A flag use policy for city property submitted by the mayor’s office created some disagreement among city councillors, city officials, and residents at a public hearing at Monday night’s council meeting.
“It was the intent of the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) office to celebrate the rich cultural heritages that we have in the city of Revere, and the Supreme Court upholds such a notion,” said Claire Inzerillo of the city solicitor’s office. “However, moving forward with Councilor (Anthony) Zambuto’s thoughtfully crafted amendment before you tonight, means our departments can work fruitfully in new and creative ways to continue highlighting the diverse history of our city. And for the solicitor’s office, we can rest easy after tonight knowing that hopefully and finally have a police on the books.”
The ordinance as originally filed by the city gave jurisdiction to the council and the mayor to determine what flags could be raised on the official city flagpoles.
Zambuto and several other councilors had raised concerns that there could be legal action if certain flags were not allowed to be flown and asked for an all or nothing policy concerning the flags. Zambuto’s amendment limits the flags to the American, state, city, and military flags, while still allowing celebrations for other cultures and organizations that have typically been marked by flag raisings.
Resident Wayne Rose agreed with Zambuto’s amendment.
“If we can’t hang all the flags besides the military and American flag, we shouldn’t hang any flags,” said Rose.
However, Steve Morabito, director of the city’s DEI office, said he believes the amended ordinance misses what makes the city special.
“That’s our diversity; each and every one of us in this room have diverse backgrounds,” said Morabito. “The original ordinance that I proposed before you, with the solicitor’s help, protected our city, while at the same time, gave us a chance to show that Revere is a place where everyone belongs. By flying flags like the LGBTQ+ flag, the Juneteenth flag, flying flags of Colombia for their independence day, or Central America for their independence day, or flying the Italian Flag for Italian Heritage month, we’re not just flying fabric; we’re flying pride, recognition, and respect for all of our residents.”
Councillor-at-Large Marc Silvestri noted that the ordinance was not brought forward by the council, but by the mayor’s office, and that the council has never sought to stop having any flag raised by any group.
“None of us want to block any celebrations, because we love it as much as you do,” said Silvestri.
Councillor-at-Large Juan Pablo Jaramillo said he believes the proposed ordinance restricts public access to public spaces and said he does not believe the city needs to change the way it is currently operating.
“It’s unclear to me through the committee process why this was filed other than to prevent some folks from having access to public spaces in Revere,” he said.
Zambuto said his amendment eliminating the flying of all flags short of the American, state, city, and military flags was the fairest way to make sure the ordinance did not discriminate against any groups.
“We can still have celebrations for every single country that we want, we just can’t put a flag other than these specific flags on our flag poles,” said Zambuto.
Councillor-at Large Michelle Kelley said the flag ordinance debate is a more complicated issue than it appears.
“Although I do not agree with the ordinance proposed by the mayor’s office, I know why they did it,” said Kelley. “They did it in response to a lawsuit involving the city of Boston where the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that municipal flagpoles are not supposed to be used for public expression.”
Kelley said the city needs an all or nothing policy when it comes to the ordinance. The ordinance will come up for further discussion at a future meeting of the council’s legislative affairs subcommittee
