By Seth Daniel The Chelsea City Council voted 10-0 to approve the City Budget for fiscal year 2018 during its meeting on Monday night, approving an increase in the budget to $163.39 million. The Council also approved a Water Enterprise Fund of $7.7 million and a Sewer Enterprise Fund of $11.74 million – all...
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Councillor Suggests Exempting Some Property Taxes for Elderly
By Seth Daniel City Councillor Giovanni Recupero returned to the floor after being sick for some time, and entered the Chambers with a bang, proposing an order that those over 70 and owning a single-family home would get 100 percent reduction on taxes. The matter was rebuffed substantially with a 1-9 vote, with Recupero...
Chelsea High Graduation Exercises Set for This Sunday
The Chelsea High School will hold its annual Graduation exercises on Sunday, June 11, at 1 p.m. at the high school. Principal Priti Johari, Supt. Mary Bourque, and members of the School Committee will bestow diplomas to the graduates. Speeches will be made by Johari, Valedictorian Ashley Salazar and Salutatorian Tracey Flores.
Council Plans Hearing on Broadway Store
By Seth Daniel In an effort to ramp up the downtown overhaul, City Manager Tom Ambrosino submitted a request to the City Council to hold a hearing and move forward with an eminent domain taking of the Salvation Army Store at 440 Broadway. Ambrosino told the Record a few weeks ago that he planned...
Sparks Fly at Chelsea Council Meeting
By Seth Daniel Councillor Roy Avellaneda made a stunning oration Monday night at the Council meeting regarding the accusations of ethics breaches that have been volleyed his way over the last few months – singling out a councillor, though not by name, and then calling for the councillor to be censured. After the meeting,...
Police Briefs 06-08-2017
‘BLAST’ THREAT GETS CHARGES On June 3, at 7:02 p.m., a subject was placed into custody after he made threats over the phone to ‘blast’ and shoot employees at the T-Mobile store located at 158 Everett Ave. He was located at his residence on Grove Street and apprehended. Jorge Castro, 37, of 84 Grove...
Why I’m Fighting on Beacon Hill for Our Schools
By Senator Sal DiDomenico Residents of Gateway Cities throughout the Commonwealth have probably heard quite a bit about how their schools are facing dire budget gaps due to a change in the way the state counts low-income students. This has been an ongoing issue for over two years now, and I have received many...
Gov Baker Stands Tall — Again
The swift and unequivocal announcement last Friday by Gov. Charlie Baker that Massachusetts will join in an initiative with other states to encourage alternative forms of energy in order to reduce carbon emissions is yet another example of the sort of straightforward decision-making that has become a hallmark of the Baker administration. Gov. Baker’s...
Obituaries 06-08-2017
Norma Consuelo Canelas She was determined to make the world a better place, spread love and make people happy On Sunday May 28, Norma C. Canelas of Chelsea was tragically taken while on a trip in Honduras visiting family. Our hearts are deeply saddened, as she touched so many people’s hearts. Norma was intelligent, mature,...
Memorial Day in Chelsea
Gold Star Mother Diana Ramirez is surrounded at City Hall by Girl Scouts from the various Chelsea troops. Ramirez lost her son, Nelson Rodriguez, while he was fighting in Afghanistan in June 2008, and was the Grand Marshal of this year’s Girl Scout Parade.
Three-Alarmer Caused by Extension Cords, Air Conditioner
At 4:38 p.m. on May 19, Chelsea Fire received a call for a house fire at 127 Shurtleff St. Upon arrival, heavy fire was showing from the 3rd floor with exposure buildings in close proximity on each side. Deputy Chief Robert Houghton transmitted the working fire and struck the second alarm. Fire quickly spread...
Result the Same:Starts and Stops in Parking Fight Results in Second Vote to Deny Cary Square Two-hour Plan
By Seth Daniel After having voted down a two-hour parking proposal for Cary Square on the May 22 City Council meeting – yet not having enough votes to deny it according to the City Charter – the Council re-assembled on Tuesday night, May 30, to give it one more try. And the result was...
City May Try to Take Salvation Army Store by Eminent Domain
By Seth Daniel The Salvation Army Store on Broadway closed earlier this month, and the City said this week that it is seriously considering taking the property by eminent domain due to it being a blight on the city and for public policy purposes. City Manager Tom Ambrosino said the store has been sold,...
Chelsea Public Library Wins NASA@ My Library Grant
The Chelsea Public Library announced Tuesday that it has been awarded a grant from NASA and the American Library Association called NASA@ My Library. Chelsea Public Library is one of 75 libraries that have been chosen from a total of 513 applicants to receive the NASA@ My Library grant, and is the only library...
Fire Chief, City Manager Differ on Union’s Account of Ballistic Helmets
By Seth Daniel City Manager Tom Ambrosino and Chief Leonard Albanese hotly disputed claims made by the Chelsea Firefighters Union last week that the City was unwilling to fund kevlar helmets to protect them in an active shooter situation, indicating that the Union would not have even had the ballistic vests that came in...
Gold Star Mother Says People Remembering Her Son Helps the Hurt
By Seth Daniel Gold Star Mother Diana Ramirez said nothing can take away the pain of losing her son in 2008 to the war in Afghanistan, but gatherings such as the one on Memorial Day at City Hall Monday help ease the pain of loss. Ramirez was the keynote speaker at Monday’s exercises, and...
Police Briefs 06-01-2017
Monday, 5/22 Audra Toop, 47, Chelsea, was arrested on a warrant. Jessica Taormina, 29, 20 Exchange St., Gloucester, was arrested on a probation warrant. Tuesday, 5/23 Brian Mercado, 23, 84 Atwood St., Revere, was arrested for possessing Class A drugs, conspiracy to violate drug law. Alisha Cohen, 37, 36 Winthrop Rd., Chelsea, was arrested...
Time for Elected Officials to Stand Up for Veterans, Memorial Day
Another touching Memorial Day Parade and Exercise went off on Monday despite the cold and rain. The band was there. The veterans were there: some of them old men and some of them young women. A Gold Star Mother who lost her son in 2008 spoke to the crowd, and said gatherings like these...
The Boston Harbor Clean-Up:An Environmental — and Economic — Success Story
A recent report issued by the public interest group Save the Harbor/Save the Bay informs us that the beaches surrounding the Metropolitan Boston area were open for bathing 96 percent of the time during the summer of 2016 and that, barring unforeseen circumstances, the outlook should be the same for 2017. This is quite...
Sports 06-01-2017
CHS Roundup CHS baseball team wraps up 2017 season The Chelsea High baseball team concluded its 2017 season this past week. In the season finale Thursday, an 8-0 loss at league champion Whittier (which lost only one game this season), Luis Jimenez pitched well for Chelsea, tossing a complete game and yielding only four earned runs...
Obituaries 06-01-2017
Barbara Castro Left Cuba for freedom and a better way of life Barbara Castro of Chelsea died at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston following a brief illness on May 24. Born and raised in Regla, Cuba, she grew up in Cuba as a member of a large blended family of the late Jose-Maria Fernandez and...
Senior Prom
Ariel Urena and Mirialie De Jesus dance together at the Chelsea High School Senior Prom at the Hilton Hotel at Logan Airport on Saturday, May 20. Hundreds of students gathered for the annual celebration as the school year begins to wind down.Chelsea High’s graduation exercises will take place in a few short weeks, on...
Standoff:Police,Fire Face Violent Domestic Incident; Ends in One Death, Traumatized Neighborhood
By Seth Daniel It’s no secret that, at times, the quiet of a Chelsea night can be punctuated by the sound of gunfire. But not on Warren Avenue, usually. The calm of the hillside neighborhood below the Soldiers’ Home broke out into chaos just before 10 p.m. on Monday night, when a misty night...
Robert Wood Johnson Team Leaves Chelsea Impressed
By Seth Daniel Local organizers said the City, its non-profits and its residents left a positive mark on a team of evaluators visiting the city from the Robert Wood Johnson Culture of Health prize last week. “I thought it was exciting,” said Roseann Bongiovanni of GreenRoots, one of the planners. “We had planned so...
