City Council holds off accepting grant from Red Sox to fund events in the Fenway neighborhood after discussion turns into class/neighborhood battle

The Boston City Council today almost approved a $350,000 "arts and parks" grant from the Red Sox Foundation intended largely to benefit the Fenway neighborhood as thanks for putting up with all those Sox games and concerts, but put off any vote after a discussion that ended with one councilor bringing up rich people on Beacon Hill and the White Stadium controversy, and another councilor complaining about the crappy, wilting, lopsided Christmas tree the city put up in Nubian Square this past Christmas.

Had the council approved the grant, as it did with no controversy last year, part of the money would go to support the annual Fenway Porchfest with other funds supporting art and park projects in the neighborhood, according to Councilor Sharon Durkan (Fenway, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Mission Hill), who added that, last year, at least, about a third of the grant actually paid for a citywide program for residents to clean their blocks.

Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, who chairs the council's Committee on Arts, Culture, Entertainment, Tourism and Special Events, introduced the measure, but left it up to her colleagues whether to vote on it today or send it to her committee for a hearing. She said she was concerned that the city didn't put the money out for an RFP so that groups across the city could make proposals for it.

Councilor Erin Murphy (at large) questioned why, if the grant would mainly benefit the Fenway, the formal request for approval from the mayor's office said the money was meant for "arts programs, community events and parks operations across Boston."

Murphy said she had no problem voting for a grant to benefit the neighborhood most affected by the presences of a major-league stadium and concert venue, but said maybe the council should ask the mayor's office to rewrite its request to make that clear.

And from there, the discussion, began to veer in other directions.

Durkan said it was important to get the grant approved today because Porchfest was coming up relatively soon, Murphy said Porchfest wasn't until June. 21 and the council could wait two weeks to schedule a formal hearing and get clarification.

"I personally think if 100% went to the Fenway, that would be OK," Murphy said. But she could not abide  with the request saying the money could be used "across Boston,"

Durkan responded there was probably some legal reason it had to be put that way, but noted the "arts and parks" part was based on a direct request from the Fenway Civic Association and Fenway residents, in part because the neighborhood has long been affiliated with the arts - it's the home of the nation's first artists co-op - and because of the impact on its parks from "30,000 people" traipsing through the neighborhood on their way to and from scores of Sox games and concerts.

Also, she continued, "it's an issue of fairness," that most of the money go to the Fenway given what the neighborhood puts up with on game and concert nights, she said, adding she has always supported targeted grants for other neighborhood.

Councilor Julia Mejia said the lack of clarity is yet another example of how the council has been repeatedly asked to approve grants with little sayso and pointed to problems with grants related to larger projects, such as White Stadium. Council President Ruthzee Louijeune (at large) agreed on her main point, about how City Hall deals with grants, but said that in her opinion,  $350,000 is hardly a huge grant, that she would be fine with approving it and discussing grants more generally later.

Mejia, who at first said she was "tired of being the troublemaker," then couldn't resist one more chance.

"I'm going to be hoping my colleagues understand this moment and when  that when we have White Stadium, that y'all are fighting for that neighborhood, too OK, just because I see how you all be rolling up in here," she started.

Turning to Durkan, she continued: "So I just want to note for the record that Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan and you know, Beacon Hill, your district, is rich in resources and I always talk about the fact that we're resource rich and coordination poor and I think there's a lot of discrepancies around equity and so, you know, I just want to make sure that we continue to center ourselves in racial equity as we continue to talk about funding and happy to be supportive, thank you."

Then Fernandes Anderson, rose to say she had changed her mind and said the matter should stay in committee for a hearing, because she now realized how unfair it all is. She said that when Northeastern makes neighborhood community-benefits payments, they mostly go to the Fenway, even though the school now has dorms and other buildings in Roxbury.

And then there's the Nubian Square Christmas tree.

"When you look at Roxbury tree lighting, and you see this lopsided tree, literally, lopsided tree, very dry, very, sorry, but ugly, not fully bloomed and you see it, lopsided, and you see, barely, lights, and just lights sort of dangling vertically, just white lights, ugly, but then when you go to Fenway, and when you go to other neighborhoods, and you see these BEAUTIFUL, like walkable streets and all these lights everywhere, 350,000 is a LOT of money when you look at a tree like that," she said. "A LOT of money, because, you know how much the tree lighting in Nubian Square gets? Not even, like, a percent of that. So, let's remain in committee."

Watch the discussion: