With the announcement that it will present paperwork to the City Planning Commission on Thursday, Temple took a huge step toward building a 35,000-seat stadium in the middle of the North Philadelphia community.
What the university failed to do was address unanswered questions that concerned members of the Temple community have been asking for months.
It is imperative that the results of the $1.25 million feasibility study approved by the Board of Trustees in February 2016 are released. Temple has a responsibility to explain its justification for a facility that could exacerbate existing problems, like litter and noise control — especially since the study was reportedly put “on hold” in February 2017.
And with the announcement, the university, again, mentioned conversations Temple representatives had with community residents about their concerns — but with no indication of how they conducted these meetings, who was present or what came out of them.
Despite one meeting President Richard Englert and Stadium Stompers leaders attended in August 2017, there is no proof for this assertion. If that is all the university can cite as “community outreach,” it is far from being sufficient.
The university’s announcement on Thursday raised other questions, too. Temple has identified more than 32,000 parking spots “with easy access to Main Campus” for the stadium, according to a “project overview” released on Thursday. We’d love to inform our readers of where exactly they’ll find that space, but it’s another issue Temple has failed to be transparent about.
The Temple News has cautioned the university time and time again: An on-campus stadium would likely hurt a longstanding community.
Whether or not Temple moves forward in building the stadium, the Temple community deserves to know why.
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