DCR adding meters to 1,700 parking spaces throughout Mass.

REVERE, Mass. — Drivers headed to Revere Beach next month will have to shell out some cash for something that’s always been free.

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation is adding 100 parking meters along a three-mile stretch of Revere Beach Boulevard. Starting May 1, beachgoers will have to pay $1.25 an hour to park along the state-run beach.

DCR will soon enforce 1,789 metered spots throughout Boston, Cambridge, Revere, and Watertown. The bulk of the metered spaces—1,075—will be along Revere Beach Blvd.

• The Fenway (Boston): 136 spaces, 14 meters
• Park Drive (Boston): 231 spaces, 23 meters
• Charlesgate East & Boylston Street (Boston): 22 spaces, 2 meters
• Charlesgate East & Newbury Street (Boston): 10 spaces, 1 meter
• Memorial Drive (Cambridge): 206 spaces, 18 meters
• Cambridge Parkway (Cambridge): 89 spaces, 9 meters
• Revere Beach Boulevard (Revere): 1,075 spaces, 100 meters
• Dealtry Pool (Watertown): 20 spaces, 1 meter

“I feel like people come down to the beach because it was free. Now it might kind of steer people away,” Revere resident Shawn Cameron said.

The project is part of a statewide effort to raise revenue to pay for DCR’s “supporting staff, materials, and programs without putting additional strain on the Commonwealth’s overall budget,” the agency said in an Oct. 15 public hearing.

Former-Revere State Rep. RoseLee Vincent blasted the plan because she said it didn’t benefit Revere Beach and the city enough.

“I really think it’s unfathomable and really unjust that the revenues that are going to be generated from the parking meters are not going to go into America’s First Public Beach,” Vincent said during the October hearing.

DCR said the new meters will prevent drivers from leaving cars parked for days—sometimes weeks—in the same spot.

Murielle Pauyo grew up near Revere Beach and is worried the meters will drive low-income families away.

“It’s going to deter people from coming. That’s what it’s going to do,” Pauyo said. “You’re taking away an ability for people to enjoy somewhere that’s public.”

Dante Gaeta works at Sammy’s Patio on Revere Beach Boulevard and believes the meters could lead to parking spaces opening up sooner.

“It was always kind of a pain in the butt for me to find a parking spot, so maybe this will actually make it a little bit easier?” Gaeta said. “I think it will cause some people that will sit here for hours and hours and hours to move along, and it create maybe a better traffic flow.”

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