Dear Malden Residents,
On Tuesday, October 23rd,
I went before the City Council to brief them on my
proposed plans to relocate City Hall. I am thankful to the council
for agreeing to my suggestion to issue Requests for Proposals (RFP) to explore responses
to where we could relocate City government services.
As many of you know, I have
long advocated moving City Hall from its current site. Beyond the fact that
it’s difficult to get to and navigate once inside, the capital costs to
rehabilitate the building is upwards of $15M and the ongoing operating costs
will remain extremely expensive to stay.
If we receive an RFP that meets
our needs and the council and I decide to accept them and leave City Hall, we
will then begin a separate process seeking proposals for the redevelopment of
200 Pleasant Street. What is important to remember is that this RFP will be
based upon resident input gathered from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council
grant we received in partnership with the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
All of these steps are efforts
towards achieving our ultimate goal, which is to stimulate economic development
and strengthen the downtown businesses. Situated next to the MBTA's fifth
busiest Orange Line stations, I believe the downtown area will be invigorated by the
reconnection of Pleasant Street and the removal of the city hall building,
giving the nearly 12,000 daily riders who use the Malden Center T Stop much
easier access to our restaurants and stores.
I will update you once we get
something back concrete. In the meantime, please provide us with any comments
or suggestions at info@cityofmalden.org.
Sincerely,
GARY CHRISTENSON
Mayor, City of Malden
Crime continues to be the focus here at City Hall.
I want to thank the Malden Police Department for responding admirably in the wake of the gun violence over the summer. Since the most recent incident on Eastern Avenue, the Police Department has held four random sweeps with outside law enforcement agencies across the city involving K-9 dogs and police motorcycles. I believe their strategy is working based on the positive feedback from the City Council and residents throughout Malden. There are more planned in the coming weeks and months.
In the meantime, we continue to work with Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone on tracking the young adults that have been the root of the recent incidents. We are also looking at partnering with an organization to provide high-risk intervention services in an attempt to get some of these troubled young adults back on track to be contributing members of society.
Despite the challenging times, Malden is moving forward. I continue to be amazed by the upgrades made to Macdonald Stadium. This facility will benefit the entire community for generations to follow. Window Arts Malden had their annual reception last night and I am thrilled and honored with the number of Malden artists who are excited about contributing to our City! I also attended the renovated Town Line Luxury Lanes where the Decotis family invested over $1M in their business and one of their first scheduled events is to help raise funds for our student athletes.
The Malden Public Schools MCAS scores were recently released and there were three “Level 1” schools which is the highest score a school can receive and the other schools were not far behind. Speaking of our schools, I was very impressed with our high school students who fundraised over $2,800 for the Bread of Life at last weekend’s Annual Walk/Run for this organization that serves residents in need of assistance.
Again, there is no doubt we have a lot of work to do in the area of crime prevention. The acts of kindness mentioned above are steps in the right direction to making Malden a safer and better place to live. I thank the folks who are getting involved and I thank you for reading these community newsletters.
I truly believe that by working together, we will reach the potential that this city has to offer.
Sincerely,
GARY CHRISTENSON
Mayor of Malden
