He didn’t use any notes in front of him. He simply spoke with clarity and from the heart, emphatically telling Everett residents and Greater Boston sports fans that hopes for a new state-of-the-art soccer stadium and waterfront park are still very much a realistic goal despite the recent setback.
Sen. Sal DiDomenico, who like so many others in the city was disappointed that the advancement of a potential $600 million Kraft-family built, professional soccer stadium and waterfront park in Everett was denied by leaders in the House of Representatives, came to the Everett City Council meeting Monday night to explain exactly what happened to the proposal and what the next steps are on the journey to make Everett the future home of the New England Revolution.
Ward 2 Councilor Stephanie Martins asked her colleagues to suspend the meeting’s rules to invite DiDomenico to talk to the Council about “this important matter” before his scheduled appearance at the Chelsea City Council meeting. “I thought it was important that we got the information first,” said Martins, whose motion was approved unanimously.
Dressed professionally in a matching suit and tie, DiDomenico was all business as he took his seat in the Council Chambers to address the Council and the audience watching the meeting on Everett TV.
“It’s important that we clear up some misconceptions, clear up how this happened, what the process was, and what is actually happening with the legislation at the State House,” DiDomenico began.
The senator said the process began several months ago when there was talk about a soccer stadium development on a decommissioned power plant site in Everett.
“Now we have the opportunity to turn the page on an industrial site and bring something to this community that will include open space, use of a stadium for our youth groups, opening up the waterfront for the first time in decades to the residents of Everett, who deserve better than having an industrial site on our waterfront for decades – we deserve better than that in this community,” said DiDomenico.
He said there had been an “exacerbation of inaccuracies” about the proposal. “I deal with facts, and the facts are the matter are that the legislation we proposed in the state Senate did one thing, lifting the DPA (Designated Port Area) from that site only,” said DiDomenico. “It’s maritime use only, and I think at this point that there won’t be maritime use on that site any longer, unless it’s industrial use, and we don’t want industrial use on our waterfront.”
DiDomenico made it a point to publicly squash inaccurate reports that there was “some sort of deal between the Krafts and the mayor.”
“That is so far from the truth,” DiDomenico affirmed. “Because when the environmental groups were brought to the table, they initiated talks with the Kraft Group, and they drove the negotiations on an MOA (Memorandum Of Agreement) that they wanted to see in place prior to any legislative action being taken at the State House. Let’s clear that up once and for all: the MOA was initiated and negotiated by the environmental group. The mayor’s chance to have a host agreement comes at the second stage.”
DiDomenico said in action of community outreach, he then spoke with several Everett-based community groups, “as small as 10 [people], as large as 200.”
“I can tell you that everybody was ecstatic about the possibility of having this happen,” said DiDomenico. “Everyone was asking how they could voice their support for this [soccer stadium/waterfront park] project.”
DiDomenico also brought to the table a firsthand knowledge of the Kraft family’s immense generosity to Chelsea, with Mr. Kraft’s son, Josh Kraft, leading a fundraising effort that built an $11 million Boys and Girls Club facility in the city. (Josh Kraft was the founder and executive director of the Jordan Boys and Girls Club. He is the president of the New England Patriots Foundation).
“We have someone (the Kraft Group) who wanted to come in with private dollars, clean up the land at their own expense, and provide a development upwards of $600 million in the City of Everett, with jobs, the use of the stadium for youth groups, open space, public utilities, public restrooms on the waterfront, a four-acre park for our residents to enjoy,” said DiDomenico.
Local political observers are calling DiDomenico’s speech one of the shining moments of his brilliant legislative career while compiling an impressive record that has propelled him to becoming one of the most powerful Democratic leaders in Massachusetts. He pledged that he will continue to work hard to do what’s best for all residents in his district.
“Our kids deserve better, we all deserve better, the next generations deserves better,” said DiDomenico in concluding his remarks.
Martins adroitly asked the question on everyone’s mind in Everett, “Is the project moving forward now as we speak, or what is the status?’’
DiDomenico responded that he will file a stand-alone bill for the project, stating, “As the state senator for this community who strongly believes that we can do something special on that land, I’m going to file that bill and I’m going to make sure that we have all our ducks in a row to convince the people at the State House that the City of Everett doesn’t want this industrial past to continue.”