Mayor Dan Rizzo will recap his initial year in office during his first State of the City Address on Jan. 7th to the City Council in the City Council Chambers – focusing specifically on campaign initiatives that he has begun implementing over the past year.
The 2013 City of Revere’s State of the City Address will be held at 6 p.m. in the Joseph A. DelGrosso City Council Chambers.
Rizzo will be recapping his first year in office and will be discussing his plans and overall vision for the future of the city. A detailed PowerPoint presentation with an update on some of his Administration’s accomplishments will be available following the ceremony.
This address is open to the public and all residents are encouraged to attend.
In his inaugural statement last year, Rizzo spoke about creating efficiencies in city government, improving public safety and overall cleanliness throughout the community, creating and encouraging new commercial investment, and continuing to build on achievements being made at every level in Revere Public Schools. Other priorities included creating more avenues for community input, including an Office of New Revere Residents and the creation of a Neighborhood Advisory Council; regional collaboration, performance based management standards, and a customer service mindset within all City Departments.
Beginning in early January of last year, Rizzo started to implement his plan, first by appointing Chief Joseph Cafarelli to head up the Revere Police Department. Chief Cafarelli immediately set out plans to implement new public safety initiatives such as foot patrols on Broadway, an emphasis on community outreach including a new, soon to be occupied sub-station at the corner of Broadway and Pleasant St., increased regional collaboration, along with other efficiencies that have effectively changed the image of the department in just this short period of time.
This past October, after months of planning, Rizzo – along with his Economic Development Team – held an Economic Development Summit that attracted over 150 participants representing diverse development groups from across the country. The summit, along with Rizzo’s new approach to commercial investment, has led to increased interest in Revere for development purposes, Rizzo said.
Rizzo’s Administration remains committed to working with Suffolk Downs to create a host agreement that he finds acceptable and fair to the City of Revere. This host agreement will protect the interests of the people of Revere by mitigating the impacts of a Casino, and it will ultimately have to be voted upon in a citywide ballot referendum.
Besides public safety, and commercial development, Rizzo has been committed to increasing the overall look and feel of the city in terms of cleanliness.
His first annual “Revere Shines†City Wide clean-up was a huge success last April. This annual event is held not only to clean up the city we all live in, but also to create a feeling of pride and build community spirit, said Rizzo.
The Mayor has also implemented a CitiStat Program which, along with new Work Order Management software, will help to increase the timeliness and create efficiencies within the Department of Public Works.
Community input and outreach efforts have also been high on the list of priorities for this Administration. E-mail Newsletters, social media (including Facebook, Twitter, a new City Website), online surveys, and community meetings have all been used in order to ensure that the people of Revere have a voice in public policy.
“We’ve made measurable progress as we work to find efficient, effective, and sustainable solutions for many challenges that we face together – a process that has been catalyzed by the continued input of our small businesses, social, charitable, and civic organizations, and – of course – from our neighbors and community leaders,†said Rizzo. Added Rizzo, “Each day, I am reminded how blessed I am to serve a city that places such value on the members of our community, and I feel honored to have the opportunity to represent our interests in the region and across the Commonwealth.â€
