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Health & Fitness

West End Residents Call for New Leadership; Election is Thursday

On Thursday, concerned members of WECA hope to elect candidates to lead the organization in a new direction that emphasizes transparency, accountability, inclusion, and a positive sense of community.

Dear Neighbors and Friends,

At to choose its new slate of leaders who will hold office for the next year.  

A small set of households active in WECA have been the voice of the West End, representing our community to Rockville at large and to the Mayor and Council. While they have exercised an important role in community affairs, it is a role with which many of us disagree.

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 o   They have taken positions before public bodies as the representative of the “West End”—without obtaining the authorization of members, and without making public testimony available to the organization’s membership.

 o   They have failed to faithfully represent the diversity of our community—both its social diversity, and the diversity of views on what is best for the West End (and the wider city).

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 o   They have taken a relentlessly hostile and negative view towards business and philanthropic uses of land in the West End. Some in its leadership have called for longstanding, community-serving businesses like ’s to be put out of business. Others have opposed changes—like faith-based senior housing (Victory Housing)—that are not injurious to the community, and broadly beneficial to those in need.

 o   They aim to establish a city-approved “” in the West End, adding a zoning overlay to that which now exists.  This might impose important new restrictions on how we use our properties and what our homes look like. If it is entered into, it should be done only after careful, balanced, open, and frequent public discussions—and only with the widespread assent that current rules require, rather than smaller majorities, as some in WECA leadership have proposed.

We have recruited a set of candidates to lead the organization in a new direction. We are committed to transparent and accountable leadership, and to balanced representation. And we intend to foster a positive sense of community by sponsoring activities of shared interest to our neighborhood. 

You are busy. We understand. But could you please take just a bit of time to participate in the selection of new leaders? 

We ask your support for the following individuals:

 

  • President—Robin Nelson Corridon, a long-time resident in the Rose Hill subdivision; has served on the WECA board as block captain since the 1990s and on WECA ad hoc committees; served as treasurer of WECA under former presidents Bridget Donnell Newton and Patricia Woodward; currently an administrative executive at a local medical screening firm.
  • Vice President—Marian Hull, a Rockville resident since 1949 and West End resident since 1985; has served on the WECA board as a block capital since the early 1990s and served on a WECA ad hoc committee for Chestnut Lodge development; retired from the U.S. Navy hospital in Bethesda as a laboratory manager.
  • Recording Secretary—Thomas Weko, longtime Rockville resident residing with his family; member of the Rockville Community Coalition; Associate Commissioner, Postsecondary Studies at the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education.
  • Treasurer—Daryl Newhouse, a West End resident since 2005; a mother whose son graduated from ’s International Baccalaureate program and is now attending college; an attorney who formerly had an office in the West End on South Washington Street; former treasurer and president of the Rockville Community Chorus before joining the National Philharmonic Chorale and Singers; lives nearby Pumphrey’s and is active in the effort to allow the funeral home to operate a parking lot on its property.

 

We’ll be requesting a written vote, so that the privacy of your voting decision will be respected.

Please join us at The meeting is held in the ground floor basement beneath the sanctuary, and accessible by a rear door to the building with an entrance on Harrison Street, where parking is also available.

Please bring your spouse, partner, or a like-minded friend from the West End to the meeting.

Thank you.

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