2017 - Page 2 of 5 - Neighborhood View

Video from children’s visit with author Cammie McGovern

October 26, 2017 annedr 0

MATV, Malden’s Media Center, is pleased to present a video from a special author visit last year to the Malden Public Schools. A preview of the video can be found at the end of this article, with a link to the full program on MATV’s website. On June 1, 2017, Malden Reads welcomed author Cammie McGovern to a series of events in Malden. McGovern is the author of Just My Luck, a companion book for the middle grades, selected to accompany the themes of last season’s Malden Reads book selection, A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman. Just My Luck tells the story of a fourth grade boy who learns to cope with difficult family situations, such as his brother’s autism and his father’s head injury, through his kindhearted spirit and generosity.. Malden Reads hosted a reception for McGovern at the Malden High School Writers Den, a comfortable place where students can immerse themselves in writing creatively and receive tutoring. The Writers Den, a new addition to Malden High School last year, is a place to strengthen partnerships with the community through readings and programs. […]

The Road to Morocco from Malden: Into the Sahara

October 22, 2017 bzoe42 0

By Bonnie Blanchard Part Three of Five Parts Getting on a dromedary is like straddling a furry bathtub. It’s not the most graceful of feats. You begin the mount while the beast is lying down. You have to figure out how to get your feet across both sides; their bodies are wider than that of a horse. There are no stirrups to lock your feet into, only a steel bar in front of the hump to hang onto. A layered blanket pack is the saddle. When each member of my group was finally aboard their ship of the desert, we started our journey into the Sahara. As I bounced and hung on, I had visions of rolling off to the side and being deposited on the desert floor. It was a premonition of things to come. This camel-back journey had begun after an exhausting yet exhilarating day driving from Fez to Ouarzazate, the entrance to the Sahara Desert, in another leg of our Morocco trip. As our van crossed through rosemary-dotted hills and cedar groves, […]

Election 2017: Questions for City Council Candidates: Affordable housing and public comment

October 13, 2017 NeighborhoodView 0

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. This week’s questions are about public comment periods before City Council meeting and affordable housing. This is the fifth and final installment. For previous questions and answers, see links at the botton of this page. Question 1: Would you support a public comment portion before all City Council meetings, but after any special guest, similar to the School Committee? Question 2: According to state records, 10.2% of Malden’s housing is affordable. If the city’s rate of affordable housing drops […]

The Malden man behind the Pledge of Allegiance

October 10, 2017 jlynnmcclain 2

By Jennifer McClain Down an unassuming street in Malden behind the Malden Court House is the home of the, some say contested, author of a work that is both inspiring and divisive. Even beyond the nature of the work is the controversy over its origins. Who wrote it and what does it mean? These are questions have been pondered since the words were published in 1892. The man believed to be the author of “I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag” is James Bailey Upham, who died in 1905 and is buried here in Malden. Upham, who was born in 1845, lived on Lincoln Street in Malden and was an active member of the First Baptist Church. Most scholars attribute the Pledge to minister Francis Bellamy. In Malden, however, there was no doubt that the author of the pledge was Upham. It’s been a point of contention over the decades. What is uncontested is this: The pledge — in an early form — was first published in the magazine Youth Companion on Sept. 8, 1892. Youth Companion was, in the […]

The Road to Morocco from Malden: The Medieval City of Fez

October 8, 2017 bzoe42 1

By Bonnie Blanchard Part Two of Five Parts Our extensive tour of Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca was overwhelming. But the journey was just beginning. We headed to our van for a 5-hour ride into the hinterlands of Morocco towards the medieval city of Fez. (Which is sometimes spelled Fes.) Along the way we stopped for a traditional Moroccan tagine (a clay cooking utensil with a vented conical top that cooks in the oven or stove-top) lunch and relaxed into our new home away from home – the van – for the next two weeks. Finally we arrived at our hotel, welcomed by most gracious hoteliers. After a refreshing buffet dinner in the hotel, and fresh from a good night’s sleep, our group was ready to explore the ancient city of Fez. Traveling out of the Ville Nouvelle (French for new city) section of Fez, we were dropped back in a time at the large gated entryway, Bab Boujeloud. Bustling cafes and markets quickly turn into narrow streets with children playing and donkeys hard at […]

Election 2017: Questions for City Council Candidates: Grant writer and zoning for marijuana sales

October 6, 2017 NeighborhoodView 0

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 has run the answers to these questions every Friday; the last is next week. This week’s questions are: Question 1: Would you support the City Council request a full-time Grant Writer work on grants for the top 5 projects from an online public poll? Question 2: Marijuana State Law will require at least 4 parcels to be allowed under City Marijuana zoning. Provide 4 parcels, streets, areas, neighborhoods, or zones that should allow a Recreational Marijuana Dispensary, OR […]

Malden School Committee candidates quizzed on positions in Sept. 28 forum

October 2, 2017 NeighborhoodView 0

Reported by Diana Jeong More than 150 residents packed the Malden Senior Center on Sept. 28 to hear candidates for the Malden School Committee discuss their positions on issues ranging from bilingual education and family engagement to teaching subjects in a culturally sensitive manner. The candidates forum was sponsored by the Greater Malden Asian American Community Coalition (GMAACC) the Mass Senior Action Council, Chinese Cultural Connection, Chinese Progressive Association, and APIsCAN (which a coalition of groups who serve various Asian communities throughout Massachusetts). These organizations have worked together in the past on civic engagement and language access issues. The Malden School Committee consists of the mayor and eight members who are elected from each of the city’s eight wards. Three of those seats are being contested in the municipal elections to be held Nov. 7. All school committee candidates were invited to attend the forum; eight participated. Lisa Wong, former mayor of the Fitchburg and current Deputy Director of the Asian American Civic Association, served as moderator. The forum began with greetings from Malden Mayor […]

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 […]