Brush back: Gov's pitch to Sox takes bat out of mayor's hands

Boston's Fenway Park may survive another year, thanks to political wrangling over its replacement

By Cosmo Macero Jr. and David R. Guarino

July 14, 2000 Web posted at: 12:09 PM EDT (1609 GMT)

BOSTON, Massachusetts (The Boston Herald) -- Locked in a political firefight with Mayor Thomas M. Menino over public funding for a new Fenway Park, Gov. Paul Cellucci yesterday moved to seize control of the project's fate in private talks with Red Sox chief John Harrington.

Cellucci could file legislation as soon as next week that would allow a $72 million Red Sox parking garage to be built with state revenue bonds, sources told the Herald yesterday. The proposal, which was the focus of discussion between Harrington and Cellucci yesterday, would provide for $12 million in annual garage revenue to be shared with the city after debt service and operating expenses are covered.

``They want to work some deal out,'' said one source familiar with the talks. ``They're beginning the process for legislation.''

Meanwhile, House and Senate leaders hinted at new flexibility in how an estimated $100 million in state infrastructure funding could be used. A concession there could be critical to the Red Sox, since the team's finance plan now has a $20 million to $30 million gap in required funding for site preparation.

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Cellucci's behind the scenes maneuvers came as he and Menino took turns blasting each other over the troubled $627 million ballpark project.

The governor, for the second day in a row, ripped City Hall over plans to impose a citywide parking surcharge to cover Boston's investment in the ballpark. But an angry Menino fired back, saying Cellucci is bankrupt of his own ideas, and charged the governor's resistance to any new taxes will cripple the city's ability to help the Sox.

``What's his ideas to make this work?'' Menino asked, suggesting the project is doomed to fail without the parking fees or other tax schemes floated from City Hall. ``If the (Cellucci) administration is so committed to making it happen, tell me (how). Tell me. The only way it's going to happen is new revenues.''

City Hall sources said they were shocked that Cellucci took such a public whacking at the latest trial balloons in the Sox subsidy drama. But rather than pulling back, Cellucci amplified his strong opposition to the parking fees, as well as proposals for new hotel and meals taxes.

``I'm not going to support taxes on working people to finance a new Fenway Park. I'm not going to do it,'' Cellucci said in response to Menino.

``He's talking about a tax on every parking place in the city of Boston every single day of the year. That's not people who are going to the game. That's taxing people who are coming to work,'' Cellucci said. ``It's off the table as far as I'm concerned.''

For months now Cellucci has pushed the garage deal as a way to cover a large portion of the city's proposed $110 million to $120 million land investment. But Menino and House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran have resisted the notion, with the mayor saying Boston can't afford to build the garages, and Finneran saying the state shouldn't share parking revenue.

``We don't have to raise taxes. The revenue the garages will produce will enable us to put this agreement together,'' Cellucci said. ``Why can't the state build the garages, pay the $6 million debt service, and give the additional $6 million to the City of Boston? There's no law against that.''

One caveat is that the team, with a $352 million debt load of its own on the project, says it needs a portion of garage revenues to make its numbers work. But sources said last night that a commitment from Major League Baseball to underwrite $70 million in ballpark debt could provide enough savings to cover the gap even if the city and state kept all the garage revenue.

Both Finneran and Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham suggested Cellucci's resistance to the citywide parking surcharge could be devastating to the project if Menino rejects other options.

``There is no question that this is a setback for the Red Sox,'' Birmingham said. ``The chances of getting it done are diminished by the day, and we only have a few days left.''

Significantly, however, both lawmakers indicated they are open to creative definitions of ``infrastructure'' when it comes to spending $100 million the state is prepared to commit to the project free and clear.

``Infrastructure is not a self-defining term,'' Birmingham said. ``It's an elastic concept.''

The Sox want state lawmakers to consider allowing use of state funds to remove soil from the ballpark site and possibly to erect slurry walls.

``I'm open to any reasonable suggestion,'' Finneran said. ``I know (infrastructure) when I see it, and I'll wait to see what the proposal looks like.''

Fenway proposal in peril as governor balks

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