Cameroonian artist presents “Celebration� at MATV Gallery
Vol. 20, No. 29
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Annual Sand Sculpting Festival expected to draw thousands to Revere Beach
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Friday, July 21, 2017
City treasurer job draws 190 applicants By Barbara Taormina
lor-at-Large Craig Spadafora, who heads up the comspecial search committee mittee, which includes Ward started sorting through 8 Councillor Jadeane Sica, Controller Charles Ranaghan and Human Resources Director Anthony Chiccuarelli, expects to have a short list of finalists by early September. The Cit y Council will have the final vote on who gets the job. “ We’re going to whittle this down to six to eight candidates,� said Spadafora. “The end goal is to Human Resources Director Anthony have the final three Chiccuarelli is part of a small com- or four names going mittee plowing through a big binder to the council.� of resumes in search of the next city History and politics treasurer. have made the treasurer search more 190 resumes this week look- complicated than other city ing for candidates for the TREASURER | SEE PAGE 13 next city treasurer. Council-
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Sand sculptors are shown preparing the centerpiece for the 2017 Annual International Sand Sculpting Competition on Revere Beach this weekend. This year’s theme for the festival is the Tall Ships and the USS Constitution. See page 3 for story and schedule of events. (Advocate photo)
Committee develops new rules for city signage
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he Sign Design Review Committee is overhauling the ordinance that regulates size, style, color, placement and other details of signs for local businesses. The committee met this week to discuss large banners for some of the big residential projects going up in Malden center. Other aspects of the ordinance have also been reviewed, and the committee’s recommendations will go to the City Council’s Ordinance Committee next month for further discussion. “We’ve looked at other communities and we are modernizing our ordinance,� said Councillor-at-Large Craig Spadafora, who heads up the Sign Design Review Committee. Spadafora credited Kevin Hunter, a senior planner and policy manager for the Malden Redevelopment Authority (MRA), with providing a pile of research on how signs are regulated in other cities and towns. Members of the Sign Design
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Review Committee acknowledge that in the past they have butted heads with business owners over commercial signs. The hope is that the revised ordinance will make the rules clearer and more equitable. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We always knew we had to update the ordinance,â&#x20AC;? said Hunter, adding that some changes are driven by technology. Hunter said one possible approach is to have different rules for signs in different zones, such as historic districts, residential neighborhoods, business corridors and the central business district. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve decided that the downtown area is going through economic change and we want to remain competitive,â&#x20AC;? said Hunter, explaining that some of the larger developments feel large banners will be needed to advertise apartments. MRA Executive Director Debbie Burke, a member of the Sign Design Review Committee, agreed that broad rules governing all signs in the city
will not fit all needs. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The overarching premise was to look at downtown differently than other neighborhoods,â&#x20AC;? she said. Committee members are now working on a formula that links the size of a sign to the square footage of a building. The revised sign ordinance is meant to be a framework that the Sign Design Review Committee can use to make decisions on whether to approve or reject a sign. But the problem is some of those decisions may still seem subjective. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really know what a bad sign is until you see one,â&#x20AC;? said Hunter. Still, whether a sign is good or bad may be in the eyes of the beholder and in the opinion of a business owner who wants it above the door. One limitation of the sign ordinance is that there is no appeal process within city government. Business owners who want to challenge the sign committeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision on a particular sign will have to do it through the courts.