Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray WBZ Causton's Radio.
Speaker 2: Thanks very much, Dan, as we move into our second
Speaker 2: hour here on a Wednesday night. It's February nineteenth for
Speaker 2: those of you keeping score at home or wherever you
Speaker 2: might find yourself, and we are talking this hour about
Speaker 2: the demolition of White Stadium. It's intriguing to me as
Speaker 2: a story because it's become an issue in the mayoral race.
Speaker 2: But it's also an intriguing issue to me as a
Speaker 2: story because this venerable facility that you know, you can
Speaker 2: say it's old, but it's served its purpose in Boston
Speaker 2: for many years, is now I guess, undergoing a complete
Speaker 2: demolition or the demolition has started, even though there is
Speaker 2: a trial some of the organizations and groups, the community
Speaker 2: groups and also a group there's a conservancy which has
Speaker 2: filed suit against the city. And this joining us right
Speaker 2: now is Boston Merrow Kennedy, Josh Kraft, who was there
Speaker 2: with some demonstrators today, people who were protesting what's going on. Josh,
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Night's Side. Could you paint the scene
Speaker 2: for us today bitterly cold day and you had we
Speaker 2: talked last hour at the end of the last hour
Speaker 2: with a Statehouse reporter who covered this. Had to be
Speaker 2: a lot of people pretty dedicated to be out in
Speaker 2: that sort of weather today.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Dan, thanks and thank you for having me again.
Speaker 3: I'm always always open and love coming on your show.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3: Very, very cold today. But really the passion, the commitment
Speaker 3: and the feelings of just the strong, strong feelings from
Speaker 3: the folks that were out there today was pretty powerful.
Speaker 3: It's people that have used the park from generations, you know, families,
Speaker 3: generations using the park, to families with young kids to
Speaker 3: use the park. And again, as I started, I mean
Speaker 3: you could feel their passion and their love of the
Speaker 3: park and their their sadness or their intense sadness for
Speaker 3: what's going on.
Speaker 2: Well, and this is it's a wonderful location. Some people
Speaker 2: in Boston have never been there. But you have the
Speaker 2: Franklin Park golf course, you have the Franklin Park Zoo,
Speaker 2: you have White Stadium, and they're all within this this
Speaker 2: this green space in the center of you know, Dorchester, Jamaica.
Speaker 2: Plane touches a little bit on roslind Dale or whatever
Speaker 2: it's it's it's a wonderful location. And right now the
Speaker 2: city has worked out this deal. It's it's I guess
Speaker 2: the city's intention is to have it host a women's
Speaker 2: professional soccer team. But in addition to the demolition of
Speaker 2: the park, and Josh, you know a lot more about
Speaker 2: this than I do, my understanding is that there are
Speaker 2: dozens of trees that are going to be taken down.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's over one hundred and forty trees.
Speaker 3: I don't know the I think I'm going to I
Speaker 3: think it's one hundred and forty five, but don't hold
Speaker 3: me to that. But I know it's one hundred.
Speaker 2: We could stay in that feet. That's a dozen scores
Speaker 2: of trees here.
Speaker 6: Yeah, why have they taken the trees aren't on the
Speaker 6: playing surface of the prospective soccer stadium or what was
Speaker 6: was a what was a high school football complex for
Speaker 6: decades for Boston school kids.
Speaker 2: Why why do one hundred and forty trees have to
Speaker 2: bite the dust?
Speaker 5: I think it's for the bigger vision, which would entail
Speaker 5: like a.
Speaker 3: Concession, a novelty concession stand, or a beer garden, maybe
Speaker 3: egress entrance and egress. I don't have all the specifics
Speaker 3: on that, but I know.
Speaker 2: I'm assuming that there's going to be some element to
Speaker 2: parking here that instead of having trees, it's there's going
Speaker 2: to be crowds coming in periodically, I guess from sometime
Speaker 2: in March through late October to witness soccer matches. Tell
Speaker 2: us about the people who you were dealing with. The
Speaker 2: folks who were out there today, it looked to me
Speaker 2: to be a very interesting crowd of young people, older people, uh, mixed,
Speaker 2: you know, different backgrounds, different races. That it's it looked
Speaker 2: like a wonderful group of people. Tell us a little
Speaker 2: bit about the folks that you met today at that demonstration.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Dan, thanks, It truly it is now that it
Speaker 3: truly was a community of different people, all with a true,
Speaker 3: uh an unequivocal love of the park. And you know,
Speaker 3: there are folks who, as I mentioned, generations had you know,
Speaker 3: their family had gone to the park for generations, they
Speaker 3: had grown up going to the park. They they're older.
Speaker 3: Now there's families with young kids who use the park consistently,
Speaker 3: or families of color, white families, some folks who are
Speaker 3: hearing into folks from Charlestown, folks from Savin Hills. It
Speaker 3: wasn't just people that touched the park every day. But
Speaker 3: just a lot of people that love the park and
Speaker 3: feel passionate about it. And you could feel the energy
Speaker 3: when you were there this morning. It was cold, but
Speaker 3: they were staying warm.
Speaker 2: I'm assuming that there must be a lot of people
Speaker 2: who live in the Dorchester Roxby Mattapan community who have
Speaker 2: watched the zoo is a fabulous institution that draws people
Speaker 2: from all over the world to visit. The golf course
Speaker 2: for golfers is wonderful urban golf course. Remember Mayor Menino
Speaker 2: used to love to play that golf course. He prefer
Speaker 2: to play that. Then he used to prefer to tell me,
Speaker 2: you prefer to play that over playing the Brookline Country Club,
Speaker 2: although I think it played. He was a very good
Speaker 2: he was a good golfer. But you had this stadium
Speaker 2: which the city, it seems, has not maintained. It's fallen
Speaker 2: into disrepair. It's almost as if if I lived in
Speaker 2: that community and I grew up in Boston, but I didn't,
Speaker 2: I didn't live contiguous or within a mile or two
Speaker 2: of the park. I would feel a little betrayed at
Speaker 2: this point. That wait a second, A public green space
Speaker 2: that my kids and myself and maybe grandkids have played
Speaker 2: in and utilized now is going to be turned into
Speaker 2: a more private venture for for a group of folks
Speaker 2: who probably would have trouble finding White Stadium without a
Speaker 2: road map. I mean, this this lot of irony here
Speaker 2: in my opinion, Josh, I don't know if you sense
Speaker 2: that or or have since that when you're when you're
Speaker 2: out and about.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's definitely Dan. I think you captured the spirit
Speaker 3: of the folks, the community of folks that were there
Speaker 3: this morning, and you know, have been passionate about the
Speaker 3: park since, you know, for a long time, long before
Speaker 3: I met any of them. And I do feel like,
Speaker 3: you know, that's part of their argument is you've ignored
Speaker 3: it for so long and while a sudden from zero
Speaker 3: these are my words, zero to one hundred miles an hour,
Speaker 3: what about going thirty five miles an hour and fixing
Speaker 3: just the high school with a part of the one
Speaker 3: hundred million dollars, or to fix parts of it and
Speaker 3: maintain a kess for BPS.
Speaker 2: And I know that, I know one of the concerns
Speaker 2: is that because of the length of the professional softball season,
Speaker 2: I mean, this team in Massachusetts, which is supposed to
Speaker 2: start play in twenty twenty six is joining a women's
Speaker 2: professional soccer league that have already a schedule that I
Speaker 2: think it starts in March and then it went way
Speaker 2: wins its way through the wonderful months of you know, May, June, July, August,
Speaker 2: September into October, and they have their playoffs and their
Speaker 2: championship and that's not going to change. It's that that
Speaker 2: White Stadium facility is not going to be used for
Speaker 2: high school football, I assume while during the soccer the
Speaker 2: professional soccer season, because the team has now a lease there.
Speaker 2: This this, this is just the whole aspect of this
Speaker 2: that troubles me. And I'm going to hope that I'm
Speaker 2: going to let you go because you've had a long day,
Speaker 2: but I want to thank you for your activism here
Speaker 2: because it's you are fighting city This is what I
Speaker 2: hate to put it like that, Josh, but you're fighting
Speaker 2: city hall, and of course in turn running for city Hall.
Speaker 2: There's gonna be a lot of issues we want to
Speaker 2: talk with you about over the next few months, and
Speaker 2: I think you put a stake in the ground that
Speaker 2: this is an important issue to you. And if you
Speaker 2: were our elected mayor, will there be anything that you
Speaker 2: can do to to sort of turn this around. That
Speaker 2: would be not that would really be my last question.
Speaker 2: You would not take office until sometime in January, if
Speaker 2: you if you succeed in November.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if I'm honored enough to become the mayor, that
Speaker 3: wouldn't be tilled January. But I know there's a court
Speaker 3: case beginning March eighteenth on this whole issue. A bunch
Speaker 3: of folks, you know that we're out there today, are
Speaker 3: part of a case, you know, trying to stop you know,
Speaker 3: the city from carrying forward with the project. So I
Speaker 3: think that's what I said. I mean, we need to
Speaker 3: take a pause. We need to at least pause till
Speaker 3: the court and the judicial process plays out, and then
Speaker 3: just see where we end up. I think.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I'll tell you standing a little back further
Speaker 2: from this dispute than you. I don't understand why any
Speaker 2: judge would not have considered very seriously issuing a temporary
Speaker 2: restraining order, because one of the elements I know of
Speaker 2: temporary restraining orders as a lawyer is you have to
Speaker 2: prove a fairly good likelihood even maybe a better chance
Speaker 2: of winning than losing. But the other is irreparable damage. Obviously,
Speaker 2: literally figuratively irreparable damage is being done to this facility
Speaker 2: now on a day to day basis. And if they
Speaker 2: are able to destroy this facility, why bother with the trial?
Speaker 2: I mean, talk about ignoring the judicial system. They're just
Speaker 2: going full speed ahead. And there's something about that that
Speaker 2: that that really just doesn't strike me as being honest
Speaker 2: and the way the system is supposed to work. So
Speaker 2: we're going to continue to follow this one, and you're
Speaker 2: you're welcome any night here jogs to it to talk
Speaker 2: about it. Thank you so much for joining us tonight,
Speaker 2: and thank you thanks for taking up this you too,
Speaker 2: my friend. We'll talk soon, Josh. By the way, folks
Speaker 2: want to get in touch with you on this or
Speaker 2: any other issue, what's the best way they can do that?
Speaker 3: Uh can go to our website Josh for Boston dot Com.
Speaker 2: Perfect, Okay, it couldn't be couldn't be more direct, Josh
Speaker 2: for Boston dot Com, Josh Kraft, Thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Thank thanks, Josh. Talk soon when we get back. I
Speaker 2: want to just open up the phone lines and hear
Speaker 2: from those of you who have a feeling about this.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 2: Some of you played high school sports in this park,
Speaker 2: Some of you live in the surrounding communities, and obviously
Speaker 2: the closer you are to Franklin Park, the more likely
Speaker 2: that you avail yourself of the zoo, that you avail
Speaker 2: yourself maybe of walking in the in the in the area,
Speaker 2: walk the golf course or whatever, and enjoy maybe high
Speaker 2: school football and track in the fall. Is this something
Speaker 2: that you're concerned about. I am concerned about it because
Speaker 2: it is it is. It's It's a facility that was
Speaker 2: ignored for decades. It was allowed to fall into disrepair.
Speaker 2: And if I lived in that area, you know, contiguous
Speaker 2: to the park, I would not want to see that
Speaker 2: green space changed, and I'd like to see it upgraded,
Speaker 2: to be honest with you. But to see one hundred
Speaker 2: and forty five or so trees eliminated now, Crystal Epinskey
Speaker 2: said in the segment before nine o'clock In Fairness, Chris
Speaker 2: reported to us that the city has committed to replanting trees.
Speaker 2: But look, it takes a long time to blow to
Speaker 2: grow a tree. As someone once said, when's the best
Speaker 2: time to plant a tree yesterday? Because if you knock
Speaker 2: down trees that have been there for a while, you
Speaker 2: talk about green space in the city. In most urban
Speaker 2: areas it's mostly cemented concrete. So we got lots to
Speaker 2: talk about. I hope you'll feel free to join the conversation.
Speaker 2: Here are the numbers six one, seven, two five for
Speaker 2: ten thirty that's one line or six one seven, nine
Speaker 2: three one ten thirty. Those are the two lines six
Speaker 2: one seven both six one seven two five four ten
Speaker 2: thirty or nine three one ten thirty. Let's light them
Speaker 2: up and let's talk about it. And if you feel
Speaker 2: that this is the greatest thing that's ever happened to
Speaker 2: Franklin Park and you want to put a plug in
Speaker 2: for it, let me know we uh, if you feel
Speaker 2: like I do that there are more questions. Is the
Speaker 2: answers here I'd love to hear from as well. Coming
Speaker 2: back on Nightside.
Speaker 7: Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
Speaker 7: Nightside Studios on w b Z the news Radio.
Speaker 2: Okay, we're going to go right to the phones here
Speaker 2: and again, feel free to explain to me what your
Speaker 2: interest is in the story. Let me start it off
Speaker 2: with Bill in Boston. Bill, welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 5: How are you sir, Good evening, Dan, This is Bill right,
Speaker 5: How are you?
Speaker 8: Oh?
Speaker 2: Hi, Bill? How are you. I got your email the
Speaker 2: other day, I believe, is that not correct? Yes, so
Speaker 2: you've decided that you're going to take a shot at
Speaker 2: the big office as well.
Speaker 5: Yes, I announced it even to a number of people
Speaker 5: that I was waiting for a mayor of the city
Speaker 5: of Boston.
Speaker 2: Okay, tell us what your thought is about. You know,
Speaker 2: we just had Josh Krafton, who was at that demonstration today,
Speaker 2: who's already announced from mayor. What's your thought on White Stadium?
Speaker 2: You you know that community very well over the years.
Speaker 5: Well as you remember Dan on Friday at the noons
Speaker 5: when they were football games, we would leave and head
Speaker 5: up to White Stadium by public transportation. Those games were great.
Speaker 5: Of course, you know the city teams like Boston Tech
Speaker 5: and Boston English now that's played there, and as you.
Speaker 2: Also know, and to mention Boston Latin School too, well, yes.
Speaker 5: Yes I've forgotten them. But of course the Thanksgiving game
Speaker 5: every year was played at Harvard Stadium between Boston Latin
Speaker 5: and Boston English. But I think this problem right now,
Speaker 5: the solution is relatively simple to have the Women's Soccer
Speaker 5: League speak with the new president of Boston University, Melissa
Speaker 5: Gilliam who not only is he a physician, but she
Speaker 5: was the provost for Ohio State before recently beginning of
Speaker 5: a new job at BU. The facility, as you know,
Speaker 5: was a place where the Patriots used to play, and
Speaker 5: when they were the Boston Patriots, they also played at Fenway.
Speaker 5: But the facilities to accommodate a women's soccer league are
Speaker 5: right there for BU, which has parking space, which has
Speaker 5: the Green Line, which has numerous restaurants and other things
Speaker 5: go on Comwealth Avenue as well has the scenic river
Speaker 5: to look at from that location. I think that that
Speaker 5: was a solution for the women's soccer league having their
Speaker 5: place to play. That emotion was put put forward by
Speaker 5: Ed Flynn, But as far as I know, the city
Speaker 5: administration has not contacted doctor Gilliam on the side of
Speaker 5: Franklin Park. It's amazing to me that the price went
Speaker 5: from fifty million to one hundred million. They didn't see
Speaker 5: any explanation of why the price doubled.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well you things about what It's interesting. It didn't
Speaker 2: mean to your up bill, but you mentioned the Patriots
Speaker 2: used to play at what now I guess it's called
Speaker 2: Nickerson Field. Of course, the Boston Braves long ago used
Speaker 2: to play baseball. That was the home of the team
Speaker 2: that became the Milwaukee Braves and is now now the
Speaker 2: Atlanta Braves. But it was also the home of the
Speaker 2: the football team, the Boston Breakers, as late as the
Speaker 2: nineteen eighties. And so you're right, that's a that's a
Speaker 2: piece of real estate that is totally underused and could
Speaker 2: be used, and it's got good seating facility there, and
Speaker 2: it would be a great location, scenic location. May I
Speaker 2: was just going to say that Mayor Will seems to
Speaker 2: be just dead set in favor of substantially changing the
Speaker 2: whole structure in the atmosphere of Franklin Park.
Speaker 5: It's a bad one. When she was talking about taking
Speaker 5: trees out of Malcolm X's rocking down trees there Malcolm
Speaker 5: Park from the Washington Park, the neighbors protested because one
Speaker 5: hundred year old trees were being knocked down. The Ward
Speaker 5: administration said that they would pause and have discussion further,
Speaker 5: but the community thought they meant what they said. They
Speaker 5: kept knocking the trees down even aftery're pledging that they
Speaker 5: would not. They don't seem to realize that when you
Speaker 5: make pledges of the politician or promises to any constituency.
Speaker 5: You have to do what you say you're going to do.
Speaker 2: Well, go ahead. I didn't mean to interrapt go ahead, Bilt, I.
Speaker 5: Say, shell Wu has some problems with veracity, and she
Speaker 5: falls back on you know. I'm sorry, I didn't mean
Speaker 5: it as you said. Why not have a restraining order
Speaker 5: and have a pause to work it out prior to
Speaker 5: going forward, pledging forward? And the White Stadium is not
Speaker 5: named for Kevin White, as you know, it's the Jewish
Speaker 5: Robert White on the stadium for the philanthropists who left
Speaker 5: much to Boston. And you may remember, I don't know
Speaker 5: you're older than me, Onta Dan, I'm class of six.
Speaker 5: I'm class of sixty nine.
Speaker 9: What are you?
Speaker 2: Sixty six?
Speaker 5: Okay, so we're in the building the same time. But
Speaker 5: the wife of.
Speaker 2: The White Boston Latin School, just in case anybody is.
Speaker 5: Confused in Okay, Boston Latin School. Yeah, sixteen thirty five,
Speaker 5: cold wolf Pack. So the thing is, when we were
Speaker 5: children at elementary school, every year the students had the
Speaker 5: best grades in the particular school, we received a reward
Speaker 5: of five dollars. And at the William Bacon School, I
Speaker 5: got that award two years in a row, third and
Speaker 5: fourth grade. Then in fifth grade, I was at the
Speaker 5: Sherwin School in Madison Old Madison Park in South End,
Speaker 5: and I won the award again and my mother came
Speaker 5: to the ceremony and the principal, mister Mead, was about
Speaker 5: to reward me the five dollar bill, and my mother said, Uh,
Speaker 5: he's one that a few times. Why don't you give
Speaker 5: it to somebody else? Now? Back in those days, five
Speaker 5: dollars but a little candy for child, right, you remember that?
Speaker 5: Right then? I couldn't believe them.
Speaker 2: A lot of baseball cards.
Speaker 5: Yes, but find toes with a lot of money right
Speaker 5: for kids, you know at that time. And the funny
Speaker 5: thing about when I look back on it is that
Speaker 5: reward was an incentive. I knew, you know, academics was
Speaker 5: interested in me about wanting to go to school and
Speaker 5: so on. But I saw the connection between education and money,
Speaker 5: and I have an idea for improving the attendance in
Speaker 5: the Boston public schools. I was proposed to.
Speaker 2: Let's let's say, let's let me say that bill for
Speaker 2: the next time we have you. Audi. I want to
Speaker 2: stay on.
Speaker 5: Dan like I'm going to very quickly you'll like it.
Speaker 5: I propose that every Boston student that completes a term
Speaker 5: a semester with full attendance no absence is well receive
Speaker 5: one hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: Bill.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's great. We'll talk about that in greater length
Speaker 2: and greater length. Bill. I respect you very much. You
Speaker 2: know that. But I'm well into my newscast here and
Speaker 2: I might be running for mayor of Boston and moving
Speaker 2: into the city because they'll fire me here if I
Speaker 2: don't get to the newscast. Bill, I got to run.
Speaker 2: We'll have you back, I promise. Thanks. Okay, all right,
Speaker 2: go bough bls app sumas PREMI thank you, Thanks very much. Bill.
Speaker 2: We'll take a break if you want to talk about
Speaker 2: White Stadium. Bill is a candidate from mayor. I don't
Speaker 2: know if he's official yet or not, but he had
Speaker 2: sent me an email the other days at Boston Latin
Speaker 2: School graduate and a good friend, good man. But we
Speaker 2: talked with Josh Kraft, who is a candidate running from mayor.
Speaker 2: Right now, you heard what Josh Craft had to say.
Speaker 2: I want to hear from people in Austin or anyone
Speaker 2: who avails themselves of Franklin Park six one, seven, two, five, four,
Speaker 2: ten thirty. I got a couple of lines there and
Speaker 2: a one line at six one seven nine. Coming right
Speaker 2: back on Nightside.
Speaker 1: You're on night Side with Dan Ray. I'm Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Now feel free, folks. This is an opportunity for you
Speaker 2: to express your opinion. If if, if I think that
Speaker 2: the Mayor's office will listen to a program like this,
Speaker 2: and if they don't hear people actively concerned and opposed,
Speaker 2: they will just say, hey, why not do what we
Speaker 2: want to do. Let's go next to Elizabeth, who's calling
Speaker 2: in from Salem. Hey Elizabeth, welcome to Nightside. How are you.
Speaker 10: Great? I love your show. I found out to the
Speaker 10: last caller that you were at Boston Latin around the
Speaker 10: time my brother was so there you go.
Speaker 2: How about that?
Speaker 5: Huh?
Speaker 10: How about that small world white stadium?
Speaker 2: All right, Elizabeth, we're having trouble with your connection, so
Speaker 2: we're going to ask you to do is don't don't
Speaker 2: hang up. Rob is gonna gonna help you find a
Speaker 2: better spot in your home on your cell phone to
Speaker 2: get in contact with us. So stay right there. We're
Speaker 2: not gonna catch you off. I'll get right back to you.
Speaker 2: Uh In a moment. Once Rob gets you squared away,
Speaker 2: let me go to Dave in West Roxbury. Great to
Speaker 2: hear from West Roxbury. Dave. How are you.
Speaker 5: Tonight, dud?
Speaker 9: Very well, first call.
Speaker 2: First time calling. All right, thank you very much. What's
Speaker 2: your thought of what's going on in White Stadium?
Speaker 5: Hey?
Speaker 9: If well, I went to Boston Land School.
Speaker 2: Hey we're having that's like Aunion tonight.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I played baseball after there was a kid at
Speaker 9: Franklin Park. Sure batch of kite festivals, played golf. I
Speaker 9: just think this is a terrible idea because it's a
Speaker 9: long neighborhood for it, and I don't know how they
Speaker 9: play on parking thousands of cars there.
Speaker 2: Well, one of the things they're doing is they're knocking
Speaker 2: down a whole bunch of trees, which make no sense
Speaker 2: to me. I mean, that's the of Franklin Park. We
Speaker 2: talk in They'll talk in the summertime about the heat
Speaker 2: index in the city and they'll say that because the
Speaker 2: city has so much concrete, it doesn't have enough trees,
Speaker 2: and that people you know, who live in the city,
Speaker 2: it's always hotter and more unpleasant to live. Uh, you know,
Speaker 2: in an urban area when you don't have shade, and
Speaker 2: they're going to knock down one hundred and forty five
Speaker 2: trees whatever the number that Josh Kraft quoted for us
Speaker 2: and in Franklin Park. That seems to me to be
Speaker 2: an absolute insult to that entire community. It's like, we're
Speaker 2: going to fix this for people who make him in
Speaker 2: from the suburbs to watch a soccer match, which is great,
Speaker 2: but you know, good luck if you've lived here and
Speaker 2: you've struggled with you know, some facilities that should have
Speaker 2: been been improved, you know, many many years ago, and
Speaker 2: we're just gonna knock it down. Even though there's a
Speaker 2: court case scheduled to start. I think it's on March eighteenth.
Speaker 2: That's well, it's a month from now. There may be
Speaker 2: no court case to discuss. If if the whole stadium
Speaker 2: has been knocked down by that time, the issue will
Speaker 2: be moot.
Speaker 9: I believe that's renovations that we're going to do. Anyways,
Speaker 9: what they're doing now, I'm not sure if well.
Speaker 2: That's that's fine, but but it shows an intention right now.
Speaker 2: You know, Donald Trump is getting some justifiable criticism for
Speaker 2: threatening not to adhere to what district court judges say
Speaker 2: and you know, he's saying, well, we'll take it at
Speaker 2: the Supreme Court. I think that there's a there's a
Speaker 2: little bit of Donald Trump within Mayor wu here. It's
Speaker 2: like my way of the highway, and I am I'm
Speaker 2: That troubles me, and it would trouble me if I
Speaker 2: lived in that community. And I think that I just
Speaker 2: don't think it's fair to people for whom that park
Speaker 2: is an oasis of of of of enjoyment. That's all
Speaker 2: I'm saying, Dave. I appreciate you taking the time to call.
Speaker 2: I'm sure that you graduated a few years after me
Speaker 2: from Boston Latin School. But as we say, Sumer's premium. Okay,
Speaker 2: Thanks Dave, Thanks so much for calling to me. I favor.
Speaker 2: We've become a regular. Will you'd like to I always
Speaker 2: like to hear from my my, my colleagues at fellow
Speaker 2: alumni from Boston Latin School. Thanks Dave, talkson goodbye. Okay,
Speaker 2: we're gonna take a quick break. We will get back
Speaker 2: to Elizabeth. Elizabeth, you're coming up right after the other
Speaker 2: side of the break. I fill in Boston, and I
Speaker 2: got some room for you if you're in Dorchester. Matta
Speaker 2: Piano Rocks I loved. I want to know you know
Speaker 2: you have an opportunity on this program every night, but
Speaker 2: you particularly have an opportunity tonight to stand up and
Speaker 2: be counted. Whatever you feel. I mean, if you feel
Speaker 2: it's a great idea and you're looking forward to a
Speaker 2: soccer stadium and the traffic and all of that will
Speaker 2: that will accompany it, give us a call. If, on
Speaker 2: the other hand, you feel that your community has been
Speaker 2: given the short end of the stick for a long
Speaker 2: time now and you're simply going to lose the presence
Speaker 2: of one hundred and forty or so trees, full grown
Speaker 2: trees in the park. All I can do is give
Speaker 2: you the number you got to dial it six one, seven, two, five,
Speaker 2: four to ten thirty six one seven, nine three one
Speaker 2: ten thirty Elizabeth and Phil the next and I got
Speaker 2: some room for you if you'd like back on nights
Speaker 2: out after this.
Speaker 7: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 7: Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: We're going back to Elizabeth. Elizabeth, welcome back. I'm told
Speaker 2: that you were in a bad zone. You go right ahead.
Speaker 2: Want to hear what you have to say?
Speaker 10: Hi, Dan, I left off. Oh great, I left off
Speaker 10: with Upham's Corner and my mother grew up there. My
Speaker 10: grandmother lived there and we used to go from West
Speaker 10: Roxbury over to Upham's Corner to see grandma. Yeah, and
Speaker 10: I've been to the zoo. I mean, I'm old, so
Speaker 10: I'm talking years and years and years ago, and I
Speaker 10: you know, I haven't really followed this, but I find
Speaker 10: it sad that White Stadium. And I mean I grew
Speaker 10: up knowing about White Stadium in the football games at all.
Speaker 10: And I actually played golf Stale once years and years ago.
Speaker 10: But one thing I want to say is that I
Speaker 10: had experienced a few years back about a project I
Speaker 10: live in Lynn, and it was people came to us
Speaker 10: and said this is what we're going to do because
Speaker 10: architects from Wellsgate designed something and said this is good
Speaker 10: for you.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 10: They didn't ask us what. They didn't ask us what
Speaker 10: we wanted. They told us why we should love what
Speaker 10: they were telling us they were going to do. Oh yeah,
Speaker 10: my sense is some of this, it's not a lot
Speaker 10: of it's going on here. It's one question I have.
Speaker 10: And another question I have is who benefits from this?
Speaker 5: And I.
Speaker 10: So many benefits from it. And I'm just throwing that out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so let me try to let me try to
Speaker 2: answer that for you. Obviously, the women's professional soccer team
Speaker 2: benefits from it, and the city, I guess would argue
Speaker 2: that they're going to benefit from it. I'm not sure
Speaker 2: that people who live in that community are going to
Speaker 2: benefit from it. And that's the folks right now that
Speaker 2: that I am concerned about, because I think they lose
Speaker 2: access to a to a place that they have always
Speaker 2: had access to.
Speaker 10: Again that and that's exactly my point. Someone is what
Speaker 10: do they always say follow the money, as you I'd
Speaker 10: love to know how much research they've done as to
Speaker 10: what that community really feels about this. And and the
Speaker 10: other thing is take a look at the community and
Speaker 10: I and I mean, it's not like I don't know
Speaker 10: about it, and it's not like I haven't seen it
Speaker 10: since you know, I was little, and I know it's
Speaker 10: changed over the gears, but it hasn't changed that significantly.
Speaker 10: Those people in that community don't have the kinds of
Speaker 10: facilities that for example, not to pick on Wellesley that
Speaker 10: Wellesley has sure.
Speaker 2: And there's there's no about that, There's no doubt about that, Elizabeth.
Speaker 2: And again Uh, that community needs to stand together. Uh
Speaker 2: so far, I think there's that they need. There's a
Speaker 2: need for political leadership in that community. And we'll see
Speaker 2: how it works out. Elizabeth, I got two more. I
Speaker 2: got to sneak in here before the hour is up.
Speaker 2: Thanks for calling.
Speaker 10: It was a pleasure as always.
Speaker 2: Is this your first time? Is this your first time
Speaker 2: calling the show?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 10: I called you once before and you thanked me and
Speaker 10: said call again, and I and I'd love to catch
Speaker 10: you and and I heard this and it's like, you
Speaker 10: know what, those people are getting schnookered and and with
Speaker 10: you and and somebody needs to do something because you
Speaker 10: know what, Dan, this wouldn't happen in a suburb outside
Speaker 10: of Boston because people wouldn't allow it.
Speaker 2: I think you I think you're right on that, Elizabeth.
Speaker 2: Thank you for your for your passion. Appreciate it very much,
Speaker 2: and keep calling the show, call more often. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Let me go next to old friend Phil in Boston. Phil,
Speaker 2: you're next to the night side.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't uh you You threw up that you
Speaker 4: wish there were oasis. It isn't a sense of oasis
Speaker 4: for that, but the person who developed that property, the
Speaker 4: golf course that we used to go there, the zoo
Speaker 4: on Sunday, the beautiful bird case. They think it's brass
Speaker 4: and somewhere. The bottom line is the maya. She used
Speaker 4: a term and I haven't heard of too much shoes.
Speaker 4: And I suspect if mister Kraft used that, he would
Speaker 4: be in trouble. She used the term those base back
Speaker 4: in this in the Civil War days after Coppy days.
Speaker 4: She called him a copper bega. But yet she's in Chicago,
Speaker 4: and I suspect she's she's bringing her unbelievable she's bringing
Speaker 4: her idea of a city to our city. Mister Craft
Speaker 4: use the term coppet bega. I suspect that we all
Speaker 4: over the paper.
Speaker 2: Well, I look, I'm not going to disagree. Everybody has
Speaker 2: you know, uh, you know, mayor, Mayor Wu. You came here,
Speaker 2: went to school at Harvard, Harvard Law School. She ran
Speaker 2: for the city council here, was elected of the city council,
Speaker 2: ran for mayor. So she's been here a while and
Speaker 2: and look that's your term. I don't think she was
Speaker 2: correct in calling him a carpetbagger. I don't think that.
Speaker 2: I don't like that term anyway. People come to Boston,
Speaker 2: and they bring they bring their talents to Boston, and
Speaker 2: people who come here for all the right reasons, I'm
Speaker 2: disagreeing with how My concern is how this group of
Speaker 2: people uh in the Franklin Park area, whatever their background,
Speaker 2: whether they're new residents or old residents, or their family
Speaker 2: has been there for generations, they're getting the short end
Speaker 2: of the stick here. And that's why I'm speaking up
Speaker 2: for them and I and I appreciate I think you're
Speaker 2: speaking up for them as well.
Speaker 4: They should look into the who's doing the contract, Who's
Speaker 4: who's doing the contract. You're not gonna down all the way.
Speaker 4: Oh he didn't know. He told me to, did lie.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 2: We'll see, we'll see. All good, all good advice. Phil.
Speaker 2: As always, I appreciate your passion, you know that. Thank
Speaker 2: you much, Pati. Let me go next up, Thanks Phil,
Speaker 2: thank you. Let's go next to Mary and Hyde Park.
Speaker 2: Mary liked to get you and maybe one more in
Speaker 2: Go ahead.
Speaker 11: And Mary, Okay, Hi, this is the deal breaking for
Speaker 11: me as far as voting for the mayor. I'm very
Speaker 11: upset about all the trees that are going to be
Speaker 11: torn down. I used to go to the zoo all
Speaker 11: the times. From the time I was four, all my
Speaker 11: kids went there. I lived on Erie Street as a
Speaker 11: teenager when I went to the Jermi Brooke and I
Speaker 11: used to go to White Stadium like almost every day.
Speaker 11: We have masks every year now in the park my
Speaker 11: chirts see Catherin Drexel is just like two blocks away
Speaker 11: from there. We used to park a lot between the
Speaker 11: golf course, the golf club everything. Those trees are irreparable.
Speaker 11: They've been there for hundreds of years. They can't replace
Speaker 11: them with little splinty trees that they're gonna put there.
Speaker 11: What about all the birds, what about all the squirrels
Speaker 11: and all the other animals. I am just so upset
Speaker 11: between the bike lanes and taking Malnia Casts. I used
Speaker 11: to live right next to Malio Cast where my husband
Speaker 11: was a property manager, and they just took that away
Speaker 11: from the kids and from the adults who used to
Speaker 11: go there to beginning a CP. They just took out,
Speaker 11: you know, for a period of time, with no regds
Speaker 11: to what was happening to the kids in the neighborhood.
Speaker 11: And they just doing everything with no regards to the
Speaker 11: people from the community. So I will never open, Michelle,
Speaker 11: we'll get them through mayor.
Speaker 2: Uh you know you have at least one candidate for mayor,
Speaker 2: Josh Craft. You may have another fellow who called bill Wright.
Speaker 2: You heard today, so make your vote count whatever you do.
Speaker 5: I will the trees for me between that.
Speaker 2: Might become, that should become Josh craft slogan, it's the
Speaker 2: trees for me. I like that. I grew up in Reedville,
Speaker 2: so I have a lot of you know, we got
Speaker 2: to live in Readville.
Speaker 11: My whole family lives on Erie Street and on Hide
Speaker 11: Park Gap across from Mead Park.
Speaker 2: So very well. Thank you Mary, thanks for listening tonight.
Speaker 2: You're a regular caller. If not, I want you to become.
Speaker 11: And my daughter graduates from Boston Latin.
Speaker 5: But many years out.
Speaker 2: Of a great night, let me go to Mark, Mark,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna called late. I'm gonna get you in here
Speaker 2: under the wire thanks to Mary being sex think go ahead, Mark.
Speaker 8: Hi again, Hey Mark, guy differ Mark up their lesson
Speaker 8: said I'm doing construction in Boston for forty years or
Speaker 8: called you more than once. You know, go back to
Speaker 8: the Olympics when it was okay to rip down every
Speaker 8: tree in Franklin Park gets parking lots for the dorms
Speaker 8: and put in beastball courts. Okay, that neighborhood. And this
Speaker 8: isn't me thinking, it's government. That was Mardy Walsh. Now
Speaker 8: it's made a wool person of the people allegedly, and
Speaker 8: now we're gonna cut down trees and we're gonna put
Speaker 8: in this new socc effect. No, we've things the way
Speaker 8: they are. I mean, this guy, mister Kraft, is gonna
Speaker 8: beat her handedly. She just she's on a touch with
Speaker 8: the people.
Speaker 2: Well we will, We're gonna find out, you know. She
Speaker 2: she has had picture fights with the business community, picture
Speaker 2: fights now with with the Franklin Park community, picture fights
Speaker 2: with the North dam. She's not a big favorite in
Speaker 2: West Roxbury with the with the bike lanes on Center Street.
Speaker 8: Yeah, excuse me, mister mister Ray. Can I call you,
Speaker 8: mister Ray?
Speaker 2: Please call me Dan, go ahead, call me Dan, go ahead.
Speaker 8: Can listen. She's out of such We were around then
Speaker 8: Olympia Studies to rehab this woman's soccer league.
Speaker 2: Yep, I agree with that. Mark. Here's here's my problem
Speaker 2: right now, I'm flat out of time, So do me
Speaker 2: a favor. I wanted you to call more often I
Speaker 2: want you to call earlier, and you're gonna be that's not fair.
Speaker 2: Clip that. Thank you very much, and we'll be back
Speaker 2: right after the ten o'clock news, and we're going to
Speaker 2: talk about what happened yesterday at the JFK Library, among
Speaker 2: other things,