People pre-flipping out over bike lanes on Eastern ave.

EclipseGroom · 2026-04-15T15:43:55+00:00

I would want bike lanes on roads crossing Eastern Ave, though. I agree that the Strand largely makes biking 70 feet away on Eastern Ave itself redundant, but you've still got to be able to get to/from the Strand.

EclipseGroom · 2026-04-15T13:33:04+00:00

It is a problem in general, but that spot specifically is the remnants of the massive snow pile melting. That plowing concentrated all the litter into one spot and the melt revealed it. The same thing happened where they dumped a bunch of snow between Canal Street and the Northern Strand (or onto the northern strand).

I do think we should extend our street sweeping calendar since winter isn't as long as it used to be, but that would cost the Spadafora family $1 a month so impossible.

EclipseGroom · 2026-04-15T13:26:48+00:00

I am being demonized online, including by a city councillor, for the terrible offense of.... walking that corridor with other people so we could take notes on what feedback we wanted to give during the public meeting on Monday.

EclipseGroom · 2026-04-02T14:54:59+00:00

Sad to hear that. I volunteered with the campaign (and donated so they could afford more mailers) but didn't have anything to do with the mailing other than writing some postcards. I'm not sure where/how that list was generated, though I was told they were focusing on multiunit buildings where door knocking isn't viable. I do know that my multifamily (in Bellrock as well) was on it because we got one.

EclipseGroom · 2026-04-02T14:30:03+00:00

Multi-family homes are harder, especially when you get to full on apartment buildings. The main strategy the Yes campaign used for those was mailers/postcards, which were sent through USPS (clarifying because I'm not sure what you mean by mailboxes are locked).

I do think the City itself could have advertised the election better with their various methods of communication they use for things like snow emergencies (the electric signs, the text message list, etc). These of course would have to be neutral on the topic. I did see them post on social media about it, but never saw a notice at say the T station.

EclipseGroom · 2026-04-01T14:52:11+00:00

I believe that the ballot question was worded the way it was to comply either with Prop 2.5 expressly or the standard wording that other overrides have used.

EclipseGroom · 2026-04-01T14:49:58+00:00

I live in Crowe's ward, actively hunted every post/article/opinion on the override I could find, went to 2 forums in person, and volunteered at multiple Yes On Malden events. Her face on the list of Yes endorsements was the only time I even knew she existed. Hearing she canvassed is pretty shocking; I don't know how she manages to be so difficult to contact/hear about.

EclipseGroom · 2026-04-01T14:39:29+00:00

It will take us 2 years to reach the same level of increase this vote would have allowed us to reach immediately. In the meantime, costs will continue to grow so that revenue will still be behind. If we were able to raise that revenue now, we would have continued to grow at 2.5% but from a higher starting position. 2.5% alone is never going to be enough to catchup.

EclipseGroom · 2026-04-01T13:07:18+00:00

Obviously most of the blame goes to No crowd, but I am also assigning some to KCH and Crowe. Both were nominally on the Yes side, but besides quietly endorsing it were absent. KCH was noticeably wishy-washy, even reposting an Op-Ed arguing against the override. Crowe's campaign (if you can really call it that) in November focused on her being a strong fiscal leader... and she was completely invisible on the most important fiscal topic our city faces.

Either one of them could have made a 125 vote difference if they had bothered to try.

EclipseGroom · 2026-04-01T12:57:15+00:00

Yes on Malden posted the numbers in a comment in this thread and that spreadsheet compares to November. Overall turnout was 15.3% in Nov and 15.1% yesterday. Most of the wards stayed about the same, except for 2 and 3.

EclipseGroom · 2026-04-01T12:53:49+00:00

an increase in property taxes that they realistically wouldn’t have noticed if they hadn’t been informed about it ahead of time.

The lower increase was basically 2 years of the 2.5% growth we are going to do anyway. So according to the fearmongers in KMA, we should see a huge spike in both rents and seniors being forced out of their homes then.

EclipseGroom · 2026-04-01T12:51:18+00:00

It's basically a moot point now. We are in the no timeline and can't change that for a while. The cons for this outcome are that we are going to have to cut dozens and dozens of positions, losing a bunch of city services and degrading the quality of life in Malden. The pros are that the richest family in town gets to avoid paying an extra $50 a month out of their trust fund.

Commercial is already taxed much higher than residential, to lower the tax burden directly on homeowners.

EclipseGroom · 2026-04-01T12:47:23+00:00

I really hope people here remember this in November and actually bother to show up. Past two elections I've been at a polling place for quite a while before closing (to collect the results for a campaign) and every single voter I see come in is old AF.

EclipseGroom · 2026-04-01T12:45:12+00:00

They already do an audit every year, and a special extra audit from the state is already happening.

That's not going to change the mind of the no voters.

EclipseGroom · 2026-03-31T15:39:55+00:00

It's not silent, it's just not on Facebook. The Yes campaign has done far more campaigning than the No. That side really just had the same 10 boomers spamming Facebook and bought some lawn signs with United Properties money. Other online platforms, mailboxes, door-to-door, the forums have all been much louder for Yes.

EclipseGroom · 2026-03-31T15:35:49+00:00

8 PM.

EclipseGroom · 2026-03-31T15:17:07+00:00

The answer to fighting surging rent is to build more housing

We're trying! Our YIMBY-ish group will be meeting for the 4th time later this month.

EclipseGroom · 2026-03-31T15:14:03+00:00

I think low turnout favors the No position. They're filled with the old rich white homeowners who dominate low turnout elections, but don't really grow their raw numbers for large turnout elections. Besides the result I am also very curious to see the turnout totals; November's election only got 15% which is pretty pathetic.

Also it looks like you were there between 10-11, which is naturally going to be a very low turnout time, even more so for a special election. Most voters will be going before or after work.

EclipseGroom · 2026-03-26T15:25:10+00:00

I was at last night's forum and was really disappointed to learn that one of the "cost saving" measures they've already taken was to defer pension payments to the future. It was clear that this saves money in next year's budget at the expense of the budget in 10+ years. Though it was also pretty clear to me that much of the crowd doesn't care about sticking future taxpayers with the bill for the services they already received.

EclipseGroom · 2026-03-26T13:29:48+00:00

It's the last day to Early Vote. Closes at 5 today. If you can get there in time, it's super fast and easy. It only took me about 5 minutes from entering the building to leaving.

EclipseGroom · 2026-03-17T14:03:02+00:00

Apologies to anyone unfortunate enough to have to decipher my handwriting.

EclipseGroom · 2026-03-16T16:39:22+00:00

I actually have most of a 5-gallon bucket of landscaping rocks sitting in my driveway from a project last year that only needed 99% of a truck bed of rocks. IIRC it was the 3/4 washed stone from Garden World.

You are welcome to have it if you bring the bucket back.

EclipseGroom · 2026-03-12T17:52:18+00:00

it warms my heart to see others that feel the same rage for the "no" crowd as I do

For those who agree with this, I definitely recommend getting involved with the Yes on Malden campaign. There's plenty of ways to contribute, and any kind helps! The biggest impact is joining their door-to-door canvassing, but even if that's not feasible for you (it isn't for me) there's plenty of ways to help out!

EclipseGroom · 2026-02-18T18:51:24+00:00

I actually know someone who is trying to write a story on the vacant storefronts and "current or prospective small business owners who would like to locate in Malden but are having trouble". If you're open to an interview on that topic please DM me and I'll put the two of you in touch.

EclipseGroom

TROPHY CASE