Fourth Public Meeting

Date: August 13th, 2020, 6:30PM

Location: Virtual

Attendees: 55

Goal: To discuss how best to celebrate Malden through this park design.

Agenda: Prior to the meeting, a survey was circulated in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic, and Haitian-Creole to ask residents what “Celebrating Malden’’ meant to them. This survey informed the discussion topics for the public meeting. Results of the survey are available online.

The fourth public meeting, also held virtually due to COVID restrictions, began with a statement from the Malden River Works team in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. This was followed by a brief recap of previous meetings and updates to the design. After the presentation, attendees were asked to indicate their topic of interest to discuss in small group discussions: art, history, culture, or education. There were six discussion groups, consisting of two groups discussing art and education, and one group each for education and history. Finally, the meeting ended with a report back and next steps for the project.

What We Heard

Meeting materials for breakout room discussions | Four separate questions based on topic selected by participants.

Small Group Discussion Questions

How do you envision the design or use of the park incorporating art/culture/history/ educational features to Celebrate Malden?
What themes of art/cultural/history/ education could be chosen for the park? What could that process look like?
How do you envision art/cultural activities/ historic themes/educational features creating a welcoming and inclusive space for the diverse populations of Malden?

Results

Art

The groups were asked how art could celebrate Malden, what themes people were interested in seeing, and what the process for selecting artists might look like. There was significant support for a collaborative community and youth based creation of art, both for murals on the DPW building and for signage around the park.

Themes varied but emphasized the importance of representing the diversity in Malden’s cultural, racial, LGBTQ, and age groups. There was also interest in sculptures, poetry written and performed, interactive art, and multimedia art. The idea of rotating or art created by multiple artists was popular, and it was noted that a digital format may allow the most flexibility for this.

Ideas for the process of selecting artists included appointing a local committee to oversee the process, create a class in the high schools to engage youth, and creating a call or competition for local artists. One of the more unique ideas was to create a library of people in the community that others could “check out” using a library card, to meet for a coffee, lunch, or dinner.

History

The discussion on history examined the questions of how residents saw history being incorporated in the design of the park, what themes they wished to see, and who might be celebrated in the history of Malden.

The attendees talked about two approaches for who to spotlight. One would be to commemorate big-name individuals, while the other would be to highlight every-day workers and residents of Malden, especially historically overlooked members of the community. Other ideas included showing visuals of the evolution of the river over time and depicting the industrial history of Malden.

The discussion of the process for choosing historic themes for the park included a survey asking residents for their top five choices.

Culture

The questions around culture asked attendees how they saw culture being incorporated at the park, what special design features might be required to accommodate cultural activities, and how the park may be most inclusive and welcoming of all communities in Malden.

Several different ideas for cultural events and festivals were proposed by attendees, such as a festival where folks can use “passports” to travel to different countries, and Dragon Boating. The idea of a stage was popular to accommodate performances and cultural shows. It was noted that this would require a power source close to the stage.

In order to promote inclusivity at the park, attendees proposed using various languages in signage and in the art, having panels in murals created by different communities in Malden, and hosting events in different months to celebrate different communities, such as Black History month, Pride, etc. These would require funding sources communities could use to host such events, and events could in turn raise money for related causes. Lastly, attendees mentioned that while too many “gatekeepers” for the park would add to barriers in hosting events, having some involvement of the Steering Committee or some “board” might be a way to manage and promote events.

Education

The final topic of discussion asked meeting attendees how the park could incorporate educational features, what educational themes would be appropriate, and how educational features might be best suited for all age groups and different communities.

The main ways suggested to incorporate educational features include partnering with school and science programs, having outdoor exercise classes, community gardens, a storywalk, and including multilingual signage on the river, ecology, and marine biology. Other educational themes attendees were interested in include a sailing program for blind people, sensory garden for people on the autism spectrum, signage on the history of the river, diversity of Malden, history of climate change, and information on alternative energy and sustainable practices.

In order to reach people of different ages and backgrounds, attendees recommended increasing collaboration with students and the senior center, offering translation services through apps for signage, and creating an app that can communicate information about the park and river.

Project Development

The results of this public meeting were used to create a set of recommendations for further work on the inclusion of art, culture, history, and education. This public meeting effectively began a conversation on how to proceed beyond the concept design phase of this project.