Councilor Mejia, NAACP Boston Branch Call for Review of Fully-Public White Stadium Alternative; Franklin Park Defenders Respond

Contact: Carlen Singmaster, 617-960-6537, csingmaster@emeraldnecklace.org

$64.6 Million Alternative Plan Envisions Gold Standard High School Stadium, Without Professional Soccer Team, in Franklin Park

BOSTON — Today, Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia and the Boston Branch of the NAACP called for public review of an alternative plan to rebuild White Stadium in Franklin Park as a fully-public stadium, without the costly involvement of Boston Legacy Football Club.

Earlier this month, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and the Franklin Park Defenders community group released a new, enhanced alternative conceptual design for a $64.6 million ‘gold standard’ rebuild of White Stadium as a 5,000-seat high school stadium. The fully-public stadium would be entirely focused on student and community uses, rather than including the private amenities of the proposed $200 million-plus professional 11,000-seat soccer stadium for Boston Legacy Football Club.

Members of the Franklin Park Defenders echoed Councilor Mejia and the Boston Branch of the NAACP’s calls for a more affordable, fully-public White Stadium that avoids the many flaws of the Boston Legacy proposal.

“Construction of the new professional soccer stadium in Franklin Park hasn’t started — or even been fully put out to bid. With the public-private stadium proposal facing massive cost overruns, unsolvable transportation concerns, and the team's inability to secure required construction financing, there is plenty of time for a better path forward,” said Roxbury resident Rodney Singleton. “The NAACP Boston Branch, five local neighborhood associations, multiple elected officials, dozens of community organizations, and hundreds of local residents all agree: it's time for Boston to develop a serious alternative for a more affordable, fully-public project that can restore White Stadium as the state-of-the-art high school facility Boston students and our families deserve.”

“Thank you to Councilor Mejia and Boston Branch of the NAACP for standing alongside neighbors who are demanding full transparency around the White Stadium project, and asking for a real consideration of the alternatives to the for-profit use of White Stadium,” said Jamaica Plain resident Melissa Hamel. “The fact is, White Stadium has been demolished, and must be rebuilt. With the soccer team playing at Gillette next year, we have the time to get this right. Let’s work together to deliver an outstanding high school sports facility for BPS kids that respects Franklin Park and the neighbors who live around it. Our kids, and our park, are too important to let this opportunity go by.”

Refresher: The Latest on the White Stadium Redevelopment Project

With Boston Legacy Football Club now planning to play their inaugural season at Gillette Stadium, more and more people are calling for reconsideration of the proposal to build a professional sports stadium in Franklin Park. In June, the NAACP Boston Branch called for an immediate halt to the professional soccer stadium plans, and expressed support for a significantly more affordable, fully-public stadium renovation that would meet the needs of BPS students and the community, without the many flaws of the new private soccer stadium. And multiple elected officials, including Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune and several of her Council colleagues, as well as State Representative Chynah Tyler, who represents neighborhoods on the north side of Franklin Park, and State Senator Nick Collins, who represents neighborhoods on the east side of the park, have spoken out against the private redevelopment proposal.

Boston Legacy Football Club missed a major August 1 deadline to obtain the required financing to build the team’s proposed White Stadium professional soccer stadium, casting doubt on the team’s ability to proceed with the controversial public-private project. On July 25, the City of Boston and the team agreed to amend their lease agreement, delaying the financing deadline to September 15.

While the existing high school stadium on the site has been mostly demolished, construction of the new stadium has still not been fully bid or begun, and residents and advocates say there is still plenty of time to reconsider plans to build a massive new professional sports stadium in Franklin Park. In June, leaked city documents revealed that the cost of the city’s half of the project could reach $172 million under ‘worst-case’ contingencies. That would put the total cost of the project as high as $344 million. Mayor Wu admitted that the project’s taxpayer cost would increase again once elements of the project are fully bid this summer, after already tripling from a $30 million estimate when first announced to $91 million as of last December.

White Stadium sits in the middle of a park, with no parking, surrounded by residential neighborhoods, almost a mile from the nearest train station. Since the proposal by Boston’s new NWSL team Boston Legacy Football Club was announced, questions about game-day transportation planning have gone unanswered, and proponents have released a changing set of transportation plans that fail to address local residents’ concerns about traffic gridlock and disruption. In May, the city official overseeing the White Stadium project admitted that transportation plans are “still a work in progress,” even as the existing high school stadium was being torn down. No updated transportation plans have been released since then.

Background on the White Stadium Redevelopment Project

Residents of Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain and Mattapan have significant concerns about the plan to lease White Stadium to a professional sports team — rather than renovating it as a public stadium for the sole benefit of BPS students and the local community. The City of Boston and Boston Unity Soccer Partners (BUSP) have demolished the existing White Stadium in order to build a new, significantly larger for-profit professional sports stadium, entertainment venue, and multiple restaurants and retail shops in its place.

In addition to the legal concerns expressed in an ongoing lawsuit against the project, neighboring residents and park advocates have expressed opposition to the project over issues ranging from increased air, noise and light pollution, increased litter, the removal of 145 mature trees, increased traffic and parking restrictions, and decreased student and community access.

Pro soccer games and other private events would displace BPS students and the community from White Stadium and surrounding parts of Franklin Park on 20 annual game days, 20 practice days, and additional concert and event days - more than half of all weekends during the summer, when residents use the park the most. BPS football teams would be displaced from the stadium entirely during the bulk of their regular season, because the soccer league doesn't want their cleats on the field.

Background on the Alternative: a Fully-Public Renovation of White Stadium

Neighbors and parks advocates support an alternative plan to renovate White Stadium as a public high school facility for BPS student-athletes, at a much lower cost to taxpayers and the environment.

The Emerald Necklace Conservancy has proposed such an alternative concept: a state-of-the-art, fully public high school stadium that would avoid the many negative impacts of building a professional sports venue in the middle of historic Franklin Park. A detailed cost estimate conducted by Vermeulens, Inc. included in the report found that Boston could rebuild White Stadium as a high-quality, fully public high school stadium for $64.6 million, even after the demolition of the old stadium eliminated the possibility of a more-affordable renovation project.

There are numerous examples of high school and even college sports stadiums being built or renovated for similar amounts or less. Stadium expert Andrew Zimbalist states that “it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Boston taxpayers are subsidizing a professional sports stadium on public recreation land in Franklin Park.”