Letters to the Editor

Keep Cafarelli

To the Editor:

I am writing with great surprise with regards to the article I read in the Revere Journal back on April 12th where Mayor Arrigo wanted “feedback” from residents regarding a new Police Chief and where he cited the qualifications that he was looking for.  Here is my recommendation- keep Chief Joseph Cafarelli!  He has met and exceeded all the requirements you are looking for!

Chief Cafarelli comes from a long line of great police officers and over the last fiveyears, has earned the trust and respect from both the members of the Police Department, and the members of our community.  He is professional, and has the expertise and values that serve our city well.  Just look at his track record Mr. Mayor.

To ask residents what they want in a Chief is a waste of time in my opinion.  We have all we need with what we have now.  If the question to our citizens is whether we need a new Chief, then my answer is no.  Let him continue to do the great job he’s been doing in keeping our city safe!

I certainly hope you take these remarks into consideration.

Rosemarie DeMarco-Galvin

 

Mickey “Say No To Drugs’ Casoli says thank you to Chamber

Dear Editor:

I would like to thank the Revere Chamber of Commerce for honoring me with its Lifetime Achievement Award at its annual Community Champions Dinner.

I especially want to thank executive director Bob Upton and his board of directors who voted for me to receive this prestigious honor.

I was humbled and honored by this award and the warm reception from the many guests in attendance.

I’m grateful for the support from Chamber president Michael Nicastro, first vice president Stephen Miliotis, second vice president Karen Gallo, secretary Ed Deveau, and directors John Barry, Pebbles Bethel, Melinda Cashman, Brian Davis, John Grande, Deb Kneeland Keegan, Lauren Laidlaw, Patty Pace, Steve Williams, and Polita Zambrano.

I also want to thank Mayor Brian Arrigo, Speaker of the House Robert A. DeLeo, State Rep. RoseLee Vincent, and State Sen. Joe Boncore for their presentation of citations. I’m also thankful to State Secretary of Veterans Affairs Francisco Urena for being in attendance at the awards ceremony.

Congratulations to the other honorees for their much-deserved awards. It was an honor to share this momentous evening with these “community champions.”

Sincerely,

Mickey “Say No Drugs” Casoli

 

Thank you for the help 

To the Editor,

On January 28, Immaculate Conception Parish School in Revere celebrated Catholic Schools Week in honoring God with a beautiful liturgical celebration of the Eucharist.

Parents of Immaculate Conception School (PICS) organized the “Annual Pasta Dinner Fundraiser” held at Father Brennan’s Hall.

School and parish families gathered together to enjoy each other’s friendship around a delicious pasta dinner with all the fixings catered by Nick’s Bistro on Squire Road.  “Nick’s Bistro owners, Mohit and Ravi along with the help of co-worker Joanne, were all amazing. They were more than happy to assist us; were extremely helpful, generous and supplied us with every needed essential. They kept offering more, even though we didn’t need it. They are very community orientated and it is obvious.

The event was a huge success.  Father Daniel opened the dinner and festivities with grace.  There were many fun activities for the children, music with DJ Jim, and Mr. Catano provided a variety of romantic numbers from his saxophone.

Immaculate Conception Principal Stephen Hanley explains; Catholic Schools can aspire to the greatness God because each child is created in “His Image and Likeness.”  We celebrate Catholic education because it supports the family with an education of faith and love in a vibrant academic environment.

Gary Ferragamo

 

Losing a child

Dear Editor

On April 1, we suffered what no parent should suffer. WE lost a child. Colleen Joy Dolan was 38 years old when she died in a car accident.

Colleen was honored at Vazza’s Funeral Home by approximately 800 friends and family.

If I may, I would like to thank and acknowledge some who attended the wake at Vazza’s.

Softball players from Revere High School, players from the Jr. Olympic team, the Krush and all the coaches.

Bridgewater State College team of 2002, Bridgewater State University team of 2017, are going to have Colleen’s #15 on all their helmets. Additionally placing her softball shirt in center field.

Teammates from the Seahawks of the professional Women’s Baseball League.

Members of Revere Police and Fire Departments. Mr. Nick, her varsity softball coach for 4 years at Revere High. Mr. Nick and Father Barry came to our home.

Special thanks to the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, who led the procession and provided security. Thanks to a busload of corrections officers who visited Colleen, a former C.O.

Thanks to the supervisors and fellow staff members from Home For Little Wanderers. NBC Boston Channel 10, who did a gentle story from my home. June and I appreciate their professionalism.

Employees of Brite Horizons Day Care. Thanks to City Councillor, Ward 3, Arthur Guinasso for visiting our home. Also Charleen A., who was a teammate from college who sent a card from London, England.

We will never forget the coverage in the sports pages of the Revere Journal.

Finally, the outpouring of friends, who waited 1-½ hours, some in the rain, to pay their respects.

Now, sadly, we are forced to say goodbye to our dearest daughter Colleen. We will cherish all of the good times she made for us. You will be remembered by everyone who loved you.

You will live in our hearts for as long as we live.

Love,

Ma, Dad, Matt, Tracy and Kristine

 

 

Revere is a Gateway City not a Hateful City

Dear Edito:

In a 2007 MassINC-Brookings Institution report, the term Gateway City originally described 11 cities across the state that are struggling regional economic centers. In 2009, the Legislature officially defined Gateway Cities in state law as “any city with a population greater than 35,000 but less than 250,000, a median household income and a per capita income below the statewide average, and a rate of educational attainment of a bachelor’s degree or higher that is below the state average.”

Under the state’s definition, 26 cities are entitled to call themselves Gateway Cities and qualify for certain state grants, tax credits, and investments in economic and community development. The list of 26 Gateway Cities in the Commonwealth are Attleboro, Barnstable, Brockton, Chelsea, Chicopee, Everett, Fall River, Fitchburg, Haverhill, Holyoke, Lawrence, Leominster, Lowell, Lynn, Malden, Methuen, New Bedford, Peabody, Pittsfield, Quincy, Revere, Salem, Springfield, Taunton, Westfield, and Worcester.

Research by Michael B. Katz, a Penn IUR faculty fellow and Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts & Sciences, shows that “in 2010 more than four of ten of the foreign-born persons in the United States lived in a municipality with a population of less than 200,000; a third lived in cities and towns of 20,000-99,000. Immigrants are transforming the economies, demographics, and spatial organization of these cities and, as a result, bringing them back to life – but bringing them back in a special way.”

Revere needs to embrace itself as a Gateway City and accept that we are a changing city. This change can lead to further economic development if we give everyone a chance to feel like they belong in this city. We need to have more conversations with each other, we need to share more with each other, we need a community space to come together, and most importantly we need to stand together.

We must stop talking about “good” and “bad” immigrants and build with everyone.  A national system has developed that systematically criminalizes and attacks immigrants’ lives, people of color, and working people. This system has used the criminal justice-, prison-, and deportation systems – and any other system – at its disposal to make lives of immigrants – both legal and undocumented – as hard as possible. What we have seen is more arrests, more raids, more detentions, and more deportations of both “good” and “bad” immigrants. In sum, more destruction of our communities.

Many people even in the mainstream immigrant rights movement have blown the “good” and “bad” immigrants out of proportion. Some have labeled work against deportation, detention, and the excesses of the criminal justice system as “boutique issues” – sexy, but not as substantive as the fight for legalization. Others are far too enchanted with portraying immigrants as hardworking and law-abiding. The anti-immigrant far Right (and not-so-far Right) have no such illusions of a difference between “good” and “bad” immigrants. These organizations and politicians have seen nothing wrong with focusing the ire of immigration enforcement on the “bad” immigrants nor see anything cynical about alluding to rights as something that “good” immigrants deserve. This has to be about more than the “good” immigrants in an era where the “good” immigrants are easily be recast as “bad.”

On April 25, 2017, federal judge William H. Orrick, blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a threat to take away funds from sanctuary cities. In his ruling, the Judge sided with Santa Clara County, the city of San Francisco and other jurisdictions, who argued that a threat to take away federal funds from cities that do not cooperate with some federal immigration enforcement could be unconstitutional. This demonstrates how complicated the immigration system is and that there is no one solution.

The much awarded and nationally recognized Revere Public School district serves over 7,500 students of which 77% receive free or reduced lunch and 59% return from school to homes where English is not the primary spoken language. Let’s turn our attention in making sure that all families are fed, have a roof over their head, and access to resources for economic mobility out of poverty regardless of immigration status, class, race, gender, and religion.

As a Gateway City and not a hateful city, Revere can continue to thrive, let us all embrace all walks of life.

Proud Revere Resident

Dimple Rana