Page 6 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, September 13, 2019 SABATINO INSURANCE AGENCY Call for a Quote 617-387-7466 Or email Rocco@sabatino-ins.com We cover: * Auto * Home * Boat * Renter * Condo * Life * Multi-Policy Discounts * Commercial 10% Discounts * Registry Service Also Available ~ Letter-to-the-Editor ~ Malden should not adopt inclusionary zoning D ear Editor and Fellow Citizens: As our Mayor and some on the http://www.sabatino-ins.com SABATINO 564 Broadway Everett, MA 02149 617-387-7466 Hours of Operation are: Mondays - Fridays 9am to 5pm Saturdays by appointment only City Council appear to be pushing “Inclusionary Zoning,” please consider the following reasons Malden should not adopt it: No city or town inside of route 128, which abuts Malden or, which is not abutting the City of Boston directly, has a higher concentration of subsidized housing per square mile. In comparison Malden has 90% higher concentration per square mile than Everett, the city with the next highest concentration. It is critical to understand that 56% of those living in Malden apartments are considered “financially burdened,” adding apartments of any sort, even before adding “Inclusionary Zoning”, will only increase poverty concentration, in a city with an already higher concentration than all its neighbors. The grave impacts studied by federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are below. Malden is becoming a more economically disadvantaged city when compared to the State and its neighbors. In 1990 SKATING CENTER www.Roller-World.com | 781-231-1111 ATM on site Sunday Located Adjacent to Rite Aid Pharmacy in Saugus Plaza, South Bound Route 1 MBTA Bus Route 429 FREE WI-FI - 2 WIDE SCREEN TV’S FULLY AIR CONDITIONED WINTER SKATING SCHEDULE ATTENTION! 12-8 p.m. $7.50 Monday Private Parties Tuesday School & PTO GROUPS 7:30-10:30 p.m. Adult Night 18+ only $8.50 Wednesday Private Parties Thursday Private Parties 3-11 p.m. $7.50 Friday Saturday Admission after 6 p.m. $8.50 12-11 p.m. $7.50 Admission after 6 p.m. $8.50 Skates included in price/Blades $3 Bowling Alleys, 2 snack bars, video games. Ice cream shop, 2 skating floors (group rates call ahead) Private parties every day. School Vacation Weeks 12-8 p.m. Admission $7.50 Win a trip for 2 to Las Vegas Bellagio Hotel Jet Blue Air 5 days / 4 nights Your school PTO can raffle the trip to make substantial money for your group. Call for details. BIRTHDAY PARTIES $11.50/Person, min. of 10 kids. Price includes Adm. + Roller Skates. Cake, soda, paper goods, 20 tokens for birthday person plus 100 Redemption Tickets and a gift from Roller World in one of our private BP Rooms. Malden had a median household income equal to 93% of the State median. By 2018 it had plummeted to 80.6% of the State median. During the same timeframe, the “inner core” Greater Boston communities went the opposite direction and household income increased to 105% of the State median. Only Revere has declined more than Malden. Malden Public Schools “Economically Disadvantaged” (Dept. of Education) population increased 50%, from 30% to 45% between 1994 and 2018. This trend has severe consequences to the health of any school system. Its increase is directly tied to the increasing level of apartment units the city has constructed and its declining homeownership rate. Since 1970, Malden owner-occupied housing declined to below 40%, from nearly 50% in 1970. No city in the entire State which is not abutting the City of Boston directly is below 40%. The state average owner occupied percentage is a little above 60%. Malden needs to ensure to homeowners, the backbone of any community, that their commitment to invest in the City is rewarded equitably. In Malden home price increases have not kept pace in the long term. Malden home values grew only 155%, from 1990-2017, while the inner core average growth was 200%. Had Malden kept pace, percentage wise, the average homeowner, who bought in 1990, would have $75,000 more equity in their home. According to Federal agency HUD (Housing and Urban Development), and every study ever conducted on poverty concentration, people residing in areas of high poverty concentration suffer; higher crime rates, higher delinquency, lower educational achievement, more psychological distress and a myriad of other health issues. As a result HUD and all experts who have studied the issue agree that greater dispersion to areas of more socio-economic balance is critical. Malden elected officials in favor of more apartments and “Inclusionary Zoning,” perhaps well intentioned, are pushing policies which will further increase the concentration of poor in Malden, a city with an already high concentration, a city which has done more than its share in addressing the regional issue. Such an action will penalize long term homeowners, residents and our school aged children most, and simply put more people into an already high poverty concentration area. In closing, one must realize to ask Malden to take on more is not fair nor equitable, we are a city, which is once again being taken advantage of by its regional neighbors in what MAPC and state “expert” planners deem a regional challenge, but keep coming back to the same communities to take on. It is time Malden officials look after the long term health of Malden not the region. Signed, Neil Kinnon Former Ward Six City Councilor 11 Spruce St., Malden
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