Demolition underway at White Stadium, as residents remain split over renovation plans
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Against a backdrop of construction crews at work, more than 40 residents, including members of grassroots advocacy group
cold to protest the project on site. They called for the mayor to pause demolition and pull out of the deal with Boston Unity Soccer Partners, the group behind the
(Linda Henry, CEO of Boston Globe Media Partners, is a minority, non-controlling investor of Boston Unity Soccer Partners).
The Emerald Necklace Conservancy and several residents
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Renee Stacey Welch,
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'This is wrong, my neighbors and I are fighting, my community is divided, and we have people who can stop this, but they won't listen to us,' Welch said.
Opponents say the project essentially amounts to an unconstitutional privatization of public land, arguing that the stadium's use by a professional sports team would limit the public's access to the site. According to the lease agreement, Boston Public Schools would retain ownership of the stadium, but it will host 20 NWSL games and up to 20 practices a year.
But critics also accuse the city of not considering lower-cost alternatives to the project that would not require private investment, and would allow the stadium to remain solely for the use of BPS students and surrounding neighborhoods, as it has been for decades. They also reiterated concern over the city's share of the cost, which has
'The preservation of this park has primarily been led by Black residents, and now those residents are being told to step aside and listen to what's best for us; that is paternalistic and not true community process,' said resident Priscilla Andrade. 'We all know and agree that White Stadium needs a renovation. Our concern is about how, for whom and by whom, how does that work? And if our public dollars are being used, then we should have a right to discern how that's being done.'
Josh Kraft, who attended a community meeting on the project hosted by the advocacy groups last week, attended Wednesday's protest at the invitation of the neighborhood residents.
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'It's great to be here, I just want to stand in solidarity,' Kraft said Wednesday. 'This is a historic park, part of this community for generations. ... You can feel people's frustration at not being heard.'
Kraft's campaign on Tuesday released a statement calling for Wu to pause all work on the project until after the March 18 trial. When asked how he would approach the issue should he win in November, Kraft on Wednesday said he would likely take part of the roughly $100 million the city has already allocated for the project, and potentially seek private investment to match that amount, to renovate the stadium.
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But several residents and local officials, as well as some BPS students, countered critics' arguments in their own press conference Wednesday afternoon. They emphasized that the city's leadership has neglected White Stadium for decades, causing it to fall into disrepair, and said the mayor's deal with the professional women's soccer team would provide an enormous benefit to both the district's students and the neighboring communities.
'Politics gets in the way, and then progress never happens,' said Jeri Robinson, chair of the Boston School Committee. 'We can't afford to continue to do this. It is not fair to our kids, I don't want to see another 50 years of kids walking past the dilapidated stadium that they don't have access to.'
Samir McDaniels, a former BPS student athlete, said the district's students deserve to benefit from a facility of this caliber.
'The project will give BPS students a home that they can be proud of, a place to train and compete and grow, where they have opportunity to further their education if they wanted to play sports in college,' he said. 'I know what it's like to have to push yourself every day only to face barriers that you know shouldn't exist. So, you know, on behalf of myself and BPS athletics, I think that this renovation is breaking down those barriers.'
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In defense of the project's rising cost to the city, several residents who live near the stadium pointed to the recently completed renovation of a public pool in Charlestown, which had a price tag of nearly $40 million.
At an unrelated event Wednesday, Wu defended the lease agreement her administration reached with the professional sports team.
'This is the best possible deal that could have been imagined,' Wu said. 'There is nowhere else in the country where a professional sports team is renting space in a facility that is going to be world class, and up to all of those competition standards, that is still owned by the public school district and dedicated primarily for the use of student athletes in the community.'
Niki Griswold can be reached at
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