The Revere Traffic Commission held its regular monthly meeting last Thursday, June 15, in the City Councillor Joseph A. Del Grosso City Council Chambers at Revere City Hall.
Chairperson Paul Argenzio, who is the Supt. of the Revere DPW, and fellow commissioners Fire Chief Chris Bright, Chief City Planner Frank Stringi, and City Engineer Nicholas Rystrom were on hand for the meeting.
The commission held public hearings on three proposed amendments to the city’s parking and traffic regulations, approving two of them, but rejecting a third.
Michael Kessman, the city’s Infrastructure Program Manager, proposed making a change on Lee St. to establish parking only on the westerly side of Lee St. Kessman explained to the commission that sidewalks have been installed on Lee St., which has reduced the width of the street. He said that when vehicles park on both sides of the street (which previously had been the custom when there were no sidewalks and residents essentially parked on the shoulders on both sides of the roadway), the width of the driveable roadway now is very narrow.
There were no opponents and the commission unanimously approved the amendment.
City Councillor-at-Large Steven Morabito submitted a request to install a speed hump on Fenno St,. 20 feet before the intersection at Spring Street, while Fenno Street is under construction in order to slow speeding vehicles prior to the Elderly Living Facility.
There were no opponents and after some questions from the commissioners, to which Argenzio (who had made a visit to the site with Kessman) provided answers, the commission unanimously approved the installation of the speed hump.
However, the commission rejected a request by Ward 3 City Councilor Anthony Cogliandro “to amend Chapter 10.34.020 Section F by removing all 8 Units located at 4 Hawes Street from the ineligible list of Resident Parking and issue Resident Parking Permits.”
Argenzio explained to the commissioners that each of the residents in the building has two parking spaces, but a long-time resident of the complex now has two adult children living with her and they have three vehicles.
Stringi made a motion to deny the request.
“This will set off a wave of changes. This building complied with our ordinance with respect to parking and conforms to the ineligible sticker section of the city ordinance,” he said.
Stringi suggested that the commission leave it up to the discretion of the city’s parking director to allow him to determine the proper course of action.
The commissioners unanimously denied the request.
The commission’s agenda for the meeting had indicated that it would be resuming a discussion of the controversial request by HYM, the developer of Suffolk Downs, to convert a single block of Harris Street between Winthrop Ave. and Sewall St. from two-way to one-way in order to reduce neighborhood traffic and improve signalized intersection operations at the busy intersection of Winthrop Ave. and the Revere Beach Parkway.
HYM and the state will be making significant changes to the intersection in the near future, and the change to Harris St. — which intersects Winthrop Ave. about 100 feet before the Parkway — is a small piece of the overall overhaul of that busy thoroughfare on the Parkway.
Residents of the neighborhood vociferously opposed the change at a public hearing at the Traffic Commission’s meeting in May. However, the commission, without explanation, did not take up the matter last week and it presumably will be addressed at a later meeting.
