On Saturday, February 4, 2017, about 50 Malden residents participated in a community meeting at the Salemwood School. Discussion focused on the Residential Building Moratorium now in place. The format for this meeting was similar to the January 12th event at the Ferryway School as was reported previously

https://www.facebook.com/MaldenNewsNetwork/posts/1812975348941129

Attendees included newer residents and long-timers - some have lived in Malden for as many as eight decades. A lot has changed in Malden over the years, and that’s especially true over the last ten years. An MATV video crew captured the two-hour event - so you’ll be able to find video at https://matv.org/.

After a background review of the Moratorium project and history of development and growth in Malden, attendees broke into workgroups at kid-sized cafeteria tables to prepare their own SWOT analysis of “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats”. A representative from each group then presented a summary of their discussions. We’ve attached photos from flipchart summaries and presentations..

One attendee asked how citizens can track the issues raised at these public meetings. The consulting firm retained to facilitate citizen engagement on this project - Community Opportunities Group, Inc. (COG) - has been tasked to collate all the comments and include them as an appendix in the final report.

Both COG and city representatives - particularly Councillor Kinnon - answered questions from residents. Councillor Kinnon emphasized that any future plans will involve financial considerations: “Money becomes a huge issue of how to get things done.” (At the present time, the city is facing roadway repaving costs of about $2 million per mile. The city is simultaneously facing lead water pipe issues which may lead to unanticipated budget burdens and further complicate sequencing of roadway work.)

Many of the comments at today’s public meeting were similar across table teams. The flipcharts echoed comments heard at the January 12th Moratorium meeting. Multiple residents at the Salemwood meeting inquired about plans for open space, and specifically the Malden Hospital site. (It was not mentioned at this meeting, however, a “preliminary petition” was filed with the City of Malden very recently by the owners of the Malden Hospital site. This appears to seek development rights on a portion of the Hospital site. We’ll follow-up with another article once we review these documents.)

Attendees want their voices to be heard. One person pointed to the city’s ballot questions in 2015, where citizens made their voices heard “but we’d like to see more action.” As one person asked, “The question to council members is … are you listening to the residents of Malden?”

The fourth and final Moratorium Public Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 9 at the Linden STEAM Academy, from 6:30-8 p.m A full report of the Moratorium project is expected in the April/May timeframe.