Revere councilors debate satellite dish ordinance

REVERE – The Revere legislative subcommittee further examined the heated topic of satellite dishes Monday night.?I can?t tell you how unsightly they are. They are just so ugly,” Ward 3 Councilor Arthur Guinasso said.The council is currently in the beginning stages of crafting an ordinance surrounding satellite dishes.Guinasso suggested that when a tenant leaves a residence with a satellite dish that they are obligated to inform the satellite dish company to remove the dish.?If a tenant doesn?t live there anymore, the dish shouldn?t be there either,” Guinasso said.Ward 2 Councilor Ira Novoselsky also suggested that satellite dishes should not be allowed on awnings of houses over a sidewalk.?That is a danger with people walking under them. What if they fall on someone?” Novoselsky said. “Then, the city would be liable because we didn?t tell them to move it.”The council would also like to restrict how many individual satellite dishes can go on one particular house or building and regulate them to only be allowed on the side or back of the house.?We are not trying to be restrictive but just control them,” Novoselsky said. “We want to make the city aesthetically livable.”Several councilors noted that there are many houses in the city with multiple dishes.?Everyday when I drive to my house on Martin Street, I pass by a house on Boston Street with four of them,” Guinasso said.Novoselsky mentioned there is a three-family home with eight dishes in his neighborhood.?They are a bigger problem than double poles,” Councilor at Large Anthony Zambuto added.The subcommittee said they will work with the rest of the council, the city clerk and city solicitor to draft a complete ordinance moving forward.?It?s going to take a lot of review,” Guinasso said.Sara Brown can be reached at [email protected].