14

Page 14 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, October 11, 2019 ELECTION | FROM PAGE 1 nity leaders. Orsino, who chairs the Community Preservation Committee, has degrees in economics and environmental studies as well as 20 years of experience as a senior project manager for Oracle, a global software and technology company. Orsino served on the Complete Streets Task Force, has organized neighborhood cleanups and events and has rallied residents behind efforts to improve traffi c and pedestrian safety. She currently works for the Chinese Cultural Connection in Malden. A former editor of the Malden Observer, Linehan has a degree in journalism and currently serves as the communications director at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). A member of the board of directors of the Malden Redevelopment Authority and the Asian Community Development Corporation, Linehan served on the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Walkability and the Forestdale Community Church Board of Trustees. The role the next Ward 3 councillor will play in the redevelopment of the Malden Hospital site has generated citywide interest in the race. Orsino said the future of the hospital site was her primary motivation for running for the Ward 3 council seat. “I want to work with community groups and residents to make sure we don’t have a large apartment complex up there,” she said. She described the redevelopment plans recently presented by the Friends of Fellsmere Heights and Boston Architectural College as a great community vision that preserves open space and allows for a “reasonably sized” residential development for seniors, who will be one of the groups most in need of aff ordable housing in the upcoming years. Orsino feels adaptive reuse should be part of the discussion as plans and negotiations for the hospital site move forward. “We can look at whether we can reuse parts of the hospital building,” she said. Linehan said her position on Malden Hospital has evolved over the past couple of years. Initially, she supported the Fellsmere Housing Group’s proposal to build several hundred market-rate units on the site. She said at the time there was no fi - nancing plan to support a community-based redevelopment option, and if the private development were to move forward it would be important for the city to get as many benefi ts as possible from the project. “It’s a good thing we have a clean slate now,” she said, adding that she is glad MelroseWakefi eld Healthcare severed its relationship with the developer. Linehan said she has spent a lot of time with the Friends of Fellsmere Heights discussing their community-based vision for the site. Although she may ultimately support more residential development than the Friends hope to see, she said the city now has a chance to work toward a solution with some much-needed aff ordable housing mixed with community benefi ts, such as open space, playgrounds and walking paths. Linehan said the idea for her campaign for the Ward 3 City Council seat began two years ago when the city failed to pass an inclusionary zoning ordinance that would have required developers to off er 15 percent of a housing project’s units at affordable rates. Although Linehan said it’s too late to fi x the flood of high-end housing in downtown Malden, she said the city should now act aggressively to promote aff ordable housing. And she has plenty of ideas on how to do that. “My career is in workforce housing,” she said. In addition to inclusionary zoning, Linehan supports an affordable housing trust fund that could be used, in part, to purchase parcels that are targets in a speculative real estate market. have on city schools, services and roads and transportation systems. “Malden needs leadership to stand up to state agencies looking to solve regional problems on the backs of Malden residents,” she wrote in an 94,000 residents, pays $2.1 million. “How is that fair?” she asked. On environmental issues, the two candidates share some of the same views and support similar strategies. Both Orsino and Linehan favor outreach programs to help residents make energy effi ciency upgrades to their homes. And they both agree more needs to be done to protect Malden’s tree inventory, with Orsino suggesting the city should have an arborist on a consulting basis to recommend which types of trees are right for diff erent locations. “We have a lot of green space, JULIANNE ORSINO Ward 3 City Council Candidate She supports the idea of a shortterm rental policy with an impact fee that could support an anti-displacement strategy. She also supports innovative housing solutions, such as co-housing and micro-units and allowing accessory dwelling units adjacent to owner-occupied homes. And she feels the city needs to examine zoning regulations on minimum lot sizes, setbacks, height restrictions and parking requirements that are roadblocks to new housing solutions. Linehan also feels the city needs to start working toward the goals outlined in MAPC’s Housing Needs Assessment, which predicts that the growth of the regional workforce will trigger a demand for 3,900 more units of housing in Malden by 2030, with affordable housing among the most pressing needs. Orsino has been critical of the MAPC’s analysis, which she said fails to include the hundreds of units already in the pipeline and does not address the impact that a spike in growth would Op-Ed published in July. Orsino said that as chair of the Community Preservation Committee she has reached out to organizations involved in aff ordable housing projects to explore possible funding with community preservation dollars. In additional to inclusionary zoning, she supports extending deed restrictions that require property owners to rent units at affordable rates. She also feels the city needs to do more to tap into available housing grants and programs such as the Veterans Aff airs Supportive Housing (VASH) program that provides housing vouchers to homeless vets and their families. Both Linehan and Orsino have questions for the MBTA. Linehan would like to know why the transit authority is cutting bus routes and what prevents upgrades and improvements in service. Orsino wants an explanation about the MBTA’s use of an antiquated assessment formula that demands $4.1 million a year from Malden, while Quincy, which has subway, bus and commuter rail services for its but we don’t give it the attention it needs,” said Orsino, who feels the city should develop a stronger partnership with the state Department of Conservation and Recreation to better maintain Fellsmere Park. Linehan supports the city’s participation in the state’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program, which would allow Malden to pursue grants to build resilience against the effects of climate change. Linehan and Orsino both have reservations about the city’s proposal for a new solid waste program, which was crafted partly as a response to trash hauler JRM’s demand for higher fees to cover disposal costs of Malden’s excessive amount of contaminated recycling. Linehan said the proposal to eliminate the blue plastic bags and provide each household with a 65-gallon trash toter and a 32-gallon recycling bin would create mobility problems for seniors and residents whose homes have a set of stairs descending to the sidewalk. And there’s also the problem of where to store such a tremendous trash barrel, she said. “People are passionate recyclers and there’s a concern that the big barrels would be incentivizing ELECTION | SEE PAGE 15 Monogram D4 Double siding Cedar impression half rounds Harvey Vinyl 60 Replacement Windows Custom Aluminum Trim work Windows & Doors Top quality Vinyl Siding! •Vinyl Siding •Carpentry Work •Decks •Roofing •Free Estimates •Replacement Windows •Fully Licensed •Fully Insured

15 Publizr Home