The Revere Traffic Commission held its regular monthly meeting this past Thursday evening, August 17, in the City Councillor Joseph A. Del Grosso Council Chambers at Revere City Hall. Chairman and DPW Director Paul Argenzio and fellow members Fire Chief Chris Bright, City Planner Frank Stringi, and Police Chief David Callahan were on hand for the meeting.
The commissioners took the unusual step of implementing emergency measures aimed at addressing the high-incidence of traffic accidents on Malden St., which was the scene of a serious accident involving a female pedestrian last month.
John Donnarumma of 234 Malden St. led a group of fellow residents who told the commissioners of the dangerous conditions on the street thanks to the high volume of traffic. Malden St. is notorious as a cut-through roadway to-and-from Broadway as it traverses through the heart of many of the city’s residential neighborhoods.
Donnarumma noted the serious accident involving a female pedestrian last month and spoke of a recent “motorcycle accident in front of my house.â€
“Something needs to be done along the entirety of Malden St.,†said Donnarumma of the situation, in which there have been 23 reported accidents in the past 19 months. “There are constant accidents from Vinny’s Corner to my house. Residents’ cars have been totaled and mine has been hit twice.”
Former Revere police sergeant Chris Giannino, who headed the RPD’s Traffic Division before his retirement in January and who has lived in the Malden St. neighborhood for many years, also spoke before the commission.
“The immediate solution is to add stop signs,” said Giannino. “I’ve lived there my whole life and have seen numerous accidents.”
Giannino also pointed out the variations in the speed limits along Malden St. “from 30 to 25 to 20 and back to 30. Cars are going 40-45 miles per hour. There are two schools and a church at the end. We should lower the speed limit to 20 for the entire length of Malden St.
“I’m requesting that we put this through as an emergency order with a 60-day trial period before the school year starts,” Giannino concluded.
After hearing from the residents and with no debate, the commissioners voted unanimously to put in emergency measures by placing additional stop signs and changing the yellow flashing lights along the road to red flashing lights (which are the equivalent of a stop sign) for a 60-day period until the matter can be taken up at a public hearing, at which time the commission also will address the issues of reducing the speed limits, adding raised crosswalks/speed tables at Hall’s Corner on Malden Street in front of Vinny’s Market, and installing traffic-calming measures in strategic locations from Washington Avenue through the length of Malden St. to help reduce the speed of motorists.
The commission also moved to a public hearing a series of requests from various city officials, which were as follows:
— A request from Ward 2 City Councillor Ira Novoselsky, on behalf of the owner of a laundromat, for 15-minute parking spaces on the east side of Walnut Ave. at the corner of 104 Shirley Ave. next to the laundromat.
“The patrons of the laundromat have no place to park to unload their vehicles,” explained Novoselsky.
— A request from City Parking Director Zach Babo to establish a city ordinance that would provide free parking at city meters for veterans and members of the military who have certain plates:
a. Veteran
b. Bronze Star
c. Silver Star
d. Purple Heart
e. Medal of Honor
f. Legion of Valor
g. Pearl Harbor Survivor
h. Distinguished Flying Cross
i. Ex-POW
j. Medal of Liberty
k. Disabled Veteran
l. Gold Star Family
The proposed ordinance does not apply to parking restrictions such as time limits, no-parking restrictions, handicap parking requirements, fire-hydrant requirements, tow zones, street sweeping, and resident permit-parking areas.
“Revere is a Purple Heart city and this would be a further way of honoring our veterans who have these plates,” said Babo.
— Ward 1 City Councillor Joanne McKenna requested that No Trucks signage be placed at the entrance to Mill St. from the Revere Beach Parkway.
“Waze and Google are taking these trucks off the Parkway through the neighborhood for the shortest way to Broadway and it is inundating the neighbrohood. I’m asking, for neighborhood safety, that we put a No Trucks sign there,” said McKenna, who also asked that the speed limit on Mill St. be reduced from 25 m.p.h. to 20.
“We’re having a lot of problems with Mill St. It’s a cut-through. There’s a lot of kids. The 25 limit is not low enough. Motorists are cutting through and the residents are being inundated with cars that are speeding all the time,” said the councillor.
Argenzio noted that the Mass DOT will have to be involved with any change in the speed limit.
— Ralph DeCicco, the chair of the Revere Disabilities Commission, spoke in favor of a proposal for a number of measures pertaining to handicapped parking spaces, including the installation of two handicapped parking poles for each new handicapped space.
The commission adjourned until its next meeting on September 21.
