City officials received a tough critique last week from neighbors wary about the latest White Stadium gameday transportation plan to accommodate the Boston Legacy women’s professional soccer team starting in 2027.
Boston Legacy FC opened its inaugural season at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough last Saturday, where they will play until White Stadium re-opens in March 2027. There will be 20 game-days per year from March to November, and a sell-out would bring 11,000 fans and staff. Games could be on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays.
The transportation plan has been tweaked since a first draft was presented last year. On March 11, a virtual meeting drew over 150 participants to take what could be a final look before city officials sign off on the latest Transportation Access Plan Agreement (TAPA) on March 20.
“It may look like everything is locked in on this, but that is not the case,” said city Chief of Operations Dion Irish of the TAPA, noting that the agreement can be added to or changed as time goes on.
But over the two hour meeting, residents —one after another— raised a myriad of concerns. A system that would restrict access to Franklin Park users on gamedays was one major concern. Park users would have to register on the city mobile parking application to park their cars in certain areas of the park and would only have 90 minutes to use the park and leave. They could not return again until the next day. Those using the golf course or the zoo would have a special code to allow them an extended stay.
Another sensitive point is the 1.5 mile radius “walkshed” zone around White Stadium meant to limit soccer fans from parking in the neighborhoods. Residents would have to have their car registered to their home in the walkshed and apply for a new ‘White Stadium District’ parking sticker. They would get one pass for visitors to use on gamedays. Anyone not displaying a sticker or pass would be towed during restricted hours, which are about five to six hours of a gameday.
Another unpopular policy would require application for a city block party permit if residents plan to have a party in their home or in their backyard requiring more than one visitor during restricted hours.
“This is a very disingenuous and dishonest presentation of the facts for the surrounding community,” said Louis Elisa, president of the Garrison Trotter Neighborhood Association. “What you propose is really a taking of our homes in Garrison Trotter. You’re taking our freedom to utilize our homes. You are creating a reservation where you dictate when and what we can do on our property…Black folks should not be treated like this in 2026.”
Added John Singleton of Roxbury: “You are treating that area like it’s for white folks on safari. I don’t like that.”
Bonnie Rovics, of Jamaica Plain, said a 90-minute limit to use the park seems unrealistic.
“I think people like to spend the day in Franklin Park having BBQs and birthday parties,” she said. “No one can have a family or friend get-together in 90 minutes. It doesn’t speak to how the park is used or is not taking into account the thousands of people that now use Franklin Park.”
Connie Forbes chimed in on the walkshed restrictions, noting it felt like a civil rights violation.
“You’re telling me I have to ask permission to have my family, and my friends come to my house and visit me,” she said. “I’m not doing that.”
Boston’s interim Chief of Streets Nick Gove said residents will have until September, when the city returns to continue the conversation, to decide on the walkshed zone. Proposals are for the existing 1.5 mile radius, or for a new half-mile radius (illustrated above) that would leave most neighborhoods exposed to soccer fan parking.
“The new option is a half-mile walkshed,” he said. “It would be closer to the Stadium and wouldn’t have the restrictions as far out.”
One other concern came from neighbors who use Ubers or Lyfts. With the rush of fans likely arriving on rideshares, neighbors worried they would be subject to “surge pricing” when they wanted to go places during Legacy games.
Other parts of the plan includ a bus network for satellite parking lots in the suburbs – with most expected to come from the north (Revere area) and the south (Quincy area). Smaller lots were also outlined to the west. Shuttles from MBTA stations – including JFK/UMass, Ruggles Station, and Forest Hills Station – would utilize Columbia Road, Blue Hill Avenue/Warren, and Columbus Avenue/Seaver Street. Shuttles are to be switched to all-electric vehicles within three years.
Gove said transportation plans mimic either the US Open golf tournament held in Brookline, or the Boston Calling concerts in Allston.
“White Stadium is not as transit friendly as Fenway Park, but is better than the US Open in Brookline and most similar to Boston Calling in Allston and it is the same distance for walking to that event as it is walking from Green Street here,” he said.
