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Vol. 20, No. 38
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New citywide housing plan moves forward By Barbara Taormina alden is working with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) on a housing production plan that will assess the city’s current housing stock and its future housing needs. The City Council voted late last year to team up with MAPC to develop the plan, which involves collecting and analyzing data on available housing, demographic information on households and growth
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trends. A local advisory committee that includes the city planner, residents who represent homeowners and renters, a member of Massachusetts Senior Action Council and other city officials involved with housing has been guiding MAPC researchers as they evaluate Malden’s housing stock and the city’s ability to ensure that everyone, particularly families, seniors and veterans, can find affordable homes. MAPC is also relying on information gathered from specific focus groups. There will also be two public forums, one of which is tentatively scheduled for January and will focus on housing needs and demand. A second public forum will be held later in the year and will involve a discussion on potential locations for housing development and redevelopment. Maria Luise, special assistant to Mayor Gary Christenson, and Malden Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Debbie Burke worked to arrange four different focus groups to help MAPC researchers understand Malden’s housing needs and challenges from different perspectives. “We picked a variety of people with different views,� said Luise, adding that the public forums will be the most important part of the process of collecting information. Luise said one of the focus groups was with developers who had worked on past projects in the city and could offer information on permitting, inspections and other aspects of building housing in Malden. Members of the city’s business community were tapped
HOUSING | SEE PAGE 2
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Friday, September 21, 2018
FOOGI Block Party great success
FIRED UP: The Malden Fire Department was on hand to speak with Malden kids about fire safety and to give them a tour of their fire apparatus at the FOOGI Block Party, held at Patchell Park on Saturday. See more photo highlights on page 10.
Council supports new holiday By Barbara Taormina alden is out front in a new effort to make Election Day a state holiday. The City Council approved a resolution, sponsored by Ward 4 Councillor Ryan O’Malley, to request that the city’s state legislators file and support legislation to make Election Day a state holiday in honor of President John F. Kennedy. “This is an idea that’s been out there for a while,� said O’Malley. “Trying to increase civic participation is our goal as a City Council and as a society.�
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O’Malley said making Election Day a holiday would give people the chance to vote without racing to the polls at daybreak before heading out to work or trying to beat rush hour traffic to get home in time to cast a ballot. “JFK doesn’t have a holiday, and I think this would be a nice way of giving people the day off to celebrate a president from the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well as participate in Election Day,� said O’Malley. And if enough states get on board with the idea, Election Day could become a national holiday, he said. O’Malley also said that the Massachusetts Municipal Association, which advocates for new ideas and policies for the state’s cities and towns, has agreed to explore the idea. “I’m always for more holidays,� said Councillor-at-Large Craig Spadafora. But he warned that making Election Day a holiday might not actually boost voter turnout. Spadafora said that a few years back, Election
Day fell on a school holiday. Parents didn’t have to drop off or pick up kids from schools, which are the polls for many of the city’s wards, and as a result, voter participation dropped. “If you make it a holiday, people will use it as a holiday to do something other than voting,� he said. Still, Spadafora and other councillors agreed the idea was worth talking about. “There are state and national holidays that employees still have to work, so it’s not a perfect tool for increasing voter participation,� said Councillorat-Large Steve Winslow, who suggested giving people a few hours off on Election Day as a possible alternative. Ward 3 Councillor John Matheson pointed out that the council was voting on a resolve which is like a wish. And sending it along to the state delegation to handle is the first step in a long road to making that wish a reality. “If the idea has some merit, we’ll let the guys on Beacon Hill debate it,� he said.