Suspect being held, further charges pending

By Joseph Domelowicz Jr.

23-year old Douglas Bitopolous of 98 Bellevue Avenue is behind bars this week, after being arrested and charged with kidnapping, statutory rape of a child, aggravated rape and indecent assault and battery on a child over 14 years of age, after a Saturday night attack on a young acquaintance.
Bitopolous, who was out on bail while awaiting drug charges in Somerville at the time of the attack, has been held for 60 days on the previous drug charges and on a probation detention and is then expected to be held on bail for the rape.
“On Saturday evening (May 5) at about 3:30 p.m., Mr. Bitopolous, we believe, went to a Revere home, engaged in conversation with a 15-year old female, a known acquaintance. He invited her to sit in his car to talk, put the car into drive and at a high rate of speed proceeded to his home Winthrop, refusing to stop for traffic control devices or to let her out, despite her pleas for help,” said Winthrop Detective Lieutenant Brian Perrin, who along with Officer Giulio Bonavita conducted the investigation. “As a result of a phone call that was made by the victim, prior to the alleged attack, Bitopolous was arrested and charged with rape, kidnapping and indecent assault. A search warrant was sought and obtained and evidence was recovered from the scene.”
According to Perrin, once Bitopolous arrived at his home in Winthrop, he told the girl she had the choice of walking into his home or being carried. Once inside the home, Bitopolous allegedly attacked the girl.
Lieutenant Perrin said that the investigation was conducted in concert with detective John Cafarelli of the Revere Police Department, as the girl was abducted from her revere home.
“As a result of that cooperation with Revere police other charges, including witness intimidation and threats are also being considered in this case and could be filed shortly,” said Lt. Perrin.

Council President Reilly announces Seaport Advisory Council approval

By Joseph Domelowicz Jr.

The last piece of a multi-million dollar pier and terminal project at Winthrop’s public landing slipped nicely into place Tuesday afternoon, when the Seaport Advisory Council voted to approve a $1.7 million grant application to the town of Winthrop, with the funds going directly to pay for the construction of a new harborside terminal building, adjacent to the multi-use pier that is currently under construction on the landing.
“There is still some legislative approval that is needed, with regard to bonding authority,” said Council President Thomas Reilly, who made a presentation to the SAC prior to the vote. “But, the project itself does not need to be approved anymore. Once the legislature votes to allow the Seaport Advisory Council to go out to bond for its approved projects, our grant will be completed.
Reilly was quick to the praise the efforts of Winthrop staffers and former elected officials who have worked on the pier and terminal project for nearly a decade, as well as the efforts of State Rep. Robert DeLeo, former Senate President Robert Travaglini and Congressman Ed Markey, who between them helped to get the funding for the pier itself into place over the last two years.
“Certainly, there are a lot of people who deserve credit for all of the work they put in on this project over the years,” said Reilly. “I’m kind of here at the last leg of it, but certainly the previous boards of selectmen were all very instrumental in moving this forward and the hard work of people like Barbara McNeil (in the grants and procurement office) and (former executive Secretary) Ginna Wilder this wouldn’t have happened without them.”

By Joseph Domelowicz Jr.

So here we are one year later and the council is still tying itself up in knots over who they want to be (and who they don’t want to be) on the Planning Board.
Officially, Tuesday night’s vote to table appointments of Richard Dimes and Allan Maruzzi came down to two issues. The first is that neither man was in attendance and the second is that neither had been before the Council’s Appointments Committee –itself a manifestation of Councilors’ dissatisfaction with the way appointments are made.
But let’s forget about the Appointments Committee for just a minute.
The fact is that the reason for the testy 5-4 vote to table is that some councilors simply don’t want to vote for Richard Dimes to be on the Planning Board.
Several have said, off the record, that it is simply time for a change. Others have said, also off the record, that they don’t agree with his stances on recent development issues, such as the Atlantis Marina project, Crystal Cove, and Winthrop Hospital.
Sure, all the councilors are trying to show deference to Dimes, who has served the town in various capacities for more than 40 years, but at the same time it is that long record of service, that has caused at least some of the councilors to come to the conclusion that the town would best be served by having someone else on the board.
The problem, for them, is that they can’t do anything about it. The town charter, as adopted by voters, puts all the power for making appointments in the hands of the Council President – Thomas Reilly.
And Reilly is sticking by his long time friend Dimes.
There are arguments to be made on both sides of this issue and we’re not going to sit here and tell anyone that one side is right and the other is wrong.
Like it or not, there is a change element on the Town Council and there is also an element that is more moderated and less willing to change, especially if they see the change as being for changes’ sake.
However, we do believe that while the letter of the Charter gives the power for appointments to the Council President, we also see it as a usurpation of the Council’s power to concur, every time Reilly attempts to appoint a man he knows does not have the support of the full council.
In fact, the only reason that Dimes is on the Planning Board now, is because Charter allows the sitting member of a committee to continue until a replacement is chosen. And, we suspect that if Reilly is unsuccessful in winning confirmation for Dimes on May 15, he will again choose not to make another appointment to the board.
It also puts the council in the position of having to publicly reject a candidate they are not comfortable with and that, we do not believe is in the spirit of the charter. If the charter did not intend for the Council to have a voice in making appointments to the Planning Board, it would not have required a vote of the Council to make the appointment official.
Furthermore, Reilly’s appointment of Dimes has the net result of embarrassing a man who does not deserve it.
It is our hope that some workable solution to this impasse is found, before Dimes’ appointment comes before the full council again. One that meets both the letter and the spirit of the charter.

By Joseph Domelowicz Jr.

The Winthrop Town Council voted 7-2 on Tuesday night to work with New Hampshire-based developer Equivise on a plan to demolish the old Dalrymple School and construct a new 30-plus unit condominium development on the property, which could potentially brings hundreds of thousands of extra tax dollars to the town.
The 7-2 vote officially designated Equivise as the “preferred developer” of the property and could clear the way for sale and development of the property, if the company can reach agreement, through the special permit granting process, on what a new building there should look like and how it can best fit in with the neighborhood.
Despite, the fairly wide margin in the voting, it was clear right away, that the decision was not an easy one for any of the councilors.
Precinct Four Councilor Jeanne Maggio, whose precinct borders the Dalrymple School and Precinct Six Councilor Linda calla, were the only two councilors who voted against designating Equivise, essentially telling their colleagues that they favored the a competing bid by the East Boston Community Development Company (EBCDC), that had proposed maintaining the existing Dalrymple building and renovating the building into 27- apartment units for low and moderate income seniors.
Maggio, who delivered an impassioned plea to her colleagues to choose the EBCDC bid, pointed to other high-end condominium projects that are expected to come on line or be developed in Winthrop over the next few years, including the Atlantis Marina project and potential projects at the Crystal Cove Marina and the Winthrop Hospital, as sufficient to meet the high-end condo needs of the community. At the same time she outlined the need for expanded elderly housing in the community, pointing to a six-month wait list for apartments in Winthrop Housing.
Similarly, Calla pointed to the need for the council to “take care of all of our residents,” in planning for the future, when she voted.
However, the majority of the council pointed to the financial realties of selling the Dalrymple and the current fiscal constraints facing the town.
“In my head, I wish I could go with the EBCDC proposal,” said Precinct 3 Councilor Nick DelVento. “But we have to remember back to when we asked the community to approve overrides to pay for two new schools and part of that deal was that the town would put that property out to be developed.”
Citing both the opportunity for additional tax revenue to be earned with the development of condos and the higher sale price offered in the Equivise proposal, At-large Councilor Joseph Ferrino added, “I know that money is not always the most important issue, but at this point it is an issue.”
Following the meeting, Councilor Calla said that her vote was influenced by her constituents ion Precinct 6.
“As the elected Councilor from Precinct 6, I have listened to the residents in my precinct and have voiced their sincere desire to see the Dalrymple School preserved and remain (intact),” said Calla. “The vote I cast tonight for the EBCDC was on their behalf.”

By Joseph Domelowicz Jr.

According to several sources Town Council President Thomas Reilly on Tuesday night, is planning to nominate Planning Board Chairman Richard Dimes to the Planning Board for the second year in a row, potentially setting up a showdown over Reilly’s power to nominate committee members and the council’s discretion to approve the nominations.

Last year, Reilly nominated Dimes and Planning Board member Peter Roache to fill two seats on the board, whose terms were expiring. The Council voted to approve the nomination of Roache, but voted 6-3 against Dimes, with some councilors suggesting it was time for change on the board. Roache was a new member to the Planning Board, having only taken office to fill the end of an expiring terms some months before.

However, since the new town charter allowed for previously elected officials to continue in their capacities until replaced, Reilly refused to nominate another candidate for Dimes’ seat on the board — despite the fact that another candidate had applied to fill the seat — and Dimes has remained on the Planning Board since.

Publicly, there has been no word on whether or not any councilors have changed their minds about allowing Dimes to serve going forward. And several councilors have said that Reilly has not polled the council to find out if there is support for Dimes this time either.

By Joseph Domelowicz Jr.

The Winthrop Town Council last week approved a re-written set of parking regulations for the town, including the residential parking restrictions for overnight parking, which essentially legitimizes the parking regulations the town has been operating under for the past three years.

Additionally, the council voted to allow the outsourcing of parking enforcement to Municipal Management Associates, Inc. of Marlborough, which provides similar parking enforcement services in the city of Chelsea.

“Our goal was to address people’s perception of inequity and a lack of consistency in the parking enforcement system,” said Town Manager Rick White. “At the same time, we were mindful of the fact that we were competing for really important police man hours.”

White explained that by hiring an outside parking enforcement service, the town expects to be able to enforce the existing parking regulations, without adding any cost for the town, as the contractor will be paid out of parking receipts.

Additionally, he said that more consistent enforcement of the parking regulations would also provide more predictability for residents and likely greater compliance with the laws.

As an added benefit, the police department would be largely relieved of the responsibility of writing parking tickets, thus giving patrol officers more time to focus on other police duties.

The new parking regulations were drafted by the town’s Traffic Safety  Advisory Committee and submitted to the Council’s Subcommittee on Rules and Ordinances, before being put to the council for a vote.