Councillors Request MassDOT to Clean Up Copeland Circle

City Councillors Richard Serino and Jessica Giannino want visitors from the North’s first look at Revere to be a pleasing one

The two officials co-sponsored a motion that requests the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) to clean up Copeland Circle, the rotary located directly off thr Route 1 South (Showcase Cinemas exit). Serino and Giannino claim that MassDOT “utilizes the rotary sporadically as a staging area with piles of dirt and parking for heavy equipment.”

Both councillors live in Ward 6 where the rotary is located. They described the rotary as “a blight that is unacceptable.”

During his remarks, Serino displayed a copy of a Oct. 25 photograph of Copeland Circle illustrating the heavy equipment at the busy rotary (That photo appears with this story).

 â€œYou come off of Route 1, it’s the first thing you see and for the past few years now, MassDOT has tended to use it as a staging area for the Route 1 project – it would be nice if we could get sound barriers for that,” said Serino. “They have heavy equipment and up until last spring there were a lot of dirt piles – it was disgusting. This seems to be a reoccurring problem. It’s a blight. It’s a mess in our city.”

Serino asked that Mayor Brian Arrigo send a letter to MassDOT, reasoning that a correspondence from thre mayor “would carry a little more weight and try to permanently clean up” the problem.

Giannino offered her support of Serino’s summary, echoing her colleague’s remarks.

Councillor-at-Large George Rotondo said the issue actually “goes back decades.”

“We need mitigation – we are environmentally impacted by sound,” said Rotondo. “Other communities [such as Chelmsford and Newton] have sound barriers and the City of Revere gets trucks and dumped on.”

Serino said that through the efforts of State Rep. RoseLee Vincent and Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, there are funds in the Transportation Bond Bill that include installing sound barriers along Route 1. He said the bill is currently in conference committee and that State Sen. Joseph Boncore is the lead Senate conferee on the bill.

City Council President Patrick Keefe said he has personally reached out to Sen. Boncore about the sound barriers for Revere and also asked his constituents to contact the senator’s office.“We may never get them, but we can keep asking,” said Keefe. The City Council unanimously approved the motion to ask MassDOT to clean up Copeland Circle