Wu Holds Press Conference  on Everett Soccer Stadium

By Cary Shuman

Mayor Michelle Wu hosted a press conference Monday at Ryan Playground regarding the ongoing negotiations with the Kraft Group for a community benefits agreement (CBA) for the proposed 25,000-seat soccer stadium that would be built in Everett across from Encore Boston Harbor.

The former site of a now-closed power plant on Alford Street in Everett would be transformed into the home field and headquarters of the New England Revolution professional soccer team that currently plays at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.

Wu delivered the opening remarks at the press conference. Also speaking at the event were Rep. Dan Ryan, City Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, Sen. Sal DiDomenico, Commissioner of the Boston Transportation Department Nick Gove, and Charlestown neighborhood leaders Brian Callahan and Marty Kane.

Beginning her thorough update on the discussions with the Kraft Group, Wu noted the proximity of the Charlestown neighborhood to the proposed stadium.

“It’s a great site for Everett and we very much want every single surrounding community in the Greater Boston area to be thriving, to develop the site that is an eyesore for them, to bring jobs, to bring opportunity, because when they thrive, we thrive in the City of Boston as well,” said Wu. “But it’s important to note and you can see from right here [Ryan Playground just across the Mystic River] that the residential impact is going to be on Charlestown and not on Everett because their residents live way faraway. This has been an industrial area for them for a very long time.”

‘Mitigation offer is a non-starter’

Mayor Wu said that “since February the City of Boston and the Kraft Group have met six times to establish a fair mitigation agreement as required by law.”

“At each meeting and in written follow-up sent by our Boston Planning Department, the City of Boston has asked the Kraft Group for basic information about the stadium’s impact on transportation, noise, jobs, air and water, the daily impacts that will be felt by our residents,” said Wu. “We’ve asked clear questions. But we’ve received limited to no answers. To this day, the Kraft Group has provided the City no meaningful, technical information.”

Wu said the Kraft Group’s offer of $750,000 in mitigation funds for the City of Boston, “which was proposed before the City was involved in any closed-door conversations that happened in Everett a year ago, is a non-starter.” It is an unserious proposal – $750,000 is just 1.1 percent of the $68 million mitigation package that was paid for by the Everett casino [Encore Boston Harbor] project right nearby years ago. It is nowhere near the scale of what we need to address the plans  that have been already laid out by our residents with our traffic engineers, with the coordination of the entire region.

“This Kraft Group offer does not come close to reflecting the strains the stadium would place on our infrastructure, our transportation system, and on our neighborhoods. Boston residents deserve better,” added Wu.

The mayor outlined four points about what the City of Boston expects in the agreement with the Kraft Group, “a clear plan for transportation that keeps pressure off already congested transit and roads; a commitment to noise and climate mitigation; a work force plan that reflects our values, local hiring, supplier diversity, and fair wages; and a neighborhood-level analysis that shows who stands to benefit from the stadium and who will bear its costs.”

Rep. Dan Ryan

Rep. Ryan said, “the Mayor’s investment in Charlestown and this lost corridor in Charlestown [notably the renovation of the fields at Ryan Playground] is not just about a soccer stadium and not about the New England Revolution – it’s about the vision the Mayor has, the vision we as a community have for this end of our neighborhood, a forgotten end. This is a chance to revitalize this area. You only have this chance once every 100 years or so, and we need the New England Revolution to be a part of that revitalization.”

Councilor Gabriela

Coletta Zapata

Coletta began her remarks by crediting Wu’s leadership on the issue.

“I want to be sure to express gratitude to our incredible mayor, Michelle Wu, who is exemplifying leadership here and is fighting on behalf of not just Charlestown but Bostonians every single day,” said Coletta, who also represents East Boston and the North End on the City Council.

Coletta said she is firmly in accord with Charlestown’s “community leaders and residents in calling for the Kraft Group to provide and deliver this proud one square mile what he deserves – which is full transparency, serious mitigation, and transformative investment that meets the scale of this project and its impact.”

Agreeing with Mayor Wu’s statement that the Kraft Group’s offer of $750,000 in mitigation funds is not close to being sufficient, Coletta said, “It’s not even two percent of the $68 million [that Encore Boston Harbor paid in mitigation to the City of Boston] – to me that’s not a partnership, quite frankly, it’s an insult.”

Sen. DiDomenico

DiDomenico, who represents Everett and Charlestown in the Senate and championed the soccer stadium project, said, “I’ve been advocating for this development because I want something better than what we have behind us [meaning the dilapidated site of a shuttered power plant and a closed-off waterfront].”

“A new day has come for Charlestown and for Everett,” continued DiDomenico. “We are no longer going to have on our  gateways to our communities, smokestacks, who have done so much damage to our communities. And it’s a new day because we have an opportunity with the Revolution to now right a lot of wrongs that have happened for so long and create opportunities for economic development and transit options that we have never even dreamed about in the past. I know Mayor Wu is ready to negotiate. I am hearing the Revolution are ready to negotiate. Let’s negotiate, let’s get something done for the betterment of both communities.”

 BTD Commissioner Nick Gove

Gove, who is a Charlestown resident, elaborated on the daily traffic congestion in the immediate vicinity of the proposed soccer stadium.

“The average daily traffic count for Rutherford Avenue is over 60,000 vehicles a day,” said Gove. “Route 99, which includes the Alford Street Bridge, is over 43,000 vehicles a day. The MBTA rapid transit facility at Sullivan Square serves the Orange Line and over 10 regional bus connections. Infrastructure investments are necessary to mitigate and plan for the stadium project, including off-site parking mitigation and shuttles, supplemental transit options, and improved walking access from existing transit hubs.”

Gove added that “short-term the stadium proponent should commit their fair share” to the $200 million in investments being made by the state and the City of Boston on improving the Route 99 corridor and access for residents of Boston, Somerville, Everett, and Cambridge residents.”

Neighborhood leader

Brian Callahan

A resident of Charlestown and a member of the Sullivan Square Residents Association, Callahan thanked Mayor Wu “for standing up for the residents of Charlestown on this most important public safety issue. She’s putting people before profit. That is what we’re here for today, the residents of Charlestown.”

Callahan added that, “all roads lead through Sulllivan Square, and public safety is paramount to all the folks who live and work in Charlestown – there’s nothing more important than that, at all. Now is the time to protect the residents of Charlestown and Everett and the folks that commute here every day. I ask the development team to work very closely with the City and the Mayor to address the public safety issues that have been facing our community for years. If not now, when? We’ve waited way too long.”

Noting the vehicular traffic on nearby Route 99 during the press conference, Callahan  thoughtfully thanked a City of Boston staff member for having a public address speaker adjacent to the podium that allowed the media to hear the speakers clearly.

“Whoever thought of the idea of a speaker, thank you very much,” said Callahan.

Neighborhood leader

Marty Kane

Kane, who grew up in Charlestown, called Charlestown “a really nice place with some of the best public schools in the City.”

“Nothing’s going to feel that stadium and this development like Charlestown is. The traffic already at Sullivan Square is just a hub. It’s not a Charlestown thing. It’s not a Boston thing. It’s a state thing, it’s actually a New England thing. Any time of day you can see [license] plates from Rhode Island and New Hampshire trying to cut through side streets to try to get to the highway, and something needs to be done there. This is the time to mitigate that.”

Kane also expressed concern about the sounds that will radiate from the stadium on game nights and concert dates.

“Charlestown is a hill and half of that hill is just going to absorb the sound from that stadium,” said Kane, who believes the $750,000 mitigation offer for Boston is far short of what is necessary to address infrastructure improvements related to the stadium.