Traffic Commission approves one-way for Essex Street at latest meeting

By Journal Staff

The Revere Traffic Commission held its regular monthly meeting last Thursday, October 17, in the City Councillor Joseph A. Del Grosso Council Chambers. On hand for the session were Acting Chair, DPW Director Christopher Ciaramella, and fellow members City Planner Frank Stringi, City Engineer Nick Rystrom, Fire Chief Chris Bright, and Police Lieut. Sean Randall.

The commission held two public hearings, after which the commissioners voted unanimously to adopt the  proposed amendments to the traffic ordinances.

The first pertained to an amendment to “Schedule V of Title 10 – One Way Streets by adding: Essex Street Northerly, Park Ave. to  Mountain Ave.”

“We’ve had some success with making other streets one-way,” said Ward 4 City Councilor Paul Argenzio, who had proposed the change to the commission. “This is just another street in which the residents have reached out to me to calm down the traffic on this street. A previous traffic study a few years back indicated that this would be a favorable thing to do.”

Essex St. is a short street linking Mountain Ave. and Park Ave. and is in the middle of the grid of streets between those two main roadways in the city.

Resident Anthony DeMarco, who has lived on Essex St. for 30 years, told the commissioners, “Essex St. has become a ‘highway from heaven’ for cars coming in both directions, and with the pre-school at the foot of the street, the traffic has become horrendous in the mornings and afternoons at pick-up and drop-off. At night, motorists fly off Park Ave. It’s gotten crazy. You have the nursing home at the top of the street and the projects at the other end.” He also noted that large trucks use the street for deliveries.

There were no opponents to the proposal. After Stringi pointed out that the previous traffic study referenced by Argenzio had concluded that the streets in this area “can’t handle two-way traffic with parking,” the commission unanimously approved the measure.

Next up was a request “to install a Crosswalk on Sargent Street at the Paws & Play Dog Park which is located at 68 Sargent Street.”

There were no proponents, but Ciaramella said he supported the measure and Stringi voiced his support as well. Rystrom added that “there should be flashing crosswalk lights because it is a wide street.” There were no opponents and the commissioners unanimously approved the measure.

The commission then took up a number of requests for various proposals, some of which the commission moved to a public hearing for next month’s meeting.

Ward 1 City Councilor Joanne McKenna made a proposal for “No Parking on the right side of the road on Mill St. northerly from Beach St. for the entire length.” 

“We’ve been having a lot of problems with Mill St.,” said McKenna. “The apps and Waze are taking all of these people from the Revere Beach Parkway to cut through on Mill St. It’s been a mess for a long time and the street has been torn up many times. There’s a lot of traffic and people are parking on both sides of the street. I’m asking for one-sided parking, as well as 24/7 resident only parking.”

Linda Doherty, a resident of Mill St. for 68 years, spoke in favor of the proposal. “Things have gotten even worse with the parking. People are parking right at the corner of Mill St. and Mill St. Place, making it very hard to come out of Mill St. Place. With the parking on both sides and people driving like it’s a freeway, it makes it very hard to get out of your driveway.”

However, Zach Babo, the city’s Director of Parking, noted that the current ordinance, “Already provides that there is no parking anytime on either side of Mill St.  If we want to enable one-sided parking, we need to amend the ordinance to eliminate the No Parking ordinance and then make it one-side.” Babo suggested that the reason there are not any No Parking signs presently is because when the roadway was torn up, the signs never were replaced.

McKenna then said that she favored the current ordinance of No Parking on both sides. The commission moved the matter to a public hearing for its next meeting in order to inform the neighborhood that there already is no parking on the street.

Next up was a request for “No Parking on Green St. for its entire length from the Revere Beach Parkway on the right hand-side of the road southerly.”

“I’m here to advocate for the Green St. residents,” said McKenna. “There is a 30-unit apartment building going in there and I want to protect the residents who live there. I am asking that there be No Parking on the right hand-side and parking for ‘Residents Only 24/7’ so they will not be inundated with traffic.” 

A resident of Green St. said the street is not wide enough to allow for parking on both sides and for two-way traffic. He also noted that the intersection at Green St. and the Parkway is dangerous because it is too sharp, requiring motorists who are turning onto Green St. to slow down considerably, thereby risking being rear-ended by traffic on the Parkway. He further noted that Pratt Ct. similarly is a dangerous roadway.

Another Green St. resident added that the proposed 30-unit apartment building on a single family lot (which has been approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals) will have only eight parking off-street spaces, which will create an even more-significant parking problem for the neighborhood.

The commission moved the proposal to a public hearing for its next meeting.

Next up was a request for Resident Parking 24/7 on Haddon St. “Victoria St., which is adjacent, is 24/7 resident parking,” said McKenna. “The overflow now is going onto Haddon St. and residents have told me they cannot even park in front of their own house.”

Babo spoke on the matter, pointing out that the commission should consider enacting parking restrictions for the entire neighborhood, because restricting parking on Haddon St. only will create issues on the other streets in the area.

McKenna further noted that with the pending development of the former McMackin Field, the parking problems will get only worse in that neighborhood. The commission tabled the matter to study the issue relative to the effect the proposal for Haddon St. will have on the entire neighborhood.

Next up was a request for parking restrictions at the two parking lots at Griswold Park for three-hour parking during the day and  to have no parking overnight.

Babo told the commission that the “residents of the nearby apartments are abusing the parking there. This is really complicated because Parks and Rec. has been holding events, but there already are cars parking there, so that those who are attending the events are not able to park there.”

The commission voted to move the matter to a public hearing for consideration next month.

In a separate presentation, Tom Skwierawski, the city’s Chief of Planning and Community Development, spoke to the commission about the advisability of developing a Traffic Calming Policy to create a “clear and predictable policy for standards and the use of data throughout the city. The objective is to create safe and slow streets for everybody if we design streets the right way.”

Skwierawski, who presented a packet to the commissioners, highlighted the many benefits of such a policy and the ways in which an established policy could guide the Traffic Commission in the future in its consideration of the various proposals that come its way.

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