Anthony Parziale To Seek At-Large Council Seat

By Adam Swift

A neighborhood stand against a proposed homeless facility helped Anthony Parziale make the decision to run for an at-large seat on the City Council.

Parziale, often with a bullhorn in hand, was among the most vocal of the Arcadia Street residents who successfully rallied against the building of a 24-bed homeless resource facility at 84 Arcadia Street earlier this year.

“The honest truth is, I don’t want to run for City Council, I’ve tried to talk myself out of it a thousand times,” Parziale said. “But after going to so many City Council meetings after trying to help the community get the homeless shelter put in a different location, I came to realize that the only way to get something done is to do it yourself, and that’s the biggest reason. My daughter and the people in my neighborhood are the biggest reason I keep coming back to thinking I don’t have a choice, I have to do this.”

Parziale said if he serves on the City Council, he will be a “buck stops here” forward looking councilor looking for solutions to problems.

“I’m going to run for the people who feel like they have not been heard, for the people who feel like they don’t have a seat at the table, for the people who have been told by a city official that there is nothing we can do – there most certainly is, and I’m their guy,” said Parziale.

He said he believes that everyone currently serving as elected officials in Revere are good people, but that he has a different approach.

“My approach is always, how can we do this, how can I help?” he said. “When people say it can’t be done, those words don’t even register to me.”

Parziale isn’t afraid of being outspoken. For nearly two decades, Parziale was the producer and then an on-air personality for the Hill-Man morning show on WAAF before hosting his own podcast that skewers which tends to tilt conservative.

But Parziale said one of his strengths is his ability to listen and hear all sides of an issue.

“One of the things about me that I think is unique from other people, I absolutely find it imperative to work with the other side, no matter how strongly your politics are,” he said. “I prefer to hang out and to deal with people who don’t have the same views as me, because I am seeking to understand why they feel this way, because I might be wrong. Working with people who have a different opinion than me, that’s my forte.”

While he hasn’t made a final decision yet, Parziale said if he qualifies for the ballot, he may not seek any donations to his campaign.

“I don’t feel right asking people to fund my campaign,” he said. “It would be one thing if I was already on the City Council and running for reelection.”

One thing Parziale said he will be doing if he runs, though, is getting out to as many events and meeting as many voters as possible.

“I’m going to ask that if someone does support me, that they share it with someone else,” he said.