Special to the Journal
The Revere Traffic Commission held a regular monthly meeting on Thursday, July 24, in the City Councillor Joseph A. Del Grosso Council Chambers. On hand for the session were Chair and DPW Director Christopher Ciaramella and fellow members City Engineer Nick Rystrom, new Police Chief Maria LaVita, Acting Fire Chief James Cullen, and City Planner Frank Stringi.
The commission held a number of public hearings, after which the commissioners voted to adopt a number of amendments to the city’s parking and traffic control ordinances.
The major news of the meeting was the commission’s approval of a multitude of changes to the city’s regulations pertaining to parking meters. The amendments to the existing regulations will add parking meters in many areas of the city (principally in the Shirley Ave. and Broadway business districts) and change parking meter rates at the new, 15-minutes-free meters that will be installed principally in the Shirley Ave. business district.
As to the latter, the change to the ordinance adopted by the commission will provide as follows:
“Section 10.36.050 of Title 10 of the Revised Ordinances of the City of Revere is hereby amended by deleting subsection (A) in its entirety and inserting the following new subsection (A):
“Fees—Hours of Operation.
“The fee for parking time in an on-street parking meter shall be charged at a rate of twenty-five cents (25¢) for each fifteen-minute interval, or one-dollar ($1.00) per hour interval.” (Ed. Note: This is the current rate.)
“1. The fee for parking time in an on-street parking meter equipped with 15-minutes of free parking (See Section 10.36.050[B] of this Title) shall be charged at a rate of one-dollar and fifty-cents ($1.50) per hour interval.”
The purpose of the 15-minute, no-cost parking zones in the Shirley St. business area is hopefully to free-up parking spaces for customers of those businesses who come for quick pick-ups and deliveries. That amendment is as follows:
“Section 10.36.050 of Title 10 of the Revised Ordinances of the City of Revere is hereby amended by lettering the existing paragraph as (A) and inserting the following new subsection (B):
“B. Certain parking meters in the City are equipped with sensors allowing the owner or operator of a vehicle to park for 15-minutes in such spot at no cost. At the conclusion of 15-minutes, the owner or operator of the vehicle shall follow the procedures of Section 10.36.050(A).
“The following parking meter locations, described in Schedule XIX of this Title, offer 15-minute parking at no cost:
1. Shirley Avenue;
2. Orr Square;
3. Centennial Avenue; 4. Dehon Street;
5. Garfield Avenue.”
Revere Parking Director Zach Babo and Ward 2 City Councilor Ira Novoselsky both spoke in favor of all of the changes.
“We’re trying to accommodate the businesses to make people move more quickly, instead of parking there for three or four hours,” said Novoselsky regarding the addition of the 15-minute parking meters in the Shirley Ave. business district.
The commissioners unanimously voted in favor of adopting all of the new regulations.
The commissioners also voted to adopt a number of amendments to the traffic regulations that were put forward by Ward 1 City Councillor Joanne McKenna:
— The commissioners voted to change the one-sided parking on Mill St. from Hall St. the Revere Beach Parkway from the present westerly side to the easterly side. McKenna spoke in favor of the amendment, noting that this change had come at the request of the residents of Mill St.;
— McKenna also spoke in support of an amendment that will prohibit parking on the easterly side of Eaton St. Eaton St. resident James Caramello told the commissioners that every resident of the small side street between Beach and Vinal Sts. had signed a petition in favor of the change;
— Another request from McKenna was a proposal to add a No Parking restriction on Dolphin Ave. from Atlantic Ave. to Jones Rd. in front of the Liston Towers. “Emergency apparatus cannot get by if two-sided parking is allowed in the area of Liston Towers,” said McKenna, who noted that the residents of Liston Tower have off-street parking and that the residents of the area supported the change.
The most controversial part of the evening came toward the end of the meeting when the commissioners voted not to advance to a public hearing a request that had been supported by Ward 5 Councilor Angela Guarino-Sawaya to allow two-sided parking on all of the streets in the Riverside neighborhood (the grid of streets between No. Shore Rd. and the Pines River) at the Point of Pines.
Two-sided parking had been the norm in the neighborhood for decades until city officials discovered last year the existence of a parking ordinance that limited parking to one-side only on all of the streets in the neighborhood.
When the city began to enforce the one-side parking regulations, the residents protested and have sought to restore parking to both sides of the streets as had long been the custom.
However, the traffic commissioners noted the narrow width of the streets which makes it impossible for emergency vehicles and snow plow trucks to navigate the roads when cars are parked on both sides.
Guarino-Sawaya suggested that residents could park partially on the sidewalks — as they always had done for years — but Ciaramella pointed out that the commission does not have the authority to endorse parking on sidewalks.
A resident stood up to take issue with the commission’s position and engaged in a forceful discussion with the members, noting that similarly-narrow streets across the city have two-sided parking, but failed to persuade the commissioners to change their minds.
