Education

ELECTION 2019: Final Questions for Candidates: Political Philosophy & Campaign Team

    By Prisco Tammaro The 2019 elections in Malden are approaching. The Municipal Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. To provide Malden voters with information, Neighborhood View  has been running a series of “Quality of Life” questions and answers with the city council and mayoral candidates. Suggestions for questions were provided via Facebook on a Malden (MA) Politic’s poll; 10 questions were formulated by the moderators in consultation with Neighborhood View and sent to all  candidates. Each candidate was given 150 words to respond to each question. Every effort was made to reach out to every candidate. Below are answers to Question 9 and 10. Question 9 focuses on political philosophy and Question 10 asks about campaign committees.  Please note: all opinions here are those of the candidates and Neighborhood View has not checked the accuracy of these comments. See links for previous questions at the bottom of this page.  QUESTION 9: As an elected official, what is your philosophy? Is it your responsibility to follow the will of the voters […]

Education

Malden Works receives Norman B. Leventhal Prize to improve access to the Malden River

Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story misattributed quotes on the Leventhal jury process  to to Kathleen Vandiver; the quotes  should have been attributed to Marcia Manong. Neighborhood View regrets the error.   By Kevin Perrington-Turner A Malden urban coalition has won a prestigious $100,000 prize from the Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that will be used to fund a two-year program of projects on the Malden River to create greater access to the river for Malden’s diverse population. Malden Works for Waterfront Equity and Resilience, known as Malden Works, was named the winner of the first Norman B. Leventhal City Prize in September. Malden Works has formed a steering committee to ensure all communities are represented in upcoming projects. The $100,000 triennial prize was established by the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism to catalyze innovative, interdisciplinary urban design and planning approaches worldwide to improve both the environment and the quality of life for residents. “The prize was a really difficult competitive […]

Education

ELECTION 2019: Questions for the Candidates: Week 4 of 5 – Housing Needs

  By Prisco Tammaro The 2019 elections in Malden are approaching. The Municipal Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. To provide Malden voters with information, Neighborhood View is running a series of “Quality of Life” questions and answers with the city council and mayoral candidates. Suggestions for questions were provided via Facebook on a Malden (MA) Politic’s poll; 10 questions were formulated by the moderators in consultation with Neighborhood View and sent to all  candidates. Each candidate was given 150 words to respond to each question. Every effort was made to reach out to every candidate. Below are answers to Question 7 and 8 which focus on housing needs in Malden. Please note: all opinions here are those of the candidates and Neighborhood View has not checked the accuracy of these comments. See links for previous questions at the bottom of this page.  QUESTION 7: What percentage of units in new developments would be allocated to affordable housing?  MAYOR – Incumbent – GARY CHRISTENSON Several communities have adopted inclusionary zoning to leverage the […]

Education

ELECTION 2019: Questions for the Candidates: Week 3 of 5: Trees & Traffic

By Prisco Tammaro The 2019 elections in Malden are approaching. The Municipal Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. To provide Malden voters with information, Neighborhood View is running a series of “Quality of Life” questions and answers with the city council and mayoral candidates. Suggestions for questions were provided via Facebook on a Malden (MA) Politic’s poll; 10 questions were formulated by the moderators in consultation with Neighborhood View and sent to all  candidates. Each candidate was given 150 words to respond to each question. Every effort was made to reach out to every candidate. Below are answers to Question 5 and 6 which focus on trees and congestion in Malden. See links for previous questions at the bottom of this page.  QUESTION 4: What can we do to increase the number of trees in the City, and preserve the existing stock we have? MAYOR – Incumbent – GARY CHRISTENSON I am committed to making sure we set aside funding for tree plantings so that we can continue to plant over 150 […]

Education

ELECTION 2019: Questions for the Candidates: Week 2 of 5 – Open Space

  By Prisco Tammaro The 2019 elections in Malden are approaching. The Municipal Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. To provide Malden voters with information, Neighborhood View is running a series of “Quality of Life” questions and answers with the city council and mayoral candidates. Suggestions for questions were provided via Facebook on a Malden (MA) Politic’s poll; 10 questions were formulated by the moderators in consultation with Neighborhood View and sent to all  candidates. Each candidate was given 150 words to respond to each question. Every effort was made to reach out to every candidate. Below are answers to Question 3 and 4. These questions focus on  development along the Malden River and development at the site of the former Malden Hospital. There is a link at the bottom to Questions 1 and 2, which focused on transparency. QUESTION 3: Malden River is being redeveloped. How do you suggest we plan to make the banks of the Malden River accessible to the general public? MAYOR – Incumbent – GARY CHRISTENSON The […]

Education

ELECTION 2019: Questions for the Candidates: Week 1 of 5 – Transparency

By Prisco Tammaro The 2019 elections in Malden are approaching. The Municipal Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. To provide Malden voters with information, Neighborhood View will run a series of “Quality of Life” questions and answers with the city council and mayoral candidates.  Suggestions for questions were provided via Facebook on a Malden (MA) Politic’s poll; 10 questions were formulated by the moderators in consultation with Neighborhood View and sent to all  candidates. Each candidate was given 150 words to respond to each question. Every effort was made to reach out to every candidate. Today’s two questions focus on issue of public meetings and government transparency.  QUESTION 1: PUBLIC MEETINGS Would you support a plan and provide resources to have Committee of the Whole, Subcommittee and License Board meetings be live streamed and archived for the public?  MAYOR – Incumbent – GARY CHRISTENSON Not only would I support such a plan, but as chair of the Municipal Building Committee for the new City Hall, I have made it a priority to […]

Education

Second rally calls for more racial equity in Malden public schools

By the staff of Neighborhood View/Photos by Elizabeth Scorsello On Aug. 26 MaldenCORE held its 2nd “Rally for Racial Equity in the Malden Public Schools” in a lively event on the steps of Malden High School, attended by about 50 participants, including students, graduates, teachers, local officials, candidates for office, a representative of the NAACP, the president of the teachers union, and school administrators. All stressed the need for more diversity in the school teaching staff, professional training in racial/cultural sensitivity, and an improved system for reporting and addressing issues of racial inequity in the Malden public schools. “In all my time I only had one black teacher and one Hispanic teacher. And that’s six years. Of about 50 teachers I’ve had, only two have been a minority,” said Sarah Schneider, a Malden High 10th grader, told participants of the rally which was held on the first Professional Development day, which all teachers were expected to attend. “When the teachers of Malden look into the faces of the students in their classrooms, they see a never ending spectrum […]

Education

Rally calls for racial equity in Malden schools

By Minh Do Recent Malden High School graduate Birukti Tsige never had a teacher of color throughout her 10 plus years in the Malden public schools.  To draw attention to this disparity, Tsige helped organize a rally on July 9 in Malden to push the city to hire more teachers of color. About 40 people gathered outside the superintendent’s office at Malden High School, listened to speakers and then marched two blocks to the mayor’s office, where they also met with Mayor Gary Christenson in his office. Afterwards, the group rallied further down the street outside the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. In total, according to rally organizers, nearly 100 protesters took part in the rally throughout the day. “I’ve been in the Malden school system since I was in second grade and I have three younger siblings that are coming in,” said Tsige. “I’ve never had a black teacher and I don’t want that for my siblings.” The rally, organized by Malden Community Organizing for Racial Equity (MaldenCORE), called for comprehensive reform […]

Arts

Malden marks Juneteenth with meaningful celebration

Over 250 Malden community members packed the John and Christina Markey Senior Community Center on Wednesday, June 19, for the second annual Juneteenth celebration, The event was organized by MaldenCORE (Community Organizing for Racial Equity) in collaboration with a host of other community groups: American Association for Arab Women, Chinese Culture Connection, Friends of Oak Grove, Inc., Greater Malden Asian American Community Coalition, Malden LGBTQ+, Malden Public Library, Malden Reads, MATV (Malden’s Media Center), North Shore Hispanic Association, and YMCA Malden. Juneteenth recognizes the significant day of June 19, 1865, when the last of group of enslaved African Americans were emancipated in Galveston, Texas, following the surrender of the Confederate Army. The day has been celebrated in Texas since that time and, for past decades, in African-American communities throughout the South. It is now a partial or full state holiday or an official observance in at least 42 U.S. states and has become a more universal celebration of freedom among all people in this country. Juneteenth is a relative newcomer to the list of public […]

Arts

International Day at The Immigrant Learning Center celebrates unity and diversity

By Shikha Vyas An International Day that is celebrated every year at The Immigrant Learning Center, Inc. (ILC) has indeed become a great success. On Thursday, June 20, guests were handed a passport when entering the ILC building at 442 Main St. with a list of 22 countries from across the globe. ILC students were set up in classrooms throughout the building representing their countries and their culture with food, music, clothing, and displays.  “Over the year since we have opened the school, 118 different countries and over 10,000 students have studied here. That means helping 10,000 families,” said Diane Portnoy, Founder and CEO of The ILC. “Every student is very special and this is an opportunity where the students get a chance to show their cultural diversity.” Portnoy enthusiastically explained that on International Day everyone enjoys eating food, listening to music and seeing different kinds of  artwork, literature and traditional clothing. Moreover, this is the best way to learn about the culture of other countries, finding out about differences but also all the things […]