Page 4 THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2022 City Council faces multiple outbursts during lab building meeting By Adam Swift A 425r Broadway, Saugus Located adjacent to Kohls Plaza Route 1 South in Saugus at the intersection of Walnut St. We are on MBTA Bus Route 429 781-231-1111 At this time, the state requires everyone to wear masks We are a Skating Rink with Bowling Alleys, Arcade and two TV’s where the ball games are always on! PUBLIC SKATING SCHEDULE 12-8 p.m. Sunday Monday Tuesday $9.00 Price includes Roller Skates Rollerblades/inline skates $3.00 additional cost Private Parties 7:30-11 p.m. $10.00 Price includes Roller Skates Adult Night 18+ Only Wednesday Thursday Friday Everyone must pay admission after 6 p.m. Private Parties Private Parties 4-11 p.m. Saturday 12-11 p.m. $9.00 $9.00 Everyone must pay admission after 6 p.m. Sorry No Checks - ATM on site Roller skate rentals included in all prices Inline Skate Rentals $3.00 additional BIRTHDAY & PRIVATE PARTIES AVAILABLE www.roller-world.com n informational meeting on a proposed life sciences building on the Suff olk Downs property degenerated at times into a noisy, shout-fi lled aff air, as animal rights activists joined concerned citizens and a political gadfl y or two in the City Council Chambers on Monday night. City Council President Gerry Visconti called for a Council Committee of the Whole meeting to get an update on a life sciences building proposed as part of the massive Suff olk Downs development project. In recent months, Visconti and Ward 1 Councillor Joanne McKenna have proposed two ordinance changes that could have an impact on the operation of any life science buildings in the city. The fi rst would prevent any tenants from operating a lab above a biosafety level 2, and the second would limit or prevent testing on animals. Both proposed ordinance changes are still in subcommittee. At Monday night’s meeting, Tom O’Brien of Suff olk Downs developer The HYM Investment Group gave an update on the Suffolk Downs development as a whole, as well as the proposed life sciences building. The life sciences building would be among the fi rst three buildings constructed on the site, near Beachmont station, and could be ready for occupancy in 2024, according to O’Brien. Eventually, the 280,000-square-foot building would be paired with an adjacent building to create a 525,000-square-foot life sciences complex. “What we are doing is we are building what is called a base building,” said O’Brien. “We are building this on spec, which means we don’t have a tenant for this building. We do not yet know what tenant will be in the building, nor do we know what activities that tenant will bring to this building.” The regulations for any lab or biosafety work done at the building will focus on the tenants and how they outfi t, not HYM and the building itself, O’Brien said. Life sciences is a growing industry in the state, especially in the Greater Boston area, he said. The communities that do have life sciences developments have taken diff erent approaches to how they are regulated. “When the tenant is secured, the tenant must then come back in to seek their permit for the buildout of the space included in the building; there is a separate process for that,” said O’Brien. “My suggestion is that now is not the time to review what is going to happen in this building, because we don’t yet know what is going to happen in this building.” O’Brien noted that most labs in the Greater Boston area operate at biosafety levels 1 and 2, although he said there are about 20-30 biosafety level 3 labs in the Greater Boston area and they are usually connected to academic institutions. Biosafety level 3 laboratories are used to study infectious agents or toxins that may be transmitted through the air and cause potentially lethal infections, according to the phe. gov website. “This work is heavily regulated by federal agencies and state agencies, and oftentimes, local city agencies,” said O’Brien. O’Brien said HYM and its consultants would work with the city to get some kind of structure in place to help regulate the life science building tenants. Visconti opened up a public question and answer forum that began benignly enough with a potential Ward 5 Councillor candidate asking if Revere was considering joining the MassBio Council, and who would be qualifi ed in the city to review potential tenants of a life science building. Councillor-at-Large Marc Silvestri said the city is currently putting something together in conjunction with the public health and health and human services departments. Things began to go downhill when Laurie Stathopoulos of the Salem Saves Animals group stepped to the microphone. “With all due respect, I’m going to turn this over to an attorney that I hired because it’s despicable what’s going on – how many biolab people are we against – clap your hands,” she said as she faced the rest of the audience from the podium. As Visconti tried to rein Stathopoulos in, she began pounding the podium and shouted, “No, no, we’re not going to be nice. I’m calling my attorney over and he’s going to handle this.” As Stathopoulos continued to yell as she left the podium, Visconti gaveled for a fi ve minute break. When the meeting resumed, the attorney, Richard Chambers, took to the podium. “I was asked to come here this afternoon because there are some serious concerns with the residents of Revere in respect to bringing in a biolab,” said Chambers. “Mr. Visconti, do you know exactly the type of research that is going to be done in the city of Revere, and is everyone aware that they experiment on animals? I’d like to know whether or not there are going to be safeguards in place with respect to the citizens.” Chambers then linked the potential for biolabs to the Covid-19 pandemic. “We just went through a worldwide catastrophe in respect to viruses being released, and I think everyone in this room is concerned that there are people – children, families – living within vicinity of this lab that’s going to be coming in,” Chambers said. “What about federal state guidelines? What about the FDA?” A second recess was called by Visconti as a number of people shouted at the City Council from the audience. The disruptions weren’t all about the animal rights activists, though. Erstwhile conservative radio talk show host Dianna Ploss, who has been a regular at Revere meetings in the past few months, got her chance to ask if Visconti and the City Council were taking kickbacks to grease the Suff olk Downs development along. Later in the evening, a number of audience members got combative when Ward 4 Councillor Patrick Keefe pointed out that the development would bring many union jobs to the city. “There is a signifi cant amount of tax revenue that will be coming into the city through the project as a whole, and not just this one parcel that seems to be resonating through the council tonight,” said Keefe. He noted that the developer signed the largest single state labor agreement in the state’s hisOUTBURSTS | SEE Page 19
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