Beacon Civic Association, and now to have been unanimously nominated for that position,” Young wrote in an e-mail to the Times. “Having raised our family on Beacon Hill, I share the Civic Association’s mission of seeking to preserve the historic character and nature of this community while working to improve the quality of life for all of its residents.”

Whitney has served as a member of the BHCA board since 2004 and as co-chair of the Civic Association’s Urban Affairs Committee, a current member of its City Services Committee and former member of its ad-hoc Planning and Research Committee. He was also a member of the 2009-2010 BHCA ad-hoc By-Laws Committee.

In 2006, Whitney served as chair of the City of Boston’s Suffolk University Task Force, which helped successfully defeat a proposal by the school to build a 33-story dormitory at 20 Somerset St.

Whitney also has served as president of the Massachusetts Disability Law Center board of directors since 2002 and as a board member since 1999.

“I really think there needs to be a new commitment from the leadership to address the problems that most address the residents of Beacon Hill – quality-of-life issues,” Whitney said. “I don’t think the Civic Association has addressed these issues with sufficient vigor. It takes dedication, vision and collaboration with the West End Civic Association, the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay and other groups.”

All Civic Association members are invited to cast their ballots in the election, which takes place during the BHCA Annual Meeting at the Union Club at 8 Park St. on Monday, May 16, at 5 p.m. The results of the election are expected to be announced at the BHCA’s monthly meeting in June, said BHCA Executive Director Suzanne Besser.