Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's Radio.
Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone. There has been a ongoing story that
Speaker 2: we've kind of heard bits and pieces of for the
Speaker 2: last few months, and that involves the future of White Stadium,
Speaker 2: which for many, many years was used by Boston Public
Speaker 2: schools for football games, that very well might change very
Speaker 2: shortly with the arrival of a women's soccer team here
Speaker 2: to Boston. On two sides of the issue, the group
Speaker 2: that owns the women's soccer team, the Boston Unity Soccer
Speaker 2: Partners along with the City of Boston, against a group
Speaker 2: that is a very distinguished group, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy,
Speaker 2: which basically is very concerned about all of the beautiful
Speaker 2: park space that encircles Boston Homestead Necklace. I guess as
Speaker 2: it's been as it's been called with us is great
Speaker 2: reporter for the Boston Herald who has been with us before,
Speaker 2: Gayla calla uh, And I want to start off with Collie.
Speaker 2: Excuse me, Gayla, Cally excuse me, Gayla. You've covered this
Speaker 2: for some time, we've talked about it before. What happens tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Tomorrow is kind of a big day in this.
Speaker 3: Story, right, Yeah, it's actually to tought off the press.
Speaker 3: The judge in the who's presiding over the case, just
Speaker 3: essentially throughout throughout half the case of the plaintiffs, so
Speaker 3: there they can't argue their case for one of their
Speaker 3: major claims tomorrow.
Speaker 2: I was surprised, and I haven't talked to you about this,
Speaker 2: and I was surprised why the the demolition of White
Speaker 2: Stadium was allowed to begin, you know, to begin a
Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago at least, while this case really
Speaker 2: theoretically the trial, as much as it's going to be
Speaker 2: a trial, starts tomorrow. How did the demolition begin? Was
Speaker 2: there really no effort to come in and enjoin the
Speaker 2: city from starting to knock this structure down?
Speaker 3: So there was amary preliminary injunction that was sought by
Speaker 3: the plaintiffs, and the judge actually ruled against that. So
Speaker 3: the city, basically under their own duress, decided to proceed
Speaker 3: with demolition while the case was still pending in court.
Speaker 2: That might be if I was an outside observer, I
Speaker 2: might look at that as kind of perhaps an indicator
Speaker 2: of which way this case is going. I know that
Speaker 2: the Emerald Necklace Conservancy is a well respected organization, and
Speaker 2: I assumed that they would have a lot of weight
Speaker 2: in a court. But it looks to me like this
Speaker 2: point things are trending against them and in favor of
Speaker 2: the women's new professional women's soccer team and the city
Speaker 2: of Boston. And in addition, I don't understand this part
Speaker 2: of the case. And I'm not asking you to take
Speaker 2: a position. I'm just trying to help me understand that.
Speaker 2: I'm going to talk or a couple of people, one
Speaker 2: at nine point fifteen and one at nine thirty on
Speaker 2: each side. I think I've read in one of your
Speaker 2: pieces that there are about one hundred and forty five
Speaker 2: trees near you know, it's part of Franklin Park or
Speaker 2: the whole Franklin Park area that are being taken down
Speaker 2: or have been taken down. Where does that stand the
Speaker 2: loss of all of that tree cover.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, the work to take down those trees have
Speaker 3: started along with demolition work as part of plans to
Speaker 3: take down the stadium. So I would I would assume
Speaker 3: that's still ongoing.
Speaker 4: That's one of the thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what is the And again again I haven't covered
Speaker 2: this case. If I'm asking you questions to which are
Speaker 2: you don't have the answer? You feel free to tell
Speaker 2: me why are they taking down trees? Uh? That that
Speaker 2: whole area is such a beautiful area, and all during
Speaker 2: the summer we hear you know, groups and talk about
Speaker 2: the value of trees in an urban setting, and you know,
Speaker 2: so many uh so many streets and areas don't have
Speaker 2: much shade for people and it and it really becomes,
Speaker 2: you know, an environmental question. What what's what's going to
Speaker 2: replace the trees? Are they building a stadium that's going
Speaker 2: to it's going to expand the footprint of white stadium?
Speaker 2: Is that? Is that why?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm not entirely clear on the tree taking
Speaker 3: down the trees, but I would I would think because
Speaker 3: the stadium is going to be larger than what's currently there,
Speaker 3: there's going to be more seating, there's going to be
Speaker 3: more people that they're saying are going to be going
Speaker 3: to the stadium to see the professional games, and other
Speaker 3: events are going to be held out of there.
Speaker 2: Okay, and maybe that could be for I assume for parking.
Speaker 2: Maybe I just I have I haven't had much of
Speaker 2: a chance to talk to the principles here. How long
Speaker 2: is this trial expected to last? I guess that's a
Speaker 2: relatively new superior court judge if I'm if I'm not mistaken,
Speaker 2: he's been a district court judge for a long time.
Speaker 2: Is it Judge Nestor? Is that his name?
Speaker 3: Yeah, So the plaintiffs are saying that they expect the
Speaker 3: trial to last a couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: Well, that should be interesting. But wow, it's a this
Speaker 2: is a fascinating story. How much as a reporter, and
Speaker 2: I was a reporter a long time ago, how much
Speaker 2: access have you been able to get to the principles
Speaker 2: here the plaintiffs and the defendants. Have they been a
Speaker 2: talking much off the record? Not that I'm going to
Speaker 2: ask you what they said, but sometimes in these cases,
Speaker 2: the lawyers make them button up and they can't. They
Speaker 2: don't they're not inclined to talk to the reporters of
Speaker 2: the story.
Speaker 3: So they've actually they've actually been pretty accessible. They've held
Speaker 3: multiple protests where they've made statements about the case. They've
Speaker 3: you know, they get on the phone with you. They've
Speaker 3: issued numerous press advisories, so they haven't been difficult to
Speaker 3: get a hold of. I would I would say, I
Speaker 3: don't know if they're if they're going into the nitty
Speaker 3: gritty of the case with the media, but they have
Speaker 3: been good with being in touch.
Speaker 2: I've seen some of the protests that and again you've
Speaker 2: covered them, and the Herald and the Globe that both
Speaker 2: cover them. The protests for the most part, seemed to
Speaker 2: be in opposition to the plan. Is there some support
Speaker 2: within the area of this of Franklin Park that supports
Speaker 2: this plan?
Speaker 3: Yeah, So the Franklin Park Coalition is in support of
Speaker 3: the plan. And there's actually a grassroots group that popped
Speaker 3: up in recent weeks, probably responsive to a lot of
Speaker 3: the criticism that's been out there, made up of BPS students, coaches,
Speaker 3: parents that have been pretty active in recent weeks with
Speaker 3: holding press conferences.
Speaker 2: And have you spent much time to get a sense
Speaker 2: of with the community at large how they feel. Is
Speaker 2: it kind of split fifty to fifty or do you
Speaker 2: have a sense as to how the community feels.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, I would say that it's split. There's vocal opposition,
Speaker 3: there's also vocal support. That's particular been prominent in the
Speaker 3: past few weeks. The city council took a vote to
Speaker 3: halt demolition that was a deadlock vote that they didn't
Speaker 3: have enough counselors to come to vote either way. So
Speaker 3: I think that pretty much reflects the split nature of
Speaker 3: the response to this project.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was the.
Speaker 5: Six to six vote of just about a month ago,
Speaker 5: if I'm recalling it correctly on the council or council
Speaker 5: I was thirteen members, correct, and there was someone who
Speaker 5: was absent that day, and so it was a tie vote.
Speaker 5: I assume probably the mayor would have vetoed it anyway,
Speaker 5: and I think that the council probably wouldn't have enough
Speaker 5: votes to have overridden.
Speaker 2: The mayor's potential veto of that if I hit the guess.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that was a non binding resolution, so it
Speaker 3: was more of a we strongly urge you to take
Speaker 3: this action if they had voted, if they had the
Speaker 3: votes to vote in favor of halting deition demolition. And
Speaker 3: also the mayor has been you know, she's been a
Speaker 3: champion of this project, and her opponent and the mayor
Speaker 3: all race, Josh Craftis, has seized on the opposition. He's
Speaker 3: called for demolition be halted. Last week he called for
Speaker 3: a cancelation and a lease agreement. So it's been a
Speaker 3: prominent issue in the campaign for mayor as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I noticed that some of the financial supporters
Speaker 2: included Linda Pisudi, the wife of John Henry, the owner
Speaker 2: of the Red Sox, has also left the investor group.
Speaker 2: I guess with the owner of the ownership group, Galen.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much. Always great to talk with you.
Speaker 2: You're a great reporter. You deal with us periodically and
Speaker 2: I really appreciate the time. Because it's one thing to
Speaker 2: read your pieces, it's another thing to talk to you
Speaker 2: in the radio. So thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Great, thank you appreciate it.
Speaker 2: You were very welcome. I appreciate it a whole lot.
Speaker 2: When we get back on it be talking with Renee
Speaker 2: Stacy Welsh. She is with a group called the Franklin
Speaker 2: Park Defenders. We'll get to her right after the break
Speaker 2: and we'll find out why they are opposed to this.
Speaker 2: We'll be back on Nightside and if you'd like to
Speaker 2: join the conversation, we'll try to get some calls in later.
Speaker 2: We're going to be talking not only with Renee Stacy Welsh,
Speaker 2: but also with a different person on the other side
Speaker 2: of the issue. After the nine thirty news, coming back
Speaker 2: on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray Live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: We're talking about the White Stadium legal battle, which comes
Speaker 2: to a head tomorrow in a superior court room here
Speaker 2: in Boston. Joining us now is Renee Stacey Welsh, a
Speaker 2: longtime resident of the Franklin Park area, and she's with
Speaker 2: a group called Franklin Park Defender Stacey. Renee, I should
Speaker 2: say welcome tonight'satt how are you.
Speaker 6: I'm well, Dan, Thank you for having me tonight.
Speaker 2: Very welcome. I know it's a big day tomorrow, and
Speaker 2: I know that the judge today had issued some rulings
Speaker 2: that the Boston Globe is suggesting the la significant blow
Speaker 2: to the paintiffs, to the plaintiffs' hopes of stopping the project.
Speaker 2: Why should this project be stopped? In your opinion as
Speaker 2: a longtime resident, Renee.
Speaker 6: I think this project deserves true community involvement and input.
Speaker 6: They need to be true transparency in all aspects associated
Speaker 6: with the development, and I don't think the community at
Speaker 6: large truly got all of those things right. I think
Speaker 6: that the as community, as a community, we deserve to
Speaker 6: have a seat at the table when making these kinds
Speaker 6: of decisions. We should be able to say and share
Speaker 6: what we want to see in our Park.
Speaker 2: Now, the argument, I guess from your side of the
Speaker 2: table and also from the other plaintiffs of the Emerald
Speaker 2: Necklace Conservancy, which is a long, very respected organization. Here
Speaker 2: they claim that Franklin Park was donated to the city
Speaker 2: but in trust back in nineteen forty seven, and that
Speaker 2: the trust said that that should be in use, should
Speaker 2: be used as a public park and recreational land, which
Speaker 2: it has been. Is there no way that this be
Speaker 2: compromised so that they could build a new stadium and
Speaker 2: allow this professional sports team to play their games there,
Speaker 2: this women's soccer team play their games there, and yet
Speaker 2: the park would still become easily accept the entire park
Speaker 2: as well as the stadium would become easily accessible to
Speaker 2: the community. Or is this just going to fundamentally change
Speaker 2: what you know, what the White Stadium Franklin Park area
Speaker 2: will will be will be going forward.
Speaker 6: I think it's going to fundamentally change it. You know,
Speaker 6: when you think about they're taking up another two acres
Speaker 6: of land from the existing footprint, so one hundred and
Speaker 6: something trees are going to be taken down, one hundred
Speaker 6: and something mature trees. Some would would want you to
Speaker 6: believe that these trees are severely diseased and we're taking
Speaker 6: them down. That is not true. And you think they
Speaker 6: say they're going to build, they're gonna plant five hundred trees.
Speaker 6: It takes eighty years for one tree to be beneficial.
Speaker 2: Someone once said, when's the best time to plant a tree?
Speaker 2: It's the answer is yesterday. Why are they taking these
Speaker 2: trees down? Everybody talks about how that particularly in the
Speaker 2: center of major cities, not just Boston. There are plenty
Speaker 2: of trees in the suburbs, but trees are much more
Speaker 2: sparse in you know, communities like Dorchester, Roxbury, and somebody
Speaker 2: will we'll talk about how that those portions of the city,
Speaker 2: particularly in the summer months June, July, August and September,
Speaker 2: when the sun is burning its brightest, it can be
Speaker 2: pretty uncomfortable just walking the streets without some form of cover.
Speaker 2: And if you lose all those trees in Franklin Park,
Speaker 2: that's going to have an impact on a real impact
Speaker 2: on your community.
Speaker 6: Of course, I mean, if you think about it, aside
Speaker 6: from creating heat islands, let's talk about the respiratory issues
Speaker 6: that these communities. Dortsche, the Rock, Gray, Mattapan have the
Speaker 6: worst respiratory issues, and you decide to take down one
Speaker 6: hundred and forty something trees to build a stadium that
Speaker 6: it does not need to be that big, if it's truly,
Speaker 6: in fact, for our kids. You know, they talk about
Speaker 6: we're doing this for our kids. You spend one hundred
Speaker 6: million dollars on one thing versus looking at the kids
Speaker 6: and what the kids need and spreading that money out
Speaker 6: for our kids. You know, every time they mentioned kids
Speaker 6: to me, it does not compute. It doesn't make sense
Speaker 6: because if it did, they would spend that money differently.
Speaker 6: They wouldn't be spending it the way they're spending it.
Speaker 2: Well, I haven't. I go to Franklin Park quite a
Speaker 2: bit with my family, but I haven't been inside White
Speaker 2: Stadium in a long long time. But I'm told that
Speaker 2: White Stadium has fallen into disrepair and the city has
Speaker 2: done very little, if anything, to keep it in decent
Speaker 2: shape for high school football games. Even the facilities are
Speaker 2: not have have not been kept up to date. Would
Speaker 2: you agree with that? From you probably know the stadium better,
Speaker 2: the White Stadium better than I.
Speaker 6: So I was born in this community. So from nineteen
Speaker 6: seventy five until today, I still use that park. You know,
Speaker 6: I learned how to ride my bike there. You know,
Speaker 6: we had our family cookouts and get togethers in that park.
Speaker 6: My uncles were from the Caribbean. They played soccer inside
Speaker 6: White Stadium. Whether it was raining, it was sunshine, they
Speaker 6: were in their playing soccer.
Speaker 7: We used it.
Speaker 6: We used when there was something going on inside. They
Speaker 6: used that two acres that they're going to be taking
Speaker 6: to enhance or to expand the size of this footprint.
Speaker 6: They used to play all along there. Even in the
Speaker 6: summer months, when it's too hot to walk on the outside,
Speaker 6: you walk closest to the stadium because the trees keeps
Speaker 6: it cooler under there. So to your point, yes, they
Speaker 6: have less Franklin Park. They've left White Stadium to fall
Speaker 6: in disrepair, and you know, now it's like this is
Speaker 6: the only thing we could do. No, it's not the
Speaker 6: only thing we can do. You know, they're options, and
Speaker 6: we deserve options as taxpayers, as community people, as people
Speaker 6: who Franklin Park is the only place that many people
Speaker 6: have to go for rest. But in the city, they
Speaker 6: don't have second homes, they're not affluent, so they can't
Speaker 6: run to the Cape or to Vermont or Maine and
Speaker 6: go to their second you know, forest treeline property in
Speaker 6: the suburbs. We don't have that ability, many of us don't.
Speaker 6: So our summer home, our place of peace is Franklin Park,
Speaker 6: and when you take it away for twenty two of
Speaker 6: the good weekends a year, Dan, that's unfair.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So the soccer team will play, I believe, is
Speaker 2: the beginning in March or April and all the way
Speaker 2: into October.
Speaker 6: Yeah, October, November, And my understanding is.
Speaker 2: What happens to the high school football games that will
Speaker 2: be played in September and October. Can do they use
Speaker 2: the stadium for high school football games during I can't
Speaker 2: imagine they use it for high school football games during
Speaker 2: the week and then also for a women's professional soccer
Speaker 2: team because football is going to eat up the turf
Speaker 2: a lot, a lot more than a soccer game will.
Speaker 2: Is that? Am I wrong on that?
Speaker 6: No, you're one hundred and ten percent correct.
Speaker 8: They said that the cleats on the cleats on the
Speaker 8: cleats on football cleats are different, so it is truly
Speaker 8: to your point, it's going to turf up the turf.
Speaker 6: So they do not want football being played there.
Speaker 2: So where will the high school football game. Where will
Speaker 2: high school football games be played if not in white
Speaker 2: stadium in September?
Speaker 6: I would, I would, I would guests who knows?
Speaker 9: Right?
Speaker 6: You know, they can say that, right, And it's a
Speaker 6: football steam for kids, right, And you say the kids
Speaker 6: can't play there. But I think it's important to understand
Speaker 6: you say it for the kids, but now you're displacing
Speaker 6: a group of kids.
Speaker 2: So well, ask you just another question. You tell me,
Speaker 2: and you told me earlier that you were born in
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy five, so you've been there your entire life.
Speaker 2: This has been integral in your entire life. Give me
Speaker 2: a sense of how you feel the community has split
Speaker 2: on this issue. I know that you haven't done a
Speaker 2: poll of every one of your neighbors, but where's the
Speaker 2: sentiment of the community. Because we're going to be talking
Speaker 2: with a woman who also lives in the areas, I
Speaker 2: understand that after the nine thirty news here who is
Speaker 2: on the opposite side of this set circumstance from you?
Speaker 2: So where where do you feel that the majority of
Speaker 2: the community within you know, within the proximity of the
Speaker 2: park sits on this topic.
Speaker 6: Well, that's interesting. I you know, I'm I'm down the
Speaker 6: street from from the park, and some of my neighbors
Speaker 6: who have children who play soccer, who play sports are
Speaker 6: against this. Right. Some of my other neighbors that one
Speaker 6: still don't know about it, are like, well, why would
Speaker 6: we want that in our community, you know, And as
Speaker 6: I'm talking to people, I'm saying, well, let's look at
Speaker 6: this differently because they hear the it's for the kids,
Speaker 6: but then when you break it down to them, they're like,
Speaker 6: that makes no sense. So I think that the people
Speaker 6: who don't know and you're able to explain, they they're
Speaker 6: on the side of I don't really agree with that.
Speaker 6: I need more information, I need to understand more. And
Speaker 6: I think the ones who are against it are against
Speaker 6: it because they understand that the the adverse, the adverse
Speaker 6: issues that were gonna come with this, I think. Dennison
Speaker 6: also one of my barometers is look into the comment
Speaker 6: section and the Globe and listen to the people and
Speaker 6: the percentage of people that say they don't agree with this.
Speaker 6: People who have been who lived here for you for decades,
Speaker 6: they're like, this makes no sense.
Speaker 2: So so your sense is that most of your neighbors
Speaker 2: agree with you, is what I'm.
Speaker 6: Hearing you say, I would say so yes.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, look, thank you very much. I do appreciate
Speaker 2: your time tonight. You've been a great spokesperson for the
Speaker 2: Franklin Park Defenders. Renee Stacy Welsh. In a moment, we'll
Speaker 2: be talking with a woman named dot Fennel or Finelle,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure how that's pronounced, and get kind of
Speaker 2: a different perspective, and then we'll have to see what
Speaker 2: the judge does. Certainly, these rulings I think that have
Speaker 2: come down late tonight on the eve of the beginning
Speaker 2: of the case in fold tomorrow, probably do not augure
Speaker 2: very well for your point of view. But you know,
Speaker 2: keep up the fight and we'll keep in touch with you.
Speaker 6: Okay, thank you so much, Dan, have a wonderful night.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Renee Cassy Welsh with a group called the
Speaker 2: Franklin Park Defenders. Back on nightside, right after the news,
Speaker 2: after the news, and we'll talk to another community member
Speaker 2: with a different perspective. Back on nightside.
Speaker 1: It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBS, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: So we just talked with Renee Stacy Welsh with a
Speaker 2: group called the Franklin Park Defenders, We're going to talk
Speaker 2: with Dot Fennel now and we will take some phone calls.
Speaker 2: We're not going to make Dot answer phone questions, but
Speaker 2: if you'd like to call, I can get you in
Speaker 2: after this interview at six one, seven, two, five, four
Speaker 2: ten thirty. Dot welcome. How are you tonight?
Speaker 4: I'm doing so good, Dan, It's been quite a day.
Speaker 4: Unlike Renee, who is a staff member did you know
Speaker 4: this at the ma Reckless Conservancy, so she is paid
Speaker 4: to be here. You're talking to a mom at now
Speaker 4: a quarter of ten o'clock and I have go on
Speaker 4: from school, take up at the curly, to after school homework,
Speaker 4: to after school sport activity, to dinner, back home, uh,
Speaker 4: back bedtime, book clean up, do a little bit more work,
Speaker 4: and now talking to you. So I mean, this is
Speaker 4: just like a day in the life of a parent, but.
Speaker 2: This would be the best best part of your day.
Speaker 2: Do let me ask. I'm gonna answer you the same
Speaker 2: question because trying to God, can you can you hear me?
Speaker 4: Robert no, Dot, are you able to hear you?
Speaker 2: Trying to have a conversation with you, which is important
Speaker 2: so that I can create some questions. Thank you very much,
Speaker 2: appreciate that. So my my question to you is, uh,
Speaker 2: you live in the neighborhood as I understand that, correct?
Speaker 4: I do? Yeah, so used to live on.
Speaker 2: Take turn it down. I do this very rarely to
Speaker 2: a guest. DOT. I'm going to ask you to refrain
Speaker 2: from attacking Renee personally. Okay, she has a point of view,
Speaker 2: You have a point of view, bring her back up.
Speaker 2: What I want to do, Dot, is I want to
Speaker 2: get your point of view. I'm not interested in you
Speaker 2: personally attacking her, just as she did not personally attack you.
Speaker 2: Did you hear the interview I did with Renee by
Speaker 2: any chance for now?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I did hear it.
Speaker 2: Did she personally attack you? Did she call into question
Speaker 2: your motivations or anything like that?
Speaker 4: I have lots of really interesting questions about things that
Speaker 4: are being put forth and the responses. So I hope
Speaker 4: that we can dig into those.
Speaker 2: Well I can. But if you would stop attacking her
Speaker 2: personally and getting into, you know, what her motivations might be.
Speaker 2: She did not attack your motivation. So I take it
Speaker 2: that both of you live in the area. She tells
Speaker 2: me she's lived there for fifty years. She was born
Speaker 2: close to Franklin Park. I assume you're story is similar.
Speaker 2: Are you're a longtime resident as well?
Speaker 4: Yeah, we've been here twenty years.
Speaker 2: Okay, well that's good. Fifty years, twenty years. Whatever. Do
Speaker 2: you have a group? Are you speaking as an individual
Speaker 2: or she has a group called Franklin Park Defenders. I
Speaker 2: didn't go into great detail with her about that. Do
Speaker 2: you have an organization that you're representing? Your name was
Speaker 2: given to us tonight by a representative from Elevate Communications.
Speaker 2: Do you have a group or are you you hear
Speaker 2: in your capacity? Just in your capacity as a resident
Speaker 2: of the area.
Speaker 4: Has a response of the of the misinformation that was
Speaker 4: being put out by the Armald Necklace Conservancy. A group
Speaker 4: of neighbors came together and suande coalition, which has now
Speaker 4: grown into beyond just BPS parents, of which there's an
Speaker 4: almost six hundred support letter. Send it to you as well.
Speaker 2: As you don't have to. What is the name of
Speaker 2: your group?
Speaker 4: I mean, there's no formal group. We are supporters of
Speaker 4: the BPS facility, White Stadium renovation.
Speaker 2: Oh fair enough, Okay, that's all.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: It's taken us quite a bit of time just to
Speaker 2: sort of establish that. That's all I'm trying to do
Speaker 2: whenever people get involved. I know that there's been some
Speaker 2: demonstrations opposed to the activity, and I think Renee has
Speaker 2: been involved in some of those. I assume there probably
Speaker 2: have been some demonstrations in support of what might happen
Speaker 2: at White Stadium. Is that correct?
Speaker 9: Well?
Speaker 4: There has. I mean, we're we are. We have not
Speaker 4: had as much time to be organized. We don't have
Speaker 4: the time or the financial backing to be organized. And
Speaker 4: you're talking to myself as well as another mother who
Speaker 4: frankly aren't being paid to be here, who are reaching
Speaker 4: out to after school youth program coordinators, folks who speak
Speaker 4: on behalf of students other bps.
Speaker 2: So what Let me give you what I want you to.
Speaker 2: I want you to make your case here. So let
Speaker 2: me ask you the question which might help you support
Speaker 2: the the demolition of the current stadium, the construction of
Speaker 2: a new stadium which will be a which will be
Speaker 2: in part a soccer stadium. Tell us what, tell us
Speaker 2: why that is good for the community. Tell us tell
Speaker 2: us why you support it.
Speaker 4: So I have a question for you. So I'm happy
Speaker 4: to hear that you spend a lot of time here
Speaker 4: at Franklin Park, and I also wanted to ask, do
Speaker 4: you have.
Speaker 2: I go to the zoo that count Oh no, I
Speaker 2: know that, never never played the golf course, but I
Speaker 2: do go to the zoo.
Speaker 4: So we haven't either. Well, So what I'm trying to
Speaker 4: get at is that, like, so if I'm speaking parent
Speaker 4: to parents, and when I look at the BP educators
Speaker 4: who teach my children every day and all the children
Speaker 4: across the city and who know my children well, know
Speaker 4: their job well, I see them working with so little
Speaker 4: and doing so much, And I couldn't imagine getting in
Speaker 4: the way of them saying they need something and me
Speaker 4: coming in as an interloper and saying, oh, no, no, no,
Speaker 4: you don't need that. And I look at our BPS athletes,
Speaker 4: I look at their coaches, I look at their administrators,
Speaker 4: and I look at the facility team, and I look
Speaker 4: at the city saying we need a new stadium. This
Speaker 4: is what we want, what our students want. And so
Speaker 4: as a BPS parents, I'm seeing what's available to students
Speaker 4: who are in the suburbs, who have access to facilities,
Speaker 4: and I'm seeing students who are being asked reform with
Speaker 4: facilities that are subpak. So as a parent, I want
Speaker 4: better facilities for my kids.
Speaker 2: So my under standing and by the way, I'm a
Speaker 2: Boston Public School graduate, Boston Latin School. I played sportscast
Speaker 2: Latin school baseball in Howe we played in some you know,
Speaker 2: you know facilities there's many years ago, in the last century.
Speaker 2: So however, my question is my understanding is that some
Speaker 2: of the people who are opposed to it feel that
Speaker 2: White Stadium will be used by the women's professional soccer
Speaker 2: team from the spring until sometime in either late October
Speaker 2: or early November, and that football games, which have traditionally
Speaker 2: been where Boston Public School teams play football, will be
Speaker 2: off limits to the students during the you know, the
Speaker 2: months of the early months of the football season September October.
Speaker 2: If I'm being given incorrect information on that, please correct me.
Speaker 4: Well, I think if you want to get the exact
Speaker 4: specifics from the city on how many games are happening,
Speaker 4: then you would need to call the project team. But
Speaker 4: it's my understanding that they're going to be able to host.
Speaker 4: I think it was up to like five teams and
Speaker 4: like ten aims, and yes, they do have to and
Speaker 4: it's between different sports. So is there going to be
Speaker 4: some adjustment? Yes, is there going to be some sort
Speaker 4: of scheduling happening. Of course there is, and this this
Speaker 4: constant like, well, we can't do anything because mentality you're making,
Speaker 4: you're making a speech.
Speaker 2: I'm just simply asking you the question. What Renee said
Speaker 2: to me. I asked her the question. I had heard
Speaker 2: it before.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's about football, it's about football.
Speaker 2: But let me say, could I finish the question? Because
Speaker 2: your weren't response to the questions you're making this This
Speaker 2: is not intended to be a contentious interview. Trust me,
Speaker 2: I know on both sides, and I had a pretty
Speaker 2: easy conversation with Renee. It hasn't been as easy with you,
Speaker 2: and let me be can it with you? I just
Speaker 2: am trying to give you the opportunity to answer the
Speaker 2: questions that are out there. My understanding is that the
Speaker 2: Boston Students football teams will not have access to the
Speaker 2: stadium during the season when the women's professional soccer team
Speaker 2: is playing, which is understandable. Okay, yeah, I just wanted
Speaker 2: to find out from you. If you have not heard that,
Speaker 2: just tell me you haven't heard it and we can
Speaker 2: move on.
Speaker 4: But the thing is is that this is not just
Speaker 4: a black and white issue. So do you have a sense. Yeah,
Speaker 4: so who gets to play football? It is boys between
Speaker 4: the ages of seven to twelve three, So off the bat,
Speaker 4: it's a support a sport that's not serving the children
Speaker 4: from K zero all the way up to twelve. And
Speaker 4: so what I would love for my city is to
Speaker 4: be thinking, Okay, so moving forward, here's where we're at.
Speaker 4: How can we meet the current needs of our football program.
Speaker 4: I think there's an shoot as the city. I think
Speaker 4: there's like seven teams, seven programs, but then over here
Speaker 4: and I don't want to come from football soccer, that's
Speaker 4: not fair. But I think like a twenty five plus
Speaker 4: growing things. What I want to see is a city
Speaker 4: at saying let's do both. So the football while this
Speaker 4: has happened, is currently playing at Clemente which is in
Speaker 4: Sunway and Clifford down in the South End. So it's
Speaker 4: not as if the city is the.
Speaker 2: One in Clifford is the one that has been strewn
Speaker 2: with hypodermic needles.
Speaker 4: I know I've talked to yeah, which is like also
Speaker 4: a challenge yeah forward for both.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, last question, and I got to be very
Speaker 2: quick on this one, so okay, you know, as I
Speaker 2: understand it, and if it's true, great, If it isn't,
Speaker 2: set me correct, My understanding is about one hundred and
Speaker 2: forty five mature trees that are going to be cut down.
Speaker 4: Oh goodness, okay, so that accurate?
Speaker 2: Is that accurate?
Speaker 4: No? Okay?
Speaker 2: So again, my trees would be cut down, if.
Speaker 4: Any I'm up the town order. But do you know
Speaker 4: what the city considers to be on paper a mature tree?
Speaker 2: Well, I assume a mature tree. At least the trees
Speaker 2: that I'm familiar with are probably probably at least fifty
Speaker 2: or sixty years old. I'm not an arborist either. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm told that one and one hundred and forty five trees.
Speaker 3: Okay, we'll be cut down.
Speaker 2: And all I'm asking is that number correct?
Speaker 4: It's not stands while I got involved, So hoy, how.
Speaker 2: Many are there any trees going to be cut down?
Speaker 4: Man? It's three inches? So you get to three inches
Speaker 4: really quick. And if you walk around that stadium.
Speaker 2: What's three inches? What are you referring to?
Speaker 4: So three inch? Three inch diameter is what the city
Speaker 4: considers to be a mature tree. So like there's like
Speaker 4: a certain crop by which they lost things.
Speaker 2: So okay, again, here's the thing dark. You tried to
Speaker 2: make speeches and I'm going to cut it off. I
Speaker 2: hate to do this to you, but I'm way past
Speaker 2: my commercial break. I gave You've got more time than
Speaker 2: the other side. I wish you had been more responsor
Speaker 2: to my questions. But I thank you for being here tonight. Nonetheless.
Speaker 2: Uh and perhaps we'll talk again. Have a have a
Speaker 2: good evening, and best of luck in court when this
Speaker 2: case convenes tomorrow. Okay, thank you, take care, good night. Okay,
Speaker 2: if you'd like to call in and comment, I'll give
Speaker 2: you an opportunity. One gentleman, Derek and Roxbury has been
Speaker 2: holding on. Derek, you're going to be first on the
Speaker 2: other side. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty
Speaker 2: six one seven, nine three ten thirty Bruins just lost
Speaker 2: in overtime to the Flo Sabers. The season is kind
Speaker 2: of slipping away. We'll be back on Night's side right
Speaker 2: after this.
Speaker 1: Now, back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Sight Studios. I'm WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Well, I've had an interesting hour. We haven't talked to
Speaker 2: any callers yet, so let's try to get as many
Speaker 2: folks in as we can between now and ten o'clock,
Speaker 2: we will talk, we will change topics. I'm prepared to
Speaker 2: go a little bit into the next hour if you're interested. Again,
Speaker 2: I think it's a very interesting issue. Six one, seven, two, five, four,
Speaker 2: ten thirty six one, seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty.
Speaker 2: Derek is the most patient man of the night. Derek, welcome,
Speaker 2: You've been holding on for a while. Go right ahead.
Speaker 7: Thanks. Thanks. I just want to say thank you for this,
Speaker 7: and I think you've asked some really good questions and
Speaker 7: it's good to see local media do so. In responsible.
Speaker 7: One of the questions that you asked about the division
Speaker 7: and the well, let me tell you who I am.
Speaker 7: My name is Derek. I arrived in Boston from Mississippi,
Speaker 7: do a ten Boston College, and I work my way
Speaker 7: through BC in the eighties with him arborist who had
Speaker 7: grown up in Chestnut Hill, and we did a lot
Speaker 7: of work on private Omsted designed properties in Brookline and
Speaker 7: Newton in that area because of course there are many
Speaker 7: that's home itself in the Gardener Place now.
Speaker 2: The Arboretum, the Olmsted Necklace.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and in ninety two I became a twenty five
Speaker 7: year rarity in the Boston Public schools. I was a
Speaker 7: twenty five year old African American, a Native American teacher
Speaker 7: of American history and social studies at the Phyllis Wheatley
Speaker 7: Middle School, which has since been closed.
Speaker 2: I thought their friends.
Speaker 7: Right, right, right, So uh, you know, I've been aware
Speaker 7: of and familiar, and I also moved to Roxbury. I
Speaker 7: permanently adopted Roxbury where I am now in ninety two
Speaker 7: as a homeowner and a small landlord owner in a
Speaker 7: concentrated little area across the street from another so called
Speaker 7: homestead legacy park called Malcolm X Park. And last year
Speaker 7: not unlike now, oh, I guess find that I should say,
Speaker 7: I'm also in front England Park defender and in full disclosure.
Speaker 7: And this is really my second rodeo unfortunately in the
Speaker 7: last three years with the city over a park quote
Speaker 7: unquote improvement project in Roxbury. Now White Stadium is located
Speaker 7: in Franklin Park and Franklin Park, as a matter of
Speaker 7: a historical accident, has spent you know, the last let's
Speaker 7: say eighty years, seventy five years, segregated for most of
Speaker 7: that time in sort of the same red lined area
Speaker 7: of the city of Boston as most of it's black
Speaker 7: and brown residents right and likewise has been disinvested in neglected.
Speaker 7: And on the one hand, it is or should be
Speaker 7: good news to see that the city or anyone else
Speaker 7: is interested in investing large sums of capital in the area.
Speaker 7: But when it comes to Olmstead's Crown Jewel, which is
Speaker 7: three hundred and fifty degrees by state map, highly concentrated
Speaker 7: environmental justice census tracks, which have all of this long
Speaker 7: list of social inequity indicators, the question is whether or
Speaker 7: not that sudden and new investment in the area is
Speaker 7: a giver or a grab.
Speaker 2: And Derek, let me do this. You've been very patient,
Speaker 2: You've been on a long time on hold in your opinion.
Speaker 2: Is it a giver or a grab? Because I think
Speaker 2: you have outlined your experience and outlined the circumstances of
Speaker 2: that community for many years. I grew up in Boston,
Speaker 2: so I'm very familiar. Yeah, played a lot of sports
Speaker 2: in Weisby Dorchester as a kid. Is it a giver
Speaker 2: a grab? As far as your concern, well.
Speaker 7: Thank you for asking me to that. And while I
Speaker 7: can understand those who think that it's a give, there
Speaker 7: are reasons that I understand them. I say it's a
Speaker 7: grab because what you're losing here is a public equity,
Speaker 7: which is I think something that the previous your first
Speaker 7: Talk interview, he was saying versus you know, one time
Speaker 7: a private opportunities for things like jobs, contracts, what have you.
Speaker 2: I think what I bothered, to be really honest with
Speaker 2: the de What bothers me the most is the the
Speaker 2: fact that the football you know, I you know, I
Speaker 2: never played football in high school. I was baseball and hockey.
Speaker 2: But the football guys who I went to school with
Speaker 2: at Boston Latin School, you know, September and October. I mean,
Speaker 2: that was the football season and then you know, it's
Speaker 2: all over by Thanksgiving Day. And that's that is what
Speaker 2: concerns me a little bit as.
Speaker 7: To you know, yeah, you know, who's going to happen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, go ahead, I only got a minute left. And
Speaker 2: I hate to crunch you here, but go ahead, I'll
Speaker 2: give you the final minute.
Speaker 7: Well, I think you and your listeners will appreciate this.
Speaker 7: I mean, Fragua Park is an Olmsted part right, which
Speaker 7: is by definition, I mean, by definition, it's a meeting
Speaker 7: place of urban and democratic social goods right uh in nature,
Speaker 7: and it doesn't. I mean, whether that's the floor of
Speaker 7: the fauna, of the geology, you know the pudding.
Speaker 2: Everybody knows that, Yeah, go ahead, right right.
Speaker 7: Well, as a result, it's not a place, it's not
Speaker 7: a place of displacement. So if football or some other
Speaker 7: thing that's been here is here now just needs to
Speaker 7: be reinvested and supported and continued, is being displaced or
Speaker 7: stands the threat of being displaced, you have to slow
Speaker 7: down the process and ask the stakeholders their questions and
Speaker 7: respond to their questions, not just feed them. You know
Speaker 7: this really great, big idea that looks Listen, after eighty
Speaker 7: years of disinvestment, like in a desert, it's going to
Speaker 7: be very hard to mistake or to tell for a
Speaker 7: lot of people the difference between cold water and cold
Speaker 7: say camel urine, because.
Speaker 2: I hate on that point, Derek, But you waited thirty minutes,
Speaker 2: but I've flat out a time. We'll we'll deal with this,
Speaker 2: I'm sure in the future. I very much appreciate your perspective,
Speaker 2: uh and your experience, and I think it's pretty clear
Speaker 2: on what side of the issue you come down. So
Speaker 2: thank you so much. I wish I had more time
Speaker 2: for you. I really, I really do. Thanks. Thanks, thank
Speaker 2: you again, Derek appreciated. Keep listening to night Side. I'll
Speaker 2: tell you what I'm going to do, folks. I'm going
Speaker 2: to give people an opportunity if they want to call in.
Speaker 2: I'll take this into the ten o'clock howa. Uh, that
Speaker 2: is my decision. If you want to participate, you got
Speaker 2: to jump on real quickly. Six one, seven, two, five, four,
Speaker 2: ten thirty six one seven, nine three one ten thirty.
Speaker 10: Uh.
Speaker 2: If there's no interest, we're going to move on to
Speaker 2: a different topic. We'll be back on Nightside after this.
Speaker 9: It's night Side with Dan Ray.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you easy Boston's news video.
Speaker 2: All right, we have talked for an hour with a
Speaker 2: couple of perspectives on what's going on at White Stadium.
Speaker 2: As I mentioned, the judge in this case issued some
Speaker 2: decisions today on some motions which would seem to undercut
Speaker 2: the the f for the plaintiffs to stop the city
Speaker 2: from continuing to take down White Stadium and build a
Speaker 2: new women's professional sports stadium. But that court activity we'll
Speaker 2: commence in the morning. We did speak with Gayla Colly
Speaker 2: of The Boston Herald, as well as Renee Stacey Wells
Speaker 2: with a group called the Franklin Park Defenders. They were
Speaker 2: opposed to the destruction of White Stadium and the construction
Speaker 2: of a women's soccer stadium. And also we spoke with
Speaker 2: a woman named Dot Finel who described herself as a
Speaker 2: parent who was in favor of the changes. So we're
Speaker 2: going to get to phone calls and invite people to
Speaker 2: continue the conversation. We can continue it for a little
Speaker 2: while and move on to something else. They do want
Speaker 2: to talk about the deportations that went on over the
Speaker 2: weekend and the controversy around it. But let's start with
Speaker 2: the callers who have called in. If you'd like to
Speaker 2: join the conversation talking about White Stadium, It's future or
Speaker 2: lack thereof six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty
Speaker 2: six one seven, nine, three, one ten thirty. Here comes
Speaker 2: Michael and Aliborough. Michael, you've held through the news. We
Speaker 2: appreciate it. You're next on night, said we're talking about
Speaker 2: White Stadium.
Speaker 10: Hey, Dan, how are you?
Speaker 2: I'm doing just great? What's your thoughts?
Speaker 10: I raised, I was raised. I grew up right down
Speaker 10: the street from the park. It was a little tough
Speaker 10: in the sixties to go there. Yeah, I'm one hundred
Speaker 10: and twenty percent with a gentleman who called early. I
Speaker 10: think he was before the news.
Speaker 2: I think he was Derek.
Speaker 9: I think he was African American. And that's what this is.
Speaker 10: This is a money grab. As soon as I heard Henry.
Speaker 9: Being involved, this is a money grab.
Speaker 2: Well, she's not well for let me just be clear,
Speaker 2: John Henry was not directly involved. His wife, Linda Pizzuti,
Speaker 2: was one of the investors. Uh and she uh. And
Speaker 2: I understand some others have have left the group. It
Speaker 2: may be in part because of that controversy. But just
Speaker 2: you know, I just want to be fair to everyone here,
Speaker 2: go right.
Speaker 10: Ahead, Okay, it's a money grab. It's a money grab.
Speaker 10: But trees are taken down, must be parking, right.
Speaker 2: Well, the trees that were taken down, as I understand,
Speaker 2: are trees that are you know, mature, eighty year old trees.
Speaker 2: And it's one hundred and forty five trees that were
Speaker 2: taken down. And you know, they talk about the the
Speaker 2: urban deserts and how that there's lack of foliage and trees,
Speaker 2: and not only in Boston but in other American cities,
Speaker 2: and I think there that's legitimate. So but I had
Speaker 2: a tough interview with the we we lined up another
Speaker 2: representative with dot Fennel just trying to get I was
Speaker 2: trying to just give her the opportunity to pres that
Speaker 2: well it was it was tough, so but hey, that's
Speaker 2: the way it happens. And I didn't want her attacking.
Speaker 10: M me put it a different way. Yeah, okay, on
Speaker 10: the other side of the thing, that the African America,
Speaker 10: I'm a white guy, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know that he was African American. His
Speaker 2: name was Derek from Roxbury. He said that he lived
Speaker 2: in the community. He did not identify to the recollection.
Speaker 2: So just what it doesn't matter. His point of view
Speaker 2: was his point of view.
Speaker 9: What's your comment the same thing.
Speaker 10: That's what he was getting at the display from the people.
Speaker 9: Who waited thirty forty.
Speaker 10: Fifty years to be able to use.
Speaker 9: That park without any problem.
Speaker 10: Now they're coming in. If Hann me or anybody wants
Speaker 10: to get on the board, give the football players five
Speaker 10: grand every time they play or something.
Speaker 9: I mean, you know, the football.
Speaker 2: Well, what my concern is, and I was trying to,
Speaker 2: you know, square this out, is that the women's soccer schedule,
Speaker 2: as I understand that runs from late March or early
Speaker 2: April that they play, you know, once a week whatever.
Speaker 2: And they're not like baseball that's playing every other every day.
Speaker 2: They're not like hockey or basketball, which is playing eighty
Speaker 2: two games all over the course of the winter. So
Speaker 2: they're playing maybe two three times a week. Soccer, professional soccer,
Speaker 2: I think is oftentimes a weekend sport from what I see,
Speaker 2: and it's you know, a week between games and all
Speaker 2: of that. So it's kind of like football in that regard.
Speaker 2: But this season runs into October early November, and the
Speaker 2: stadium cannot be used weekdays by the football kids voting.
Speaker 10: I don't know if they play there, but you remember
Speaker 10: Latin English well that you.
Speaker 2: Know, Latin English was always played at Harvard Stadium.
Speaker 10: Okay, on Thanksgimming, I mean that was that was That's
Speaker 10: that's legendary, like.
Speaker 9: Saint Patrick's says, legendary over in the.
Speaker 10: South all I got you down, I got you down
Speaker 10: is the resident.
Speaker 9: But another way, real quick, they wouldn't.
Speaker 10: Have gone near there thirty forty years ago.
Speaker 9: They would have been scared to I.
Speaker 2: Don't look yeah, look, I mean let's deal with today.
Speaker 2: There's the zoo has been there a long time. I've
Speaker 2: gone in and out of there. People love playing the
Speaker 2: golf course. Tom and Nino, the former mayor, used to
Speaker 2: that was the course that he loved to play, so
Speaker 2: uh yeah, I mean look, bottom line is the area
Speaker 2: has gotten a little bit better, which is great, as
Speaker 2: have a number of you know, uh communities in the
Speaker 2: Boston area. So let's let's hope it continues. Michael appreciated.
Speaker 2: I hope you all is well in Attleborough with you.
Speaker 9: Yeah, thank you, Bye bye.
Speaker 2: Bye bye. Let's keep rolling here, going to get Melissa
Speaker 2: in Jamaica. Plane, Melissa, you are next on Nisaka right ahead.
Speaker 4: Oh hi yan, thanks for having me on TI calling in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, class cat, go right.
Speaker 4: Ahead, all right, thank you. Feel right at home now. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I just want to just say that what we see
Speaker 4: happening in Franklin Park is really disturbing. When I first
Speaker 4: heard about this project, this partnership between the city and
Speaker 4: the professional women's soccer team, I was really kind of
Speaker 4: excited about it. It was something intrigued me because I
Speaker 4: love watching soccer. I want to support women's sports and
Speaker 4: empowered girls. But the devil was in the detail, and
Speaker 4: as I started to attend the White Stadium meetings, the
Speaker 4: Zoom meetings, what I realized was we were really getting
Speaker 4: hung out to dry, not only the taxpayers, but the
Speaker 4: students especially. And every time I heard more from this
Speaker 4: city about how they were promising us that there was
Speaker 4: going to be a great project, they couldn't have they
Speaker 4: didn't back it up. And when they saw that the
Speaker 4: cost balloon from fifty million to one hundred million, it
Speaker 4: just became really clear to me that this was a
Speaker 4: bad deal for Boston, a bad deal for the kids,
Speaker 4: a bad deal for the community.
Speaker 2: And I think it's now actually, if I'm not mistaken,
Speaker 2: isn't it two hundred million? I think the city is
Speaker 2: in for one hundred and the soccer team is in
Speaker 2: for a hundred.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's only going to go up. I mean,
Speaker 4: let's face it, with the tariffs and the skyrocketing costs
Speaker 4: of construction, the taxpayer is going to be on the
Speaker 4: hook for a lot more than one hundred million dollars.
Speaker 2: And I'm a little surprised that the judge allowed the
Speaker 2: demolition of the stadium to start two or three weeks
Speaker 2: before the court case started.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's unfortunate. From what I understand the judge that
Speaker 4: ruled that there there wasn't the injunction, there was no
Speaker 4: need for injunction was probably she made some wrong assumptions
Speaker 4: about well.
Speaker 2: It would it would indicate to me that that that
Speaker 2: the judge might have a predisposition. I don't know the judge.
Speaker 2: He's experienced judge at district court and recently appointed to
Speaker 2: supirit Court. I have no question. I'm not questioning motivations,
Speaker 2: but it just seems to me that if you allowed
Speaker 2: the construction of a facility to begin, uh, and the
Speaker 2: question that is before is really the survival of that
Speaker 2: facility or the replacement of the facility? Joy until the trial.
Speaker 4: But it's actually two different judges. There was there was
Speaker 4: a judge that ruled against the injunction.
Speaker 2: The okay, then thank you, thank you for that clarification.
Speaker 2: Then I still don't understand why when there's a case,
Speaker 2: I do not understand why a judge in a situation
Speaker 2: like that. I know that one of the arguments on
Speaker 2: a temporary injunction is always the likelihood of the party
Speaker 2: that's requesting the injunction to prevail. That's one element of it,
Speaker 2: and then it's called irreparable damages. Well, certainly, if you're
Speaker 2: going to take half the stadium down and a couple
Speaker 2: of one hundred and fifty trees, there is irreparable damage.
Speaker 2: That would indicate to me that the judge probably felt
Speaker 2: that the first judge who did not grant the injunction,
Speaker 2: did they ever appeal that and take that up?
Speaker 4: You know, no, they did not appeal that. But the
Speaker 4: court case is still pending, so the actual trial it's
Speaker 4: starting tomorrow, will decide the merits, the legal merits.
Speaker 2: No, but what I'm saying, But what I'm saying is
Speaker 2: what are the chances the judge who's now and again
Speaker 2: I apologized, I thought it would have been the same judge,
Speaker 2: But that's that's my mistake. Thank you for the correction.
Speaker 2: What are the chances that the judge is likely to
Speaker 2: rule in favor of the opponents if half the stadium
Speaker 2: has been knocked down? I don't understand.
Speaker 4: Well, it's certainly, it certainly is not a good look
Speaker 4: for public opinion. And that's and that's unfortunate. And because
Speaker 4: you know, ideally, you know, justice should be heard fairly, right,
Speaker 4: we should both sides should be able to present their
Speaker 4: case fairly, and by having the demolition go forward. It
Speaker 4: really it's exactly.
Speaker 2: I mean, if this was an eminent domain case and
Speaker 2: there were people saying, we don't want our houses to
Speaker 2: be knocked down, and and and we case is.
Speaker 4: Heard in the Southwest.
Speaker 2: Right, You're a Bostonian, so that's that's something we all
Speaker 2: both know what the Southwest Corridor is. Hey, look, Melissa,
Speaker 2: I appreciate your weighing in. I'm past my break, so
Speaker 2: I got to jump. Thank you so much for calling
Speaker 2: for the first time tonight, and we'll continue to follow
Speaker 2: the story. Thank you so much.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Thanks Melissa, I have a great night. Good night. All right,
Speaker 2: we're going to change topics. I am not going to
Speaker 2: drag a topic out when we come back. We're going
Speaker 2: to talk about the deportations and all the controversy around it.
Speaker 2: The administration's decision to invoke the Alien and Seditions Act,
Speaker 2: the Alien Enemies Act, which is an act from the
Speaker 2: from seventeen ninety eight seventeen ninety eight, the Alien Enemies Act.
Speaker 2: I think that the administration, I think the Administration needs
Speaker 2: to get this clarified, and I would hope that the
Speaker 2: Supreme Court would jump in here and take the case,
Speaker 2: and hear the case. We're going to talk about that.
Speaker 2: I've watched some of the videos of this prison where
Speaker 2: these are so called terrorists, and they are they're bad people.
Speaker 2: MS thirteen members, and apparently the Trump administration cut a
Speaker 2: deal with the president of Al Salvador. And I got
Speaker 2: to tell you, I'm a due process guy, but I'm
Speaker 2: probably going to tell you that I think that the
Speaker 2: Trump administration is doing the right thing here. All of
Speaker 2: my libertarian friends are going to be howling with dismay,
Speaker 2: but you can feel make the arguments. I think I
Speaker 2: understand them. Let's keep the conversation going, but we're going
Speaker 2: to change conversation six one, seven, two, five, four ten
Speaker 2: thirty six one seven, nine three one ten thirty. If
Speaker 2: you have strong thoughts on the deportations of the people
Speaker 2: that the Trump administration has characterized as terrorists, I think
Speaker 2: the first thing we need to do is to talk
Speaker 2: about who these people are and then go from there.
Speaker 2: We'll start that conversation right after this break on Nightside