Nov 7, 2009 3:59 pm US/Eastern
Report: $9M In Stimulus For Gillette Footbridge?
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place (file image)
WBZ
The Patrick administration is supporting a plan to spend $9 million in federal stimulus money to build a pedestrian bridge near Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place in Foxboro, according to a published report.
The walking bridge would connect parking lots on both sides of Route 1. The lots belong to Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
According to
the Boston Globe, state officials chose to build the footbridge with the stimulus money instead of putting those funds towards other road projects in several other towns.
The federal stimulus money is meant to boost the economy by funding so-called "shovel ready projects" that will create jobs.
So how does a $9 million footbridge outside of a football stadium and mall create jobs?
According to the Globe,
The Kraft Group – owners of the Patriots and Patriot Place – "has long range plans to develop property across the street from the stadium into an office park that could house close to 1 million square feet."
Greg Bialecki, the state's secretary of housing and economic development, told the paper Massachusetts has historically been reluctant to use public money to improve infrastructure around private development, but that attitude now has to change because companies are choosing to build in other states instead of here.
"The Kraft Group fully supports the state's long-term economic growth initiatives and is proud to have already created thousands of jobs while privately investing nearly a billion dollars in the development of Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place in Foxborough,'' Kraft Group spokesman Stacey James said in a prepared statement to the Globe.
The bridge proposal is now under a public review.
It will go before a regional planning board for final approval later this month.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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