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Page 12 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, November 20, 2020 Wild turkeys in the city: Artists make kids nature videos after COVID cancels their parades W hen a family of wild turkeys visited the Greater Boston backyard of Malden artists Kari Percival and Greg Cook, they and their young sons wondered how the birds came to live in the city. To find the answer, come along with them in their latest art and nature video for kids as they visit Jim Cardoza of MassWildlife, who led the effort to restore wild turkeys to MasPARKING | FROM PAGE 1 ing information with his counterpart, Revere Parking Director James Rose, for some time now, due to the fact that Malden shares the same strategic vision of implementing the resident-only overnight parking plan. The Malden City Council voted in February 2019 to implement the overnight parking plan, and the Parking Review Committee, chaired by Ward 2 Councillor Paul Condon, was established. Plan to purchase erect new signs for private ways Meeting for the first time since February of this year, the committee took some steps toward progressing the plan Monday night. Chief among them was a vote endorsing a proposal by Hogan to purchase approximately 600 new signs (one on each end of the thoroughfare) which would be erected to identify what he said are some 320 private ways around the community. By definition in a municipality, a private way is a street or right of way which has not been fully accepted for various reasons as a city street. Most of them are smaller streets, side courts or terraces, often dead end. However, for reasons not always entirely clear, “normal” appearing streets may still be recorded as “private ways” in city records if they have not been cleared, or “accepted,” by the Department of Public Works and City Engineering Department. Rules vary by community, but in Malden most private ways receive city services, such as snowplowing and trash pickup. A key caveat when discussing parking is that no city regulations on parking, such as the resident-only overnight parking, apply to private ways, by law. Notably, the city will not issue parking tickets or authorize towing from private ways. Thus, the signage, the Counsachusetts after they had been gone for more than 100 years. Then meet a turkey that frequents a Somerville Dunkin’ and watch a family of turkeys roost in a tall oak to sleep the night. Percival and Cook, who make community spectacles under the name Wonderland Spectacle Co., have helped put on Now+There’s Joy Parade through Boston, the Pity Party and Honk Parade in Somerville, Cambridge’s Mermaid Promenade, AS220’s Foo Fest in Providence, Malden’s Parade of Holiday Traditions and Gloucester’s Fishtown Horribles Parade. When COVID-19 shut down the Malden artists’ 2020 events, Cook and Percival (and their two young sons) transitioned into making art and nature videos for kids. They created their first video for Boston’s Children's Museum in May: “Welcome Back Songbirds.” Their videos turn their family’s COVID-19 experience of staying close to home for safe, socially distanced nature walks into explorations of the wildlife around Greater Boston, the wildlife in our own backyards. Their videos show kids how to grow a pumpkin, how to get rid of a (coronavirus) monster, ways to have fun on a rainy day and what you’ll find if you climb to the top of the Blue Hills. Percival is a children’s book author and illustrator with a background as a middle school science teacher. Cook is a journalist and also the creator of Somerville’s Tiny Great Outdoors Festival and Starting Over Festival, community events celebrating wildlife. Ward 2 Councillor Paul Condon Parking Director Ron Hogan cillors agreed Monday. The private ways have to be marked before the parking plan and any regulation goes into effect, so as to eliminate confusion. Anxiety may be caused after identifying private ways All of the Councillors expressed concern that residents who may not have known they were living on a private way would become anxious and fear they would not continue to receive city services. “We just have to explain it to people before we start putting up new signs,” Condon said. “We just have to make it clear they know what services they will receive from the city. Someone dropped the ball on this, and it is up to us to address it. We have to take it piece by piece. We can’t quit on this despite it being a long process.” “If signs go up, there will be a lot of anxiety,” Ward 3 Councillor Amanda Linehan said. “People will have a lot of questions, and we have to be ready to answer them.” Councillor-at-Large Debbie DeMaria said she is ready to help with any information sharing. “It is critical that we continue to make progress on this plan, and I offer my assistance in getting the word out to residents who knew or may not have known they live on private ways and what it means for them.” “Our residents in Malden have to have a place to park,” DeMaria added. “It’s time to take our streets back.” The Councillors also agreed with Hogan’s assessment that the goal of Malden’s implementation of resident-only overnight parking is not to ramp up violator ticket revenue. “We want people to register their vehicles properly as in the city of Malden as Malden residents,” Hogan said, “to capture the lost excise tax revenue as we navigate through the entire process of implementing the parking plan.” “In Everett they’ve started the same plan and increased their vehicle excise tax revenue by $450,000 in the first year,” Condon said, “and they’ve got 35,000 residents to our 60,000plus and a lot fewer cars. What’s Malden’s projection? We have to be looking at higher numbers.” “We hope there’s more meat on the bone than $500,000 in additional revenue,” Hogan said. “It is important that we go about it the right way when we implement and then regulate the program. There’s a whole group – a majority [of residents] – doing it the right way that we have to include to get at the much smaller percentage who are not.” Next steps action plan is laid out for overnight parking Parking Review Committee Chairman Condon said he would like to accompany Hogan for a trip to Revere on an informal fact-finding visit to see firsthand how their program works and to be able to ask questions. Hogan said he would set that up for the near future. At the close of the meeting, Hogan summed up the discussion and laid out a next steps action plan which included: Malden City Councillors are back in action crafting a residentonly, overnight parking plan. (Steve Freker Photo) —Drafting a list of private ways in the city through the Assessor’s Office —Start creating a list of all apartment buildings in Malden with six or more units —Requesting the City Engineer to update the committee on street acceptance practices, so as to move to get the number of private ways in the city reduced —Continue to work with Jim Rose and Revere Parking Department to share the process they are using as Malden advances in its own process On a motion by Councillor DeMaria, the committee voted to send to the full City Council a request to order and fund a supply of signs that could be used to designate private ways around the city. The main issues are nonresidents taking up parking space around the city and also the vehicle excise tax revenue the City of Revere does not get if residents do not register their vehicle properly in Malden. (Steve Freker Photo)

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