City Councilor and mayoral candidate Michael F. Flaherty challenged Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday to improve Boston’s distressed high school athletic system by enlisting financial support from the city’s professional sports teams, colleges, and universities.
“Now more than ever we need to be creative about how we fund our important programs and carve out more opportunities for our BPS students,’’ Flaherty said, reacting to a Globe series on chronic inadequacies in high school athletics in the city.
“As taxpayers, we pay for the celebratory parades each time our home team wins, and we provide the additional police presence required to maintain the public’s safety during each of those games,’’ Flaherty said. “Mayor Menino has missed yearly opportunities to demonstrate real leadership and engage our major sports teams in mutually beneficial partnerships.’’
Flaherty said Menino should persuade colleges and universities to share fields, provide coaching assistance, and help pay for equipment and uniforms.
Menino’s spokeswoman, Dot Joyce, said the mayor convened a task force to examine how much nonprofits should contribute to the city. “There absolutely is room for improvement,’’ she said, referring to colleges, universities, and the tax-paying sports teams.
