Revere Infill and Small Developments

Some shots taken during a Sunday morning stroll along Revere Beach.

I'll start with a photo of the Wonderland Race Track from the top of the MBTA Garage. Only the northern third of the grandstands has been removed and the site is dead. No active removal effort in progress. I thought the city had demanded that they demolish this thing long ago(?).

https://flic.kr/p/2bQLpEB

https://flic.kr/p/2aJWA1y

https://flic.kr/p/2asgg5n

https://flic.kr/p/2bLq4Ao

https://flic.kr/p/2aJWAXU

https://flic.kr/p/2bLqeDE

https://flic.kr/p/2bLqg2j
 
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BeeLine said:
And the only decent architecture encountered during my stroll.
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Charles Eliot's valedictory work, in conjunction with the Olmsted Brothers.

With the exception of its brick Beaux-Arts City Hall, and Edward T. P. Graham's imposing St. Anthony's Church, there's little of architectural interest in Revere. The new construction appears to have been designed by accountants.
 
Beton Brut said:
Charles Eliot's valedictory work, in conjunction with the Olmsted Brothers.

With the exception of its brick Beaux-Arts City Hall, and Edward T. P. Graham's imposing St. Anthony's Church, there's little of architectural interest in Revere. The new construction appears to have been designed by accountants.
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Agree. Particularly for beachfront property, this certainly is a bit depressing.
 
What's the deal with Revere? Is it a long-ingrained image problem? How could T-accessible beachfront property - and high-end amenities to cater to those properties - not be exploding in this market? I know this will never be Copacabana or Santa Monica, but still... we can do better than Brighton Beach * .001
 
Shep, you've been around these parts for a while. What's wrong with Revere is what's wrong with most sad and dysfunctional places across America -- the "wrong people" are in charge.

After the Suffolk Downs casino proposal was put to the torch, there was a seismic shift in the political landscape in East Boston and Revere. The entire political leadership in East Boston has changed since 2013. And in Revere, Dan Rizzo got booted out of the Mayor's Office, but was later able to gain a spot on the City Council.

I have long believed that the "blight" in Revere is manufactured. A city like Boston needs (to use an old friend's words) "an engine room." For generations, much East Boston, Revere, Chelsea, Lynn, and Everett have been bedroom communities for the working poor. We're all living through a singularity of economic necessity and the die-off of older property owners that will alter the fortunes of these communities.

Sometimes I'm a spectator, sometimes an historian, sometimes a participant.
 
But how did Revere become a "bedroom community of the working poor"?

Was is ever a major shipping or fishing center? I never hear about it in the same breath as places like Salem or Gloucester. In fact, the history of the North Shore is really confusing. Some sleepy bedroom wealthy communities, some down on their luck fishing/shipping towns and then places like Revere and Lynn. I am guessing it must have something to do with location of natural harbors?

You would think that with its natural beaches and easy access to Boston, Revere would have always been a resort town for the wealthy but it never panned out that way.
 
Shepard said:
What's the deal with Revere? Is it a long-ingrained image problem? How could T-accessible beachfront property - and high-end amenities to cater to those properties - not be exploding in this market? I know this will never be Copacabana or Santa Monica, but still... we can do better than Brighton Beach * .001
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The Seaport's waterfront development gets hate because it's all "soulless luxury condos catering to global investors and privileged yuppies" while Revere's waterfront development gets hate because it isn't "high-end" enough. One may criticize Revere for being "Brighton Beach," but if it became "Copacabana or Santa Monica" it'd surely get criticized for that too. We can't win.
 
It is almost as if people here hate homogenous enclaves and like areas with a diverse mix of incomes and ethnicities with an eclectic mix of developments, retail establishments and restaurants to match! Weirdos.
 
statler said:
It is almost as if people here hate homogenous enclaves and like areas with a diverse mix of incomes and ethnicities with an eclectic mix of developments, retail establishments and restaurants to match! Weirdos.
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Isn't Revere one of the most diverse places in the Commonwealth?
 
^ In terms of ethnicity and faith tradition, yes. In terms of socioeconomics and education, not so much.
 
^ Fair enough.

But remember that "socioeconomic and educational diversity" gets derided as "inequality" (they are, after all, the exact same thing). And any increase in "socioeconomic diversity" or "educational diversity" gets derided as "gentrification" (they are also the same thing, at least when in the current environment of a hot economy). The only way a place like Revere can become more socioeconomically / educationally diverse in a time span of less than generations is by wealthy / educated people moving in.
 
^ These are complicated issues that are best addressed through engagement. I didn't grow up with money. My good fortune was to grow up in a two-parent household that instilled a strong work-ethic. I see this very same quality among my Latino, Moroccan, and Brazilian neighbors every bit as clearly as I did as a child in an Italo-Irish household. Working people of every stripe aspire to better things, for themselves and their kids.

Gentrification is a genuine problem if it fuels displacement. I believe there are ways to modulate these (market and social) forces. Again, it begins with engagement, with understanding, with connection.

(This has all the stuff of a good and necessary conversation.)
 
BeeLine said:
And the only decent architecture encountered during my stroll.
https://flic.kr/p/2au4Pf6
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My dad fondly remembers that as "Punks Corner".

What a different world he grew up during the 1930's and 40's in Revere.........It sounds as if it were a smaller, but just as electric, version of Coney Island. How very vivid a place it must have been........I only vaguely remember visits back during the late 60's -early 70's and riding the kiddie rides in the (then) crumbling/dying amusement centers there.

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Shepard said:
What's the deal with Revere? Is it a long-ingrained image problem? How could T-accessible beachfront property - and high-end amenities to cater to those properties - not be exploding in this market? I know this will never be Copacabana or Santa Monica, but still... we can do better than Brighton Beach * .001
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Revere is a great counter-argument to "transit = gentrification"
 
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