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Friday, March 9, 2018
Arrigo says Revere’s future is bright in State of the City address
Read Across America Day a Family Affair
By Sara Brown
I
Revere celebrated Read Across America Day throughout the city’s school district last week. Pictured at the Whelan School last Friday, March 2, was CBS Boston’s WBZ-TV Chief Investigative Reporter Cheryl Fiandaca with her nephew, Revere Police Sgt. James Rose, niece Sabrina Visconti, nephew James Rose, Jr. and Sage Silvestri. See pages 1415 for more photo coverage on Read Across America. (Photo courtesy of James Rose)
n his State of the City address, Mayor Brian Arrigo said Revere was on the brink of “positive historic transformation.” On March 2 at the auditorium at the Susan B. Anthony School, Arrigo laid the groundwork on his goals for the coming year. One of his main priorities was the School Department; he said there are currently 8,000 students enrolled, which is a 14 percent increase in five years. He believes families are flocking to Revere in part because of the quality education students gain. “We are graduating highly prepared students that are moving on to the country’s best colleges,” he said. Last year 72 percent of graduating high school seniors went to college or university in the fall. However, despite their success, Arrigo said he knows the city needs a new high school soon. He said he will continue to fight to get funding from the state this year for a new high school. He also said that the current high school should be
Mayor Brian Arrigo delivers his State of the City address last Friday. See more photo highlights on pages 12-13. (Advocate photos by Al Terminiello)
changed into a middle school and the current middle schools be changed into elementary schools to help with the growing student population. “It’s imperative for our student’s success we have a new school,” he said. Arrigo noted that one of the successes from 2017 was developing the city’s 311 system. According to the mayor, over the last year there were 2,200
requests submitted by Revere residents via the system; he stated that 92 percent of those requests were handled in a timely fashion. Arrigo said in 2018 the city will handle more calls and have even faster response time. Last year the city began work on the three-year backlog of sidewalk repairs as well as cre-
ARRIGO | SEE PAGE 2
Baker-Polito Administration Awards $2 Million to Support New Housing and Private Development in Revere MassWorks Infrastructure Program award will support the revitalization of Shirley Avenue and enhance city’s walkability
R
EVERE, MA – March 8, 2018 – Today, Governor Charlie Baker and Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash joined local officials and community leaders to announce a $2 million MassWorks Infrastructure Program grant award to the City of Revere for the revital-
for a Contact usation No Oblig
ization of Shirley Avenue. The award will enable substantial improvements to street surfaces and sidewalks within Revere’s Coastal Development Transformative Development District, which will benefit nearby businesses and support the construction of new private developments,
including a new, 30-unit veteran’s housing development. Since taking office, the Baker-Polito Administration has awarded more than $6 million to the City of Revere through MassWorks grants. “With today’s award, our Administration has invested over $7 million to unlock
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opportunities for private investment, housing and new jobs in the City of Revere,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “Programs like MassWorks continue to fuel the forward momentum happening here in Revere, benefiting residents, visitors, and small businesses in the Shirley Avenue
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neighborhood. We continue to work closely with all our local partners to advance important projects like this one that drive development and prosperity in our communities.” “MassWorks reflects our administration’s support for flexible funding that also leverages local and private resources to meet the economic development needs of each of Massachusetts’ 351 cities and towns,” said Lt. Governor Karyn Polito. “We are proud to have increased funding for this critical program that has supported thousands of new housing units, industrial expansion, and new mixed-use development space across every region of the Commonwealth.”
SUPPORT | SEE PAGE 5