Fenway residents are voicing their concerns after the Red Sox organization announced it was increasing the number of concerts played at Fenway Park during their summer series.
Neighbors who live around the park stopped by City Hall Thursday to protest after Red Sox officials announced their plan to play 12 concerts at the historic ballpark in 2019.
Officials requested the Boston’s licensing board allow them to hold a dozen concerts between June 15 and Sept. 15.
This is the most the ballpark has ever had in a year.
“We need days when no baseball games are here and we actually have the freedom to live our lives the way that other people do,” resident Fredericka Veikley said. “We currently don’t with the number of concerts that are being planned.”
Kristen Mobila, a spokeswoman for the Fenway Quality of Life Alliance, agreed.
“It’s not about not liking these events,” she said. “It’s about what happens in terms of safety, transportation, and trash.”
But not everyone is against the steady drumbeat of the concerts.
Local businesses say they bring in money to the area.
“People come in, they park, they eat, they drink, they bring their friends. So it definitely brings a lot of people around here,” said Theresa Hickey, event coordinator for Ballpark Tavern on Boylston Street.
Bruce Springsteen held the first concert at Fenway in 2003.
Since then, more than 70 concerts have been held at the ballpark.
The city licensing board has not yet made an official decision on the proposal.
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