Wu’s fumble on White Stadium renovation

Rocco Zizza remembers the grim words of advice he was given when he first started coaching football in the Boston Public Schools system: “Don’t get upset. Because no one cares.” That was 27 years ago. Today, Zizza, the coach at Boston Latin Academy, still has reason to wonder if anyone cares what happens to his football program. Mayor Michelle Wu is pushing an ambitious plan to renovate White Stadium — the decrepit facility where Zizza’s team now practices and plays — in partnership with a professional women’s soccer team. That’s good news for some student athletes who would have more access to a greatly improved facility. Unfortunately, the field conditions needed for pro soccer do not mix with the rough and tumble of football. So football players from Boston Latin Academy and Boston Latin School wouldn’t be able to use the field until November — after the soccer season ends.

Meanwhile, plans for where those two football teams would play their home games are still in the works. “It’s a situation where nothing seems totally clear about what’s going to happen,” Zizza told me. “We won’t be practicing or playing at White Stadium and I’m not sure where we’re playing.” Ray Butler, the football coach at Boston Latin, conveyed similar uncertainty about the future. “We could come out of this with something better,” Butler said in an interview. “But a lot of things need to happen first.”

Both coaches agree: White Stadium needs a major overhaul. But announcing a big, fancy makeover before nailing down a solid game plan for those students who won’t reap all the benefits of it is a fumble. The city’s proposed partnership with Boston Unity Soccer Partners may be as fabulous and forward-thinking as Wu says it is. (Boston Globe CEO Linda Henry is an investor in the soccer venture.) But the mayor should have first addressed the needs of all the student athletes who would be affected by it before getting caught up in her vision of future stadium glory.

Uncertainty over where those two football teams would end up playing their home games drives some of the controversy over Wu’s big idea for White Stadium. She also faces a lawsuit from the Emerald Necklace Conservancy — an environmental nonprofit — and 20 residents who want to stop the renovation plan because they say it amounts to an unconstitutional privatization of public land. Wu’s failure to build a loud and public network of support for the White Stadium plan — before she announced it — took the gloss of what could otherwise be seen as bold and creative leadership.

The same thing happened with her proposal — later withdrawn — to move the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science from Roxbury to West Roxbury without first getting the O’Bryant community on board.

You could blame those challenges to Wu’s vision on the forces of “no,” which are undoubtedly strong in Boston. But it also shows an inability or unwillingness to build trust by listening and responding to concerns before unveiling her grand vision.

According to Zizza, Boston Latin Academy has for years been playing its five regular season home games at White Stadium and practiced there once a week during the season. The team, which walks from Latin Academy to that Franklin Park location, has also practiced at an adjacent field, which wouldn’t be available during the planned construction and renovation of White Stadium.

Zizza said the latest he has heard is that his team will practice at the Garvey Playground in Dorchester. “Supposedly, we will have transportation,” he told me. But there are often transportation issues in Boston. Earlier this month, a BPS baseball team was stranded when a bus didn’t show up to take players to their season opener. Practice location is also a concern because the 60 to 80 kids who play for Boston Latin Academy come from all over the city. If it takes longer to get to practice, that means practice ends late and the players, many of whom use public transportation, will be getting home later, too. According to Zizza, where the team will play its home games is still being worked out.

There is somewhat more stability for the Boston Latin football team, which will continue to practice at Roberto Clemente Field in the Fens. Boston Latin plays one home game at Harvard Stadium and needs a new home for only four games. “They’re trying to figure out now what we’re going to be doing for our home games,” Butler told me.

Some might say, what’s the big deal about four or five home football games? In the end, the city will have a beautiful facility with more access for Boston schoolchildren who play soccer and participate in track and field. Yet the inequities and inadequacies of Boston school sports have long been documented. The initial, dismissive attitude toward those displaced football teams simply repeats a longstanding tradition of disrespect — and reinforces that longago, cynical advice given to Zizza.

Don’t get upset. Because no one cares.

Uncertainty over where two high school football teams would end up playing their home games drives some of the controversy over Wu’s big idea for White Stadium.