White Stadium plan deserves support
Critics ought to give mayor michelle Wu’s plan to fix White stadium in franklin park a second look. the initial rollout of the project, which would turn the decrepit facility into a top-notch football, soccer, and track and field venue, didn’t really do justice to what is, indeed, a transformative plan for boston’s student-athletes. and since the proposal was announced, city hall has given reasonable answers to some of the reasonable questions posed by community members.
Under the plan, a professional women’s soccer team would put $50 million into renovating the stadium, and the city would put in another $50 million. the pro team would have use of the park for up to 20 games, many of them over the summer when studentathletes wouldn’t need the field anyway. Investors in the national Women’s soccer league boston team include linda henry, chief executive and co-owner of the globe, who holds a small, noncontrolling interest in the new team. henry recused herself from involvement in this editorial.
for bps soccer players and track and field athletes, there’s nothing but upside from the plan. they’d get a new facility with new locker rooms. the track would expand from six lanes to eight. “this is a partnership that will help us secure, revitalize, and expand access for student-athletes and the public to a treasured resource that has been decaying for far too long,” Wu said in a meeting with the globe editorial board in february. “this will more than triple the playable hours for our student-athletes.”
the only downside, from a bps perspective, is for the two high school football teams that play there, boston latin school and boston latin academy. because of the wear and tear football would cause to the field, they would not be able to play there during the soccer season. Unfortunately, when the city rolled out the White stadium proposal it didn’t have a plan for where those teams would play instead. but now it does: a spokesperson for the city said bls would play at clemente field, where the team already practices, and latin academy would play at the West Roxbury education complex. the only missing piece now is a practice site for latin academy.
the other main objection has been that the women’s team will draw too much traffic to the area, which is located near where Jamaica plain and Roxbury meet. When the stadium was built in 1947, the site was a few minutes’ walk from the former egleston station, but now the orange line is about a half-mile away. even assuming the games sell out, though, 10,000 visitors ought to be manageable. “there will be some combination of shuttling from public transportation and other ways to make use of parking elsewhere in the park or nearby,” Wu said. the city has been holding planning sessions to work out details. the sooner the city can finalize the transportation plan, the better.
meanwhile, a group of taxpayers filed a lawsuit against the project, claiming it would amount to an illegal privatization of a public space. they also allege the city is violating constitutional protections on parkland, which the Wu administration disputes. Underlying the opposition seems to be a distrust that the city will actually deliver on the promises of increased access.
but polls indicate most of the neighborhood favors the proposal, and by filling in some of the blanks from the initial rollout, the city should be able to win over at least some remaining skeptics. White stadium was built to be the showcase venue for boston’s studentathletes — and with the scale of investment the city and its partners are talking about, it could be again.