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Featured

Last day on the job for Malden Observer editor Nathan Lamb

Nathan Lamb stepped into the role of editor at the Malden Observer in the summer of 2011 just a few months before Gary Christenson was elected mayor. Three years is actually a long tenure for that post. Neighborhood View caught up with him as he prepares to leave the position. What will you miss most about the job? These things are always kind of bittersweet. I’m excited to start at a new job but I’ll miss the stories that take place every day here. I’ll miss meeting such a variety of great people in Malden and being out and about in the community. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know some great organizations in Malden like the Bread of Life, the Immigrant Learning Center, Triangle, and MATV. I’ve also been fortunate to work with a great team of regular contributors who’ve helped me fill the paper, week-in and week-out, so I guess now is a good time to thank them! Where will you be going? I’ve taken a job with a content management firm up in […]

Arts

Window Arts Malden showcases local artists

Want a good reason to walk around downtown Malden? Window Arts Malden, the flagship project of Malden Arts, is celebrating its ninth season showcasing more than 20 local artists working with different mediums including photography, jewelry, printmaking and painting. The storefront exhibition continues through Sunday, Oct. 12. “For artists, it’s a lot of fun,” says Elizabeth Scorsello, a local creatve displaying her work at Two Paisan’s Pizzeria. “It’s a great way to get your work out there and share it with your neighbors and fellow artists.”

Featured

Malden High School principal gets new job

Dana Brown, the principal at Malden High School, recently got a new position. Brown is now President of the Massachusetts Secondary School Administration Association (MSSAA). The MSSAA is an association representing middle and high school assistant principals and principals across Massachusetts. In his new role, Brown will be helping set the agenda for the school year and also represent the MSSAA in group meetings and conventions. He will still be the principal at Malden High School while being part of the Massachusetts Secondary School Administration Association. The MSSAA advocates for faculty and students at the state level. The MSSAA will often meet with the Commissioner of Education and sometimes the Secretary of Education for Massachusetts. The focus this year for the group will be social and emotional health of the students specifically covering mental health. Brown waited his turn through the cabinet structure that was in place. The structure was third vice president followed by second vice president after president elect then finally president. Dana Brown worked his way up the ladder to become the […]

Featured

Welcome to Malden’s Faulkner neighborhood

A lot is happening around Malden. There’s renovation of Malden Square, new restaurants and the Malden Teen Enrichment Center. Some areas are better known than others. As a resident of Faulkner for the past 15 years, I will bring some highlights of the neighborhood I call home. What area is actually the Faulkner neighborhood? Here’s Wikipedia’s geographical definition: “The Faulkner neighborhood is generally bounded by Ferry Street on the west, the City of Everett on the South, at Dell Street on the east and Salem Street on the north. A few of the streets north of Salem Street around Pierce St are sometimes considered part of Faulkner. My “coverage” will be around Salem Street from the Salemwood school area to Franklin Street. A lot had been done in the past 15 years in the area. A dilapidated, abandoned railroad had become a beautiful, well-maintained bike path. Community gardening is happening. A new building of the Mystic Valley Charter School and field had replaced a former Chevrolet car dealer and its garage. Nice white bike crossing […]

Featured

Congresswoman Clark thanks Mass Senior Action Council

Congresswoman Katherine Clark expressed her pleasure working with Mass Senior Action Council (MSAC) during her time at the Massachusetts Statehouse and looks forward to a continued working relationship now that she is in Congress.  “It was always a good day at the statehouse when I’d see the blue t-shirts coming into the statehouse, rallying the cry, not letting legislatures forget what we are working for. Your voice has told me not only the power of grassroots advocacy, but what it means when we support our seniors like we do in Malden. MSAC Metro-North Chapter welcomed the visit from Congresswoman Katherine Clark.  MSAC asked her to come and show her support with our goals to preserve the present affordable housing units, and to gain new affordable housing.   Congresswoman Clark recognized the important work we are focusing on and stated “we are looking at a crisis in housing in Massachusetts.”  She added that between now and 2020; about 5500 units will lose their subsidy and return to market rate.  That will affect 2000 units rented by seniors.  […]

Arts

Op-Ed: Hip hop from a Malden resident’s perspective

Hip hop is the most influential culture to today’s youth globally. What is hip hop? Well, I’m glad you asked. Hip hop is the absence of rules. People study music theory, but hip hop is not theoretical. It is the practice of taking 1/100 of a sample, or a riff and completely distorting the original context, to create something that the original artist never intended or imagined. Hip hop can be a gentle ode to one’s mother or a direct threat to the powers that be around the globe in the speed of a tweet. It can be funny or ironic, or a witness to obscenely pornographic levels of uncut violence or unmitigated injustice. If it exists in the real world, it is fair game for hip hop. Hip hop is not the pop infused sounds that we hear blaring out of our speakers in the car that provoke youth to twerk. Any similarities to “hip-pop” are due to common cultural influences, “chicken or the egg” type conundrum. There will always be entertainers who mass […]

News

Can the Oak Grove Community Building be saved?

The Oak Grove Community Building [OGCB] stands tall with weeds surrounding the building and trash and a tire in the driveway. A cardboard sign is taped to the front door with the words, “NO MEETING HERE TONIGHT.” When you hear the word community, what comes to mind? How you answer that question speaks volumes about  what Malden means to you and in particular The Oak Grove Community Building. It’s doors are closed and is awaiting a decision from the Architectural Access Board (AAB) regarding its future. Many Malden residents have one question, can the Oak Grove Community Building be saved?  As a member of the Oak Grove Improvement Association I certainly hope so. Built in 1928, the Oak Grove Community Building has been available to Malden residents for close to 85 years. Residents and civic groups  have held meetings, performances and many special events at the historic site.  The Mayor and Ward Councillor have held Public Safety Awareness Meetings in the community building. Carol Melle, current President of the Oak Grove Improvement Association [OGIA] said that the association […]

Arts

Malden’s ILC Theater puts on a show

Malden’s Immigrant Learning Center Theater class recently hosted a performance event. The class is a unique learning experience for English for speakers of other languages in which conversational English is mixed with personal storytelling and sharing of participant’s experiences. This allows people to share their stories about coming to America, improves their English proficiency, and shines a light on the importance of immigrants to the community. The performance mixed humor and striking theatrical performance with moving personal experiences to make for an entertaining story and an intrigued audience. ILC has always been a safe and creative space to park dialogue about Immigration and its importance to our community while handling the voices of the people who have experienced it first-hand.

News

Will the Community Preservation Act (CPA) Benefit Malden?

Certain people say the Community Preservation Act is a wonderful mechanism to help cities and towns in Massachusetts to fund open space, historic preservation, community housing, and outdoor recreation projects. Others say it’s just a way for government to circumvent Proposition 2 ½. Let us take a deeper look at what the fuss is all about. According to the CPA Coalition the “CPA is a smart growth tool that helps communities preserve open space and historic sites, create affordable housing, and develop outdoor recreational facilities. CPA also helps strengthen the state and local economies by expanding housing opportunities and construction jobs for the Commonwealth’s workforce, and by supporting the tourism industry through preservation of the Commonwealth’s historic and natural resources.” The Act allows local communities to establish a Community Preservation Fund which gets generated through a local surcharge from 1 to 3% on property tax bills. At 1% this would average $15 to $44 increase per tax payer, annually. Estimated Yearly Cost to Average Malden Homeowner with a 1% CPA surcharge (based on FY2013 data, […]

Food

Anatomy of a Chinese Garden – Yan and Maggie’s Malden garden

My journey into this Chinese garden began when I pushed the doorbell of the modern duplex home with the small “hut” in the front yard. Many times I have been intrigued as I have walked by structures that appear to be huts from another time, another place, completely covered in climbing vines with hanging fruit that I have never seen, in the front yards of modern day homes. Maggie is a very warm, generous woman. In an afternoon she introduced me to the family food garden. Later, I met her mother, Yan, who greeted me in the hot sun holding an umbrella with a beaming, open hearted smile. We communicated in smiles. Yan is the gardener and Maggie spends summers from college working together with her. They are from Canton, southeast China and have lived in Malden since 1998. Maggie showed me the backyard where every bit of land is used in this lush, beautiful garden that feeds more than 15 family members and friends. Six-foot tree branches hold up long rows of beans of […]