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RED SOX
Yawkey Way today, Lansdowne Street tomorrow?
BY SETH GITELL

Now that last week’s labor agreement has saved the baseball season for the plutocratic Boston Red Sox owners, plans for the " malling " of the Fenway can move forward at full speed.

Red Sox officials went before the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission last Thursday to apply for a license to sell beer and wine on Yawkey Way, which would be closed to the general public. (The Red Sox need the additional revenue the plan would generate to pay off the record $700 million it cost the ownership group to buy the club.) Appeals for the temporary license were rejected on September 3. That same day, US District Court judge Robert Keeton declined to issue a temporary restraining order blocking the team’s move. The case centers on the question of whether the Red Sox action violated the First Amendment rights of a company called Pennant Publications, which publishes an unofficial account of the Red Sox program titled Boston Baseball on a monthly basis during the baseball season. Pennant Publications distributes its magazines with the help of street hawkers. (In this case, the city wants hawkers off the street — in an apparent contradiction of the position taken in its legal actions against news boxes, wherein one of the city’s arguments is that the publications can employ street hawkers.) Judge Keeton put the matter off until an evidentiary hearing can be held next March.

On another front, Boston mayor Tom Menino indicated this week that he remains open to extending the arrangement closing Yawkey Way to nearby Lansdowne Street. Menino’s press secretary, Carole Brennan, confirmed that the mayor is now considering " a range of options " for Lansdowne Street, but was hazy on the details. However, she distanced Menino from the notion that any new Lansdowne arrangement would duplicate the temporary one on Yawkey Way. " He’s willing to be open-minded and look at the whole area around the ballpark, " says Brennan. " He really does think the new ownership is fan-friendly, and keep in mind, it’s a test. Thursday will be the first game [with Yawkey Way closed], and we’ll see how it goes. "

The arrangement may be a " test " this September. But don’t be surprised if it becomes permanent next year.

Issue Date: September 5 - 12, 2002
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