They should walk Salem Street at night, that would be a great workout. Between baseball games, online chats and getting his picture taken everywhere, I wonder when the mayor has time to work on what's important. Focus on the blue bags and a new fire station!

Walk in areas after trash pick up.

Also keep your promise with the mayors satellite offices. Remember that statement?

My nephew happened to be walking his granddaughter in the carriage last week on Kennedy dr went to step off the curb to cross the street and lo and behold what do you think is lying in the gutter?? yes, that's right a hypodermic needle ! Thank GOD he found it and not some little kid!! I was sick to my stomach thinking of the tragedy that could of occurred had some poor child picked that up. The nice people at CVS were a big help in taking it and disposing of it.

His daughter, not granddaughter..

The word is disappointed.

Trust me I was one of the first in his HQ when he was running. I saw great promise. Now going into the 8th month I see broken proises, support for unions before the people, little change from the last mayor and one of the worst budget process on years.

I should say, certain unions. He is taking the same stance as Howard with the FFs union. Very sad.

one term wonder.

How can the Mayor fix something in eight months that took years to happen. I have seen more done by this administration in the past few months than the other guy did in years. He can't do it all himself. Pick up some trash, call and report problems. Get off your rear ends and be a part of the solution.

During the recent election the the city spoke up on the biggest issues of concern. Crime, Firemen and Bluebags. This admin has done NOTHING.

I knew right from the night of the Mayors Ball I supported 90% of the wrong people for that election.

Michael: Apology accepted, LOL!

LOL.

Malden is Moving... It sure is, mostly North of here.

Freddy your not kidding. We have around 2000 people on our Facebook and at least three people a week talk about how they moved or want to move. A close friend of mine just left Malden to go to Eastie. They feel East Boston is safer? LOL.

House break-ins might be down right now (ones reported), but what else will go up? Winters were once quiet, not no more.

When you have police officers telling family members and friends to move out the city, we must have a problem. But what is the best way to stop that? A new food truck!!!

Awesome, the more people that move, the more room for friends of mine to move in.

Ya that's what this admin is looking for, residents who are preppy, cocky, rich and have no clue.

The police increase was planes before Jan. if you looked at the last budget.

Planned*

Julie if I remember correctly, you worked at the HQ.

The mayor is still relatively new to his job and there is a lot to undo from the years of neglect in the previous administration. I applaud the work he has done with the youth center and summer jobs...those kids are doing real work and not just receiving handouts. On the other hand, if he renegs on doing away with the trash bags, and if his main focus is on shoving the unwanted baseball stadium down the resident's throats and putting redevelopment of city hall ahead of infrastructure repairs to what all the redevelopment and overdevelopment of the past years have done to the roads, crime rate, and inner business structure of the city, then he will fail and we all lose. If you don't fix what we already have, then all the food trucks, designer signage, street musicians, increased parking spaces, new business ventures won't matter as it will be like trying to decorate a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. You got to fix what we got before you add more glitter, otherwise its like decorating a ghetto.

The Mayor has been involved in politics for the past 20 years or so, this isn't his first trip to the circus. I'll agree he hit the ground running, but now it appears he is running from the reality that most turned a blind eye towards for the last 16 years....its time to get his hands dirty. A teen center, though a nice idea, isnt going to solve Maldens problems, neither is a walk around the block. There is real hard work ahead for those that want to get serious about it.....doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. There is no room for excuses anymore, its time for action. photo ops, fireside chats, and another parking spot is not cutting it. What say you?

Was the teen center his idea? NOPE.
Your an intern at the office, you helped out with the budget. Have you been around for the past decade? Are you speaking from what you have seen or by the direction of the mayors office. The comment "You People" leads me to believe we are still being talked about in the office. So I invite Duffy to give me a call. He had no issue the last time. I am sure we would have a "proactive" convo.

The parking spots being made must be for the food trucks. I hear each truck has a special spot. Local pizza and lunch spits that have been in the square for so long must really love watching potential customers at these trucks.

Great move by the mayors office.

Aren't the food trucks explicitly only allowed after 3:00?

I have seen cup cake trucks in the afternoon, and jamacian trucks after 4. I seen local shops open at these times also.

Well, I can't think of any local places that sell cupcakes or Jamaican food, so I'm not really seeing the problem. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but didn't you think Malden Square needs a Starbucks? I can't imagine that would make Dunkin Donuts, Cornucopia, Abiata, or the Cannoli Guy very happy.

You do know the Cannoli guy was forced to close right?

Someone might pass up a steak and cheese, pizza or other things on the menu for Cod, curry chicken or a cup cake. The trucks can take away from local shops.

I didn't actually, and that is a bummer.

That said, yes, people will generally buy what they prefer to buy, and that's a good thing. If local shops notice that people love 'em some curry, they can start making curry. I'm pretty sure that squashing competition isn't the secret to revitalizing Malden Square.

No its not a secret. And its not the plan. But its a bad idea. How many pizza shops serve curry?

Also as far as dancing, I don't dance the same tune as them.

Choice is great. Different flavors and so on. But in my opinion it can hurt local vendors. Why not spread them around.

There are three or four pizza places in the square. Certainly they're greater competition for each other than a food truck that's there for a couple of hours is for any of them. Why pick on the food trucks?

it's a food truck, not a McDonalds. They're local small owners too. There's only so much pizza one can or at least should eat. Some of us would like to fit into a seat on the orange line!

Go Fish is awesome! And so is Abiata (although not a food truck).

They are local owners? Are you positive?

Go fish is from Medford... Local enough... Considering there's plenty of business in Malden where the owners live outside. For example I know one of the owners of Fizz Edz lives in Stoneham.

Biryami Park.. although not a fan of is a restaurant in Malden.

I'm not sure about the Jamican Food truck but I doubt a giant box corporate is behind it.

unless you're talking about the Amish lady that sells cookies on Tuesday at the market... yea she's a huge threat to the pizza shops too! Damn those farmers.

Phe did I say the cannoli guy closed down because of the cupcake truck?

Heard we are renaming the city to New Cambridge.

Everything is crammed into one area of malden. Like I spread it out. Get a magician into linden square so he can help our councillor get some items on her to do list to vanish.

Why is is Maplewood square looks cleaner then malden square?

I could be wrong... but the traffic that goes through malden sq has to be higher than maplewood just on the orange line alone!

Also while we're on the subject of Malden Square... can we please get rid of the stupid parking lot on the Elmwood pharmcy of Malden Square. I hate that thing!

Traffic in Maplewood square is much higher. Unless your talking about foot traffic, in that case you are right. But wouldn't you feel these food trucks would see more customers if they spread around and switched it up a bit?

Before you can have food trucks you need room. Every five years they dig up areas of pleasant street to make two spaces.

I would like to see a story up on how these other diners feel about the food trucks. Is it hurting them? Helping them? They see more foot traffic? More homeless asking for money to buy a cupcake?

I feel the mayors office is all over the place band aiding the issues residents are more concerned about. "Sure we will raise the price of blue bags, but hey did you buy fish off the truck?" Or "yes Hookers roam the street, but look at how this guy can juggle."

Do you put new furniture in a messy room on top of a mess? Or do you clean the room first? Malden needs an cleaning. We can start with our elected and appointed officials.

Vehicle traffic in Maplewood is really heavy, especially during commuting hours, because Salem Street is a major cut-through. But it hasn't notably contributed to the businesses there.

But Michael, really, you have to know about community partnerships when it comes to urban revitalization. No, painting watercolors over lead paint on a wall won't fix the problem, but that's not what's being done here. People with illicit intentions will seek out areas that are blighted and not very popular to conduct their business, be it shooting up or soliciting sex, or burglary. But when you start to add reasons for people to come to that area with legitimate businesses and attractions, that new foot traffic chases the other sort further into the shadows. It's evident based on what we saw during the first Farmer's Market to now. I witnessed people stagger into the little plaza there, who appeared to be looking for a quiet place to sleep something off, look around at the market with shock, and hurry through. Others, coming in from the T, on their way home from work or wherever, stopped and browsed.

Put it this way: I'm coming home from work and getting off the T and hurrying through areas that are normally desolate and hold nothing of interest when...whoa. Food truck? I love food! Let me sample something. And hey! Farmer's Market? Let me stop for some fruit. Oh, and here's some neat music. I'll have a listen...

@Michael G... aside from opinions, do you have suggestions of how we can improve?

I like the city's efforts and hope to see more.

They have been trying to make this Yuppy town for years but we are all from the working class. "We All Put Our Pants On The Same Way!" More like Malden burry USA

We should all have a walk late at night. Like down on the trouble spots. Take a real good look around

I still Love My City We all just got to fix it.

One of the problems I see is people that used to live in Allston, Cambridge and Somerville moved to Malden because it was more affordable, although they didn't want to give up their artist community and bike trails, they figured let's just convince all the politicians in Malden that it would be great to have here. It would bring some class to Malden, that became the focus of our politicians, that was more important than getting a new fire station or fixing the roads that are covered with huge potholes, they worked on getting a bike trail and painted some murals, there is your classy joint now. I like art, I don't necessarily want to see it on switchboxes, under an overpass or even on a crosswalk, most people would call that graffiti and we all know what that does for a city. City Hall needs to get their priorities in check, provide for the safety of the community first. If our elected politicians can't do that, it is time to vote them all out.

Dan you must hate art puppies and rainbows.

I think.switch box art is good. I seen some good ones. But that tellie tubby one near Ferryway needs a do over. Or the one on Salem st in front of 711 of wine bottles. Great for those in recovery.

If the city wants to model itself after another, you do it after a city or town like ours. Saugus, Revere, Melrose....not cities with college campuses. It is a different animal.

The mayors office is trying to crowd the square. Three new apt buildings going up? These going to be "high class" like the others?

I just want to see if I can get this right -

- Malden's business is severely lacking
--but we don't want to attract good retail that would get young buyers/renters to move here, that's gentrifying

- Malden's so dirty and doesn't attract good families who want to live here
--but let's not clean it up and make it more attractive to families and people who would WANT to pay a higher rent to live here

You really want Malden to emulate Revere? Saugus? Yikes.

Before you ask, no, I don't work for the city, I'm not an intern, I'm not on staff, blah blah blah blah

Wow, how subtle - people must love debating with you, you're so rational and never resort to insults.

To revitalize a city you start by cleaning the scum off the street. Making the streets safer for customers. Then you slowly bring the change in. It is all lipstick on a pig. Too much all at once. The Mayors office needs to focus on more important issues. Safety comes first. Then bring in the rest when you have control.

Thanks Mike. Means a lot coming from a great guy like you.

Wow if you can't take a compliment, Im sorry.

@Michael G... we all want scums off the streets... the yuppy method is to push them out with arts, crafts and "classier" residents. What's your method? What are your suggestions for getting scum off the streets?

More police. Cutting the budget in many areas in question. More police can make a difference. Our force is too small for the amount of residents we have.

Push the homeless away and enforce loitering. I see kids outside 711 for hours late at night.

Curfew. Will be easier to weed of the trouble makers from the honest residents.

Zero tolerance policy. Let these scum bags know "Not in Malden." And let them pass the word on.

Education. Teaching residents the harsh truth and not have sugar coated meetings. Also education for store owners. Have them look out for each other.

Why Phe instead of Hellgirl?

Forestdale I say we push them to Winchester to follow the one who allowed them here.

Zero tolerance means you enforce the laws on the books, you stop a group of kids walking down the street at 3 am, and so on. You put heat on the people hanging around to sent the message out.

And I will agree with Lemmy, send them over to Winchester. It seems like the same two homeless people are always stealing stuff from stores, getting into fight and bothering people but are back on the streets in no time.

Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for homeless people, but the ones who are constantly causing issues and stealing are hurting the city.

Also Dannyboy. If you look deep into the budget you can cut many of the new jobs that have been made. In my opinion I would rather have another cop then a personal photographer to the the mayor, or 3 full time receptionists. If the blue bag money went to where it was suppose to we could be at a higher staff level in our pubic safety without over taxing the people.