Last week, as the Boston Parks and Recreation Commission prepared to vote on the demolition and proposed design of White Stadium in Olmsted’s Franklin Park, we enlisted our national network.   

This is not just a Boston issue – this is an issue for all Americans who believe, like Olmsted, that urban parks belong to ALL the people, we wrote.  

Our Network agreed, and Olmsted advocates from Nashville, Seattle, Atlanta, Buffalo and more submitted comments alongside the Olmsted Network, urging the Commission to defer a decision on the demolition of White Stadium.  

During the July 29 meeting, Boston Parks Commissioner Ryan Woods acknowledged the letters from across the country.  

Thanks, in part, to this important advocacy work, the Commission decided to defer the decision on the demolition of White Stadium until an array of unanswered questions could be answered and community concerns could be more adequately addressed.  

This is very good news, and it would not have happened without your swift support. This was surely confirmed when we received a thank you note from one of our friends in Boston:  

Thank you for your advocacy and backing.  It is having an impact … having a national, leadership Olmsted organization is a big help.  The response for park leaders and advocates from the Olmsted Network is huge. 

We are in this together as this is not a local issue but rather a national one as tactics and strategies being used here are being deployed in other cities around the country impacting parks and open space.  Big dollars over parks and neighborhoods. 

Yes, indeed. We are in this together. That is why the Olmsted Network exists — to provide a national voice when local actions threaten to destroy irreplaceable Olmsted parks and landscapes. In this case, we are seeing a troubling pattern— in Chicago, Louisville, and Boston— as cities hand over park spaces to private parties. As we said in our latest submission to the Commission:

…we know that— in too many cities— our public parks are being handed over to private partners to the detriment of the public. The modus operandi is the same: find a private entity, enter into a lease for many years, and, in exchange, allow that entity to enter into an array of activities for commercial purposes. Typically, revenue is pledged, but with strings attached, resulting in access fees, limitations on public participation, and disregard for the fundamental notion, central to the work of Frederick Law Olmsted, that public parks should be free and open to all. 

We may have won a skirmish in Franklin Park, but we are still fighting a war. Challenges remain in Boston and other cities and we look forward to continuing our advocacy— together. We are thankful to our partners who help us advance Olmsted work and principles around the country.