Hello friends and supporters!

Wanted to give you a quick update on what's happening over at City Hall.

Today was the day of two hearings about the White Stadium project. I attended and spoke live at the one at 10am; there was another hearing at 2pm.

I don't want to sugarcoat it: the hearing left me feeling frustrated and, frankly, angry. While it was introduced as an opportunity to include a diversity of voices about the project, it was everything but that. Panelists sat at the inner table, were selected by the presiding city councilor to speak, and were given 7 minutes each to present. Each panelist was opposed to the stadium construction and had a carefully prepared speech that clearly they had been given lots of notice to prepare (I had also been put forward as someone to speak for 7 minutes, with much less notice. In the end I was not selected for the panel, nor was any other supporter until the afternoon when I believe there was one present).

In the first session, public comments were left to the very end, at which point the room had been exhausted for hours with many opposers, all coming from the Emerald Necklace Conservancy group. A neighbor and I were the only two that spoke in favor of the stadium, which made it look like we were in the minority, rather than the reality of what it is - a very large group of supporters. And, of course, having the hearings in the middle of the day, lasting for hours, made it very difficult for anyone with a full-time job or young children to be present, and the audience showed as much. Inclusive is not the way I would have described what today was.

Unfortunately, what appears to be, is, and news outlets are already circulating an enthusiastic "David vs Goliath" story of the community being against development with an unfeeling, unlistening and archaic city who doesn't care. We all know that that's remarkably far from the truth, and that so many of us who are actually affected by the stadium feel in support of it. Not to mention that the city has engaged in over 60+ community meetings, working directly with small and large groups in order to pivot many times into a stadium design that we can feel proud of. None of that has seemed to catch.

I write to you in hopes to share the reality of what's happening on the ground. We must start speaking up as supporters of this stadium or I believe we could lose it.

If you haven't reached out to your Boston City Council members yet, it's not too late to do that today. 

You can reach out to the full council here: city.council@boston.gov

Or individual members here: https://www.boston.gov/departments/city-council

Let's keep this petition going and make our voices heard!

Thanks so much for all your support!

P.S. You can watch a recording of my testimony here and watch all the testimonies from today on the City Council's YouTube page.