“Revere on the Move” and Millions of Muscles are partnering with fitness organizations across Revere to bring you the first-ever citywide fitness challenge! Starting Memorial Day, this free 6 week challenge is designed to get people up and moving, have fun, and showcase all the different ways to get fit in Revere. Running Monday, May 28th through Sunday, July 8th, there will be activities nearly every day for all ability levels and a variety of interests.

“Whether you’re into zumba or bootcamp, strength training or cardio, dancing or taking a walk on the Beach, the Urban Trail or at the Stadium, there will be something for everyone,” said Mayor Daniel Rizzo.

Challenge participants will be competing against each other by earning points for participating in official Challenge events and decreases in their body weight and body fat, with winners in each age range. Event organizers will be tracking individual participation. All the activities will be open to residents of all ages, and fitness levels, with some activities especially designed for seniors. Participants under 18 will only earn points for participation and must be accompanied by a parent at Challenge events.

“This challenge isn’t about having one winner. It’s about seeing as much success in as many people as possible and creating a support network for making positive, healthy choices. We hope the success of this competition will create momentum towards a healthier Revere,” commented Jodi Reath, founder of Millions of Muscles.

Activities will run nearly every day of the week during the 6 week period. The calendar of events will be available online at: https://www.facebook.com/citychallenge2012 and posted at the Revere Recreation Center at 150 Beach Street.

Residents can pre-register for the Challenge by sending an email citychallenge2012@gmail.com or calling 339-226-1283. In-person registrations and weigh-ins will be held at the Revere Recreation Center at 150 Beach Street on May 24th and 25th from 4:00pm-6:00pm and 8:00pm-9:00pm. A final day of registration will be held on Saturday, May 27th from 9:00am-11:00am.

This event wouldn’t be possible without Millions of Muscles Fitness, the Revere Karate Academy, Dance Revolution, Strength Discovery, Video Promotion and Fitness Services, Revere Recreation, The Studio Dance Complex and Revere on the Move, who are each offering free activities to Revere residents of all ages and putting time, energy and resources into planning the Challenge.

“I am truly excited to see so many organizations in Revere volunteering their time and expertise to help pull together the fitness challenge. It is my hope that this will become an annual event and grow in the years to come,” commented Mayor Rizzo.

If you have any questions about the challenge itself or would like to pre-register for specific events please email citychallenge2012@gmail.com. You can also find more information and updates on Facebook by following “Revere’s FREE City Wide Fitness Challenge.”

“Revere on the Move” is a Mass in Motion Initiative, funded in part by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Partners Healthcare. Led by the City of Revere and Revere CARES, with the support of community organizations across the City, Revere on the Move strives to make Revere a healthier community.

A resounding anti-casino message at the ballot box convinced moguls Steve Wynn and Robert Kraft to abandon their plans for a $1 billion resort across Route 1 from Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place.

That immediately made Suffolk Downs, an East Boston horse track, the presumptive favorite to land the lucrative Greater Boston casino license, one of three authorized by the state’s new Expanded Gaming Act.

“Suffolk Downs is the immediate beneficiary of the Kraft/Wynn withdrawal from Foxboro,” said Clyde W. Barrow, director of the UMass Dartmouth Center for Policy, which has been studying the New England gaming landscape for more than 15 years.

“It certainly appears that Suffolk Downs is the favorite,” said Richard McGowan, a Boston College economist who studies gaming, “but it too will have to satisfy certain conditions from the city of Boston and Revere as well as concerns from a neighboring town such as Winthrop. So they have an easier time but they had better make a very good case for their proposal.”

With the backing of industry giant Caesars Entertainment and the strong support of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, Suffolk Downs is proposing a $1 billion resort casino.

Suffolk officials did no gloating in the wake of the Foxboro decision.

“Our approach to this project — that we are going to have to earn a license based on the merits of our development proposal to create a world-class destination in a world-class city — is unchanged,” Chief Operating Officer Chip Tuttle said in a statement. “Our focus remains working with our neighbors in East Boston and Revere to ensure our proposed development delivers jobs, road improvements, tourism growth and other economic benefits.”

While Suffolk’s road to gaining the license got easier with Wynn’s withdrawal, it’s certainly not without potholes. The only other announced plan for the region has been put forward by developer David Nunes, who is proposing an $850 million casino off Route 495 in Milford, and he has no intention of going away.

“I absolutely will give (Suffolk) a challenge — unequivocally,” he told the Boston Herald.

And there could be more contenders, as well. “There are still a couple of wild cards out there with regard to the eastern region,” said Roger Gros, publisher of Global Gaming Business Magazine. “Massachusetts native and Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson is waiting in the weeds and could announce something before the deadline. Also, MGM’s withdrawal from the town where they wanted to place a casino in the western region could indicate that they are also looking once again at the eastern region. After all, this will be the state’s most lucrative casino.”

McGowan agreed that Adelson, previously linked to a casino proposal in Marlboro, could be a player for the Greater Boston license.

“If there is a major casino operator that could give Suffolk Downs competition for the Boston license it would be the Sands Corp.,” McGowan said. “Sheldon Adelson is a Dorchester native so he knows the area well, but he so far has not shown his hand.”

Spokesmen for Wynn did not respond when asked if he would consider another location in Massachusetts, but Gros said he doubted it.

“Based on his previous history in bidding for licenses or buying properties, I don’t believe Wynn will spend any more time on Massachusetts,” Gros said. “He’s got a lot more on his plate right now, including a new casino in Macau and an ongoing battle with (a) former board member.

“Wynn only goes for the best situation in any jurisdiction and he believed he had that in Foxboro. Like the other casino operators, he knows finding a site in the eastern region of Massachusetts was going to be difficult.”

Wynn’s withdrawal from Foxboro also could make it more likely that a harness racing track in Plainville or a former dog track in Raynham will land the state’s only license for a slot parlor, but probably won’t have much impact on native American bids for tribal casinos in Freetown, Lakeville and Taunton.

“It makes it more likely that the slot parlor will be located at one of the tracks in southeastern Massachusetts,” located only five and 20 miles, respectively, from Gillette Stadium, Barrow said.

On the other hand, “I don’t think it impacts (the proposed tribal sites), except to make (them) more lucrative to potential investors.” Barrow said.

Full Story: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120510/NEWS/205100318

Do you have an opinion on how to make Revere a healthier community? Then we encourage you to attend a community health forum where YOU will help us to determine the health issues we should address in our community.

A light dinner will be served, and babysitting will be provided.

Community Health Forum
Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 5:30 pm
Rumney Marsh Academy
140 American Legion Hwy, Revere MA

There is no underestimating the lasting significance and effect this brilliant piece of architecture will have when it is completed.

In the long history of Revere Beach, and throughout its various incarnations over the decades, Revere Beach has never been connected with transit and a pedestrian stroll over Ocean Street and then on to the beach sidewalk facing the ocean on the Revere Beach Parkway.

The brilliant new structure is taking shape and form. Soon, we will all get a taste of how transformational this walkway to the beach from Wonderland will be.

No effort however grand in the past has caused the beach to be updated and to bring together the various societal forces that cause so many to come to it on a summer day or during the fall for a walk at low tide or in the winter when the beach is covered with snow and visitors walk on ice.

Revere Beach is a summer, winter, spring and fall destination. It is eternally beautiful and changing all the time. However nothing to this date in time offers the potential to change the face of the beach as this walkway from Wonderland, the plaza, and the look alike Charlestown Zakim Bridge are set to do.

It will be inarguably the most distinctive piece of modern architecture in this city and might stand as such for the entire North Shore when you come right down to it.

The design is so impressive and its placement so perfect, that everything to follow will come up all around it in one way or another and will also be measured by it.

Its primary use will be to centerpiece the marriage of rapid transport and people.

It is destined to be a talk piece for generations coming up and its presence will change the persona of the beach for as long as it stands and people walk over it to the beach.

There is a tendency in this city to underestimate the value of structures and to limit design possibilities.

This is not so at Wonderland and especially not so with this coming plaza and walkway to the beach.

He may not know it now, but when the dedication takes place many months from now, Mayor Dan Rizzo will preside over the most important dedication in this city’s long history.

This new plaza and walkway will be prestigious.

Revere Beach will stand out as never before by all who visit.

And this new reality about the beach will be something to behold if you are from this city.

Full Story: http://www.reverejournal.com/2012/04/11/extraordinary-history-in-the-making-at-the-beach/

“Think big ideas. Now is the time to do so,” she said.

All the big ideas were for the public meeting surrounding Shirley Avenue. The City of Revere, Revere Neighborhood Developers and the CDRC are planning to re-design the entry way into the Shirley Avenue neighborhood from the Revere Beach MBTA station.

Currently, there is no direct path from the T station to the busy neighborhood. There is a chain link fence in between the two and to get to Shirley Avenue from the T stop, one must walk around the entire station.

“What kind of message do you think this presents to people?” Schneider asked the crowd at the Hyman Towers.

“Keep out,” many yelled back.

There is talk to also have a sign outside the station telling visitors what Shirley Avenue has to offer.

“We want people to know that this is a full, bustling business community,” City Planner Frank Stringi said. “We want to bring back some vitality.”

Stringi suggested that the sign show the different stores and restaurants Shirley Avenue contains.

While Shirley Avenue has had a troubled past dealing with crime in the area, many believe the neighborhood is headed in a positive direction.

“We have had our ups and downs like any community,” Ward 2 Councilor Ira Novoselsky said. “Right now, we are in an up and we want to stay up.”

Stringi said that the project is in the very formative stages and that they have to work with the MBTA to move forward.

“It’s a very long process. You have to get a license and everything. However, we are willing to do the work,” he said.

Residents were suggested to draw out what they would like happen to the entryway. They also had to answer three questions on sticky notes and put them on a giant map of the neighborhood hanging on the wall. The questions were what do you like about Shirley Avenue, what is unique about it and what do you want visitors to see or do in the neighborhood?

Some answered with “I love the beach” and “I love the diversity. People are so nice here.” Some suggestions were “I would like to see bike and water rentals,” and “The streets need to be cleaned up.”

- By Sara Brown / The Daily Item REVERE

Surveyors and earthmovers from Suffolk Construction stationed themselves in front of the station this week to begin working on the area that – for decades – has been a parking lot with one of the best views in America.

The crews will begin quick work to construct the plaza deck feature of the Waterfront Square development, along with the centerpiece of the entire project – a pedestrian bridge modeled after the Zakim Bridge in Boston.

That project will proceed at breakneck speed this summer and should finish up by October.

Just coming off of a public meeting last week at the Paul Revere School, designated developer Joe DiGangi, of EuroVest, told the Journal he has started serious talks with hotel chains and is leaving his options open on that part of the development in order to see what will happen at the potential casino site in Suffolk Downs.

The hotel must commence in January 2013 according to the contract and DiGangi said they are trying to find out how they will develop the hotel, and just how many rooms it will contain.

The building will be 45,000 sq. ft. and DiGangi said they might do one of three things.

First, they could develop the property themselves with the agreement of a major hotel chain, called a “flag” in development circles, to manage the full-service hotel. Secondly, he said they might assign the hotel development rights to a separate developer who will bring in the flag and build the building. The third option is for EuroVest to partner with another developer to get the project done.

The monkey wrench in the hotel project – which is expected to abut the plaza deck – is what will happen with the potential casino at Suffolk Downs. That possible project will also have a hotel, and DiGangi said it is difficult right now to figure out just how many hotel rooms to build.

In general, he said they are moving forward on the hotel with as much flexibility as possible.

He said they might build 100 hotel rooms and make the other 200 units apartments, with the possibility of converting them to hotel rooms in the future. He also said they might build just 100 rooms right now, leaving the top two floors unfinished but ready to build out if necessary.

DiGangi said that while he expects the development to stand on its own, he also expects the Waterfront Square hotel to be the primary off-site hotel for the potential casino, especially being that it would be the closest waterfront hotel to the proposed gaming facility.

He indicated that it would be foolish not to keep his options open at this point with so many things up in the air.

DiGangi said he is also working hard towards getting underway on a 194-unit rental apartment building closer to Revere Street on what is known as the North Lot.

He said that he is not compelled by his agreement to start work on that component of the project just yet, but he is anxious to get something happening there. He added that the rental market is hotter than ever in Boston, especially for luxury apartments in prime locations.

All in all, DiGangi said things are beginning to move forward and there will be endless action and construction from here on out.

- http://www.reverejournal.com/2012/04/04/construction-on-beach-beginning/

No person can win more than one pair of JetBlue Airline tickets.

On Saturday March 3, the Polar Plunge www.polarplungema.org to support Special Olympics Massachusetts will celebrate 14 years as a major fundraising initiative for the organization, raising over those 14 years, well over $2 million. Those funds go directly to support the programs and health initiatives of Special Olympics Mass across the state.

Two locations this year will host Plungers including Nantasket Beach in Hull and Revere Beach. Those who are interested in Plunging, putting a team together or getting corporate involvement going should contact the Polar Plunge team at www.polarplungema.org or call 508-485-0986 Ext 212.

The Polar Plunge made its debut in 1999 as a fundraiser for Special Olympics Massachusetts and has raised over $2 million for athletes, since that time. Many Plungers don colorful costumes, which add to the merriment and memories of the day. Those too Chicken to Plunge may watch the event from the Chicken Coop dedicated to fundraisers looking to stay dry. Chickens are eligible for fundraising incentives and prizes as well.

All prints are available by clicking here.