UCD removes local group from its board

The troubled University City Community Council, a local neighborhood coalition, has indefinitely lost two of its seats on the University City District Board of Directors. According to UCD Chairman John Fry, who is also Penn's executive vice president, the UCCC's two expiring seats will remain vacant due to its use of an "invalid process" in nominations. Meanwhile, the two board members who held those seats were appointed to at-large positions on the panel -- which determines the agenda of the neighborhood organization aimed at beautifying and promoting University City. However, some UCCC members disagree with Fry's stance on the process, claiming instead that he is trying to keep the UCD's representation in areas close to Penn at the expense of the more distant neighborhoods in University City. The development comes on the heels of the withdrawal of Spruce Hill Community Association -- the group representing the neighborhood directly southwest of Penn -- from the UCCC two weeks ago, a move that met with controversy among the six neighborhood groups that once made up the coalition. Adding to the controversy is the fact that Spruce Hill President Barry Grossbach held one of the contested UCD seats before his term expired. Vaughn Cook of Powelton Village Civic Association occupied the other. But with the newly created at-large positions, they will both remain on the UCD board. Upon the expiration of the two seats, Fry explained, the UCD requested from the UCCC a list of five possible replacements from their combined associations. The board planned to evaluate the candidates and make its own decision. According to Fry, however, the UCCC only submitted two names -- both of which the board considered unsatisfactory due to their neighborhoods' distance from Penn and Drexel -- and in doing so, eliminated the UCD from making the choice. "We felt that they kind of put a gun to our head and said, OThese are the seats, or else,'" Fry said. "I was very disappointed." Then accusations surfaced from another UCCC member, Todd Kovich, that the council's nominations were not made democratically. Kovich, former president of Cedar Park Neighbors, said the UCCC's decision was made by few people and did not represent the council as a whole. In a letter to Fry, Kovich further explained: "The boards and membership of community associations were bypassed in the selection process." But Amy Williams, vice president of Squirrel Hill Community Association, believes the choice should not have been the UCD's to make. "They are basically choosing the community's representatives for them," she said. "And that's not good." However, Fry pointed out that the UCD's financial support comes in large part from organizations like Penn, Drexel University and Amtrak -- who want to see the UCD focus on their part of University City -- and not from groups on the western outskirts of the area. And Fry further emphasized that the UCCC already holds three seats on the board, which is more than any of its other organizations. He stressed that he does not want the UCCC's current internal conflicts to affect the UCD and its board. "We have so many big issues to deal with in University City, why we would spend one minute in internal politicking and fighting is beyond me," he said. "I refuse to allow the UCD to get politicized."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.