THE REVERE ADVOCATE - Friday, August 16, 2019 Page 3 National Grid petitions for underground conduits met with City Council resistance Councillors express frustration with utility company By Alexis Mikulski N ational Grid petitioned in front of the City Council to install underground conduits on Ward Street, during the Zoning SubCommittee meeting on July 29. Mike Cordima, a representative from National Grid Electric, explained why these artificial channels are so necessary for the area. “Well, we found this petition back in the 90’s, when 175 Ward St. was built. The cables were buried and came right off of the pole, did a sweep and then were buried back into the ground,” he said. “We’ve had problems over the last few years with cable faults.” According to Cordima, these underground conduits will not disturb residents or wreak havoc on the land near Ward Street during this process. “This conduit will be from the pole onto the property,” said Cordima. “There will be no sidewalk or pavement disruption at all. It will run into a handhole and continue on to the custom transformers.” Currently, this is not affecting the building located at 175 Ward St., a multistory apartment complex. Cordima said that during the operation they will take a planned power outage to move and replace all of the underground cables. “There’s a program going on for all of this direct buried cable that’s been installed for the last 20-odd-years,” he said. “They’re replacing this.” Ward 2 Councillor Ira Novoselsky, who has been outspoken against National Grid in the past, expressed his concern over this cable process. “Nothing against you, but National Grid should be ashamed of themselves to have to wait this long to change temporary cables,” he said. “You’re only the messenger, but I’m not a big supporter of National Grid because they haven’t done much for us. I have streets that are all cut up because they never came back to repair them,” said Novoselsky. “Sidewalks are terrible – all over North Shore Road down to the Revere Beach Parkway – totally disappointed with them. You can give a message to whoever you want, and if they ever come in for anything new for themselves, I will not vote for them,” he said. Novoselsky explained that the only reason this particular motion has his favor is to protect residents of Revere. “I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt tonight because it’s dealing with a customer. But because they just come in and change their gas lines, that’s for their benefit and not for our benefit, just to let you know.” City Council President Arthur Guinasso agreed with the rest of the City Council by saying their primary goal is to benefit members of the area, and the importance of providing the community with the best quality of life. Ward 1 Councillor Joanne McKenna, who has also been a frequent critic of National Grid, expressed her hesitation on the petition. “I, too, will not vote for anything that National Grid will come forward with because it has been horrible for my Ward as well,” she said. “However, I will honor the Ward Councillor tonight and I’ll do whatever he wants to do.” After deciding it would be irresponsible to rule against a malfunctioning cable, members of the Zoning Sub-Committee voted for the petition to be forwarded to the full City Council with a favorable recommendation. Follow us on Twitter advocatenewspaperma Its a Marina Dance Party all weekend! Friday, August 16 at 9 PM DAVE MACK Saturday, August 17 at 9 PM DJ LOGIK Sunday, August 18 at 9 PM DJ LOGIK MONDAY'S SHUCK! $1.00 Oysters SUNDAY BRUNCH BUFFET Only $19.95 / 11am-2pm Featuring Al Whitney Jazz Band BOOK YOUR NEXT FUNCTION WITH US * GIFT CARDS AMPLE FREE www.marinaatthewharf.com 543 North Shore Rd. Revere 781-629-3798 PARKING AMAZING WATER VIEWS
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