Maldden alld a Vol. 31, No. 1 den AADD -FREEBy Steve Freker L ongtime Malden City Councillor-at-Large Craig Spadafora was elected as Council President for the 2022 municipal legislative year at a special meeting Monday night. Spadafora, first elected as a City Councillor in 2002, was re-elected to his 10th consecutive term this past fall, topping the ticket as the fi rst-place fi nisher in the Councillor at large race. Spadafora, first elected in 2003, is the longest continuously serving City Councillor on the municipal body at this time as well as one of the top consecutive-term elected offi cials in Malden history. Upon completion of this two-year term in 2023, it will be two full decades on the Council for Spadafora. Mayor Gary Christenson is the longest continuously serving elected offi cial in Malden at this time, having served on the Malden School Committee beginning in the late 1990s, then as Ward 1 City Councillor in the 2000s, before being elected to Spadafora will serve as Malden City Council President in 2022 Councillor-at-Large is one of the longest continuously serving City Councillors in city’s history A household word in Malden for 30 years! CTE OCAT AT www.advocatenews.net Published Every Friday 617-387-2200 Craig Spadafora Elected Council President his fi rst term as Mayor in 2011. Spadafora was elected as Council President for the third time in his years on the Council during a recess in Monday night's municipal Inaugural Ceremony, after all the Councillors — including three who are new to the Council this year— were offi cially sworn in by City Clerk Greg Lucey. Aside from being tasked with wielding the gavel and conSPADAFORA | SEE PAGE 5 CITY LEADERS: Councillor-at-Large Craig Spadafora, named City Council President and School Committeewoman Jennifer Spadafora was named Vice Chair on the Malden School Committee during the 2022 Inaugural Ceremonies on Monday. More Inauguration photo highlights in next week’s Advocate. By Steve Freker T here were no tuxedos, no tails and none of the trademark performances by our city’s magically talented vocal and musiMayor: Mandatory Mask Policy for Malden restaurants, supermarkets, all indoor events goes into effect today Also announced: back to remote-only Zoom meetings for City Council, boards and commissions By Steve Freker C iting the rapid spread in COVID-19 cases in Malden due to the Omicron variant, Mayor Gary Christenson on Tuesday announced the city is instituting a mandatory mask-wearing policy in all public indoor settings. The mandatory mask policy went into effect as of today, Friday, January 7. The policy mandates that all persons over the age of two must cover their nose and mouth with a mask or face-covering. Mayor Christenson issued the mask mandate and municipal meeting format jointly, with Malden Board of Health Director Christopher Webb, on Wednesday via an Executive Order. Malden will join only a few The newly announced maskwearing mandate in Malden goe s fo r a l l r e s i dent s , everywhere, even for those who have been partially and/ or fully vaccinated and received a booster. nearby communities in the region with a similar mandatory mask policy for all indoor spaces, including Chelsea, Lynn and Somerville. Nearly 100 communities have mandatory mask manMASK | SEE PAGE 8 M ayor Gary Christenson, Ward 6 Councillor Stephen Winslow and the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School (MVRCS) have announced that they reached an agreement to pause eff orts to redevelop property MVRCS purchased in Maplewood Square. Central to the agreement is that the City of Malden and MVRCS have agreed to work together for up to a year to identify alternative options that allow the school to create the additional capacity it needs elsewhere. The City of cal instrument performers from Malden High School. But there was no shortage of goodwill and excitement in the Jenkins Auditorium at Malden High on Monday night for the 2022 Inaugural Ceremony. Malden Mayor Gary Christenson greeted the smaller than usual, in-person audience and INAUGURAL | SEE PAGE 10 City, MVRCS agree to seek alternatives to demolition of Maplewood Square buildings Special to Th e Advocate Malden and MVRCS will begin meeting on a regular basis and will keep the community updated on progress. The redevelopment pause will provide businesses the option to stay through April 2023, and it off ers residential tenants additional time and resources to move at some time past the end of the school year. In addition, the agreement keeps parking spaces behind the buildings at 12-24 and 28 Lebanon St. available for businesses and customers as the parties work towards DEMOLITION | SEE PAGE 8 E Friday, January 7, 2022 Malden Inaugural Ceremony ushers in new and returning municipal leaders City Council, School Committee members sworn in at scaled-down version at MHS
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