Parking Advisory Committee supports pilot program to help boost small businesses

By The Advocate

REVERE – The Parking Advisory Committee voted to send $4,674 on a pilot program to give all those who park on Broadway 15 minutes of complimentary parking. The money will be used to install sensors on poles from Yeamans Street to 250 Broadway that will work with meters to give all those parking on Broadway the extra time. The pilot program is expected to boost small businesses along Broadway.

At the last committee meeting, Councillor-at-Large Jaun Pablo Jaramillo said the Broadway business community felt limited parking and aggressive enforcement were a problem for customers going to local businesses. A similar program, funded by a different grant, is coming to Shirley Avenue.

The committee will take some time to assess the program, noting the behavior of drivers and the loss of revenue to the city.

The Parking Committee also voted to spend $24,000 to hire ROCA to clean and beautify the city’s main corridors and parking lots. The Parking Benefits District fund currently has a balance of $54,000. The five-member ROCA crew will work one day a week with a supervisor – cleaning sidewalks and tree pits, sprucing up parking lots and taking care of requests from ward councillors.

Ward 2 Councillor Ira Novoselsky asked if ROCA could clean up the Garfield Avenue lot along the MBTA fence, which he described as a “no man’s land.”

The ROCA crew will work through November. The committee agreed the new beautification effort would benefit residents and visitors to the city, particularly with the onset of warmer weather.