September 2017 - Neighborhood View

Malden High School Students vow “Never Forget” at New England Holocaust Memorial

September 30, 2017 NeighborhoodView 0

By Lori Ardai and Fern Remedi-Brown with editorial assistance from Marilyn Andrews Just after school began this fall, Malden High School students received a lesson about history — a lesson in how to keep history alive. The lesson began with a painful reminder of prejudice. Twice this summer the New England Holocaust Memorial was vandalized. Each time, one of the panes of glass with numbers representing the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust was shattered. Many Malden High School students expressed concern and dismay over both acts. Their concern was heightened by the timing of the second act of vandalism on Aug. 14, which followed the violent events in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the report that the alleged perpetrator was a 17-year-old Malden male. This infuriated many students of all cultures. The vandalism quickly became a subject of discussion for both the History Club and the school newspaper, The Blue & Gold. The students decided that they needed to take action. So a group began working with Greg Hurley, lead history teacher at Malden High School, […]

Election 2017: Questions for City Council Candidates: Malden River and Water Quality

September 29, 2017 NeighborhoodView 2

The 2017 Malden City Council elections are approaching. The Municipal Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017. A preliminary election on Sept. 19 determined the final candidates. To help Malden voters decide on which candidates to support, a group of citizens organized by Prisco Tammaro, a Malden resident, in partnership with local media, developed a series of “Quality of Life” questions for City Council candidates. The questions were sent to the candidates in August with instructions on how to respond. The questions ranged from issues of affordable housing to development, grant writing and bike trails. Neighborhood View will run the answers to these questions every Friday for the next two weeks. This week’s question is about the Malden River and water quality. Question 1: Would you support creating a waterfront park/boardwalk system along both sides of the Malden River? Question 2: What actions by the City would you support to improve the water quality of the storm water that is discharged through the city’s storm sewer system into the Malden River/Fellsmere Pond [Mystic Watershed (West)] and […]

The Road to Morocco from Malden: The Journey Begins

September 24, 2017 bzoe42 4

By Bonnie Blanchard Part 1 of 5 parts: Casablanca Riding a camel only looks romantic. Sore and tired, I ease myself next to a wood-burning fire; it had been a long and lumpy journey on the back of the camel into the Sahara Desert. I find myself staring up into a sky studded with stars big as dinner plates, thinking that despite my sore body, I had achieved a life-long dream. As a kid, I would pore over pages of the National Geographic, staring at the photos, and think that someday I would visit exotic, faraway places. Now, I wasn’t reading a magazine; I was actually here, in Morocco, the quiet of the desert enveloping my group like a velvet blanket. And to think I was only here in Merzouga, Morocco, because I noticed a sign in Somerville, Massachusetts, 12 years ago. It happened like this: As I drove through Union Square, Somerville one day, my eyes caught sight of a building sign that said Moroccan Caravan, Gallery and Showroom.” As a kid, I was captivated […]

Election 2017: Questions for City Council Candidates: Expanding the Northern Strand Bike Trail

September 22, 2017 NeighborhoodView 3

The 2017 Malden City Council elections are approaching. The Municipal Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017. A preliminary election on Sept. 19 determined the final candidates. To help Malden voters decide on which candidates to support, a group of citizens organized by Prisco Tammaro, a Malden resident, in partnership with local media, developed a series of “Quality of Life” questions for City Council candidates. The questions were sent to the candidates in August with instructions on how to respond. The questions ranged from issues of affordable housing to development, grant writing and bike trails. Neighborhood View will run the answers to these questions every Friday for the next three weeks. This week’s question is about the Northern Strand Community Trail, also known as the Bike to the Sea Trail. The Northern Strand Community Trail is a 9-mile bike path and walking trail that connects Malden, Everett, Revere, Saugus and Lynn along the former Boston & Maine Railroad’s Saugus Branch Railroad. The trail is part of the East Coast Greenway, a project planning to connect […]

Election 2017: Questions for City Council Candidates: Malden Hospital development

September 15, 2017 NeighborhoodView 7

The 2017 Malden City Council elections are approaching. A Preliminary Election will be held in Wards 3, 6 and 8 on Tuesday, Sept. 19; the Municipal Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017. To help Malden voters decide on which candidates to support, a group of citizens organized by Prisco Tammaro, a Malden resident, in partnership with local media, developed a series of “Quality of Life” questions for City Council candidates. The questions were sent to the candidates in August with instructions on how to respond. The questions ranged from issues of affordable housing to development, grant writing and bike trails. Neighborhood View will run the answers to these questions every Friday for the next four weeks. This week’s questions concern the appropriate level of development at the site of the former Malden Hospital. In 1999, Hallmark Health closed the 330,000-square foot hospital building and it remains vacant today. Hallmark has entered into a purchase-and-sale agreement with Fellsmere Housing Group to redevelop the 17.6-acre site. The Friends of Fellsmere Heights are pushing to preserve more […]

Video documents “Malden Unites Against Hate” rally

September 6, 2017 NeighborhoodView 0

On Thursday, August 17, Malden community members gathered at Malden High School for an interfaith vigil and peaceful demonstration entitled “Malden Unites Against Hate,” in response to the preceding week’s rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and other acts of violence and hatred occurring throughout the country. Hundreds turned out for the event, which began with a “Solidarity Standout” and group chants in front of the high school. It then featured a diverse range of speakers in the high school courtyard, ending with a “water cleansing ceremony” to release messages of fear and hope in a pool of water. The key community organizers of the event were Nichole Mossalam, Fern Remedi-Brown, Amanda Ceide and Lori Ardai. The speaking portion was hosted by Nichole Mossalam. Below is a 2-minute preview video from MATV, Malden’s Media Center. All photos by Greg Cook. Video footage recorded by Joe Gray and Ose Schwab, and edited by Neil Novello for MATV, Malden’s Media Center. To see the one-hour edited version of the event, including all the speakers, click here.