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	Tuesday, June 20
	Residents don't want Fenway's tax burden Associated Press
	BOSTON -- City councilors and residents urged Red Sox officials to find a cheaper site elsewhere in Boston to build the new ballpark, calling the team's proposal an unfair financial burden on taxpayers. The Red Sox are asking for $275 million in public financing for their $627 million ballpark plan -- $140 million from the city to purchase and clear land for the new ballpark and $135 million from the state to build parking garages, and improve roads and subway stations. Residents said at a City Hall hearing Monday that it is unfair for the city to consider spending so much on a baseball park when other plans to build new schools, community centers and other city improvements have been scrapped for financial reasons. "We have a housing crisis, we have a healthcare crisis, we have a transit crisis, we have an open space crisis," said Helen Cox, a resident of the Fenway neighborhood since 1958. "We do not have a baseball crisis." Team officials have pitched the plan for the expanded, updated park near the current Fenway as a boon for the city. But councilors said they worry about the effect the plan will have on Boston's taxpayers. "If (the plan) impacts negatively the majority of the stakeholders, I, for one, will not support it," said City Councilor Michael Ross, who represents the Fenway section of Boston. The park proposal needs the approval of the city council and Mayor Thomas Menino after it is voted on and approved by legislators. Team officials had hoped to get the plan to lawmakers before the legislative session ends July 31, but City Councilor Daniel Conley said they should wait. He urged developers not to be penned in by the legislative deadline and instead take time to look elsewhere for a more affordable site. But according to Boston Redevelopment Authority planner Kairos Shen, the new park needs a 12-acre site accessible to public transportation. Any site that fits that description within Boston would cost almost as much as the Fenway location, he said. To help pay for the cost of the stadium, Red Sox chief executive John Harrington has proposed instituting game day parking surcharges, surcharges on luxury suite patrons, a slight hike in the city's hotel tax, a higher tax district around the ballpark, and new property taxes on the current ballpark site. Harrington said those proposals could net the city about $18 million to $20.5 million per year. But Menino, who was not at Monday's hearing, has taken a hard line on the issue. He has committed to spending no more than $140 million to buy the Fenway site, and wants the funds returned to taxpayers. Former longtime city councilor Albert "Dapper" O'Neill said the city should not feel required to spend even that much on the park. "There's nothing that says we have to finance a private company," he said. Red Sox officials are reportedly interested in luring Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa to Boston, and that alone would cost millions, he said. "They've got plenty of dough," he said. "Don't let them kid you."