2017 - Page 3 of 5 - Neighborhood View

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.

Multi Media Madness makes memories

August 30, 2017 NeighborhoodView 0

By Delilah Doeleman This summer I interned at MATV, and was a counselor for MATV’s Multi-Media Madness two week program in mid-July. My job was to photograph and document the class as I, and the kids, experienced it. This year’s workshop centered on teaching kids how to write, direct, and record their own music videos, shows, and stories in MATV’s studios. They then edited them on the computer and presented them to the rest of the class. The kids, ranging in age from 8 to 13, spent the first few days of the program brainstorming and figuring out what they wanted their individual projects to look like. Thanks to MATV’s extensive costume storage, and guest instructor Masio Dotson’s guidance, inspiration was not difficult to find, and soon everyone had come up with a thought-out idea. Among some of the more “out of the box” ideas were a My Chemical Romance music video, brought to life by Finn, one of the program participants, and his friends whom he cast as his bandmates (he was the lead […]

Wonder where she came from?

August 17, 2017 jlynnmcclain 3

By Jennifer McClain She has one foot in the past and one foot in the future. Her past is a combination of Greek myth and Amazon speculation. Her future is traveling three thousand per hour on an invisible plane, wielding a “magic lasso” that non-violently compels obedience and she uses science for medical healing. Wonder who she is? Wonder Woman — the super heroine who debuted in DC Comics in 1941, who had her own TV show from 1975-1979, and who took theaters by storm this summer in a blockbuster movie. But who was her creator? He was also a man with one foot in the past and one foot in the future. His past was as a student of the Malden High School. Did he possibly study mythology in one of his classes? His future was “to fight for liberty & freedom for all women kind” through Wonder Woman. He watched the suffragists and used their imagery in his stories. He knew Margaret Sanger when she was a proponent of birth control and still […]

Is violence against women linked with other violent crime?

August 7, 2017 jlynnmcclain 0

By Jennifer McClain The March terrorist attack in Westminster in London raises the question: Is there a connection between domestic violence and lone wolf terrorism attacks? The wife of Khalid Masood, the perpetrator in the Westminster attack, was reported to have fled his violent attacks. Or consider the recent shooting of Steve Scalise [requires NYT subscription], the majority whip of the House of Representatives, by a man who had been involved in several acts of domestic violence. Attacks on female partners are often viewed as an issue of “domestic violence.” In June, Malden was shocked by the case of Malden resident, Ryan Power, who is accused of strangling his girlfriend, Leah Penny, a mother of seven, in her home with a dog leash. Power had been previously arrested for pushing Penny, the mother of his two children, to the ground. Likewise James T. Hodgkinson, the accused Steve Scalise shooter, had been arrested for attacks against women, including his girlfriend and his daughter. Domestic violence is not only a serious problem but may be a predictor of future […]

Cameroonian artist presents “Celebration”

July 18, 2017 annedr 1

By Anne D’Urso-Rose Cameroon-born artist Efon Elad knows adversity. But, like the manner of folks in his native country, he chooses to approach life as a celebration. Not only life passages, but daily rituals, ordinary moments, scenes of beauty and terror, songs and stories inspire in him a sense of gratitude and jubilation. Many of the paintings in an exhibit now on view at the MATV Gallery, located at Malden’s Media Center, depict moments of life in Cameroon and West Africa where the artist has lived and travelled as a youth. Other paintings are inspired by songs or Biblical stories, which have captivated his imagination. Still others depict places in his adopted homeland in the Boston area, where he has lived for over 30 years, as well as other places that exist only in his mind or memory. Well-educated in his native Cameroon, Elad is fluent in English, French and five African languages and is a lover of literature. His career began in telecommunications at a time when telegrams and Morse code were his specialty. A lost […]

Brick by brick, “The Beast That Ate Pleasant Street” is demolished

July 15, 2017 professorschorow 0

With the sound of crashing bricks and breaking glass, the demolition of the former Malden Government Center and police station continues this summer. Bit by bit, the structure at 200 Pleasant Street is coming down for a new mixed-use development. A short video by Neil D. Novello, “When the Crews Arrive,” captures the sight and sounds of a truck and crane pulling away the facade of the 1970s-era structure like the claw of a hungry dinosaur digging for food. The demolition is schedule to continue through the end of August. The demolition of the building first hailed as an architectural achievement and then dubbed “The Beast that Ate Pleasant Street,” will re-connect the two ends of Pleasant Street and provide access to the MBTA Station at Malden Center. According to the Malden Redevelopment Authority, the new “Jefferson at Malden Center” will have “320 residential units in two buildings, a 45,000-square-foot office condominium shell (to be built out by the City for a new city hall), more than 22,500 square feet of ground floor retail and approximately 330 […]

Making Malden Pedestrian Friendly

June 26, 2017 jlynnmcclain 2

By Jennifer McClain “They don’t care if they run you over” is one of the statements I’ve heard about traffic on the Fellsway East Road from Malden residents in my neighborhood. Many Malden residents feel the increase in traffic on their roads in recent years has made it less safe for them to walk in their own neighborhoods. A recent land use survey completed by the Urban Land Institute and the recent boon in construction have made many Malden citizens rethink how they want to “shape the city for years to come.” The Urban Land Institute was commissioned to provide leadership in the responsible use of land for Malden and Everett and was “charged to focus on the unique and growing issues of industrial land development in metropolitan Boston’s urban core.” This reshaping could be an opportunity to improve Malden’s pedestrian environment and to make walking safer for the community. Other cities, such as Minneapolis, can provide a blueprint of how a community can learn to leave the cars at home and get people on […]

Bubbles and Books brings fun to Miller Park

June 22, 2017 annedr 0

Once a place to be avoided, Miller Park in Malden has become an oasis for family fun. This became evident on June 3 when the second annual Bubbles & Books event brought hundreds of children and their families to the park to enjoy a puppet storyteller, giant bubbles and free (gently used) books. The event was hosted by Malden Kiwanis in collaboration with Malden Reads. “It felt like Christmas in the spring!” said Erga Dormevil, a Malden resident and mother of four school-age children. She added, “A book is a priceless gift for people of all ages and this event provided families with a chance to enjoy quality time together in a beautiful park. The outpouring of support from our community in the form of book donations was both heartwarming and amazing.” Robin Jorgensen, immediate past president of the Malden Kiwanis Club and a primary organizer of the event, said, “Our first year [last year] we had a great turnout. But I think our numbers nearly doubled in size this year!” The number of book […]