Franklin Park

During a lengthy Boston City Council hearing last Thursday, some community members residing near Franklin Park voiced concerns over the scope of the plan to overhaul the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, while others showed support for the project.

After a Suffolk Superior Court judge denied a preliminary injunction against the planned renovation of Franklin Park’s White Stadium, Boston Unity Soccer Partners and its development partners are ready to forge ahead with the project.

Since the city’s announcement last summer that a women’s professional soccer team would lease White Stadium, park advocates and activists in neighborhoods surrounding Franklin Park have struggled to keep up with the breakneck pace of project review meetings.

A growing number of Franklin Park abutters and open space advocates are calling on city officials to hit the brakes on controversial development plans for White Stadium.

In July, city officials announced a plan to lease White Stadium to a professional women’s soccer team, allowing for 20 games a year in a March 16 through Nov. 17 schedule. During that time, football will not be allowed on the field.

Five years ago, when state officials were developing a request for proposals for the redevelopment of the Shattuck Hospital site in Franklin Park, Louis Elisa was a lone voice speaking in opposition of the plans, which evolved into a call for 75 to 100 shelter units for people experiencing homelessness and addiction.

Residents of neighborhoods surrounding Franklin Park this year have turned their attention to two planned developments in Boston’s largest public park, the renovation of White Stadium into a home for a women’s professional soccer team and the conversion of Shattuck Hospital into supportive housing for people struggling with addiction and homelessness.

Residents in Jamaica Plain and Roxbury envision a revitalized White Stadium that is a hub for city student-athletes, a haven for neighbors and an axis for ample jobs for people in communities nearby.

Calls to Boston’s 311 line to report discarded needles, open drug use, overdoses and encampments in Franklin Park skyrocketed last year after the city removed tents and improvised shelters from the Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard area and erected temporary housing structures on the Shattuck grounds.

Community members are expressing both support and caution in response to the city’s plans to renovate White Stadium in Franklin Park.

Mayor Wu now confronts a very serious dilemma. After the attack on Jean McGuire, it will be difficult to gain community support for the assignment of Mass and Cass residents to the Franklin Park area.

In an incident that has shocked her Roxbury neighbors, former METCO director and School Committee member Jean McGuire, 91, was stabbed multiple times last Tuesday evening while walking her dog in Franklin Park. She is currently hospitalized in stable condition and is expected to recover.