Opponents of the White Stadium project criticized what they regard as an offensive and disrespectful double standard Monday, a week after Mayor Michelle Wu criticized the Kraft Group’s proposed Everett stadium and its effects on the Charlestown community.
Louis Elisa, president of the Garrison Charter Neighborhood Association and a member of the Franklin Park Coalition, stated, “We are requesting that the mayor pause her actions in Charlestown for a single time and come talk to us about how we feel and how we will be affected.” They discovered that Charlestown wouldn’t accept the money she negotiated for this neighborhood, but they believe it will benefit us. It’s not, and we’re not benefiting from this.
In Franklin Park on Monday, opponents of the White Stadium project—which is being built through a private-public partnership to house a professional women’s soccer team—gathered to voice their displeasure with Mayor Wu’s correspondence.
Wu criticized the Kraft Group’s proposal for a men’s soccer stadium in Everett during a press conference last week in Charlestown. The group’s effort to mitigate the effects on Charlestown, according to the mayor, is doomed.
According to speakers on Monday, the communities surrounding White Stadium will only receive $500,000 in impact mitigation funds, despite the Kraft Group having promised $750,000 for the project’s impact on Charlestown.
Despite Wu’s requests for the same details for the Everett stadium, the speakers also pointed out that they have yet to see an environmental evaluation or transportation plan for the White Stadium project.
“Where was the study?” we asked. Dianne Wilkerson, who has lived in the Roxbury and Dorchester region for forty-five years, said, “Where was the transportation review?” Keep quiet. Crickets. Nothing. For Charlestown, she is requesting one. It’s going to be an Everett stadium. This is the moment at which it can no longer be justified.
According to Wilkerson, the mayor of this city and the city of Boston have never met with Wu and have refused to even talk about it with us.
Wilkerson, a former state legislator who was nabbed by the federal government on a bribery allegation, stated, “We’re sitting here, 98% people of color, worried that we’re about to get completely overrun and shut down.”
In response on Monday, a city spokeswoman stated that over 60 public meetings, over 1000 public comment letters, numerous public hearings, and votes by regulatory commissions were all part of the process to determine the project design, leasing terms, and usage agreement for White Stadium.
According to the spokesperson, Mayor Wu has been actively and directly involved in the White Stadium project, including meeting with community members and groups like the Franklin Park Coalition. This has resulted in the highest level of community engagement ever included in the planning of a public facilities project.
According to a city spokesperson, the City negotiated and signed legally enforceable agreements that ensured local involvement, mitigation, community benefits, and supplier diversity for the project and park. Along with holding a press conference about the proposed Revs stadium, the mayor has also participated in three community meetings with Charlestown residents.
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City Councilor Erin Murphy, along with council candidates Sharon Hinton, Wawa Bell, and community leader and mayoral candidate Domingo DeRosa, were present at the press conference held at Franklin Park on Monday.
Neighborhood residents, according to Elisa, are worried that we’re being ignored, disregarded, and treated like second-class citizens in our own city.
“It’s evident that the Mayor has decided Bostonians don’t deserve to have any input on what happens to their beloved community landmarks, to their neighborhoods, to their quality of life,” said Josh Kraft, the candidate for mayor, in a statement made during the community’s press event.
