New England Revolution Stadium | 173 Alford Street | Boston-Everett

I don't think she's wrong, but given how bureaucratic and technical these negotiations have been to this point, I'm fine if her column (and others) start the robust public conversation at this point.

FWIW, until Kraft asks for public money, this is fundamentally a private business doing what it wants with its own property and its own money. The "robust public conversation" should be confined to official and ordinary channels of review, same as it would be for any other private development. Once Kraft starts asking for public dollars, that changes, but we shouldn't have a referendum on individual private developments.

Not really. For one thing, state law would have be changed in order for it to be permissible to build the stadium here, right? Then you add in the unique infrastructure demands and disruptive nature of a stadium, and it's absolutely something the public should have a conversation about.
 
(good god don't make me take Joan Vennochi's side on something.....)

What about your quoted text is a problem? It seems factually accurate, and kind of a cause for concern.

So far these negotiations have ignored Boston even though the parcel is partially in Boston. They have also ignored the House, even though the House has to vote on whether to remove the "designated port area" zoning. I'll even concede that a "broad-based public debate" like Vennochi maybe has in mind is a terrible way to do regional planning. But so far the process has been so secretive that even primary stakeholders have been excluded.
So, you concede that public debate is a non-starter in terms of planning framework? Then what are you exactly agreeing with her on? The fact of the matter is that we don’t have strong regional planning. I’m not sure what else you expect Kraft to do here? Because we know how this is going to end if he does give Mayor Wu Power of Attorney here. The stadium proposal would be dead and then we will be right back on this board complaining that Boston is too restrictive, etc.

Also, in the article, it says that Wu and DiMaria have been in talks since the initial Globe article. So, I’m pretty sure that (given cooler heads prevailing here) the proposal remains on track. Of course Kraft and DiMaria are being shady about this. They have every right to be shady about this. I’ll recant if my projections on this are wrong.
 
Looks like the stadium project got set back. The port area rezoning didn't survive in the compromise bill in the State House.
I was writing a response @kingofsheeba , but I'll have to get back to that in a bit.
Seriously disappointing. I wish some of this process was done publicly so we'd have some idea of what went down.
 
Looks like the stadium project got set back. The port area rezoning didn't survive in the compromise bill in the State House.
I was writing a response @kingofsheeba , but I'll have to get back to that in a bit.
Seriously disappointing. I wish some of this process was done publicly so we'd have some idea of what went down.

It’s been set back before. It’s a chess game in Beacon Hill. I’m sure that there’s more to the story. Give it time.

And no, we don’t need to know how some things get done. This is language in the eventual removal of a DPA. Again, this is probably done because the city of Boston wants its cut.
 
I think people are ignoring the only real concern here: TD Garden and Fenway do not want competition for concerts. The "environment" "traffic" "process" "location within Boston" all might be concerns but they are sideshows. The chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Aaron Michlewitz, basically admitted that the MA House of Representatives exists as a legal protection racket in a Commonwealth article:

“TD Garden definitely had weighed in in terms of the conversation,” Michlewitz said. “It was about adding another major facility in a very similar area to TD Garden, having two of those facilities at the same time without the city of Boston having any conversation or any seat at the table in that dialogue was very lacking and I think it’s something we have to address if we’re going to do this conversation going forward.”

Or this shameless quote from the "Conservation Law Foundation" in the Globe article:

The 25,000-seat soccer stadium could also be an outdoor concert venue. The chair of the CLF board, Sara Molyneaux, is married to veteran concert producer Don Law, the president of Live Nation-New England, who, according to people working on the stadium proposal, has some interest in restricting new concert venues. Asked about it, Campbell said, “There has been no discussion of this issue [concerts] with anyone on my board.” He added, “I’m quite confident in my own integrity.”

The bottom line: if the Krafts want a stadium in Everett they're going to have to agree to either a limited number of concerts/events or none at all. Encore went through the same thing when they were trying to expand across the street earlier this year. The sad truth is it makes perfect sense to put a new stadium here and have the Krafts contribute to the cleanup/revitalization of an extremely blighted area. Which is why it will never happen.
 
I think people are ignoring the only real concern here: TD Garden and Fenway do not want competition for concerts. The "environment" "traffic" "process" "location within Boston" all might be concerns but they are sideshows. The chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Aaron Michlewitz, basically admitted that the MA House of Representatives exists as a legal protection racket in a Commonwealth article:

“TD Garden definitely had weighed in in terms of the conversation,” Michlewitz said. “It was about adding another major facility in a very similar area to TD Garden, having two of those facilities at the same time without the city of Boston having any conversation or any seat at the table in that dialogue was very lacking and I think it’s something we have to address if we’re going to do this conversation going forward.”

Or this shameless quote from the "Conservation Law Foundation" in the Globe article:

The 25,000-seat soccer stadium could also be an outdoor concert venue. The chair of the CLF board, Sara Molyneaux, is married to veteran concert producer Don Law, the president of Live Nation-New England, who, according to people working on the stadium proposal, has some interest in restricting new concert venues. Asked about it, Campbell said, “There has been no discussion of this issue [concerts] with anyone on my board.” He added, “I’m quite confident in my own integrity.”

The bottom line: if the Krafts want a stadium in Everett they're going to have to agree to either a limited number of concerts/events or none at all. Encore went through the same thing when they were trying to expand across the street earlier this year. The sad truth is it makes perfect sense to put a new stadium here and have the Krafts contribute to the cleanup/revitalization of an extremely blighted area. Which is why it will never happen.
Conservation Law Foundation is also responsible for killing the Harbor Plan. They are the worst. They seem to have no concern whatsoever for the good of the environment or the community.
 
Conservation Law Foundation is also responsible for killing the Harbor Plan. They are the worst. They seem to have no concern whatsoever for the good of the environment or the community.
But ins’t that all Environmental non-profits? When I worked for MassPIRG, I used to think that it was all about saving the planet and bringing clean water to the masses. Until I found out how much the former COO took in for a yearly salary.
 
The CLF is responsible for Boston Harbor becoming as clean as it is. The CLG filed a lawsuit back in 1983. Back then, Boston Harbor was characterized as the 'Dirtiest Harbor in the United States.'

Rather than let the CLF tout its successful effort, I'll let the Boston Foundation do it.

https://www.tbf.org/news-and-insights/newsletters/2018/december/boston-harbor-tatb-fall-2018

The law suit and its consequences as described by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.

Since 1985, MWRA has been subject to a Clean Water Act enforcement action to end years of wastewater pollution of Boston Harbor and its tributaries from the old Deer Island and Nut Island treatment plants and combined sewer overflows (CSOs).

The enforcement case was initiated by the Conservation Law Foundation in 1983 and taken up by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1985. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, the City of Quincy and the Town of Winthrop are also parties to the case.

The late Federal District Judge A. David Mazzone presided over the case from 1985 to September 2004. On September 30, 2004, the Boston Harbor Case was transferred to Judge Richard G. Stearns, who currently presides over the case.

The Orders of the Court set forth the schedules of activities to be undertaken to achieve compliance with the law. Since 1985, MWRA has complied with 420 milestones which include the completion of extensive new wastewater treatment facilities at Deer Island in Boston and Nut Island in Quincy, a residuals facility in Quincy, and 35 CSO control projects in Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea and Somerville which comprise long-term CSO control plan, the last of which were completed in December 2015.

As part of compliance with the Court’s Orders, MWRA was required to file monthly compliance and progress reports on its ongoing activities thru December 15, 2000 and quarterly compliance and progress reports thru December 2016.

MWRA is currently required to submit bi-annual compliance and progress reports through December 2020.
https://www.mwra.com/02org/html/court.htm
 
The CLF is responsible for Boston Harbor becoming as clean as it is. The CLG filed a lawsuit back in 1983. Back then, Boston Harbor was characterized as the 'Dirtiest Harbor in the United States.'

Rather than let the CLF tout its successful effort, I'll let the Boston Foundation do it.

https://www.tbf.org/news-and-insights/newsletters/2018/december/boston-harbor-tatb-fall-2018

The law suit and its consequences as described by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.


https://www.mwra.com/02org/html/court.htm

At one time, the CLF did great things. In the past 10 years, the CLF has recently done terrible things.

There are many organizations that lose their way over time. Indeed, I'd say it happens to most advocacy groups.
 
I think people are ignoring the only real concern here: TD Garden and Fenway do not want competition for concerts.
An Everett soccer stadium would rarely compete for concerts with TD Garden. Most TD Garden concerts are in the colder months when it would not be desirable to be outside for hours at night. Summer concerts in the 17,000+ capacity range are usually held at Fenway, Great Woods (yes that's its name forever), Gillette etc. I don't see any Everett soccer specific stadium poaching more than a handful of concerts from the Garden if any. Fenway is a different story....
 
IRRC, CLF was also the entity that made GLX happened.

But yeah, that was also decades ago. CLF using its influence to stop a stadium because the husband to the chair of the board is the president of the company that handles tickets to the other stadiums means CLF has lost its way.

I don't have a link (I went to the website but can't find an article version), but I was listening to WBZ news radio, the way they worded the stadium setback was super damning. I am not sure if it's just the anchor or there's other news sources are reporting with the same language, but they literally said the words were "mysteriously" removed from the bill. So somehow it was just edited out and apparently "nobody knows". A whole legislative bill and yet somehow nobody knows who is in charge of writing and submitting. That's some fine transparency you got going there MA.
 
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But ins’t that all Environmental non-profits? When I worked for MassPIRG, I used to think that it was all about saving the planet and bringing clean water to the masses. Until I found out how much the former COO took in for a yearly salary.
I didn't know they were involved with the harbor cleanup; that's certainly a huge accomplishment. But I couldn't see any environmental justification for killing the harbor plan. It would have no doubt made the whole area more resilient and environmentally friendly. We're now left with a flood-prone concrete parking garage. And my (hazy) recollection is they were funded by the harbor tower and aquarium folks, which struck me as a real conflict of interest.
 
I didn't know they were involved with the harbor cleanup; that's certainly a huge accomplishment. But I couldn't see any environmental justification for killing the harbor plan. It would have no doubt made the whole area more resilient and environmentally friendly. We're now left with a flood-prone concrete parking garage. And my (hazy) recollection is they were funded by the harbor tower and aquarium folks, which struck me as a real conflict of interest.
I’m not sure if they were involved with the Harbor Plan or not. They might’ve been.
 
They're the ones who wrecked it with their lawsuit.
From that article, it looks like state law said that certain waterfront planning needed to get approved by the Department of Environmental Protection. Boston tried to sidestep DEP and get approval from a different agency. CLF sued, saying that was illegal, and the State Supreme Court agreed unanimously. Anything that was already approved could go forward, but from then on the approval process would have to go through DEP, as the the law required.

What am I missing here? This seems like a very reasonable thing for an environmental organization to get involved in.
 
For all my fellow cheapskates out there,
Masslive has an interesting write up.

Oh, noes…but…wait

On Thursday, a senior state House lawmaker who played a central role in the compromise budget deal said he’s not entirely dismissing the idea of a new stadium.


But the pressure-cooker of the debate over the legislation wasn’t the appropriate venue for that discussion, House Ways & Means Committee Chairperson Aaron Michlewitz, D-3rd Suffolk, said.



“We’re not saying no to a soccer stadium,” the Boston lawmaker told reporters after House Republicans successfully launched a procedural ploy that delayed a vote on the so-called “supplemental” budget until Friday.



“I think there’s still a lot to be discussed on this. It needs to be fleshed out for us to feel comfortable about it going forward. And in the short period of time this as been discussed, I don’t think we’ve had that full conversation,” the House’s top budget-writer said.

That was fast.
 
From that article, it looks like state law said that certain waterfront planning needed to get approved by the Department of Environmental Protection. Boston tried to sidestep DEP and get approval from a different agency. CLF sued, saying that was illegal, and the State Supreme Court agreed unanimously. Anything that was already approved could go forward, but from then on the approval process would have to go through DEP, as the the law required.

What am I missing here? This seems like a very reasonable thing for an environmental organization to get involved in.
I remember reading about his. But even if they had a valid procedural concern, why intervene on this particular project which would have raised the grade of all the surrounding land, replaced a concrete garage that promotes car use with a LEED certified tower, etc.? It's a very odd choice, particularly for environmentalists, and your post suggests other similar plans have gone unchallenged in the past. If memory serves correctly, they represented the harbor tower owners and the aquarium (they'd have no standing to participate on their own) which flooded social media with a pathetic campaign about "saving the harbor" and social justice. The whole thing stinks to me.
 
I'd love to hear of an alternative for developing the land. Housing is out of the question because it's gotta be too polluted.

I hope Kraft files a lawsuit challenging this corrupt shitshow.

It's best to kill it if the legislature isn't going to approve. TBH that it got this far I had thought Kraft had the State House on board.
 

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