THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, October 16, 2020 Page 13 Community Preservation Committee seeks public input on community needs, priorities Residents invited to take online survey T he Community Preservation Committee is receiving public input on community needs and priorities related to the Community Preservation Act (CPA) program areas for the FY22 funding round. CPA funds can be spent on Historic Preservation, Aff ordable Housing, and Open Space/ Outdoor Recreation. A portion of the funds must be spent in each of these program areas each year. A Public Hearing will be held on Wednesday, October 21. Written public comments received before 12:00 p.m. on October 21 will be read into the record at the hearing. Residents are also invited to take an online survey that is available at https://forms.gle/ tphou3ZNiiZTfXw2A. See sample survey below: O Baker announces COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group n October 7, the Baker-Polito Administration announced a COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group to advance eff orts to prepare to distribute a safe and eff ective COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available. Comprised of medical professionals, public health experts, elected offi cials, community leaders and infectious disease specialists, the COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group will advise the Administration, including the state Department of Public Health (DPH) and the COVID-19 Command Center, on communication, distribution and equity issues relating to a COVID-19 vaccine. The Commonwealth has actively been working on preparedness and planning for a COVID-19 vaccine since early August. This work builds on and enhances the state’s experience in distributing approximately three million vaccine doses each year. The group will help inform the planning and preparedness work already underway and further strengthen eff orts to successfully and equitably allocate, distribute and administer a safe and eff ective COVID-19 vaccine. During the past decade, the Commonwealth has invested in the state-of-the-art Massachusetts Immunization Information System, which serves as the state’s vaccine registry, ordering system and inventory mechanism. More than 3,000 provider sites currently report their data to this system, and DPH is actively onboarding an additional 1,000 clinical sites to further enhance the distribution and tracking of a COVID-19 vaccine. The COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group works closely with DPH leaders, particularly DPH Medical Director Dr. Larry Madoff and DPH Assistant Commissioner Kevin Cranston. Its members are as follows: • Dr. Paul Biddinger, Chair – Mass General Brigham (formerly known as Partners HealthCare) • Dr. Barry Bloom – Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health • Dr. Vincent Chiang – Boston Children’s Hospital • Attorney Michael Curry – Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers • Dr. Robert Finberg – University of Massachusetts Medical School • State Senator Cindy Friedman – Chair of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Health Care Financing • Dr. Marc Lipsitch – Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health • State Representative Ronald Mariano – House of Representatives Majority Leader • Wanda McClain – Brigham and Women’s Hospital • Dr. Asif Merchant – Massachusetts Medical Society • Mayor Daniel Rivera – City of Lawrence • Dr. John Rocchio – CVS Health • Dr. David Twitchell – Boston Medical Center • Rev. Liz Walker – Roxbury Presbyterian Church • Phoebe Walker – Franklin Regional Council of Governments • Dr. Simone Wildes – South Shore Hospital • Dr. Sharon Wright – Beth Israel Lahey Health MassFiscal weighs in on governor’s $45.5B budget proposal T Veterans Day virtual parade videos wanted W ith Veterans Day on the horizon and as the COVID-19 pandemic has not gone away, it has become clear that the prospect of having a traditional in-person Veterans Day Parade is not possible. Building from the success of the Memorial Day virtual parade video, the City of Malden has decided to do something similar for Veterans Day. The City is asking all people who are either actively serving or former members of the armed services to fi lm a short video clip to be submitted for the City’s video. When submitting your video, please do the following: ▪ Have the Veteran or active duty service person themselves be the one to deliver the message; ▪ Announce name, service branch and current/former rank, and if active service where currently serving; ▪ Announce something about the person’s connection to Malden, whether saying what neighborhood the person is from, shout-out to someone back home, year they graduated from a Malden school, etc. – something that really says “Malden!”; ▪ Keep the entire video 30 seconds or less as the City anticipates a lot of videos to be included. You may submit all videos either by emailing info@cityofmalden.org or messaging facebook.com/cityofmalden to receive instructions on how to upload your video. he Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance recently responded to Governor Charlie Baker’s $45.5 billion revised state budget, which calls for more spending than his pre-COVID budget released in January. Despite the increase in spending, the new budget anticipates less tax money being collected by the state than in January. To cover this gap, the Governor’s budget spends approximately $1.35 billion of the state’s $3.5 billion “rainy-day” fund, leaving the balance at around $2.2 billion at the end of the year. “Governor Baker was right to propose the state draw on the ‘rainy day’ fund to pay for state spending during a once in a generation crisis. However, without reducing state spending, the state continues heading in the wrong direction. Taxpayers would be more willing to see their savings be spent if it included a reduction in state government spending,” said Paul Craney, spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. Massachusetts remains operating under pandemic-related executive orders, originally promulgated in March, that have shut down or limited economic activity around the state. After setting records for highest unemployment in the country over the summer, the Commonwealth continues to be among the states with the highest unemployment and its economy remains severely distressed. BUDGET | SEE PAGE 15
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