Malden News
  • Education

    An arboretum hiding in plain sight: Malden’s Tree Warden cultivates splendor at Forest Dale cemetery

    By Karen Buck It is not easy being an urban tree!  Urban trees have to endure unnatural conditions: excessive heat, drought, storm water runoff from impervious surfaces, poorly conditioned soil, vehicular pollution, road salt, road construction, sidewalk installations, water and sewer lines work, pest and disease invasions, and public complaints.  Many trees die on a daily basis in cities where mature tree canopy is most needed But Malden’s public trees have their own Lorax, the defender of forests: tree warden, Chris Rosa.  According to the Massachusetts Tree Warden and Forestry Association, a tree warden is defined as “a person in charge of shade trees on public town lands [who has …] the unique legal responsibility to guard public resources against destructive forces that might include persons, insects, or diseases.” Rosa accepts the 2024 Seth Swift Tree Warden of the Year Award Coral Bark Japanese Maple Award Rosa’s favorite award Rosa’s inspiration to create the arboretum piqued in April of 2023, while doing regular rounds of the Forest Dale cemetery. Rosa noted over 100 tree stumps [...]
  • Arts

    Malden Reads announces book selection and prepares to kickoff 2025 program

    by Mack Keating Continuing its tradition of highlighting powerful stories that challenge perspectives and inspire change, Malden Reads announced its 2025 Book of the Year. The chosen selection, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, tells a true story of resilience, innovation, and the transformative power of education. Set in Malawi in Africa, the story follows young Kamkwamba’s journey during a devastating drought in 2001 that left families across the country facing severe hunger. Forced to leave school because of financial hardship, Kamkwamba refused to let his circumstances hold him back. In a 2009 TED Talk, Kamkwamba shared how he found hope in his local library, reading as many science books as he could get his hands on. Not knowing much English at the time, he relied on pictures, graphs, and context clues to “learn the words around them.” Three versions of this year’s book selection. From left: adult, young reader’s and children’s book. The Malden Reads book selection committee recommends the young reader’s edition for all ages, including adult, [...]
  • Featured

    Malden Warming Center opens its seventh season with volunteers ready to serve

    By Lindsay Perdue Community members gathered at the Malden Warming Center to ring in the Yuletide spirit, with Maplewood Baptist Church and First Baptist Church of Malden attendees dropping off presents for each guest. Clients at the Center received stockings with personalized notes and goodies. Volunteers gathered on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to ring in the Yuletide spirit with guests. Credit: Malden Warming Center. “For Christmas Day, in addition to the 15 regular volunteer spots we need every day for morning, evening, and overnight service, we had another 9 volunteers come in to keep the Center open all day,” said volunteer coordinator Caroline Gaudet. Guests received stockings with personalized notes and goodies inside. Credit: Malden Warming Center. Now in its seventh season, the Malden Warming Center opened on Dec. 1 with volunteers ready to serve, just in time for the first blast of cold weather in December. Located on busy Eastern Avenue inside Malden’s First Church of the Nazarene, the center is dedicated to providing shelter and warmth overnight to those who need it [...]
  • Featured

    From Malden to Maldon: City Councilor celebrates the historic connection

    By Lindsay Perdue Malden City Council President Steve Winslow traveled 3,000 miles from home, only to find himself back in Maldon: that’s Malden with an “o,” the city of Malden, Massachusetts’ namesake in England. Maldon is a quaint town 35 miles northeast of London. Credit: Steve Winslow. During a European vacation last July, the longtime Malden resident and Bike to the Sea co-founder, explored the two cities’ deep historical connection. He took a six-hour ferry from the Netherlands to Harwich, England, followed by a train journey through rural, agricultural land before arriving in Maldon, England, a quaint town 35 miles northeast of London. Malden, Massachusetts was named after Maldon, England. It is located near the coast on the banks of the River Blackwater in Essex County and is surrounded by farmland. The red pin marks the location of Maldon, England, the town after which Malden, MA was named. According to the City of Malden’s website, Malden was incorporated as a separate town on May 2, 1649. The name ‘Malden’ was chosen by Joseph Hill, an early [...]
  • Featured

    Historic Ferry Street building in danger of being demolished has ties to one of the first Malden daycare facilities

    By Maria Membreno For the past 100 years, it has been used as offices for lawyers, for the Tri-City Mental Health and Retardation Association, and for the Industrial Aid Society which, as far back as 1894, ran a day nursery for working factory women. Now, the historic M. Ida Converse building stands vacant on 15 Ferry Street and is in danger of being demolished. The developer who owns the building, and the vacant lot next to it, wants the building removed so he can build a 7-story commercial/residential structure on the two lots, but some city officials and residents are still hopeful the building can be saved, perhaps by moving it to another nearby location. “We want to make sure that we preserve this site and this building wherever it is in order to be able to teach the next generation not only about Malden history but about the importance of philanthropy in our community, as a way to move forward that people give back to their community,” Malden Public Library Director Dora St. Martin [...]
  • Arts

    Paula Terenzi’s Dance Complex: Four decades of dance, discipline, and dedication

    By Jack Drees Paula Terenzi has been dancing since she was two. As an adult, she runs the Paula Terenzi’s Dance Complex in Malden where she has spent years instructing the dancers of tomorrow. Terenzi opened her dance studio 41 years ago inside of Byrne’s Karate Studio on Pleasant St., the martial arts school run by her late husband Richard Byrne. Initially, she began teaching on his off days. As more students arrived, she moved into her current studio at 101 Pleasant St. where she has been teaching dance for the last three and a half decades. Title-winning students at Paula Terenzi’s Dance Complex. From left: Nora Pawl, Melissa Moura and Madison Ogiba. Credit: Jack Drees/Neighborhood View. Paula Terenzi’s Dance Complex offers students the opportunity to learn a variety of dance disciplines across all ages, ranging from two and a half to sixty. Terenzi is the face of this place, responsible for building professionals who carry their talent from Malden to professional sports teams like the Boston Celtics or New England Patriots. Some will even bring their [...]
  • Featured

    A pocket-sized forest in Malden brightens a neighborhood

    By Christian Carapucci Amid the hustle and bustle of everyday Malden citizens getting to work, school, or going out on the town, and the naturally ingrained on-the-go mindset of city living, it’s nice to stop, breathe, and commune with nature. And where better to do that than in the newly created “pocket forest” on Goodwin Avenue? A pocket forest is a small densely planted area of native trees and shrubs. Malden’s first pocket forest was created with the planting of 21 trees on a vacant lot on Goodwin Avenue in the Forestdale section of the city in October. This is the first one in the state paid for by a new Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) grant from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. Malden’s new pocket forest on Goodwin Ave. Credit: Ari Taylor/Facebook. The idea originated on January 5, 2024, when Malden resident Ashley Kolodziej reached out to newly appointed City Council member of three days, Ari Taylor, saying she would like to see a community garden on a small [...]
  • Events

    From Malden to Hudson Valley: Two strangers discover shared family legacy and hidden history of enslavement in New York

    By Kami Nguyen Eleanor Mire, a lifelong Malden resident, wanted to learn about her family’s past after she watched the Ken Burns documentary series, The Civil War.  “I always point to that because there was so much he put into that that I absolutely didn’t know, and I thought I knew about the Civil War,” Mire said. “That pushed me to start looking into my family and how they related to the Civil War, and that opened the floodgates.” Mire’s ancestors are part of a myriad of individual family histories that have shaped the past, present, and future of the United States. Some stories are waiting to be told, truths yet to be discovered.  In her new book, A Hudson Valley Reckoning, Debra Bruno reckons with her family history of slaveholding and the realities of slavery in northern states. At the center of this story are Mire’s ancestors, who were enslaved in the 1800s by Bruno’s ancestors in upstate New York.  Mire’s great-grandparents on another side of her family moved to Malden in 1906 from Boston. [...]
  • Playground at Early Childhood Center
    Education

    Malden Public Schools employees living outside district can now enroll their children in Early Learning Center

    By Annie Sarlin The Malden School Committee passed a new policy that allows teachers and other school department personnel living outside the district to enroll their children in the Early Learning Center preschool program. At their meeting on Oct. 18, the committee voted unanimously to create the policy, officially titled “JFE4 Preschool Early Learning Center Admission of Children of School Department Personnel.” The Early Learning Center on Mountain Ave. in Malden. Credit: Malden Public Schools website. The motion took effect immediately. According to committee member Keith Bernard, the new policy will help make scheduling easier for school employees. “We’ve got teachers that are coming from another district… allow[ing] them to go and enroll their kids in our Early Learning Center so that, at the end of the day… [they] don’t have to jump out of school to go running back to their home and…pick up their kid,” said Bernard. The Early Learning Center, a preschool program in Malden for students ages 3-5, offers full and half-day programs. Parents and caregivers can also select if they [...]

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Zumba Class at the Malden Senior Center

Behind the High School Community Garden that Could

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