Advertisement

After 7 years as Revere mayor, new DCR Commissioner Brian Arrigo is stepping out of his 'comfort zone'

A hazy Memorial Day afternoon on Revere Beach. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
A hazy Memorial Day afternoon on Revere Beach. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's Saturday morning newsletter, The Weekender. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here


Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer — and the weather will sure feel like it. The forecast predicts sustained high temperatures around 80 degrees Saturday through Monday. That’s perfect weather for some time outside — a picnic in the park, a trail hike (just bring water!) or even an early-season beach outing.

With the outdoors in mind, I recently spoke to the new person in charge of Massachusetts’ state parks, beaches and other natural recreation areas: Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Brian Arrigo. The former Revere mayor started the new role earlier this spring, and it’s a big pivot going from managing a city of 60,000 people to 450,000 acres of land — but he welcomes the challenge.

"Being able to create great spaces for people to enjoy is a tremendous challenge but also a really exciting opportunity," said Arrigo in an interview during his second week in office.

Gov. Maura Healey "talks a lot about competitiveness making sure the commonwealth remains at the top of [the] great places to live in the country,” Arrigo said. “I think the DCR has a lot to do with the health and quality of life of our residents. I’m looking forward to the work.”

I spoke with Arrigo about his favorite parks, goals for improving accessibility and how he and those who work for the DCR plan to steward our public lands. Here’s what he had to say.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Hanna Ali: What are some go-to park options for you and your family?

Brian Arrigo: "So I have to say, and I will always say this, but my favorite park is Revere Beach. As a kid growing up in Revere, I grew up going to the beach. It wasn't until I left for a short stint down in Washington, D.C. [that] kind of reset my perspective around how great Revere Beach is. The access to water, and having the ability — or, the availability — of public transportation, being in a city environment. Being on the beach is just really unique and really amazing. It's a great resource for recreational opportunities for my family. We've spent a lot of time on the beach, as you can imagine."

"The other staple in my family [is] on the other side of the commonwealth: Mount Greylock. Through COVID, we had the opportunity as a family to head out there kind of on a whim. We rented an RV and went away when everyone was kind of cooped up and took a little trip to see New England. One of our stops — and actually, the favorite stop that we had on that trip — was Greylock. So obviously, knowing that that's a DCR property is really exciting."

HA: What's one little-known fact about DCR parks that you feel more people should know?

BA: "I think one thing that gets lost for some folks — and I think it's one that kind of talks about the scale of what we own and what we operate — is that DCR owns over 450,000 acres in Massachusetts. We're the largest landowner in Berkshire County. There are a lot of different things that we do, from pools and skating rinks to beaches and forests and playgrounds and parks. Just kind of cementing the idea that we manage 450,000 acres is one little nugget of information [that] raises some eyebrows. I think that it's an important one for everyone to understand that we have a large footprint in the commonwealth."

HA: What does increased accessibility in DCR parks look like to you?

BA: "I've seen how DCR has done a great job of this. Revere Beach is a welcoming place that has been accessible to folks. We've attempted to be accessible to everyone, and that's something I worked really hard on as mayor to be a partner with DCR on. There are things that we can continue to do, something as simple as signage and having the ability to communicate with people in different languages is very important. Having folks that manage and operate our parks understand the perspective of our visitors — in my mind, customers in some ways — is really important. I think that that's an area for a lot of opportunity. I've already heard from many folks about how we can better reflect and better welcome people from everywhere."

"We have these amazing assets that are available and how we foster the next generation is going to be really important. That means being welcoming to young people, folks that are in the city, folks that are out west and [giving them] the opportunity to see all the great assets that are out there is going to be an important piece for me."

"I think that there are small things that could be done. Again, I lean on my experience as mayor."

"One of the beautiful things that I love about [Revere Beach] is that you not only have a beautiful view — one of the most beautiful views, I think, in the country — but when you walk down Revere Beach and you close your eyes, you will hear people from all over the world enjoying our beautiful state. For me, that has been just an incredible experience to be able to walk the beach and see families and hear folks talking [in] five, six, seven, eight different languages as you traverse the beach. People come from all over the world and enjoy themselves. And I think that that is a model for how we can provide access to other properties."

HA: Shifting a little bit to physical accessibility now, if you could snap your fingers, what would be one thing that you could do to improve resident access to parks when it comes to folks who are disabled or need more physical assistance to traverse these public lands? 

BA: "I hate to harp on Revere Beach, but I will a little bit here: We had accessibility mats placed at certain locations. That was a request that came from the community through me, at the time, as mayor, and then ultimately [it went] up to DCR. And DCR did provide some accessibility mats. Those are really basic, simple things that are not groundbreaking by any stretch of the imagination, but do actually provide access for folks who want to be able to get onto the beach. To the extent that we can do that in other communities, I know that's going to be something that we certainly want to look at.  Looking at sidewalks and pedestrian access [and] making sure they're all ADA accessible [since] that's not always the case."

HA: How does your new role change your ability to manage Revere Beach?

BA: "My comfort zone is Revere Beach. And I could probably spend all my time and focus and energy doing that. But that's not the best thing for the commonwealth, and I know that. I think it's important to be out and about everywhere else."

"When it was announced that I was going to be as I was going to be commissioner, I took the time to talk to the Berkshire Eagle because I know an awful lot about the Greater Boston region. And I don't know a lot about the rest of the commonwealth. And one of the things I do want to make sure I do is get out and see as much as I can, starting out west. [I'm] looking forward to seeing all of the assets that we own and manage."

HA: What's one piece of park etiquette you want to remind everyone about heading into the summer?

BA: One piece of advice that I got that I think applies to everything that you do — and it includes enjoying a park or a playground or a campsite — is 'Leave it better than you got it.' "

"[For] folks that are enjoying the spaces, if they see something on the ground, pick it up. If they have the ability to do it, to clean up the spaces that they're enjoying, we would appreciate that. We want everyone to enjoy clean, safe, fun spaces."

HA: Lastly, how can residents submit feedback or ideas to you?

BA: "The DCR website is a great place. One agenda item for me that I want to do is really just to streamline the way folks communicate with us. In Revere, we set up a 311 constituents hotline. I would love to be able to figure out how we do that here for DCR and really make sure folks know we want their input."

"Right now, through the website, there are ways for people to engage with us. There are a lot of very passionate people that enjoy the places DCR owns and manages. And there are a lot of people who are very passionate about the folks that work in the different spaces that DCR owns and manages. So we have passionate people on both sides of the equation, which is very exciting."

"We want to open up those lines of communication and make sure we're hearing what residents have to say. Creating spaces that are accessible to everybody starts with understanding the perspectives that people have. I know there's room for improvement and we're going to continue to work on that."

Related:

Headshot of Hanna Ali

Hanna Ali Associate Producer
Hanna Ali is an associate producer for newsletters at WBUR.

More…

Advertisement

More from WBUR

Listen Live
Close