BOSTON — The TD Garden and Department of Conservation and Recreation has reached a deal following teenagers unearthing an agreement that had been unfulfilled.
Teens Lorrie Pearson, Jonah Muniz and Mabel Gondres were at a city council meeting when a neighborhood historian tipped them off to the 1993 law that put into motion construction of the then-new $160 million TD Garden arena.
Part of the provisions for its construction was that the Garden would have to host three fundraisers per year, benefiting the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The teens started digging and discovered public records show none of the fundraisers ever happened.
The story broke earlier this month and the TD Garden at the time said it was working with DCR officials.
On Thursday, the TD Garden announced that it has reached a deal to "remedy our role in the oversight."
"We have agreed to commit $1.65 million to the DCR, earmarked for the Jackson Square Recreation Center based on an evaluation of similar events. Furthermore, we will continue to work with DCR to ensure that our obligations to the Commonwealth are fulfilled moving forward," said TD Garden President Amy Latimer in a statement.
This will help bring an ice arena to Roxbury, a project that has started and stopped several times since the 1990s.
"Now that we have reached an agreement with DCR, we will be meeting with the Hyde Square Task Force soon, with the hope of collaborating on ways that we can bring additional support to their project," said Latimer.
The teenagers had previously said that what was most important is that billionaires are held accountable.
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
