The city of Boston's Fenway Park planning consultant,
Barbara Burnham, has resigned from her $78,000 per year job
due to "tensions that were cresting in the Fenway." Cosmo
Macero writes that Burnham's departure leaves Boston Mayor
Thomas Menino "in a lurch, since he pledged earlier this
year that the Fenway planner would guard neighborhood
interests." Sources say that Burnham "raised eyebrows" at
the Boston Redevelopment Authority "by leaning visibly in
favor of Fenway activists who oppose the new ballpark"
(BOSTON HERALD, 8/12)....St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman will
lead a 12-person group consisting of small-business owners
and ballpark "skeptics" to Coors Field next week "to see how
a big league ballpark has rejuvenated a once-slumbering
warehouse district." The two-day trip will be financed by
the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce (Minneapolis STAR
TRIBUNE, 8/12)....Vikings Owner Red McCombs met with
Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton and then with MN Gov.
Jesse Ventura yesterday to lobby for a new $400M football
stadium (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/12).... The Bonham
Group President Dean Bonham said that Gaylord
Entertainment's 20-year, $80M naming rights deal with
Nashville Arena doesn't "fit" because Gaylord "already has a
well-known name in Nashville and the arena name does little
to promote Opryland, its principal product." But Gaylord
COO Joe Crace said the company, which plans on advertising
its many properties during hockey broadcasts, wants to
"expand the Gaylord brand name" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/11).
... In Norfolk, Harry Minium wrote that the city "is in the
early stages of considering" a new arena. But Norfolk Mayor
Paul Frain said he "isn't ready to commit to building an
arena" unless an NBA or NHL team decides to relocate to the
area. Frain: "Before you begin to build a facility, you
should at least have reasonable expectation of obtaining an
anchor tenant" (VIRGINIAN-PILOT, 8/11)....Raleigh Centennial
Authority Construction Committee Chair Ray Rouse, on the
seats at the new Raleigh arena being the wrong shade of red:
"I just can't imagine Duke would build an arena and put
Carolina blue in it. It's just not logical to me that N.C.
State would choose this color" (NEWS & OBSERVER, 8/11).
