Let’s get down to brass tacks about the middle school lottery situation.
Everyone on the West side of the city is choosing the Susan B. Anthony (SBA) and simply won’t be swayed to send their child to either the Garfield or Rumney - where middle-schoolers have gone for the past decade or more.
A lot of people are saying it is because they want their kids to be close to home - they don’t want to travel over ‘there.’
I think if you peel back the onion, for a good amount of folks, it’s yet another bit of anti-immigrant and racist elitism.
Without those euphemisms or veiled excuses, I believe it comes down to the fact that there are a lot of people on the west side of the city who want their kids to go to school with ‘their own kind’ and not ‘them.’
The same situation unfolded when the Garfield School opened in the 1990s and kids had to go to either the Beachmont or Garfield. The Garfield was predominantly Asian and the climate was one where no proper child from a ‘good’ family was going to be caught in the Garfield. Funny thing is, after time passed, those Asian kids from the Garfield proved to be the valedictorians and leaders in their classes at the high school.
It just goes to show that everyone likes to talk about how much things have gotten better, when really they’re not the same. When it comes to hard, gut-wrenching decisions - decisions that affect your children - a good amount of people flock passively to the old racist ways that they haven’t shed, though they would never admit it. I think most white people would say things are fair and everyone is pretty much treated equally these days.
Ask any person who is black, Arab, Asian, Muslim, Hispanic, Brazilian or an immigrant and I’d bet they tell you differently.
Nothing changes until people are willing to do what is right despite their fears of potential consequences.

The Middle School lottery for fifth graders desiring to enter the Susan B. Anthony Middle School (SBA) next year has been tentatively scheduled for May 3.
The lottery is to be held in the City Council chambers and an outside auditing firm will conduct the drawing.
Before the lottery, there will be a chance for parents on both sides of the city to vent their frustrations to the School Committee. The meeting is scheduled for April 24th and already there are several parents who have asked for time to address the Committee.
The lottery will apply to all fifth-graders in the Paul Revere, Lincoln and Whelan Elementary schools who have chosen the SBA as their first choice.
Superintendent Paul Dakin said that the lottery decision by his administration and the School Committee has been very unpopular but necessary.
“We have a lot of angry folks at the Whelan School because they feel the middle school seats at the SBA should be reserved for them,” he said.
However, it’s gone beyond being just unpopular. Some of those angry folks have actually made physical threats via the Internet towards Dakin.
“When bodily harm is being threatened we will use the resources to find out what computer the threat came from,” he said. “We have all the resources behind us and we’ll find out where it originated. I can take the verbal abuse, but when someone threatens bodily harm, it’s unacceptable.”
He said they have narrowed down the actual computer it came from and it came from someone who sent the threat from the PC at their state job.
And all this over a middle school and perhaps 15 extra minutes of driving? Ok…

Isn’t it about time that some people around here begin to accept the fact that this isn’t the Revere of 1965?
I am well acquainted with how difficult change is - especially large-scale change in one’s community - but enough is enough.
After our front-page story this week on the Cambodian New Year celebration that is to occur down Shirley Avenue this weekend, there were people mindless enough to call and complain.
One person even told us that they hoped it rained out the event.
By all tokens, this is a positive event and one that many in Revere ought to take a look at - if you are at all interested in other people. If you hate people, then stay away.
It is also a celebration in a predominantly Cambodian area of the city - an area that I believe has been purposefully neglected by the city for decades due to the fact that is has been predominately Cambodian. It is only by the immense resourcefulness of the people in that community that Shirley Avenue has thrived as a business district over the past 20 years, a small business district at that. Because, certainly, the city and taxpayer dollars haven’t gone towards helping that neighborhood nearly as much as they’ve gone towards helping more predominately white neighborhoods and business districts.
Until the state stepped in two years ago with grant money, the city had let Shirley Avenue (the actual street) become a pothole marred landscape, no better than a military road in a war zone. It was mostly gravel and pavement was only spotty.
Not to mention the fact that the businesses on Shirley Avenue have had to contend with no free parking. The public lot on The Ave is lined with meters, as is the street, and they have had cut throat enforcement by parking attendants for quite a bit longer than other areas.
Contrast that with Broadway, where there are more than a few free public lots and meters have only been enforced in the same fashion for a couple of years.
With all that in mind, why can’t the Cambodian population in Revere - which has been here no less than 20 years - have a celebration without getting disparaging remarks and negative commentary. It seems that all anyone can do anymore is whine, whine, whine.
I’ve never heard any Cambodians whining about the Columbus Day Parade…

Police are still investigating the shooting on Augustus Street that happened three weeks ago, and are looking for leads.
The investigation has pretty much been turned over from local police to the State Police CPAC unit, according to Chief Terence Reardon.
Officers, however, have ruled out the Big Lou as having any involvement in the matter, either before, during or after the incident.
“Chief Reardon did come and look at our security tapes and it was revealed that no employees or patrons of the bar that night had anything to do with the shooting,” said an employee of the establishment. “The Big Lou was completely exonerated after looking at the tapes.”

A License Commission decision last week allowing a beer and wine license at a convenience store on the Parkway in Beachmont has drawn some ire among residents, and a petition to appeal the license at the state level.
Nevertheless, the Dimino family, who applied for and got the license for a new convenience store (Parkway Convenience) in their new building, said that the ire is only sour grapes from competitors.
“It’s only going to be two coolers, a very small complement to the store,” said John Dimino, an owner of the building and the famous sandwich shop on the Parkway. “I think [the opposition] is a very small group of people who don’t want the competition – kind of like when the guy who owns a liquor store down the street gets a lawyer to go against us. I didn’t like it when Wendy’s opened up next to me, but I can’t go try to stop them.”
Others, however, including Ward 1 Councillor Doug Goodwin, feel that the March 29th decision is upsetting and allows yet another alcohol outlet in an area of the city already heavy with alcohol outlets.
Already, resident Corey Abrams has elicited the help of Attorney Jim Cipoletta – who spoke in opposition to the license at the Commission meeting and has represented other liquor stores in the area in the past – to file an appeal with the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC).
Goodwin said that he feels the decision might set a precedent and open up the door for more convenience stores to pursue beer and wine licenses. In the past, the Commission has not been open to allowing such licenses, denying licenses at the Li’l Peach on Beach Street and 7-Day Convenience in Beachmont Square.
“We don’t need a liquor store on every corner; these things have to stop,” said Goodwin. “For them to approve something like this, it stinks. What bothers me is this might open up a Pandora’s Box for other convenience stores. I can’t see them now not allowing the [7-day Convenience Store] across from Beachmont Liquors. Then you have three liquor stores on one corner.”
Goodwin also said it’s a matter for more study, and perhaps advocating for the state to change the way it allocates licenses to cities and towns. Currently, they are allocated by population, and there is not consideration or differentiation between neighborhoods of a city.
“It’s not by district population, it’s by overall city population,” he said. “That’s not good for our district.”
Parks and Recreation Director Adrienne Sacco Maguire – also a Beachmont resident – testified against the license at the hearing and said she was disappointed.
“I think that was a clear case of having enough,” said Maguire. “Look at all the alcohol signs in Beachmont Square. They just don’t get it.”
Commission Chair Michael Pepe said that the Commission felt they really had no choice due to the fact that there were no direct abutters and that the store is virtually an island to itself. He said he respected the dissent, but felt this was a unique circumstance and one that does not open a Pandora’s Box for more.
“If we could be arbitrary with these decisions and base them on a whim, I’m probably the first person who would say we have enough [alcohol establishments],” he said. “But [the licenses are allocated] on a quota system based on population and until they change the state statute, we have to hear these cases. I firmly believe if we had denied this one, the appellant would have prevailed at the ABCC. It wasn’t a politically expedient decision, but I guess the Commission is not there to do what is politically expedient.”
RevereCARES – the local substance abuse coalition that focuses on underage drinking – did oppose the license, as they do for almost all such licenses. They said they were disappointed with the decision, but felt the Commission acted properly.
“It seems the License Commission, from a legal standpoint, felt they had to grant the license,” said Jesse Williams of RevereCARES. “The coalition following the outcome of this decision – which we were disappointed with – will be investigating and educating ourselves more about the statewide legality of how liquor licenses are allocated.”
Dimino repeated that he believes the thrust of the opposition comes from potential competition.
“The only opposition I see is competition and RevereCARES, who opposes all licenses like this and we’re working with them,” he said. “We’ve been here for 40 years and I’m not going to let a couple beer coolers ruin my main business and this business. It’s not going to happen.”

Warm weather hasn’t even visited us yet, and already the large house parties have started to pop up.
A large house party on Howard Street last Saturday night disturbed neighbors and brought the police to the street twice.
Police responded to the party at 14 Howard St. around 11:30 p.m. and then cleared the scene. However, by 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, the party was a rockin’ again. Police responded once more.
The incident follows an allegedly out of control party on Beach Street two weeks ago in which four arrests were made and neighbors more than a block away could hear music from the party.
Large parties of this sort have become more prevalent in the last three years or so. In Boston, these sorts of parties have plagued communities and neighborhoods near colleges, prompting police there to add an anonymous ‘Party Line.’ Perhaps as the summer gets closer, and if these sorts of parties get more prevalent, the police could do a similar thing. Police can’t be expected to respond to every noise complaint in the city, but if one complains about a loud party and it is noted, then police can compile a list of problem party addresses. After all, where there’s one loud party, there’s sure to be another.

City Councillor Mark Casella was charged last night for driving under the influence of alcohol and for driving recklessly by Revere Police who found Casella bleeding from the forehead in the basement of his home following a car accident in which Çasella apparently hit another car on Geneva Street as he was coming home.

Revere Police said a pool of blood was found on Casella’s front doorstep and that when found in his basement, Casella was bleeding from a cut on his forehead. He was transported to the Whidden Hospital for stiches and treatment. He was charged with DUI afterward.

A Somerville man was killed on Monday while doing masonry work at Roseland’s ongoing Overlook Ridge project in North Revere.
The man’s identity was not being immediately released.
“It was a tragic accident,” said Nancy Sterling, a spokesperson for Roseland. “Apparently, what happened was he was bending over and another employee driving a Bobcat did not see him and backed over him.”
The man was rushed to Mass General Hospital where he died soon after arriving.
Immediately after the accident, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHA) was on the scene investigating, though a spokesman had no details to offer.

A subcontractor working on the new police station was fined $6,000 by the Revere Resident Employment Monitoring Committee this week.
Ajax Construction was found to have worked 10 days on the project without having the minimum number of Revere residents on the job (as outlined in the city ordinance) and not having an approved apprentice-training program.
Ajax was fined $300 per day per violation, making a daily total of $600 per day. Since they were there 10 days, they were levied a $6,000 fine. The fine was subtracted from the February payment due to the general contractor, CTA Construction.
Under the city ordinance, any contractor working on a public project such as the Public Safety Facility or the new schools must maintain a certain number of Revere residents on their payroll - or be able to prove they couldn’t find enough Revere residents. They also must have an approved apprentice or training program in place - per union guidelines.

The Purchasing Department reported on Friday that they would conduct a coin toss on Monday to see which landscaping company gets the contract to maintain Leach Park at the Beachmont School.
Apparently, GTA Landscaping of Everett and Green Acres Landscaping of Revere submitted bids for landscaping the park, and their bids were identical at $5,000. Because it is such a low amount, the only way to decide the matter is by a toss of the coin.
Purchasing Agent Marie Zelandi has apparently only had to do a coin toss once before in her career.
The Leach Park contract was part of a very large bid put out for landscaping the RHS baseball field, Harry Della Russo Stadium, Leach Park, Sonny Myers Park, Revere City Hall and the West Revere School Complex grounds.
Three companies put in bids for the contracts, including GTA, Green Acres and Martorelli Landscaping of Revere. The low bidders were as follows:
West Revere Complex - Green Acres
Sonny Myers Park - Green Acres
Revere City Hall - Martorelli
RHS baseball field - GTA
Harry Della Russo - Either GTA or Martorelli