Revere residents support the idea of a homeless center but are against its proposed site

More than 50 Revere residents on Friday continued to protest the proposed site of a “restorative, educational housing” facility in a residential neighborhood, where 24 beds and vocational training would be provided to the homeless.

Residents say they support helping the homeless overcome their challenges, but they are demanding the facility be placed elsewhere, away from children and senior citizens.

The proposed center is slated to be located on the dead-end Arcadia Street in the Oak Island neighborhood, near Revere Beach.

“Facilities of this nature need to be built,” Arcadia Street resident Ned Almeida told the Herald. “The stigma around mental health and drug addiction needs to be eliminated. However, our neighborhood, Arcadia Street is not well suited to help these individuals. They need a lot more than a roof over their head and a facility that teaches them life skills.”

A three-family dilapidated, vacant home would be transformed into the two-story, 5,000-square-foot facility on a lot less than a third of an acre, attorney Gerry D’Ambrosio told the Herald in an interview earlier this week.

D’Ambrosio is representing the developers, Rob and John Nakashian, behind the request. The Nakashians own European Auto Collision Works, an auto body shop on North Shore Road which played site to Friday’s protest.

D’Ambrosio and the Nakashians declined to comment Friday.

There are a number of “homeless colonies” across Revere, D’Ambrosio said Wednesday. One of those colonies — between five to 10 homeless people — is along railroad tracks that abut the property where the facility would go, he said.

“This argument about ‘Not in my backyard’ is kind of bizarre because (the homeless) are already in everybody’s backyard,” D’Ambrosio said. “They are there. People are just sticking their heads in the sand and not seeing them.”

Oak Island resident Stephen Fiore helped organize the protest on just a few days’ notice following a site review plan Tuesday, knocking on neighbors’ doors and dropping off fliers.

Residents young and old came out Friday, with an overarching message that the neighborhood wants children to be safe.

“If they are in our backyard, none of us see them, and I am not questioning that they are not in our community. Let’s take care of our homeless,” Fiore said. “Let’s do it with community engagement, let’s do it with a responsible process, and don’t put it in the middle of a residential neighborhood.”

The project, D’Ambrosio said, is protected under the Dover Amendment, a state statute that exempts agricultural, religious, and educational uses from certain zoning restrictions. That means the City Council nor the Zoning Board of Appeals has jurisdiction. The city’s Conservation Commission will have to review it, however.

Psychiatric assistance and drug counseling would be provided on an as needed basis, and D’Ambrosio said there’d be security around the clock, with Boston-based Bay Cove Human Services staffing the center.

Arcadia Street resident Angel Long said the city needs to focus on other issues on her street which is prone to massive flooding and litter.

“What’s the alternative?” D’Ambrosio said. “Do we allow a Melnea Cass Boulevard to exist in the city of Revere? Do we want a growing number of homeless people on our streets and for us not to deal with it?”