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THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2022 Page 5 Revere Beach Parkway land donation continues down tough road By Adam Swift T he attorney for a Nahant resident attempting to donate a half-acre parcel of land on Revere Beach Parkway to the city was back before the City Council on Monday night. Last November Attorney Evan Pilavis brought the proposed donation before the council, but Ward 2 Councillor Ira Novoselsky raised issues about the condition of the property. The matter was placed in the council’s Ways and Means Subcommittee, but didn’t come forward for discussion before the end of last year’s council session. On Monday night, Pilavis was before the council once again requesting the city accept the parcel, and Novoselsky said he still has issues in accepting land he said he doesn’t believe is up to snuff . “I was here back in November,” said Pilavis. “Mr. Ferragamo last May sent out a mass mailing to our neighbors and also to the city saying he was interested in either selling or donating his property. At that point in time, the Conservation Commission unanimously accepted and approved the acceptance of the donation.” Pilavis said when he appeared before the council in November, there were issues raised about the property needing to be cleaned up, and the issue was sent to the Ways and Means Subcommittee. “Mr. Ferragamo, along with our land management expert, went back to the property; the property seems to be in good condition,” he said. “Mr. Ferragamo is actually the one who developed the land next to it that we are donating. To a person, each person in that development would like that land donated rather than have us develop or put on some sort of cell tower.” Novoselsky said he went down to the property on Monday and did not feel the property was in good condition. “I did see a shopping cart down there; I saw a lot of paper debris all over,” he said. “Now, I don’t want the City of Revere to take over property that is in poor condition, and I still have to talk to the neighbors.” Novoselsky recommended putting the donation request into the council’s Economic Development Subcommittee for further discussion and to give him time to meet with the neighbors. Pilavis countered that the issue was put into committee in November and that the council Pandemic waning but not over By Christopher Roberson D espite growing vaccination rates, which have allowed mask mandates to be rolled back, the fact remains that COVID-19 is still out there. “The number of cases per day is still in the hundreds,” said Dr. Robert Klugman of UMass Memorial Hospital. “We are not yet fully out of the woods. The BA.2 variant is on the march and may cause a signifi cant bump in cases.” Klugman also said 54 percent of the state’s 7.1 million residents have received booster shots and that 5.4 million residents are fully vaccinated. Nationally, he said, the vaccination rate is nearly 90 percent. However, the vaccines have proven to be more eff ective in terms of controlling the severity of the virus rather than preventing it. In addition, Klugman called attention to the global population. “If we look at the outbreak in China and other poorly vaccinated countries, we know there will continue to be outbreaks and also new variants to contend with,” he said. With masking and social distancing becoming more relaxed, Klugman said, the chances of contracting COVID-19 will now be determined by a person’s level of exposure. “Outdoors is generally safe. Big box stores, supermarkets are generally safe,” he said. “Bistros, bars, boutiques – less so. Those at increased risk of hospitalization, whether boosted or not, should continue to be more cautious. Omicron and its cousin BA.2 are highly contagious.” Looking back to March 2020, Klugman said there was almost nothing that could have been done to prevent the onset of COVID-19. “The U.S. had dismantled most of its epidemiologic and pandemic resources. Battling a pandemic is not each country for itself, but requires a global eff ort,” he said. “Pandemics are marathons, not sprints, and governments need to plan for the long haul.” Dr. Brian Chow, director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program at Tufts Medical Center, said the pandemic will not be over until worldwide immunity is achieved. “While cases in Massachusetts are falling, cases are rising elsewhere in the world,” he said. “As long as there are new infections, there is the possibility of new strains emerging and spreading.” Chow also refl ected on what he and his colleagues have learned during the past two years. “We now have precedent for rapidly developing vaccines using the mRNA platform and the ability to create PCR [polymerase chain reaction] tests,” he said. “It’s certainly possible to respond faster to these situations with the technology we have now.” However, Chow said burnout rates have hit record high levels among healthcare workers. “First and foremost, we are constantly reminded that the healthcare system runs on people,” he said. “These people do not have infi nite capacity to take on more work.” In addition, Chow said pandemic prevention will be a challenging endeavor. “Bringing a local epidemic under control and preventing it from becoming a pandemic depends on early detection,” he said. “It’s much harder to do these when it’s a completely new infectious disease and we don’t have treatments we know to be eff ective.” Dr. Sabrina Assoumou, an infectious diseases physician at Boston Medical Center, said Massachusetts continues to move “in the right direction.” However, the same cannot be said for countries overseas. “If we’ve learned one lesson about this pandemic, it’s that we’re all connected,” she said. Assoumou also spoke about the importance of having proactive leadership. “Leadership matters; it’s so important when you’re dealing with a pandemic,” she said. “You can lose control very quickly.” at 781-286-8500 or Info@advocatenews.net call he Adv cate Ne spapers For Advertising with Results, call The Advocate Newspapers should take quicker action. “We moved forward, and if there was a shopping cart, it can be easily removed,” he said. “This is wintertime; you and I both know that between debris being thrown out of people’s cars that litters the sides of all of our streets, our homes, we have to pick it up. However, with respect to downed trees or anything, it is the wintertime; it is going to show these things.” Councillor-at-Large George Rotondo noted that the City of Revere is under no obligation to accept the gift of the land. Gerry D’Ambrosio Attorney-at-Law Is Your Estate in Order? Do you have an update Will, Health Care Proxy or Power of Attorney? If Not, Please Call for a Free Consultation. 14 Proctor Avenue, Revere (781) 284-5657 Pilavis said he wished the council had brought up the land donation when it was put into committee last year, but City Council President Gerry Visconti noted that any items that did not come up before the end of the last term have to be resubmitted. “It’s been brought up; some councillors have some concerns, especially the ward councillor,” said Visconti. Rotondo asked that inspectional services be sent to the property to see if there are any potential violations due to debris on the property.

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