Accomplishments facilitated by the Revere Beach Partnership:
In October of 2001, Mayor Thomas Ambrosino joined Save the Harbor/Save the Bay in hosting several weekend-long planning sessions with local residents, community leaders and business groups at the Garfield Magnet School to begin to chart a course for a renewed Revere Beach.
Upon completion of these strategy sessions, the community rallied around several innovative ideas, including the establishment of a new non-profit organization that would focus on revitalizing Revere Beach. That organization is the Revere Beach Partnership. Since then, the Revere Beach Partnership has worked with city and state officials, as well as various local organizations, to help carry out this important mission.
Over the last 9 years much has been accomplished to Restore Revere Beach
1. North Lot Agreement: An innovative idea proposed by Mayor Ambrosino and supported by the Revere City Council, this agreement creates a trust to fund improvements on Revere Beach Reservation. The trust is funded by parking revenues at the North Lot as well as from parking violations along Revere Beach Boulevard and Ocean Avenue.
As a result of this agreement, Revere Beach has been able to benefit from a dedicated revenue source that has drastically improved the aesthetic qualities of the beach – including major flower plantings and regular power washing of beach pavilions as well as de leading and bird proofing of several of the pavilions. This effort was financially supported by several local businesses including Kelly’s Roast Beef.
2. Public Safety Monies for Revere Beach: Over the Past 9years the State and the City of Revere allocated public safety monies for increased police patrols of the beach. These funds have insured that the experience of the public when they visit Revere Beach is safe as they are memorable.
3. $6 Million in Infrastructure Improvements on Revere Beach: This appropriation funded infrastructure projects, including the installation of new sidewalks on the eastern side of the Revere Beach Boulevard. In addition, the funding replaced the boulevard’s antiquated drainage system and installed numerous traffic calming measures. Other improvements included new lighting and entryways at the Revere Beach reservation.
The Revere Beach Partnership viewed these capital improvements as an essential starting point for the ongoing efforts to restore “America’s First Public Beach to its rightful place as public recreational gem for the Greater Boston area. We look forward to working collaboratively with the Department of Conservation of Recreation and the City of Revere and the many community organizations over the upcoming years to continue this process of restoration.
4. Increased Activities on Revere Beach: A key Strategy of the Partnership has been to increased planned activities at the Beach. Doing so increases the activity during the events and encourages return visits and activities not associated with an event. The overall increased positive usage of Revere Beach as a social and economic engine for the community remains a primary goal. In this area of activity The Partnership has created events of all sizes which attract the public to this unique resource.
Revere Beach Sandcastle Festival: Held mid July each year the Festival has grown to one of the largest in the country. Featuring world renowned artist this competition draws over 200,000 people annually to Revere Beach many of them for the first time. The sand sculpting is complimented with entertainment of all kinds and culminates in a grand fireworks display over the bay. The Sandcastle Festival is the largest annual beach event held in the Greater Boston area.
Other Events and Programming: Besides the Sandcastle event, the Partnership has organized numerous other smaller events to encourage use of the beach. These include: A kite festival, held annually in late May early June, A Fall Pumpkin Fest in late September as well as many other including concerts etc. More recently The Partnership is managing the Revere Beach Farmers Market which is held every Thursday from mid July to late September. The Partnership also works with many other organizations to facilitate their program and participates in many joint community efforts to improve the beach.
