
For
residential streets within the walkshed (walking distance to White
Stadium), restrictions would apply from four hours before kickoff to one
hour after the game ends. Under a City of Boston traffic plan, game days at White Stadium will involve seven-hour parking bans in the neighborhoods surrounding Franklin Park during which non-permitted cars will receive $100 tickets and be towed.
The traffic plan, released in April, calls for the creation of a White Stadium parking district, that would roughly cover the area between Erie and Washington Streets in Dorchester, Warren Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard in Roxbury, and follow Chestnut Ave., Atherton Street to Green Street, then follow Washington Street to Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain.
On game days, which will mostly be Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, parking will be restricted to permit holders who live in the district from four hours before game time until one hour after games have concluded. Given the league’s 7 p.m. game times, the parking ban will likely be in effect from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. on game days.
While residents in the district can purchase parking permits from the city, they will receive just one guest pass for each car registered to their address, making social gatherings on game days impossible, noted Roxbury resident Victoria Williams, who chairs the Ward 12 Democratic Committee.
“If you have a barbeque or birthday party and more than one person is coming, they can’t park,” she said.
The
game day parking restrictions could also conflict with other events in
the areas around Franklin Park such as church festivals, festivals at
the Museum of the Center for Afro American Artists, basketball
tournaments and other events in Malcolm X Park, wakes and memorial
services at local funeral homes, or — in the case of weeknight games —
parent-teacher conferences, community meetings or other events at the 11
schools within the city’s White Stadium parking district.
Dion Irish, chief of operations for the city, stressed that the plan city officials released is a not the final version.
“This
is a draft plan,” he said. “I definitely don’t want anyone to think
that this is final. We do want to hear what are the concerns or thoughts
that people may have about what has been proposed.”
Irish
said the city has given the team owners, Boston Unity Soccer Partners,
blackout dates to reserve the park for the festivals that happen
annually there. As for the festivals and events that happen within the
White Stadium parking zone, Irish says the city is open to ideas from
residents of that area.
“We’re
trying our hardest to find solutions to problems and it’s still a work
in progress,” he said. “I’m confident I will find a way to address these
important concerns.”
Critics
of the White Stadium plan say the deeper underlying issue is the lack
of community engagement surrounding the White Stadium project. City
officials did little to solicit community input before releasing a
request for proposals for the redevelopment of White Stadium, but did
for months have extensive conversations with Boston Unity Soccer
Partners, the sole respondents to the RFP.
“Since
day one, I have emphasized the importance of community input and
transparency in the White Stadium project,” said state Rep. Christopher
Worrell,
who’s Hewins Street address is within the proposed no parking zone.
“This is most critical when it comes to transportation and parking,
because these are two areas that will most directly impact the
surrounding neighborhoods.”
Within
the city’s proposed White Stadium parking zone are two Boston Public
Library branches, more than a dozen churches, a mosque, several public
parks and playgrounds as well as restaurants, laundromats, drug stores,
barber shops and other businesses that rely to varying degrees on auto
traffic and on-street parking.
There
appears to be a lot the city has yet to work out. How will home health
aides who visit elderly residents know when there’s a game day and
parking is restricted? How will local businesses accommodate customers
without on-street parking when the city is planning to enforce a parking
ban with $100 tickets and towing?
“Our streets our filled with cars from people who patronize the
businesses in Egleston Square,” noted Renee Stacey Welch, who was a
plaintiff in a lawsuit against the city and Boston Unity Soccer Players
that sought, unsuccessfully, to stop the project from moving forward.
While
city neighborhoods such as the Fenway and the West End contend with
parking issues during sports games, White Stadium presents a
different level of challenge, as there are no large public parking
facilities in the area and the stadium is surrounded by narrow
residential streets.
The
city’s proposal calls for satellite parking areas — yet to be
identified — and shuttle buses that would bring spectators to the
stadium from such parking areas and MBTA stations. The plan calls for a
maximum of 40 shuttle bus trips to the 12,000-seat stadium. Shuttle
buses will access the park via Circuit Drive or access the Walnut Avenue
entrance to the park via Columbus Avenue.
Ride share drivers will be able to drop passengers at the entrance to the park at Humboldt Avenue and Seaver Street.
Victoria
Williams says city officials should at bare minimum conduct a traffic
study for the area, given the planned parking ban. A state plan to
convert the Shattuck Hospital into housing and treatment facilities for
people with substance misuse disorders and the proposed redesign of Blue
Hill Avenue would reduce auto traffic on the thoroughfare to one lane
in sections.
“I
believe the community deserves a comprehensive transportation study of
the entire area, inclusive of how people who live here currently travel,
what streets actually want permitted parking and what streets don’t,”
she said. “I think we’re entitled to that.”
Rep. Worrell says he is keeping an eye on the city’s plans.
“The
continuing needs of the community and its resident must always come
before all else, which is why I will continue to demand detailed plans
put in place that reflect neighborhood input,” he said. “Plain and
simple: If something isn’t working, then it needs to be changed before
the next time the stadium is used.”