By Adam Swift
The city council honored former Councilor Catherine Penn with a resolution of condolence on Monday night.
Penn, who served on the council in the 1980s, died on Thursday, April 23.
“Cathy Penn was my neighbor for many, many, many years,” said Ward Councilor Ira Novoselsky. “She served on the city council from 1980 to 1986 as the Ward 2 Councilor. She was the first woman to be elected president of the Revere City Council.
“She made her mark in Revere, she made her mark in Ward 2, she did her job and she did it well.”
In other business on Monday night, Novoselsky introduced a motion for a proclamation recognizing May as Jewish American Heritage Month.
The council also held a public hearing on a city ordinance revision that would ban cryptocurrency ATMs in Revere. The motion, made by Councilor-at-Large Marc Silvestri, will head to the council’s legislative affairs subcommittee for a recommendation before coming back to the full council for a vote.
“It’s currently targeting elderly, migrants, and working class people,” said Silvestri. “I just had a conversation with a resident who lost $350,000 from November 11 to the 23 right here at Shell gas station. I did a quick Google search to see how many there were in the city, and I think there are too many to put a finger on this, there are so many little stores that have them.
“This policy will help us remove those and carry a $300 fine if not.”
The council approved a $3.6 million bond authorization for a stormwater improvement project in the Library and Sewall Street area.
Once the stormwater improvements are complete, the city will move forward with paving and sidewalk improvements to the area.
“After we complete the drainage upgrade, about six months everything has to settle,” said DPW Director Chris Ciaramella. “So once it goes through a winter, most likely in spring we will be paving and installing sidewalks in that whole area – Library, Sewall, Elm, Harris – it’s going to cut through that section as well.”
Ward 1 Councilor Jim Mercurio said there is currently a part of Sewall Street that currently does not have any sidewalks and that he would like to see that addressed once work gets underway.