Residents, Elected Leaders Demand DCR Pull Parking Meters Out At Revere Beach
REVERE (CBS) -- Residents rallied in the street this week demanding the state scrap its entire plan for metered parking on Revere Beach. Seniors who live at the Jack Satter House on the beach say they suffered enough with COVID-19 and paying for parking will hurt them the most.
"There are people that work there at the Jack Satter, the people that have to take care of the seniors. Where are they going to park? It would cost them $38.00 a week to park to take care of their patients. This is horrible," said Joanne Monteforte, the president of the Jack Satter House Tenants Association.
The Department of Conservation and Recreation, the state agency that runs the beach, announced at the beginning of April that that metered parking would be put in place. But, after a WBZ-TV I-Team investigation about the lack of community outreach and inequality, DCR backed down and agreed to some resident parking.
Revere says it is still working on parking permits and the challenges seniors are facing.
Nick Rusterica is a homeowner. "The whole thing has been just a disaster. It was poorly planned out, poorly rolled out to the public, and now they're trying to change on the fly. I mean, it just should never be," he told the I-Team.
State Representative Jeff Turco said he is filing a bill this week to prevent DCR from getting any money from the meters, effectively taking away the agency's financial incentive.
"I they ought to pull meters out and I think they ought to come out and admit, once in a while, it is OK for government to come out and say to people, we made a mistake. This was not well thought out, not a lot of communication. We didn't effectively communicate with the people of Revere, with elected leadership in this area, and we made a mistake and we're going to pull back," Turco said. "I hope DCR and the commissioner have enough integrity to do that."
The metered parking program is scheduled to go into effect on May 1.