Our Federal Delegation secures $1.3m for Malden River Works Waterfront Park

Tribute to Mystic Lakes Female Bald Eagle, MK, who died of poisoning by rodenticide. Please don’t use poisons to kill rodents. Poisons become part of the food chain and kill our important predators. MK was building a nest.

PC: Karen Fitzgerald

Malden: Malden River Works Project ($1,334,610)
Our Federal Delegation secured over $20 million of funding for the MA 5th Congressional District. U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, Senator Ed Markey, and Senator Elizabeth Warren created and endorsed these federal earmarks to protect and to preserve our green ways for climate resiliency. “Our local leaders know best where federal resources can make a difference, and I am proud to have partnered with them to bring home investments that will improve our climate resiliency and make life more affordable for Massachusetts families,” Clark said of local earmarks in her announcement.

This funding will be used to transform Malden’s Department of Public Works yard on the Malden River to incorporate a public, climate-resilient riverfront park. It will reduce the City’s climate vulnerability by building green stormwater infrastructure to reduce surface flood risk, increasing the tree canopy by planting over 100 new trees to mitigate urban heat island effects, restoring the natural riverfront landscape, and building an elevated greenway path to serve as a flood barrier in the event of sea-level rise. 

"The Malden River Works Steering Committee is inclusive of the diverse Malden population and under-represented communities of color." said Marcia Manong, Steering Committee chairperson. "Our project will help reduce the City’s climate vulnerability by building green stormwater infrastructure to reduce surface flood risk, increasing the tree canopy by planting over 200 new trees and bushes to mitigate urban heat island effects, restoring the natural riverfront landscape, and building an elevated greenway path to serve as a flood barrier in the event of sea-level rise. We wish to thank all for the effort put forward to ensure that this community-driven project was included in the Community Project earmarks."  

“Addressing the legacy of environmental racism is an important part of our response to climate change,” said Malden Mayor Gary Christenson, “and that is what we are doing with the Malden River Works project. It represents a new planning approach for Malden that focuses on elevating the voices of marginalized community members to build a climate-resilient park on the Malden River. The funding secured by our federal delegation will play an important role in the eventual success of Malden River Works.”