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THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2021 Page 3 McKenna pushes for fire safety change to building code By Adam Swift T he densely packed neighborhoods of Revere are especially susceptible to the spread of deadly and damaging fi res, as witnessed by recent blazes on Endicott Avenue and Hyde Street. home if there was a fi re next to JOANNE MCKENNA Ward 1 Councillor Ward 1 City Councillor Joanne McKenna is looking for ways to help keep the damage from those fires to a minimum. At Monday night’s City Council meeting, she introduced a motion asking Revere’s state legislators to request an amendment to the state building code to help improve fi re safety. The amendment would require residential structures built within 10 feet of each other use a fi re-rated cement siding. “I want to educate the public about fi ber cement siding, which would probably save your your house,” McKenna said. “Fiber cement siding is just like vinyl siding, but it is made of cement. It would be the best choice for Revere residents who are building or rebuilding and want to make sure the exteriors of their homes are fl ame retardant.” Fiber cement siding can withstand extreme heat for hours before it begins to melt. “In some parts of Revere, the houses are less than 10 feet away,” McKenna said. “On the Endicott and Hyde Street fi res, the fl ames were so intense that the exteriors of several houses melted and some even burned. There is an opportunity if you are living in a very dense community or area and you are remodeling your house to get a fi re-resistant siding.” Councillor-at-Large George Rotondo spoke in support of McKenna’s motion. “This is a product where the return on investment is something that you can’t put a price on when it comes to someone’s life,” he said. “The most important factor here is that it has proven to lessen mortality during fi res, and this is what we are trying to do in Revere: save lives and help people live a better life. If we can do this by changing the [building] code, I’m all for it.” City Council President Anthony Zambuto said the motion will be discussed further at a meeting of the Council’s Zoning Subcommittee. Public Stairways Project Community Meeting – Sept. 22 T he city’s Offi ce of Planning and Community Development as well as the Department of Public Works will host a community meeting to discuss the reconstruction of the public stairways located on Florence Avenue and Winthrop Avenue on Wednesday, September 22. City staff and project engineers from Wesson & Sampson will be available to discuss the design plans, project scope and construction timeline for these stairways. Residents and community members are strongly urged to attend. The reconstruction of the public stairways within the Beachmont and Shirley Avenue neighborhoods has been an ongoing neighborhood and Capital Improvement Project since 2019. Three sets of wooden stairways have been renovated or reconstructed, with the last set completed on Hillside Avenue in the fall of 2020. Construction of these stairways was completed through fundraising from the Beachmont Improvement Committee, grant funding from America Walks, Revere on the Move’s mini-grant program and other city funding. The City of Revere will begin the reconstruction of the remaining fi ve sets of concrete stairways in the spring of 2022. For more information about Revere’s Public Stairways Project, please contact Julie DeMauro at jdemauro@revere.org or Paul Argenzio at pargenzio@ revere.org. Councillors want DCR to clean up Short Beach By Adam Swift T he Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR) has been shirking its responsibility to clean up Short Beach in Beachmont for years, and now City Councillors Gerry Visconti and Joanne McKenna want the DCR to do something about it. At Monday night’s City Council meeting, Visconti and McKenna presented a motion asking the Mayor to direct DCR to clean up Short Beach. Part of the ongoing problem, according to several councillors, has been the inability to get a response from DCR to issues the City of Revere has. “I know that Short Beach is one of Beachmont’s jewels, and it’s kind of disappointing,” said Visconti. “I was there a couple of weeks ago, and looking at the beach, it was disappointing to see the amount of trash and debris that was on that beach, and it looks like it has been there for quite some time.” Visconti said Beachmont residents are outraged about the state of the beach in their neighborhood. “With the meters on Revere Beach, there is absolutely no reason the DCR can’t come down and take care of Short Beach,” he said. McKenna said it has been next to impossible to get any help or response from the DCR about the issue. “It’s been neglected and overlooked for the past 25 years,” she said. “This is not a new problem; it has been going on for years.” Because it is diffi - cult getting in touch with anyone from DCR, McKenna said, she has relied on voicing her concerns fi rst to former House Speaker Robert DeLeo, and now to State Representative Jeff Turco to see if they can get a response from the agency. In her role as State Representative, Councillor-at-Large Jessica Ann Giannino said, she has also been consistently frustrated by the DCR during her eight months in offi ce. “I have struggled getting in touch with them, and I know that Rep. Turco is struggling,” she said. “It’s frustrating because our residents see it Lawrence A. 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