To the Editor:

I have been following the White Stadium project closely, and I was disappointed in the position you’ve expressed in your Reporter editorial, starting with the headline, “Mayor Wu Delivers on White Stadium Deal.” She did indeed deliver…to billionaire Jennifer Epstein, her husband Bill Keravouri (who is in line to get a hefty contract for development of his wife’s stadium, paid for with our tax dollars), and to the other wealthy investors who will reap a tax windfall over the next decade from our public park. But no one should be fooled into thinking that Boston student athletes are the winners here.

There is no debate about the fact that White Stadium needs to be rebuilt or that its renovation is long overdue. Boston Public School athletes deserve a first-rate stadium that can accommodate football, soccer, track, and other team sports, as well as graduations and other community events. We all agree that Frederick Law Olmsted’s historic Franklin Park needs and deserves enhanced maintenance. For too long, it has been the neglected link in the Emerald Necklace, and not the jewel that Olmsted envisioned. We all want BOS Nation to play in a stadium that will enhance their chances of success and meet their needs into the future.

This plan is deeply flawed, and the people who live in the neighborhoods that surround it deserve better. Boston student athletes, whether they attend public, charter, or private schools deserve better. The taxpayers of Boston who will foot the bill for this overbuilt stadium deserve better. The real tragedy is that it doesn’t need to be this way.

The New England Revolution is going to build a soccer stadium in Everett that will be twice the size of White Stadium. At 24,000 seats, it will match the capacity of most U.S. soccer stadiums. It will have the means to offer better transportation options, including nearby T service, parking, a ferry, and potentially, a commuter rail station – and Revolution management has reached out to BOS Nation to share the stadium. While just over the bridge from Boston, the Everett stadium will not be in a residential neighborhood or, heaven help us, in a historic park. White Stadium can be fully renovated for high school sports, made ADA compliant, and include an 8-lane track, for a fraction of the $91million and counting that the Mayor currently projects just for the east grandstand.

Contrary to the Mayor’s recent comment that spending anything less than $200 million would just be a “coat of paint,” other high school stadiums and even college level stadiums have been built from scratch across the US for far less. No Jumbotron, no beer garden, no swag shop, no disruption to surrounding neighborhoods, no traffic nightmare, no destruction of trees and park land, no loss of playing time for our kids because BOS Nation doesn’t want football cleats to damage their turf.

As for maintenance, the money saved would be more than enough to fund a trust to provide annual maintenance in perpetuity – and still leave millions of dollars in the pocketbooks of Boston taxpayers. I know that Boston residents in all neighborhoods are struggling to pay the rent and put groceries in the fridge. Expecting them to take on $91 million in debt seems like the height of arrogance. Contrary to Mayor Wu’s statements to the people of the city, there is a way forward here where everyone can win.

Marti A. Glynn
Payson Avenue