Morabito wants brighter lights on Broadway

Councillors to query Suffolk Downs’ biosafety info

  Councillor-at-Large Steve Morabito wants to see more lights shine down on Broadway. At Monday night’s City Council meeting, Morabito presented a motion asking Mayor Brian Arrigo to request the public works and community development departments to install decorative street lamps extending the entire length of Broadway.

  “I submitted the motion because many residents expressed their concerns about the lack of lighting at the beginning of Broadway and at the end,” said Morabito. “Currently, the streetlamps on Broadway, they exist from Fenno Street all the way going northbound to Rossetti Street, so that leaves no streetlamps going southbound from Fenno to Revere Beach Parkway, and northbound from Rossetti to Beach Road.”

  After submitting the motion, Morabito said he received information about funding for some additional street lights from the community development program manager. “She informed me that their department had submitted an application in their annual plan for the community development block grant, and if approved by HUD, they would be able to install six to eight streetlamps,” said Morabito. “They also hope to utilize seed funds for some lighting, but when it comes to reality, it’s not going to be sufficient to install these lamps, because only six to eight won’t cover a portion of either end; it will cover a small fraction of what we need to do. When the time comes, they are going to need our help on the City Council to extend the lighting, and I hope when that time comes, that we are all on board to increase the lighting, especially with all the new businesses on Broadway.”

  In other business, City Council President Gerry Visconti and Ward 1 Councillor Joanne McKenna requested that representatives from the developer of Suffolk Downs appear before the council on May 16 to discuss the details of a new life sciences building planned for construction at Suffolk Downs.

  Visconti and McKenna have also presented motions requesting the development of biosafety level regulations in the city zoning ordinances and for special legislation to prohibit testing on sentient creatures for cosmetic purposes in Revere. Both of those motions remain in the council’s Legislative Affairs Subcommittee.