Boston, MA – Today, Josh Kraft again called on Mayor Michelle Wu to be transparent and clear about how much White Stadium is going to cost Boston’s taxpayers.

“It has been 48 hours since I called on the mayor to come clean about the true cost of White Stadium, but instead of clarity, the mayor, her official press staff and her campaign have provided a lot of words, but no real answers” said Kraft. “The taxpayers of Boston deserve a straight answer from Michelle Wu on the cost of a project that has clearly gotten out of control.”

“Michelle Wu talks about the importance of transparency, and yet there’s no transparency at City Hall,” said Kraft. “On Monday, she said didn’t know anything about a $172 million price tag or where it came from, but on Tuesday she admitted it came from her own Administration while claiming it was not accurate but rather, a ‘worst-case scenario.’

Given what Trump and his disastrous tariffs are doing to the cost of steel and construction, aren’t we in a worst-case situation right now? How much is going to be too much for the taxpayers of Boston, and don’t they deserve to know?”

After instructing her press office to put out public statements denying the $172 million figure, and making a similar statement herself, Michelle Wu then cut the legs out from those claims during a media appearance on WGBH’s Boston Public Radio.

On Monday, June 16:

• Mayor Wu told WBUR, “Not sure where those numbers are coming from,” she said. “I would love to see where he’s getting those.” 
• Her official press office told Contrarian Boston, which had obtained an internal document containing the figure, “The City does not recognize this document,” the city spokesperson said. “The figures in it are not representative of any cost estimates related to the planned renovation of White Stadium.”
• The Boston Globe reported, “Wu’s mayoral campaign did not refute the $170 million figure.”

 On Tuesday, June 17:

• After denying the figure for all of Monday, Michelle Wu reversed course on Boston Public Radio, confirmed the authenticity of the $172 million figure, and acknowledged that it came from City Hall.
• Wu admitted the $172 million figure “is based on an internal, ‘worst case’ cost projection,” according to the Boston Globe.
• Wu did so while also continuing to refuse to share what she believes is an accurate figure. The Boston Herald reports, “The mayor would not state how much she anticipates the city’s portion of the public-private project will cost or provide a ballpark estimate.”

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Media contact: Eileen O’Connor, eileen@joshforboston.com

617-806-6999

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