Revere Through the Years

10 years ago

January 19, 2005

 

Joe Singer, a Revere native recently returned home after a tour of duty in Afghanistan with the Marines, was attacked by a group of youths a few doors down from his home on Crescent Ave. and suffered a serious stab wound.

The former Broadway National Bank at the corner of Broadway and Central Ave. will undergo another name change with the buyout of BankNorth by TD Bank. This will make for the fourth name change for the bank in the past year.

A Starbucks coffee shop is expected to be among the tenants to accompany the new Target store at the Suffolk Downs development.

Festa Rd. residents say that the construction of the West Revere school complex has aggravated flooding problems in the area.

Assault on Precinct 13, Coach Carter, and Hotel Rwanda are playing at the Revere Showcase Cinemas.

 

20 years ago

January 18, 1995

 

School Committeewoman Denise Salemi has announced her candidacy for the Ward 6 City Council seat being held by two-term incumbent Steve Colarossi.

Family members of Wayne Hilliard, who was killed when the family home at 228 Bellingham Ave. was firebombed last year, have begun rebuilding on the same site. Joseph A. DeCicco has been convicted of the murder and is serving a 40 year sentence. An alleged accomplice, George Madden, who testified against DeCicco, is awaiting his own trial.

Local comedian Dave Fitzgerald is touring with the USO to entertain U.S. troops in war-torn Croatia.

Revere detectives Michael Cutillo and Wayne Anderson led a task force that arrested 10 persons in Revere in the second crack cocaine sting here in as many weeks.

 

30 years ago

January 16, 1985

 

An unknown person tampered with a valve in the old steam heating system at City Hall, causing the system to overflow and cause water damage Friday.

City Council President Joseph DelGrosso has named Councillor-at-Large Anthony Conte to chair a special subcommittee on the redistricting of the City Council district lines, which promises to be one of the most controversial issues facing the council this year.

Local photographer Betty Bailey of Bailey’s Studio is sponsoring the Child Fund program locally in conjunction with WBZ TV and Sir Speedy of Chelsea to launch the Kid Pix program in the Revere schools. Each child will have their picture taken and laminated onto an ID card, the purpose of which will be to help find missing children.

The City Council has approved new zoning ordinances for the North Revere area to prevent overdevelopment in that part of the city.

William G. Petrilli has been re-elected Chairman of the Revere Housing Authority.

Residents are mourning the passing of Mrs. Anna (Generazzo) DiStasio, one of the city’s most beloved women who served in many organizations for more than 40 years. She was the wife of former City Councilor Samuel DiStasio and suffered a tragic loss when two of her sons, Arthur and Peter, were killed in action just days apart in WWII.

 

40 years ago

January 15, 1975

 

Police Chief George P. Corbett has refused to turn over to the City Council the internal report written by three police captains that exonerated Revere officers for their handling of the melee on Halloween on Broadway involving a few hundred teens in which the police let loose the K-9 dog and several of the teens, including Chief Corbett’s son, were bitten and injured. Parents of some of the teens have alleged police brutality after Chelsea District Court Judge Salvatore Aloisi dismissed the charges against the youths.

The Boston Gas Company this week dismantled the landmark gas storage tank that loomed 260 feet above the Revere Beach Parkway.

The Revere Journal is increasing the price of the paper on newsstands from 15 to 20 cents.

 

50 years ago

January 21, 1965

 

The Revere legislative delegation, State Reps. Ray Carey and Joseph DiCarlo and State Senator Harry Della Russo, have filed bills that would give life tenure to City Assessors Gerald Errico and Gerald Woodland, Purchasing Agent Edward R. White Jr., and RHS Athletic Trainer Bernie Sochat.

RHS senior Paul S. Weinberg has been named a semi-finalist in the 24th annual Westinghouse National Science Talent Search, one of just 300 winners nationwide and 11 from Massachusetts, in which participants submitted a science project and took a difficult aptitude test.

Youth Commission Director Lee Rizzo has refuted assertions made last week by the Interfaith Council that the commission does nothing to benefit the city’s youth and wastes its $36,000 budget. Rizzo agreed that the city’s parks could be in better condition, but that it is a matter for the City Council.

The School Committee will tour two sites, the Pit area and Caruso Farm, to be considered for the new Revere High School.

The city’s firefighters responded to 34 alarms of fire in a three-day period this past week, mostly grass fires, including two serious house fires at 61 Asti Ave., believed to have been started by a portable oil burner, and at 57 Endicott St.

The Planning Board states in its annual report that the city needs to improve its economic base by using more land for business and industrial purposes. The report also says that improving Revere Beach, the city’s greatest natural resource, should be a top priority.

All residents are urged to leave their porch lights on for the Mothers’ March of Dimes next Thursday evening between 7-8 to benefit polio research.

Attorney Roy Cohn, the special counsel to U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, will address the problems of Communism and subversion and what America needs to do to address those problems when he speaks before the American Legion at the Beachview Ballroom next week.

William Moschella, who at 75 is the city’s oldest employee and who has been working for the city for 48 years with the DPW, was granted a pension last week by the City Council. Moschella, a native of Italy, has eight children, of whom two are Revere firefighters.

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall star in The Big Sleep at the Revere Theatre.

 

70 years ago

January 18, 1945

 

Four Revere families received news this week that their loved ones have been declared as missing in action. The four are: Major Carl M. Thomajan of 583 Beach St.; Pfc. George J. Stone of 88 Sumner St.; Pfc. Edward Majewski of 102 Patriot Parkway; and Pfc. Ronald Bergeron of 48 Bradstreet Ave. All have been reported as missing in action in the European Theatre where fighting is heavy in Belgium, France, and Germany.

The dedication of the Andrew A. Casassa Conference Room in the Pizzano Building on Broadway by the Chamber of Commerce in honor of the late, long-time city treasurer and former mayor was marked by personal tributes by city officials.

Mayor Raymond Carey has been elected the new President of the Revere Kiwanis Club.