Mayor Michelle Wu blasted the Kraft Group’s proposal for building a stadium in Everett to host the New England Revolution, calling their mitigation offer to Boston an “unserious proposal” — criticisms the Revolution’s president and Everett mayor pushed back against.
“This Kraft Group offer does not come close to reflecting the strain the stadium would place on our infrastructure, our transportation systems and on our neighborhoods,” said Wu. “Boston residents deserve better. We deserve a responsive proposal that positions this new stadium as a regional point of pride and delivers the benefits that our city and all the Revs fans would expect.”
Wu, along with State Representative Dan Ryan, City Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, and local leaders, gathered early Monday morning in Charlestown across the water from the stadium’s proposed site in Everett.
During the press event, Wu said the the Kraft group had not changed their offer to Boston for expenses related to the stadium’s location bordering the city. Boston has been involved in months of mitigation plans with the Kraft Group, owners of the New England Revolution, and ground can not be broken on the stadium until an agreement is reached.
The privately-funded 25,000-seat stadium is slotted to be built on 43 acres of land along the Mystic River in Everett, home immediately to a defunct power plant that loomed behind Wu during the press conference.
Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria and Revs President Brian Bilello later held a press conference to respond to Wu’s claims at the proposed site in Everett Monday afternoon.
“From the very start of this process, since that first meeting in February, our team has met with the city over half a dozen times, and throughout the entire process, I can only describe the tenor and tone of those cooperative and cordial,” said Bilello. “So you can understand why it’s upsetting and frustrating to us that the only thing being said publicly about these meetings is negative.”
Wu said the group’s offer of $750,000 to the city is a “non-starter,” noting it is “just 1.1% of the $68 million mitigation package that was paid for the Everett casino project right nearby years ago.”
“$750,000 is just one and a half months of a billionaire son’s allowance,” said Wu. “It is nowhere near the scale of what we need to address the plans that have already been laid out by our residents, with our traffic engineers, with the coordination of the entire region.”
Wu said the city is seeking a “clear plan for transportation that keeps pressure off already congested transit and roads;” “commitments to noise and climate mitigation … a workforce 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.”
“It’s important to know, and you can see from right here that the residential impact is going to be on Charlestown and not on Everett, because their residents live way far away,” Wu said, indicating the area across the river. “This has been an industrial area for them for a very long time.”
The Everett mayor pushed back on the idea that Everett residents would not be subject to the impacts of the stadium.
“I know of residents that live right a block away from here, so the impacts would be felt of cars coming to the facility,” said DeMaria. “There’s not going to be any cars.”
DeMaria referenced transportation updates to the area, including a project building a footbridge from Assembly Row, plans to bring the Silver Line to Everett, plans to build a local Commuter Rail stop and more.
Bilello said the Kraft Group has been working to provide the city information, stating they are often “starting from scratch with these studies” and taking more time.
“Anytime we’ve been asked to provide information, we’ve provided it, and in case we didn’t have the information, we’ve launched a study to get the information,” said Bilello. “The city is well aware of this, and we are working currently on a number of studies on traffic and mitigation.”
The Rev’s president added they “look forward to re-engaging with the city’s team and hopefully moving the process forward.”
Wu stated the Boston representatives “wanted to make sure that the public got some information about what was happening and where the position of the city is before we begin mediation.”
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