On March 5, the Olmsted Network will host a special webinar on the proposed demolition of White Stadium in Boston’s Franklin Park. We’ll be joined by historian and author Ethan Carr (moderator), Emerald Necklace Conservancy President Karen Mauney-Brodek and community leaders Louis Elisa and Renee Stacey Welch.
Franklin Park, often called “the jewel of the Emerald Necklace,” is the last great rural park designed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Today, unfortunately, 40% or 200 acres of Franklin Park cannot be accessed freely by the general public— and the threat of commercialization continues to grow!
Over the past year, this fast-tracked proposal has raised critical questions about public open space, historic properties and community self-determination. As proposed, the project would transform a high school athletic field into a professional, for-profit sports complex. This would fundamentally change the nature of Franklin Park by reducing the amount of public green space, cutting down 145 trees, handicapping use by local students and neighbors and breaking up historic connections between Olmsted’s Overlook area and the Playstead.
The issue has spurred, in part, a series of letters from the Olmsted Network and a community-sponsored lawsuit and alternative plan from the Emerald Necklace Conservancy. The Olmsted Network led the national Olmsted 200 bicentennial celebration in 2022 and supported Boston in their Olmsted Now bicentennial initiative, which emphasized neighborhood self-determination.
In this webinar, we’ll hear from community leaders about what makes Franklin Park so special and why the community has banded together to fight for a better approach to rehabilitating the historic stadium. The audience will have the opportunity to ask questions about the project: What avenues are left for protection? What advice would they give to other cities in similar situations?
Privatization of public parks and green spaces is not a problem exclusive to Boston. This webinar will serve as a precursor to our free Conversations with Olmsted: What Ever Happened to Parks for All People webinar on March 18, where engaged community leaders from across the country will discuss this distressing trend and strategies for protecting parks and public spaces. Community leader Derrick Evans will represent Boston.
Moderator Bio:
Ethan Carr, PhD, FASLA currently serves as Professor of Landscape Architecture and Director of the Master’s of Landscape Architecture program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is a former Board Chair for the Olmsted Network (then the National Association for Olmsted Parks) and was the lead editor for The Early Boston Years, 1882-1890, Volume 8 of The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted (2013). He has also written Wilderness by Design (1998), Mission 66: Modernism and the National Park Dilemma (2007), and The Greatest Beach, a History of the Cape Cod National Seashore (2019) describing the twentieth-century history of planning and design in the U.S. national park system. Most recently, Carr released Boston’s Franklin Park: Olmsted, Recreation, and the Modern City (2023), which inspired this short film by the Library of American Landscape History.
Panelist Bios:
Karen Mauney-Brodek is President of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, working to restore and improve the Emerald Necklace’s 1,100 acres for all. She led the successful celebration of the Conservancy’s 20th Anniversary in 2018 with the presentation of Fog x FLO: Fujiko Nakaya on the Emerald Necklace, a world-class exhibition of site-responsive art throughout the Necklace. Mauney-Brodek is currently leading a major revitalization of Charlesgate Park with neighborhood group Charlesgate Alliance. Mauney-Brodek sits on the Executive Committee of the City Parks Alliance and the board of Preservation Massachusetts. Prior to joining the Conservancy, Karen served as Deputy Director for Park Planning in the San Francisco Parks Department, where she led outreach, communications, planning, design and construction of numerous projects and initiatives. Mauney-Brodek holds a B.A. in Architecture from Columbia University, as well as M.A.s in City Planning and Architecture from the University of California Berkeley.
Louis Elisa is a Roxbury resident and has spent thousands of hours raking leaves and doing maintenance in Franklin Park. A founding member of the Franklin Park Coalition in 1978, he is the President of the Garrison Trotter Neighborhood Association and holds degrees from Harvard Graduate School of Design in City and Regional Planning. Elisa has served in multiple local, state, national and international leadership roles, including serving as a U.S. representative to NATO. He served three governors, numerous mayors and a variety of elected officials in myriad ways.
Renee Stacey Welch has deep roots in the Jamaica Plain and Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston. Attending local schools from daycare through junior high, Renee’s passion for her community is evident in her commitment to advocating for the needs of Black and brown residents. She recognizes the critical importance of green spaces, like Franklin Park, which have shaped her childhood and are now under threat. As the Chair of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council, Welch fights tirelessly for affordable housing, zoning relief and improved policing. She is also a strong supporter of Boston Public Schools. Currently, she is pursuing an M.A. in Business Administration with a focus on Public Policy.
This webinar is free with registration. By registering, you consent to receive occasional emails from the Olmsted Network.