Franklin Park - White Stadium Renovation

themissinglink said:
www.bostonherald.com

MBTA board gets an earful over White Stadium transportation proposal

Concerned residents are encouraging the MBTA to pump the brakes on a plan to eventually use agency properties to move people to White Stadium.
www.bostonherald.com www.bostonherald.com
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The idea that having high-capacity shuttles use bus lanes is environmentally harmful and would burden an EJ community is a complete farce. The fact that it likely does require a lengthy environmental review has more to do with MEPA being broken than anything else. The more MEPA gets weaponized like this against completely reasonable projects, the more likely it becomes the T will get exemptions from standard environmental reviews.
 
Don't forget that the Boston Herald once compared the kids in this area to an escaped gorilla. Or was it the other way around? Anyway, I am not the least bit surprised that they would like to sink this project. But who cares? Nobody but your crazy uncle reads the Herald any more
 
BostonScout said:
man, it's a good thing they're keeping that last wall... really shows the history and importance of the stadium. So relieved they're 'renovating' it and not just building a new one. 🤣:rolleyes:
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As someone whose high school football team played in the old White Stadium (I was in the band), I’m pretty happy with the touch even if it’s a small one.
 
Likewise, as someone who's only athletic connection was running by it in cross country. It was a memorable feature even without going inside.
 
Scott said:
Don't forget that the Boston Herald once compared the kids in this area to an escaped gorilla. Or was it the other way around? Anyway, I am not the least bit surprised that they would like to sink this project. But who cares? Nobody but your crazy uncle reads the Herald any more
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I honestly forgot that the Herald existed.
 
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Scott said:
Don't forget that the Boston Herald once compared the kids in this area to an escaped gorilla. Or was it the other way around? Anyway, I am not the least bit surprised that they would like to sink this project. But who cares? Nobody but your crazy uncle reads the Herald any more
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I can't stand the Herald, but let;s be careful out there with the "facts".

That was Gerry Callahan on his WEEI show several years ago - - yes, he had been a sportswriter for the Herald, but it wasn't like it was a Herald Editorial Board thing.
 
It is a fact that they didn't fire him when he was on their payroll so they own it
 
While the Herald is certainly providing a slanted portrayal of the White Stadium transportation plans, much of the article is just quoting two elected reps from the area, Senator Nick Collins and Representative Chynah Tyler.

According to locals, including the region’s state Sen. Nick Collins, the plan to allow soccer stadium shuttles to use MBTA bus lanes will further clog an already bad traffic situation and potentially violate the state’s environmental review laws.

Collins, speaking to the MBTA’s Board of Directors on Thursday, said that he and his constituents were concerned that the agency might by “unintentionally signing off on a proposal that has had no environmental review up to this point, may violate the Taxpayer Protection Act, and would have significant impacts on the environmental justice community.”

“I’m here today to request that a public process be commenced by the MBTA to examine the environmental impact, compliance with the Taxpayer Protection Act, and environmental justice laws and regulations, as well as a fair market value assessment approved by the Inspector General, to ensure that the MBTA isn’t signing off on something that would have a negative impact on the MBTA, its employees, and the people they serve,” the Southie lawmaker told the board.

[...]

The state senator did not arrive at the meeting alone. About a dozen residents and a fellow lawmaker — state Rep. Chynah Tyler — spoke up against the MBTA’s involvement.

“The volume is of great concern,” Tyler said, noting that she lived in the neighborhood and it already “takes me a long time to get off of my street and get to the main road, or come downtown.”
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This is the same Nick Collins who was the face of killing Mayor Wu's tax-transfer plan, so not exactly some backbencher. Whatever you think about the Herald interviewing some cranks from around the park, having elected officials show up to an MBTA board meeting to voice opposition is genuinely newsworthy.
 
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www.bostonglobe.com

Boston gives pro soccer team six more weeks to line up financing for White Stadium project - The Boston Globe

Boston Legacy Football Club expects financing to be done by Sept. 15 to help pay for its portion of redeveloping the crumbling Franklin Park stadium.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

So the City of Boston overlooked and/or didn't care that the Legacy didn't even have financing lined up when they inked the deal. Brilliant!

I'm shocked. :cautious: The whole plan looks so perfect in every way for the Legacy to compete in the NWSL in a 11,000 seat stadium in Franklin Park that they wouldn't own and had to share with the public schools. Seems like an economic slam dunk and not at all like a slow motion car crash.
 

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Longfellow said:
I would suspect the Legacy will find the money. They are building this 27 million dollar facility in Brockton:

bostonlegacyfc.com

Boston Legacy FC's Performance Center: Built for Work, Cham

Boston Legacy FC announces plans for a privately funded, $27 million performance center, spanning 24 acres in Brockton, MA, and set to open in 2026.
bostonlegacyfc.com bostonlegacyfc.com
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The two deals are not even in the same universe.

Brockton is a facility with land value that they will actually own (they already acquired it from developer Mark Roukous). For the Legacy, Franklin Park is, technically, not even a real estate investment at all. They would be merely tenants there. They will have no ownership of the property. That's a completely different financing animal.

Fundamentally, Brockton is already owned/financed and taken on for 100% of the risk by the Legacy. All the risk is on the Legacy as owners of the property, not Brockton. In Boston, it is the other way around - Wu jumped in and committed before the Legacy received its financing for being a tenant that is expected to contribute half of the cost of White Stadium - - call it "financially, on spec". It may very well go through fine - but I find that incredibly reckless of the Mayor.

Furthermore - -Brockton will be the actual HEADQUARTERS for the ~80 employees expected to work full-time for the Legacy - so Brockton gets the actual corporate office (and the full-time tax-revenue). The only mention of ANY money coming from Brockton that I've seen online is MAYBE a $15,000 property tax credit? The comparisons of the deals vs. Boston go on and on in Brockton's favor. (Need I even mention the Brockton on-property 375 parking spaces and easy transportation access - vs the clusterfuck that will be Franklin Park access?)

www.bostonglobe.com

Boston Legacy unveils plans for Brockton performance center, with hopes for an August groundbreaking - The Boston Globe

The $27 million privately funded project about 2 1/2 miles north of downtown was approved, with conditions, unanimously by the city’s planning board earlier this month.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

When did Brockton become so much wiser than Boston?????
 
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Interesting tidbit revealed in the article:

The $64.6 million figure is more than double the $29 million price tag of the alternative design the nonprofit pitched in January. The group hired the architectural design firm Landing Studio to develop the proposal, and the construction cost estimate company Vermeulens Inc. to come up with the price breakdown. A spokesperson for the Emerald Necklace Conservancy declined to say how much the nonprofit paid for either service.
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While $65 million is less than the $100 million the city is paying under the shared upgrade model, I don't think this group can still complain about cost escalation when their own alternative has more than doubled in price without a single shovel in the ground. The other question, of course, is whether the scaled down model is sufficient for the needs of BPS students.
 
HenryAlan said:
Interesting tidbit revealed in the article:



While $65 million is less than the $100 million the city is paying under the shared upgrade model, I don't think this group can still complain about cost escalation when their own alternative has more than doubled in price without a single shovel in the ground. The other question, of course, is whether the scaled down model is sufficient for the needs of BPS students.
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You are correct - - there hasn't been a "single shovel in the ground". There have been bulldozers.

From the article's 7th paragraph:

"Karen Mauney-Brodek, president of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, on Tuesday attributed the higher cost of the nonprofit’s updated plan to the completed demolition on the site. The group’s original proposal had included renovating, instead of completely rebuilding, parts of the original structure, she said...."
 
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shmessy said:
It is what it is, folks. How many more events and data points do people need to see that this is a slow-moving car crash?

www.bostonglobe.com

City of Boston denies Globe records requests for internal cost projections for White Stadium project - The Boston Globe

In June, as questions about the project’s rising cost to taxpayers persisted, the Globe requested the full range of cost scenarios the city has calculated for its part of the public-private project.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
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For me, this still continues to be something zero neighbors talk about with strong opinions and something I only hear is "controversial" from the media.
 
sm89 said:
For me, this still continues to be something zero neighbors talk about with strong opinions and something I only hear is "controversial" from the media.
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Duly noted.

But the media is a business. The Globe wants clicks - - they don't concentrate on stamp collecting. 78 readers comments on the article within 24 hours disputes your opinion, as does 319 posts in this thread.

But we'll see within the next two years what the outcome is. My money is on slow motion financial car crash. I respect you feel differently.
 
shmessy said:
Duly noted.

But the media is a business. 78 readers comments within 24 hours disputes your opinion, as does 319 posts in this thread.

But we'll see within the next two years what the outcome is. My money is on slow motion financial car crash.
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You're seriously citing a newspaper comment section thread as evidence that this is a scandal blowing up? Seriously?

How about the Mayoral candidate that's made hammering this supposed issue a cornerstone of his campaign for 6 months now and has only seen his polling deficit increase to 30-plus points as a result? Where does that evidence file?
 
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