Citizens Against Stadium Subsidies

CASS consists of a broad coalition of organizations -- spanning the political spectrum. A common concern binds us together: Taxpayer money should not be used to fund sports entertainment. Our current battle is with the Boston Red Sox.

Regarding the proposed new stadium for the Fenway:

The Massachusetts State Legislature approved a financing "agreement" on Sat. July 29th, 2000.

Each of the following are in Adobe's PDF format. You may need to download the Acrobat Reader in order to view them.

The Red Sox Stadium Infrastructure/Financing/Enabling Act
The copy of the surprise amendments requested by the (greedy) Red Sox. [ ~ 190 kB ]
The procedural record regarding H.5405 and S.2269. [ ~ 80 kB ]
The Senate Journal record of the Senate deliberation. [ ~ 500 kB = 0.5 MB ]
The House vote for engrossment. [ ~ 38 kB ]
(this is the first vote the House took regarding the bill, not the enactment or final vote.)
The Senate vote for enactment. [ ~ 33 kB ]
For background reading, we include here excerpts from the MGL cited in the legislation.
- Acts, 1971, Chap. 1097 [ ~ 1.1 MB ]
  An Act Creating the Economic Development and Industrial Corporation (EDIC) of Boston
- Acts, 1983, Chap. 643 [ ~ 890 MB ]
  An Act Relating to Bond Procedures in the City of Boston
- Acts of 1960, Chapter 652 [ ~ 700 MB ]
  Redevelopment of blighted open areas

Red Sox plan will cost Boston $45.4M a year,: CASS analysis and commentary of Stadium financing agreement. 7/26/00

What You Can Do TODAY:

CALL THE MAYOR at 617-635-4500 open 24 hours a day for your convenience

Tell him this deal and any deal like it won't fly in our city!

More things you can do:

City Councillors play a crucial role in holding hearings, and raising questions. Bond issues and public street takings for the City must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Council. A number of Councillors have taken a strong principled stance against this proposal and deserve our thanks. Please let City Councillors know you don't want them to advance any proposal like this.
Boston City Council

Boston residents can use the "Who am I?" application to determine their City Councilor.

Let your your state legislators know you are dissappointed with their choice to pass the enabling act and financing bill that advances this proposal. To find out who they are and their phone numbers, visit the Where do I Vote? page.

Write a letter to the editor of your favorite paper.

CASS Members

MassPIRG

Citizens for Limited Taxation

United for a Fair Economy

American Friends
Service Committee

CPPAX

Massachusetts Senior Action Council

ACORN

Save Fenway Park!

Fenway Action

Fenway CDC

Massachusetts
Association of CDC's

Roxbury Neighborhood Council

Concerned Peterborough Residents

Mobilization for Survival

Campus Action Network

The links below mirror the CASS insert in this week's Phoenix. On each page, you'll find links to supporting documents and articles.
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE REAL ESTATE Combined, the land area the Red Sox have and want total half a neighborhood.
TAXPAYER SQUEEZE PLAY New Taxes in Your Future?
SCREWBALL ECONOMICS Fat Cats Get Fatter By Fooling The Public
	VOODOO FINANCING Is the New Fenway Stadium the next Big Dig?
WALLY'S WORLD
... and don't forget to review the Stadium Madness page on the FAC site.

CASS Campaign Central
Email: cass_mass@yahoo.com
Phone: (617) 339-2014

A New Red Sox Stadium - Everybody pays
This is the most expensive baseball stadium ever proposed. Not surprisingly we'll all be paying for it for decades to come.
Fans Pay:	Higher ticket prices, ticket taxes, parking surcharges, personal seat licenses, hours in gridlock. And real fans will be exiled to the upper decks -- there's even an upper deck in the bleachers!
Taxpayers Pay:	A whole host of new taxes for citizens across the Commonwealth. Hundreds of millions in stadium bonds that crowd out higher priority spending. And cost overruns sure to come.
Businesses Pay:	Dozens of small businesses are to be devoured, hundreds of jobs displaced and half the land in one neighborhood taken from its rightful owners to be handed over to the Sox for their stadium -- so the Sox owners can profit from massive real estate development in the former site of Fenway Park -- with taxpayers footing the bill!
Neighborhoods Pay:	Game day impacts on the Fenway and surrounding neighborhoods -- noise, pollution, rowdies, traffic -- are increased. Today's gridlock will seem like a pleasant memory of the good old days.
The Team Pays:	The Red Sox will have the largest stadium debt in all of baseball and less money to hire the best players.

Tell your public officials : "Don't feed the Greed!"