REVERE — Despite topping the ticket in the City Council race this week, former Mayor Daniel Rizzo won’t say whether he will seek a rematch with Mayor Brian Arrigo in 2019.
“You can’t do much better than first place,” Rizzo said. “But I will take the next few years to see where the city goes and if the public likes where it’s going.”
Rizzo, who lost his bid for a second term to Arrigo in 2015 by 108 votes, was the city’s top vote getter in Tuesday’s race for city councilor-at-large.
On a possible run for mayor in two years, Rizzo said he didn’t have the mayor’s race in mind when he sought the council seat.
“My goal now is to get back into the mix and help people, the City Council and even the mayor to improve the city,” he said.
The former mayor said he no longer loses sleep over the closeness of the race.
“The first six months after the election was tough,” he said. “But I’ve moved on.”
When asked to grade Arrigo’s first two years, Rizzo said the freshman mayor has tried to discredit everything his administration did in four years.
“All I see so far is a continuation of what we started,” Rizzo said. “The mayor brags about how the city has four new hotels on the way, but forgets to mention that we had two economic summits during my administration and changed the zoning to accommodate this kind of development.”
Rizzo said he is proud of the work done in his freshman term.
“Brian is a nice enough guy, but I think we ran the city much better,” he said. “But the voters spoke two years ago and he has another two years whether I like it or not.”
Ward 5 Councilor John F. Powers, who recently won re-election and is an Arrigo supporter, said it’s the worst-kept secret that Rizzo wants his old seat back.
“That seems to be the consensus throughout the city,” he said. “But I like what I see happening in the city under Mayor Arrigo’s leadership.”
Arrigo said he’s proud of his record and expects to build on it over the next two years.
“If there is a race in two years, I’m certainly not afraid of a fight,” he said. “I’m confident of where the city is headed and what we’re doing.”
