Meters pushed for beach parking

City Council president Daniel Rizzo said metered parking could discourage rowdy groups from hanging out at the beach all night, while its revenue could help fund dedicated State Police patrols there. He and councilor John Powers sponsored a motion, scheduled for a vote tomorrow, asking that Mayor Thomas G. Ambrosino file a petition asking the state Legislature to allow for the installation of the meters.

Similar attempts, led by both Rizzo and Powers for about nine years, have been unsuccessful. Revere Beach, recognized as America's first public beach and a national historic landmark, has always been free to the public. Adding parking meters to fund patrols would require legislative approval, as well as input from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Massachusetts Historical Commission, and the National Register of Historic Places, said DCR spokeswoman Wendy Fox.

"DCR's main interest is in keeping this a free and public urban beach available to everyone without having to pay to park," Fox said, adding, however, that DCR Commissioner Rick Sullivan said he would be willing to talk to Ambrosino and the council about the issue.

Rizzo said that, like most cities and towns dealing with deficits, program cuts, and layoffs, Revere is simply trying to generate its own revenue.

"It would be foolhardy by anyone in state government not to look at other sources of revenue at this point in time," Rizzo said. "I think [meters] could do an awful lot of good down there. Then we wouldn't have to plead and beg with the state every year that we need more money to be allocated from the general fund to have adequate staffing down there."

At an emergency council meeting held last week in response to the hooky-day problems, Revere state Representative Kathi-Anne Reinstein said the State Police patrol budget for Revere Beach this fiscal year was cut from $2.7 million to $1.65 million under Governor Deval Patrick's midyear budget cuts. In his proposed budget for fiscal year 2010, which starts July 1, Patrick eliminated all funding to that account, but Reinstein said the House's proposed budget restored the $1.35 million. But she was quick to warn the council that with an anticipated $5 billion state budget deficit, funding for the beach's State Police patrols may either be further reduced or eliminated.

About 3,000 students playing hooky, mainly from Boston, descended upon Revere Beach by T and cars on a 93-degree day April 28. The sudden throng led State Police to ultimately shut down major area roads while dispersing the crowd. Six people were arrested, including an 18-year-old man charged with stabbing a self-proclaimed gang member with a chisel.

Without adequate beach patrol funding, Powers said he is concerned that the beach will revert to the unkempt state it was about a decade ago, when people "were reluctant to come down there because of the condition of the beach and the lack of policing."

"You might get an argument, 'It's a public beach, why should we have to pay?' " Powers said. "Today you have to pay for everything. If you want a clean, pristine, comfortable and safe beach, someone has to pay for that."

Powers points to Hampton Beach in New Hampshire, where metered parking has been in effect since 1962, as an example that Revere Beach should follow. On average, Hampton Beach meter revenue yields between the $950,000 and $1.1 million from May 1 to Oct. 1, said Amy Bassett, spokeswoman for the New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation. Last fiscal year, meter revenue reached a high of $1.4 million.

This season, a new electronic park and pay system has replaced 512 parking meter heads with 17 pay stations that accept quarters, dollars, and credit cards at a rate of $1.50 per hour at Hampton Beach, Bassett said. The cost of purchase, installation, and technical support for the new system was $280,000, said Bassett.

Revere City Clerk John Henry, who performed a beach-parking meter study for the city about seven years ago, said Revere faces obstacles, including a loss of projected meter revenue, due to elimination of about 200 parking spaces, which were replaced by a boardwalk as part of $11 million in state improvements to the beach.

Unlike a few years ago, Henry added, Revere no longer has the manpower or public works resources to undertake a meter installation project. However, he said that assessing a fee for parking at the beach makes sense.

"We're sensitive to the aesthetics of the beach, and there are conflicting interests that have to be responded to," Henry said. "DCR has to be comfortable with it. But when all is said and done, if all we're going to get is $30,000 to $60,000 a year, that's not going to put police on the beach. Maybe some flowers here or there."

Katheleen Conti can be reached at kconti@globe.com