THE MALDEN ADVOCATE – Friday, March 9, 2018

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Vol. 20, No. 10

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Fellsway intersection fix gets a green light By Barbara Taormina he long-awaited and muchneeded safety improvements for the intersection at Fellsway East and Highland Avenue are finally on the way. Mayor Gary Christenson informed the City Council this week that the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) has agreed to pick up two-thirds of the estimated $1 million cost of a long-term intersection improvement plan that includes traffic signals, shorter crosswalks, a reduction in travel lanes and space for bicycles. “This offer represents substantial progress from prior proposals,� wrote Christenson in a letter to Council President Debbie DeMaria. DCR had originally offered a short-term safety plan which focused primarily on adding bike corridors and reducing traffic travel lanes. Although those improvements were estimated to cost between $50,000 and $100,000, that proposal gained little support from residents who live near and travel through the intersection, which ranked 77th

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on the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s 200 top crash sites throughout the state. DCR initially rejected the idea of spending $1 million for a more comprehensive solution, but the fact that the Fellsway is a state road and much of the traffic is not from Malden convinced agency leaders to support the long-term solution. Ward 3 Councillor John Matheson, who heads up the City Council’s Traffic Mitigation Committee, said that Christenson proposed paying for the city’s share of the project with mitigation money that the city collects from developers for improvements to offset the impact of development projects. “It’s important to the whole city, and an appropriate use of mitigation funds,� wrote Christenson, adding that $330,000 of mitigation money was available for the work. But Matheson proposed also using some of the city’s Chapter 90 state funding for transportation infrastructure to pay for Malden’s portion of the bill. And there’s a chance the intersection makeover may cost Malden less than city officials expect. According to Christenson, State Sen. Jason Lewis and Rep. Paul Donato have said there’s a possibility that they may be able to tap $100,000 in additional state funding to defray the city’s costs. “I totally support the onethird,� said DeMaria, “whether it’s $330,000 or $230,000.� Matheson said DCR will pay for the project’s design costs and construction is expected to begin and be completed sometime in fiscal year 2019. Councillor-at-Large Stephen Winslow asked that the final

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Friday, March 9, 2018

Forestdale School students celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday

On Friday, March 2, Ward 5 Councillor Barbara Murphy celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday at the Forestdale School. Accompanied by The Cat in the Hat, she read Dr. Seuss’s book about wonderful noises – “Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?� – to Kathi Irwin’s kindergarten class. The children were absolutely delightful and a fun time was had by all.

Former treasurer candidate admits to email fraud, impersonating a councillor By Barbara Taormina ast fall, the City Council and The Boston Globe received an email with information about Malden’s city treasurer search from City Council President Debbie DeMaria. The only problem was that DeMaria did not write or send it. The real author was Andrew Vanni, one of the six finalists for the city treasurer job. “There was an email fraud under my name,� said DeMaria this week. “It was not from me; it was certainly against open meeting laws, and it was an election season and it was based around the treasurer who we were going to elect as city treasurer.� DeMaria said she was told she would never find out who actually sent the email. But with the help of the Malden Police, and particularly detective Captain Marc Gatcomb, the email was traced back to Vanni, a Medford resident, who sent it from a Malden computer. “It was up to me to put this gentleman to task,� said DeMaria. “Email fraud or identity theft is not only illegal, it’s an unnerving personal experience.� DeMaria, City Solicitor Kate Fallon and City Clerk Tom Brennan negotiated an agreement with Vanni that began with an

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open and public apology. She shared a letter she received from Vanni with fellow councillors and the community at the end of this week’s City Council meeting. “I was responsible for authoring and transmitting an email communication which I intended to appear to be from you and sent it to the Malden City Council and the Boston Globe,� wrote Vanni. “I am sorry for doing this, my actions were due to a lapse in judgement and I recognize the harm I caused.� Vanni acknowledged that he had caused DeMaria both personal and professional harm. He also admitted that his “error in judgement� was also disruptive to the City Council, and he apologized to councillors. “I know the nature of this harm cannot be quantified, but in remorse for my actions, I am making a financial donation to a Malden charitable organization,� he said. DeMaria actually asked for two charitable donations, and Vanni wrote two $500 checks, one to Bread of Life and the other to Malden Overcoming Addiction. Vanni, who worked as the finance director for Middleton for about 13 years, also served short one-year stints as the treasurer for Haverhill and then for Sudbury. He was

one of the six final candidates that Malden’s Treasurer Search Committee pulled from a pool of about 170 applicants for the job. But Vanni dropped out of the running for the job in Malden and never came to his public interview with the City Council; however, he did show up for an interview with the Randolph Town Council, which selected him as a finalist for the town finance director post in December 2016. According to the minutes from that public interview, Vanni told the Randolph town councillors that he left his job in Haverhill because he was working for a mayor who was “more interested in doing bad things.� Vanni also said he was let go as the finance director in Sudbury because the town manager decided to hire someone else. Councillors were also troubled by the fact that Vanni’s cover letter was directed to the Town of Beverly rather than Randolph. They also said Vanni was unprepared and nervous during his interview and that his answers to questions were evasive. Vanni did not get the job. Vanni had better luck in Millbury last October when town officials decided to hire him as that community’s finance director.

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