In what may be a prelude to next week's "potentially
damaging" vote on a new Red Sox ballpark, opponents at a
City Council hearing yesterday "lashed out" at plans to
spend $212M on a new ballpark, according to Scott Van
Voorhis of the BOSTON HERALD. City Council member Maura
Hennigan, a leading opponent of the plan, unveiled a study
which "raises questions" about the city's cost for the
project. Meanwhile, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's Chief of
Staff, James Rooney, said that the City Council's continued
opposition -- and the threat of a vote against the project -
- "sends the wrong message" as the Red Sox search for a new
majority owner. City Council opponents are asking for a
vote against the project, and are now considering a plan to
bring up the issue at next week's meeting of the full board.
City Council opponents hope that the "symbolic" move will be
enough to sway the team and their banking advisers to "give
up" on plans to build in the Fenway area (BOSTON HERALD,
11/29). Rooney challenged City Council members to offer a
better site for a new ballpark: "If you have another site in
your district or in someone else's, please come forward.
... It's always easy to criticize, but the point is city
officials have a responsibility to find a solution."
Council President James Kelly said, "We want the Red Sox to
be in Boston, but we do insist that you look at sites other
than Fenway" (Vaillancourt & Ebbert, BOSTON GLOBE, 11/29).
