THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2021 Page 15 elections was the municipal election in November, which saw a number of hard-fought and close races. On the City Council side, incumbent Ward 5 Councillor John Powers lost his seat to former City Council President Al Fiore. In the atlarge race, current City Council President Anthony Zambuto fi nished out of the running after 22 years in offi ce, as former mayor and Councillor Dan Rizzo topped the ballot. The other new faces on the City Council in the coming year are Veterans Service Offi ce Director Marc Silvestri, who won an at-large seat, and local businessman Anthony Cogliandro, who won the Ward 3 seat held for many years by retiring Councillor Arthur Guinasso. Giannino stepped down after a decade as a councillor to focus on her position as state representative. One of the biggest issues the In January, Julia Gallogly of Beachmont Elementary School was named a Fenway Honor Roll Top Educator. (Courtesy Photo) Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women names City Clerk Ashley Melnik as 2021 Commonwealth Heroine in June. City Council took up this year was redistricting. Results of the 2020 U.S. Census saw Revere’s population grow by about 20 percent over the past decade, the biggest jump in the state. But there was controversy over the redistricting process, as several discrepancies and oddities in the census process raised concerns about residents being listed as living in commercial and other areas where no one actually lives. After a tense two weeks, the City Council voted to approve the recommended new ward and precinct lines rather than have the issue decided by the state. The year also saw major movement on the development of the riverfront area near Gibson Park. An overlay district was approved that will allow for the private development of the G&J tow yard, and the City Council approved funding to purchase the adjacent former boatyard for use as a community boating and recreation area. Efforts to build a larger, improved public works building and yard were also approved by the City Council this year. In a tight School Committee race, four incumbents were returned to office while incumbent Frederick Sannella came up short in his reelection bid. Carol Tye topped the ticket and was joined in reelection by Michael Ferrante, Susan Gravellese, and Stacey Bronsdon-Rizzo. The newly elected members to the School Committee were John Kingston and Aisha Milbury-Ellis. The School Committee had a busy year, as the district made the transition from remote to in-person learning between the end of the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. Later in the fall, the district and the teachers’ union signed a new three-year contract that was fi - nalized in addition to the district and teachers’ negotiations over the past nearly two years over remote and in-person learning protocols. Looming on the horizon in the New Year is the selection of a site for a new Revere High School. A year of Revere High School Building Committee meetings and public forums came to an end with the consultants narrowing down the potential sites for a new high school to the current high school property or the Wonderland site. With either option, consultants stated that Ward 3 Councillor Arthur Guinasso is shown with former State Rep. and Speaker of the House Bob DeLeo during a political fundraiser for Guinasso in Revere a few years back. Guinasso sponsored a motion to honor the former state representative who retired from the Mass. House of Representatives in January with a Certifi cate of Merit. (Advocate fi le photo) the total cost of a new building would be in the neighborhood of $400 million and that it would be ready for new students by the fall of 2026. The building process hasn’t been without its share of questions, especially among some of the city councillors. Councillor-at-Large George Rotondo, especially, has introduced several motions asking for more input and information from the School Department about the building process. Several newer boards and commissions also saw their share of action this year. The Public Arts Commission took up a number of projects to help beautify and bring arts to the city, including plans to help transform the Beachmont Fire Station to an arts center. The new Human Rights Commission wasn’t afraid to tackle several hot-button issues, including a recommendation to do away with the celebration of Columbus Day. Revere fi refi ghters dealt with several major fi res over the past year, including a fire on Constitution Avenue on Thanksgiving that displaced residents of a four-unit building, a fi vealarm fi re that destroyed multiple homes on Endicott Avenue in May and a major fi re on Kingman Avenue in June. Jeff rey Turco, a Democrat from Winthrop, pictured with his family on Election night, won the state rep seated vacated by Bob DeLeo in the Special Election in April. In a Revere Advocate story published in October, a multi-family home located at 63 Marlborough St. in Chelsea was purchased in 2015 for $549,900 by Boston City Councillor and state senate candidate Lydia Edwards who used an FHA 203(k) Rehabilitation Loan which required Edwards to take up residence there. Edwards continued to reside in East Boston, which violated the terms of the mortgage loan. (Advocate staff photo) In February, Perkins Eastman was selected as the architect for the new Revere High School. Perkins Eastman was involved with the construction of the Dunbar Senior High School in Washington, D.C. (Photo courtesy of Perkins-Eastman)
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