2017 - Page 4 of 5 - Neighborhood View

Malden residents willing to go green for green.

June 12, 2017 karenbuckmalden 0

By Karen Buck Malden residents not only want more open space but a city survey indicates they are willing to open their wallets to help. The Open Land and Recreation Survey was presented by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and Malden officials in a May 3 public forum at the Malden YMCA. The survey is another step in a process that began in January. That’s when Mayor Gary Christenson announced the creation of an 11-member committee to assist the MAPC in updating the city’s Open Space and Recreation Plan (OSRP). The plan was last updated in 2009 and covered the period of 2009-2016. The committee was tasked with determining the City’s park and recreational assets and gathering feedback to help guide the City in its future actions regarding open space and recreation planning. From January to Mid-April, an Open Space and Recreation Plan survey was posted on the city’s website and promoted through social media, local community groups, youth sports, and word of mouth. Additionally, two public forums were held for comments, one in March […]

Little Free Libraries “Revive” Malden’s Neighborhood Libraries

May 31, 2017 sharonsantillo 9

By Sharon Santillo An international effort that encourages citizens to set up free neighborhood book exchanges has arrived in Malden. Moreover, these “little free libraries” are bringing back a miniature version of the neighborhood libraries that the city lost beginning in the 1980s. Sparked by the non-profit organization, Little Free Library, Malden residents are creating tiny spaces where anyone passing by can take a book to read or leave a book for someone else to find. The first little free library was created by Todd Bol in 2009 to honor his deceased mother who loved to read. He built a one-room schoolhouse model and put it on a post in the front yard of his Wisconsin home and filled it with books. He shared the idea and it spread globally. Now there are over 50,000 little free libraries across the United States and in over 70 countries. Soon you will see these small libraries around Malden. Malden Arts has received a grant from the Malden Cultural Council to register 10 little free libraries in Malden […]

History has a way of repeating itself

May 12, 2017 jlynnmcclain 0

If it hadn’t been for Pokemon Go, I would have walked past the Burial Ground on Lebanon Street. Instead, I explored the Hebrew Charitable Burial Ground, which I soon found out is the second oldest Jewish cemetery established in Massachusetts and the only cemetery in Massachusetts with predominately children buried in it. (http://www.jcam.org/Pages/HCBG/). My curiosity was sparked, and I began to research the history of the cemetery. And here I found some parallels to today’s events. I found that a recent controversy over a Muslim cemetery in Dudley, Mass., mirrored the same prejudices in Malden in the 19th Century. It was evident in the language found in both situations. In Dudley, David Boeri of NPR noted “the raw language of some of the small town’s residents brought accusations of religious bigotry”. http://www.wbur.org/news/2017/03/03/dudley-muslim-cemetery-permit This same conclusion could be drawn in the language of an article found in the Malden Evening Mail about the Jewish cemetery in Malden. When you visit the Hebrew Charitable Burial Ground you find plaques explaining its history and the controversy over the […]

Arts

Second year of storytelling and stargazing on Waitt’s Mount

May 4, 2017 annedr 0

A waxing crescent moon was brightly visible, as was Jupiter and the bright star Sirius. Through the telescope, event goers to the top of Waitt’s Mount got to see the close-up surface of our moon, as well as the moons of Jupiter, and other stars. They were treated to a variety of storytelling and live, acoustic music on a beautifully windy, but warm, night in April. The second annual “Sunset, Storytelling and Stargazing on Waitt’s Mount” on April 29 proved to be a successful and delightful community event. Co-sponsored by Malden Reads and Ward 4 City Councillor Ryan O’Malley, the event celebrated a central theme of this year’s Malden Reads book selection—getting to know your neighbors and creating a shared sense of community. It featured family storytelling at sunset with professional storyteller Sharon Kennedy, live acoustic Americana music from the band “Slow Boat Home,” and local folks telling their own personal stories that were honed under the direction of Malden-based writer and spoken word artist CD Collins. The telescope was provided compliments of the North […]

What will be the future landscape of Malden?

April 27, 2017 karenbuckmalden 0

What will the city of Malden look like in 10 years? The city and its citizens are making decisions today that could shape the city for years to come. They are continuing a process that began in November of 2015 and was explored in a study done by the non-profit group, the Urban Land Institute, in June, 2015. Since January of 2017, Malden residents have been working with Malden city officials to evaluate current zoning, the moratorium on new construction, green spaces, and recreation space. Residents have submitted surveys and attended public forums. In March, the Community Opportunities Group, Inc., a Boston consulting firm, released a Growth Management Study for the city of Malden based on the surveys, public meetings, and data provided by various department heads of the city of Malden. This is a fact finding study with a public engagement process. Concurrently, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council has been working with an 11-member committee and the Malden Redevelopment Authority to update of the existing 2009 Open Space and Recreation Plan. The committee is […]

Featured

IN MALDEN FOR GOOD: Do you remember the Malden Sun-Times?

March 23, 2017 maldenmediacenter 0

In 1980, the Malden Sun-Times shut its doors after seven years of being one of the premier weekly papers serving the city. After rummaging through old collections, MATV Executive Director Ron Cox came upon a treasure-trove of old issues of the paper spanning from 1973 to 1978. As you look through the front-page headlines, stories of a Malden that once was seem to show a city dealing with some of the same issues of today: drugs, development, and matters of political inclusion. What is of particular interest is the style in which the paper is written: in many ways, the words breath the emotions most likely held by the readers of the Malden Sun-Times. Take a look at a selection of these issues from Cox’s collection: Do you remember when the City Council wanted people to shovel their own sidewalks? Or, when they banned self-service gas stations? Tell us what you remember. Were you ever effected by any of these issues? Do you remember when you appeared in the paper, or what your favorite story […]

Malden Reads kicks off dining series at Henry’s Patio

March 7, 2017 maldenmediacenter 0

Due to the snowstorm on March 14, the Malden Reads Community Dinner at Henry’s Patio has been re-scheduled to Tuesday, April 4. Plan to join fellow community members on this date for an evening of great food, company and conversation as part of the Malden Reads 2017 community dining series. Henry’s Patio is located at 80 Broadway in Malden. Reservations must be made by April 2. If you enjoy a relaxed, casual atmosphere and a full bar, this will be an event you can’t miss. The event will feature a limited menu with a choice of a chicken, steak tips, or haddock prepared in a variety of ways by the chef, an appetizer, side vegetables and dessert. The cost is $20, not including tax, beverages, and tip. Meats and fish are procured from local quality markets such as McKinnon’s, the Maplewood Meat Market and the Maplewood Fish Market. Henry’s Patio has been re-imagined from its former incarnation (“The Patio”) as a cozy neighborhood spot serving up fresh, tasty food and drink in a relaxed setting. […]

Uncategorized

Artist Anna Thai weaves color and hope

February 28, 2017 annedr 0

Anna Thai, a Malden-based artist, learned to embroider from French Catholic nuns when she was eight years old. It was what was taught to children who were disabled at the private school she attended in her native Vietnam. Thai’s disability was caused by a land mine accident suffered during the civil war which played out in the backdrop of her years growing up. Who could know that the work of a true artist could blossom from such beginnings? Thai’s work is intricate, detailed, and exquisitely crafted. At first glance, her artwork looks like paintings. It’s only on close inspection that one realizes that the art is embroidery, layered threads of color woven onto canvas into beautiful flowers, birds, nature scenes, and, more recently, cityscapes and human figures. Thai is a prolific artist, having created many dozens of art pieces in her adopted American homeland; only recently she’s had the opportunity to bring her work into public view. Thai’s parents were wealthy entrepreneurs in pre-Communist Saigon. Her father’s family was both Chinese and East Indian and traded […]

“Inside Malden” interviews Interim Superintendent of Malden Public Schools, Dr. Charles Grandson IV

February 6, 2017 Ose Schwab 0

Driven by a desire to give back and to offer educational opportunities to young urban learners, Dr. Charles Grandson IV, Interim Superintendent of the Malden Public Schools, reflects on his journey with education. He says his success is a “testament to what is happening every day in the public school systems across the nation.” In his case, though he had trouble and at one point could not read, his teachers did not dismiss him but did what they had to do to help him become what he is today. Though Grandson never imagined he would be a superintendent or principal, he says he has always had a bit of a teacher within. This inclination was nurtured by important learning encounters that would shape his future. His mother, a single parent, arranged for Grandson to be schooled away from the crime close to home. In a school district closer to Georgetown, Grandson experienced a “different” kind of education than he would have had in his own neighborhood on the South East side of Washington D.C. Throughout […]

For eyes and ears only

February 3, 2017 maldenmediacenter 0

The cross section between visual art and music, for classical pianist Yelena Beriyeva, is in many ways second nature. “What is in common between [visual] artists and musicians is they all get to create,” Beriyeva said. In the spring of 2016, visual artists came together to attend a performance of classical composer Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” From the artists present at the workshop, and many more, over 40 inspired pieces of visual art were born. On Nov. 5, 2016 at Jenkins Auditorium at Malden High School, Beriyeva performed the renowned “Pictures at an Exhibition” to the backdrop of all the work created from the artists using the music as inspiration. The interesting part is Mussorgsky’s piece, Beriyeva said, was first inspired by visual art. With the passing of an artist friend, Mussorgsky wrote “Pictures at an Exhibition” through the careful study of his late friend’s artwork. “[Mussorgsky] basically dedicated this piece to a friend he lost to a sickness,” Beriyeva said. “We did it in the reverse. We tried to paint based on music.” […]