No Support for Sox Plan From New Council Leader Yancey

BOSTON-With the recent ascension of councilor Charles Yancey to City Council president here, the Red Sox hopes of winning approval for additional city money looks bleak. Yancey has been a vocal critic of the new Fenway Park proposal.

Yancey, the city’s second African-Amercian City Council president, was elected in a surprise move when former City Council president James M. Kelly swung his votes to Yancey when he realized he did not have enough votes to win. While Kelly had criticized the Fenway Park proposal, he had hinted that he was open to some sort of compromise. Yancey, on the other hand, has said that the Red Sox’s request for more money from the city could mean the end of the project. He has also criticized Mayor Thomas M. Menino and his administration as well as the team for not doing enough to sell the plan for the ballpark.

“Charles Yancey is for development but he is against taking money out of people’s pockets,” Kenneth Yarbrough, Yancey’s information officer, tells GlobeSt.com. “He wants to see development but not at the expense of the working people.”