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	TODAY: Tuesday, May 23
	Critics blast Red Sox plan as 'corporate welfare' Associated Press
	BOSTON -- To raise money for a new Fenway Park, the team is considering selling an asset as venerable as the towering green wall -- the stadium name. "I recognize that many fans care deeply about their season tickets and about the name of the ballpark," Red Sox chief executive officer John Harrington said. "But we do not think we can ask for the first public dollar until we have shown our willingness to consider every possible private dollar." The Red Sox disclosed their $627 million proposal a year ago. The team is preparing to ask taxpayers for as much as $275 million to help purchase land and to build a parking garage. The team is planning to spend $352 million of its own money on the 41,130-seat stadium. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said he is not yet ready to recommend the city invest in the ballpark. "I'm not going to risk mortgaging the city's future," he said. "I want to make sure whatever I invest in the Red Sox comes back to the city. I can't stop building schools and fixing playgrounds." Critics have called the plan "corporate welfare," saying it would destroy parts of Boston's Fenway neighborhood. "This is a wholly inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars," said Rob Sargent of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group. "Poll after poll shows the public is overwhelmingly opposed to subsidies for stadiums." The team's neighbors will suffer the most, according to Carl Koechlin, executive director of Fenway Community Development Corporation. "The Fenway community is paying for this twice," he said. "First with our tax dollars and then with an erosion of our quality of life." Harrington urged elected officials on Beacon Hill and at City Hall to act swiftly. The team wants the state to kick in $135 million and the city another $140 million. "This legislative session may be the last chance to build this in the way we want it built," Harrington said. The announcement comes 10 weeks before the end of the legislative session. Harrington said, higher interest rates and construction costs could drive up the price tag. The team has lobbied heavily for the project and met last week with Gov. Paul Cellucci. The governor backs the project, an aide said. Harrington pointed to the deal struck last year to use taxpayer money to help finance a new Foxboro Stadium for the New England Patriots. The team hopes to raise about $128 million in naming rights, $140 million from ticket sales, TV rights and parking revenue and $82 million from new club seats.		ALSO SEE Gammons: Fenway folly