Four Malden City Council Candidates Debate Policing, Housing, and Schools

MALDEN -- October 9, 2021, Malden Ward 5 and Ward 6 city council candidates clashed over police funding, school staffing, and Maplewood Square's future at an October 9 UMA candidate forum. Incumbent Ward 5 Councilor Barbara Murphy, who chairs the Finance Committee and noted the city's $187 million budget passed unanimously this year, faced challenger Ari Taylor, while Councilor-at-Large Steve Winslow and former School Committee member Jerry Leone competed for the open Ward 6 seat being vacated by Dave Kamel. The forum's sharpest moment came when Leone, chair of the Malden Republican Party and a recipient of the Malden Superior Officers Union endorsement, alleged Winslow had signed documents that would lead to defunding the police; Winslow, who described himself as head of public safety, denied it flatly, saying "I have never said I would defund the police." Winslow called the proposed expansion of Mystic Valley Charter School into Maplewood Square the ward's top issue, citing a community meeting that drew more than 100 participants, while Leone vowed to oppose any new bus or bike lanes. Students from Malden High's Blue and Gold newspaper pressed all four on school understaffing, with Murphy pledging to investigate why positions remained unfilled despite the council fully funding the school department's budget, and Winslow calling on state legislators to fix the Student Opportunity Act funding formula that he said leaves Malden underfunded relative to Chelsea, Lynn, and Revere.