Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey met with a group of teen sleuths responsible for exposing a forgotten fundraising deal between TD Garden and the city, commending their work and promising to investigate the issue further.
“These kids are looking for opportunities that other kids in the city have, and I think it’s commendable that they’ve come forward and have raised this as an issue,” Healey said in an interview with Boston Public Radio Tuesday.
Back in 1993, during the construction of what is now the TD Garden, the facility owner and the city struck a deal: If construction was approved, the Garden owner would host three fundraisers per year to raise money for recreational facilities in the city.
While researching how to raise money for a new hockey rink in their neighborhood, a group of teens from Hyde Square, who are part of the Hyde Square Task Force, stumbled upon the agreement, which had not been honored since it was written up — 24 years ago.
“I commend these young people,” Healey said. “These are young people from Jamaica Plain and Roxbury and Roslindale who come together and are part of an organization that is about promoting opportunities for young people … they are very much in need of a recreational center in that area, and I’m sympathetic to that.”
According to the activist’s calculations, TD Garden owes the state $13.8 million, including accrued interest. The Garden announced a deal that would give the state $2.65 million, a deal the teens immediately denounced.
Healey said she’s worried the deal doesn’t cut it. “I heard them out yesterday and we’re evaluating it,” Healey said. “I am concerned that the amount that was worked out is not sufficient.”
“So many of the problems that we see, we see on the back end,” Healey continued. “If we spent more time and made more investment on the front end, in after school programming, in arts and education and theater opportunities for young people in the city and across the state in recreational facilities … I just think that there’s no greater investment we can make, as a Commonwealth, than in young people.”
Maura Healey is the Massachusetts Attorney General. To hear her full interview with Boston Public Radio, click on the audio player above.
