Tale of Two Stadiums: Council opposition to Everett stadium parking raises questions on White Stadium
The Robert Kraft-owned, 25,000-seat New England Revolution (NE) soccer stadium in Everett has only a parking lot that accommodates 75 cars. The lack of on-site parking has been justified by the stadium’s commuter-oriented design, with stadium-goers expected to rely on public transportation. In a meeting with the Charlestown Neighborhood Council (CNC) on April 9, NE presented a parking plan that designated half of Charlestown as additional parking for the stadium.
“The impact will be hundreds or thousands of cars and people coming directly into Charlestown, creating worse traffic and noise, multiple times a week, ” said CNC member Philip Carr. “When an event is over, these people will be walking the streets, and there will be bumper-to-bumper traffic, all while families are trying to sleep in this residential neighborhood.”
In a resolution sponsored by Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, the council urged the City to reject any proposal or modification that would direct stadium-related parking into the neighborhood.
“A conceptual plan that identifies half of Charlestown as a potential parking zone is fundamentally inconsistent with both the letter and the spirit of what the city has already negotiated,” Coletta Zapata said. “Charlestown residents have been clear since day one. Traffic and parking are among their most serious concerns, and they were told explicitly that this project would not rely on our neighborhood to absorb those impacts.”
Councilor Julia Mejia said that constituents pay attention to when and where the council decides to take a stand. Though she supported the resolution, she acknowledged that criticisms from the black and brown residents surrounding White Stadium have not received the same platform from the council.
“The mayor did a really great job at advocating for an amazing community benefit package for the residents of Charlestown. The residents of Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan, not so much,” she said.
Mayor Michelle Wu announced late last year that the city and Kraft Group had agreed on payments totaling $48 million over the next 15 years, infrastructural improvements to Sullivan Square, and private funding for all public safety and transportation management costs for stadium events. A portion of ticket revenue estimated at $2 million per year will fund Charlestown-specific municipal projects.
Councilor Ed Flynn, who also voiced his support for Coletta Zapata’s resolution, said he felt more time was spent on the Charlestown-Everett community package than on any quality of life, public safety, parking, or environmental issues surrounding White Stadium. “I’m supporting this proposal, I just wish we had the same commitment to communities of color in the Roxbury [and] Jamaica Plain area.”
Councilor Benjamin Webber disagreed that a different standard had been applied. He said White Stadium itself would be a benefit to the community by way of funds for Franklin Park and a BPS facility available to the public every day of the year, including game days.
“That is not the case in Everett. This is not a public facility. This is not going to be used by our high school students,” he said. “I don’t feel like it’s inconsistent to support this resolution and support White Stadium.”
Councilor Brian Worrell said the concerns coming out of Charlestown were valid, and they should not be expected to take on the burden of a private project in another city.
“There are clear expectations around transportation, mitigation, and enforcement. I commend the administration for securing those protections,” he said. “At the same time, I do want to be clear that there are still concerns about parking and traffic around White Stadium.”
He added that he supports the resolution but that the community surrounding White Stadium deserves the same level of clarity.
Coletta Zapata said she could see the parallels but called the comparison an oversimplification of the neighborhood’s respective contexts. “Another city said emphatically ‘yes’ to this. We did not ask for this,” she said.
In a statement, CNC said they are committed to advocating for the quality of life of Charlestown residents and appreciate Coletta Zapata for bringing the issue before the council.
The resolution passed the council with 12 votes in the affirmative.
“We will continue to work collaboratively with elected officials, the New England Revolution, and all stakeholders to ensure the interests and well-being of Charlestown residents are represented and addressed. Following the New England Revolution’s presentation to the CNC on April 7, we have requested a meeting with the Mayor’s Office, as well as the Boston Transportation and Planning Departments, to further discuss these concerns,” a representative said in a statement.
Yet another Krafty move. Bait and switch for the beautiful people with the deal cut on the 9th floor of Boston City Hall, where Mob rule applies.
A private stadium in the middle of Franklin Park presents far greater parking challenges than the Everett stadium, and those can never be addressed with the neighborhood parking work-arounds Mayor Wu’s administration presents. Deeper challenges that can never be ‘fixed’ are of the legal, moral, historic, financial and other quagmires the administration is in and will never be able to crawl out of. Opposition to the privatization of White Stadium exists in force because it is wrong.
This stadium is a massive subsidy to private equity political patrons. It serves their wants, not the needs of BPS student athletes. When the pros abandon the stadium BPS will be left with a hard to get to third rate rotting franken-stadium draining its coffers.
90% of the pro-soccer seating is either ON TOP OF the BPS students’ brand new regulation running track, that we demolished the historic White Stadium to make room for, or the seating is TOO HIGH to even see down to the BPS students’ running track. The temporary bleachers and the pro-soccer spectators using it will cause to the track.
To make the expected physical damage to the students’ track even worse, the main pro-soccer spectator pathway from the entry gates to the BEER GARDEN, in this supposedly HIGH SCHOOL stadium, is ON TOP OF 5 lanes of the students’ brand new running track. Imagine the damage that will do.
The BEER GARDEN’s outside party area is ON TOP OF the track. Why is there a BEER GARDEN, or any alcohol, in a BPS school facility when it’s against state law and BPS policy?
The team can abandon the stadium if they don’t get to have alcohol in it. This is in a community which has significant substance use issues.
Of interest: the footballers get kicked out because of their cleats damaging the HEATED PRO-SOCCER PITCH that BPS is building for the Legacy FC. Meanwhile the pro-soccer team, with their cleats, will use the students’ track for their sideline benches. Imagine the damage that will do.
Also of interest: NWSL rules govern the HEATED SOCCER PITCH condition and use – as part of the awful Usage Agreement. (User Agreement link is dead at the City’s webpage.) Imagine; private equity gets to tell public high school students when they can use their own field.
The students get a crummy dark athletic facility buried underneath the 3,200 grandstand seats and infrastructure they’re building for the pro-soccer team. (spectators in those BPS seats can’t see down to the track below) The student facility is stupidly inefficient (BPS staff offices are 150 yards from the students’ training area). The whole stadium facility is highly insecurable, especially the BPS side. City Hall prattles on about a student lounge and dining room, which aren’t in the actual plans. And it gets worse.
The so-called traffic plan won’t work and the stadium proponents keep ignoring the factual input that it won’t. Residents of the abutting neighborhoods will suffer. Businesses in Egleston Square will suffer. Golfers will suffer. Park users will suffer. Zoo goers will suffer. Even the pro-soccer spectators will suffer.
Since day one, the Environmental Justice majority minority community abutting the park has been screaming NO, STOP. NOT IN OUR PARK! There was one in person meeting and it went horribly for the City. The City thus went to dystopian zoom meetings where they could control the voice of the public. Yes, there were many of these, and they were all dystopian and filled with deception.
What a travesty this monstrous abomination will be for BPS students, park users, zoo goers, golfers, and neighbors. I trust the state supreme court will see through the City’s pleading that this is a high school facility, and shut it down.
I live next to Franklin Park and close to where they intend to put the new White Stadium. The park is surrounded by residential areas. There is NO PARKING available in the area and no T stop within a mile of White Stadium except for a small bus stop. This will mean that either parking will be taken away from people enjoying the park, going to the Zoo, or they’ll have to destroy even more of the park or displace residents to provide enough parking for people going to games. Nobody is going to want to take at least 1 train and 1 bus to get to a game. This project is completely unrealistic and is damaging our communities and an historic public park for private gain.
And then they give a pathetic excuse that it will sometimes be available to Boston school children. The Franklin Park Defenders gave an alternate plan to restore the stadium for our kids for about $65 million. Instead, they are forcing this mammoth project down our throats at taxpayers expense to the tune of about $125 million at a time when there are severe budget shortfalls and 400 teachers are being laid off.
Shame on Mayor Wu!