Arrigo promises to continue to build a better Revere
Dear Editor,
With tremendous pride in Revere, and excitement about our future, I am officially running for re-election as Mayor of our great city.
Four years ago, we set off to prove that fresh, forward-thinking leadership would allow Revere to tap into its tremendous potential.
We conducted a thorough, comprehensive review of the City’s finances, to make sure we are spending taxpayer dollars wisely. That audit process discovered nearly $2.2 million that had been withering in 86 different accounts that were inactive for years. We immediately put that money to work for you.
That was just the beginning. Since then, we have enacted sound financial management practices that have helped Revere achieve new levels of financial stability and its highest bond rating in history.
Due to our careful control of the city’s finances, we were able to give Revere residents their first water and sewer rate decrease in 20 years – and we’ll be cutting rates again this year.
We also enacted a real estate tax break for eligible seniors, supporting some of the most vulnerable members of our community.
Over the last three years, we’ve made record investments in city services to improve your quality of life. We’ve given the DPW much-needed new equipment and more workers, delivered over 16,000 heavy-duty trash containers to every residential property in the city, and increased funding to repair streets and sidewalks. We also made it easier and more transparent than ever to request a pothole repair or trash cleanup with our new 311 phone system and app.
We’re rebuilding Revere’s commercial tax base and making our beachfront more active and dynamic. We’re in the midst of a record period of commercial investment in the city, with more to come when the redevelopment of Suffolk Downs breaks ground – bringing much needed jobs, amenities, and over $50 million annually in revenue to invest in our residents.
But the accomplishments of our first term are only just the beginning. With your help, we’ll make our city even stronger over the next four years.
Over the last four years, we’ve worked to make Revere a more modern city, making it easier and more convenient to interact with city hall. We will work over the next four years to put even more city services online, and create a “mobile city hall†to brings city services directly to each of our neighborhoods.
Later this year, we are going to open a Community Center at the Garfield school that will provide programming for Revere residents of all ages.
We are going to guide the redevelopment of Suffolk Downs and complete a comprehensive, thoughtful master plan for the city, in conjunction with the thousands of residents who have participated in our “Next Stop Revere†planning process.
We are going to continue to manage the budget effectively, so that we can provide more relief to ratepayers and taxpayers, while delivering the highest level of service to our residents.
And we are going to build a new Revere High School that will reflect the exemplary standards that our students, staff, and teachers have established in our award-winning public schools. The new Revere High School will be the kind of facility they deserve.
This is an exciting moment for Revere, but now is a time for continued bold ideas. Now is not the time to turn back the clock. Revere will continue to flourish under management that is transparent, accountable, and collaborative – and that is the kind of leadership I pledge to you over the next four years.
I encourage you to get involved in our campaign and our efforts to keep moving Revere forward. Visit www.brianarrigo.com to learn more or to sign up to volunteer.
It has been the honor of my life to serve as the Mayor of our City, and it would be my honor to work with you for four more years.
Mayor Brian Arrigo
STATEMENT ON RECENT HATE SPEECH IN REVERE
Dear Editor
Recently, East Boston’s elected leaders: City Councilor Lydia Edwards, Sen. Joe Boncore, and State Rep. Adrian Madaro stood together to reject racist speech aimed at a local school’s celebration of Arab-American Heritage Month.
Speech very similar to what East Boston’s elected officials publicly rejected also occurred at recent public meeting here in Revere. A person at the meeting attacked our city’s Muslims residents in disgusting terms during a question and answer session with a current City Councillor. So far no one in our community, including the incumbent and City Council candidates at the meeting, have made a public statement about what happened.
We can’t create a tolerant and welcoming city by keeping quiet. We can only do it by following the example set by East Boston and making clear, public statements about what sort of community we want Revere to be. I hope that our state delegation, along with all the candidates for City Council, School Committee, and Mayor, reject the hate speech aimed at our city’s Muslim residents, and make it clear that racism has no place in Revere.
I’ll start: I reject racism directed at any member of our community, and I will not stay silent in the face of hate speech in my city.DIMPLE RANA
