Letter from John Van Saun, President of the 2 Mt. Auburn Tenants Union:

Ken Reeves: a singular public servant; a matchless asset to the City of
Cambridge and, in particular, to the community of the elderly and 
disabled.
 
As president of the 2 Mount Auburn Street Tenants Association (40T)
I attest to this assessment wth immense gratitude and first hand know-
ledge.  Our building has been involved in the State’s process for selling
an affordable housing property since late September.  The current owner
is Harvard University; the designated future owner is HRI inc., a well 
known and universally respected not-for-profit housing owner and
developer.  The effort to secure this outcome has been hard, uncertain,
long, and enormously time consuming.  From a dead start, 98 elderly and
disabled tenants rallied to the defense of their own interests and the building’s
legacy identity. In the process, we have achieved what has been called the
new gold standard in tenant organization and democratic self expression and 
advocacy.  This success could not have been achieved without the participation
and  guidance of Ken Reeves.
 
Councillor Reeves has been tireless on our behalf. A transaction of this type is
necessarily a complex matter; Councillor Reeves has been unstinting in giving 
our effort the time–both in research and advocacy–that it ceaselessly demands.
His skills as a negotiator and statesman have been decisive; his unfailing charm and
unmistakeable decency and concern have provided reassurance and calm to a
tenant population suddenly beset by the uncertanties of future shelter.  As Chair
of the City Council’s University Relations Committee and a Harvard Alumnus he has
lent to the intricacies of communication that deftness that comes only with decades
of intimate involvement.  As a universally recognized and befriended citizen of 
Cambridge, his reputation and approachability have made working with him a
pleasure as well as substantivey rewarding.  We have achieved, thanks in large
measure to the efforts of Ken Reeves what is a win-win outcome for all parties,
and a valuable precedent as guidance as the needs of an exploding elderly and
elderly-disabled population concatenate upon constrained public resources.

Recently, I was contacted by Clayton Hoener, the President of the AFT local union at the Longy School of Music.  On March 23^rd  I attended a meeting of union members, parents and students and then on March 28th, I held a Univerisity Committee meeting to discuss the changes at the Longy school.

As a lifelong proponent and advocate for the arts which includes my recent assistance in the naming of Central Square as a Cultural District, I am devoted to finding a viable resolution for Longy School.

Additional Reading:

Clash over music lessons, classes roils Longy’s campus

Longy School of Music to disband nondegree programs

Myself and Richard Harding from the Dept of Public Health and a member of the School Committee are meeting with The Men of Color Taskforce to plan the 20^th Anniversary celebration of Hoops ‘n Health.

This year, the event will be held throughout the day on Saturday, June 15^th at  Hoyt Field.  As a pre-cursor to this year’s festivities, we will be hosting a “Funch” (Fun + Lunch!) on June 1st at the Christian Life Center (85 Bishop Allen Drive) where we will be screening Byron Hurt’s documentary “Soul Food Junkies.”

Please mark your calendars and get your entire family in gear for what promises to be another successful year for Hoops ‘n Health!