CCA Ousts Dowds, Nominates Malenfant as New President

The Cambridge Civic Association (CCA) last week nominated longtime community activist and consensus-builder Geneva T. Malenfant as the organization's new president.

If approved by the CCA membership, Malenfant will succeed R. Philip Dowds, who has led the progressive organization for the past two years.

CCA leaders interviewed yesterday commended Malenfant as a leader who will strive to build unity in an organization recently criticized for alienating many of its members by not including them in the group's planning process.

Julia Gregory, a current CCA vice-president said Malenfant will bring a "grass-roots" leadership style to the CCA.

"Geneva works closely with all of the people that she's involved with in an organization," Gregory said. "She's been associated with the CCA for a long time and has a good relationship with many CCA members both past and present and an extraordinarily wide network of associates across the city."

And John R. Moot, a longtime CCA member, said Malenfant represents "a major improvement over Phil Dowds."

"She's much more able to get unity among people and able to work with people," Moot said. "It is a very good sign for the CCA."

Under Dowds' leadership, many CCA members felt unwanted by the organization, said Robert Winters, a Harvard math preceptor, CCA member and former City Council candidate.

"Since [I paid my CCA membership dues], I have gotten neither a news letter, a phone call, nor a how-do-I-do," he said. "The organization essentially been non-existent for the entire year."

Winters said he expects Malenfant's leadership to represent a period of more openness within the CCA.

"This great divide may very well become a thing of the past," he said. "[Malenfant's appointment] makes people like myself who have never quite bought into the CCA line feel like there's hope."

But Elaine Kistiakowsky, chair of the committee that nominated Malenfant, said Dowds' leadership did not influence the decision to replace him.

"I am a great admirer of Phil Dowds," she said. "I would love to have him working on anything I'd love to accomplish."

Kistiakowsky said Dowds has already served for two years, the typical maximum time served by a CCA president.

"It should not be forgotten that to change every two years is how we do things," she said. "The organization is in a very strong position to carry on, shall I say, for another 50 years."

Howard Medwed, a CCA vice-president, said only a small minority of people did not agree with Dowds' leadership style.

"I think that there were some people who did not get along with Phil Dowds," he said. "Most people, with in the CCA, did. Phil was an active, vigorous leader of the CCA."

But Medwed said he expects Malenfant to operate with a leadership style different from Dowds.'

"It's not better and it's not worse," he said. "I see her as continuing he role of the CCA."

In an interview yesterday, Dowds said that while he had offered to serve as CCA president for a third year, he is not bitter that is term of office is ending.

"It is customary for CCA presidents to serve two years," he said. Dowds said he approves of the choice of Malenfant as his successor.

"She came back to the CCA and onto my 1994 executive committee partly at my urging," Dowds said. "I'm very pleased now that she is moving up the ladder to the presidency."

Dowds downplayed the negative portrayals of his leadership style.

"There was a time when Jimmy Carter looked like a turkey," he said. "Views of political figures can and will change over time.

Dowds said his only regret in leaving his CCA position is that he wishes he had become involved in civic activism earlier.

"I have been active in Cambridge public affairs in many roles for more than a decade, and I plan to stay active," he said. "I was a late starter."

The New Leader

Malenfant, who currently serves as a CCA vice-president, supports placing a Stop and Shop on Memorial Drive and has contributed productively to the discussion of issues concerning Cambridge's schools, Gregory said.

Winters, who considers Malenfant a "great friend," said she is a full-time grass-roots activist.

"What she does for a living is civic activism in a constructive way," he said.

Winters said Malenfant has been active in issues concerning the development of the Central Square area.

Malenfant, currently on vacation, was not available for comment for this story.