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."

According to Yarbrough, Yancey feels that it doesn't make sense to pay millions of dollars for a ballplayer but then take tax money to pay for that. Other councilors have recently been more critical of the proposed ballpark plan and are especially concerned about using additional city dollars to pay for it. The idea of South Boston's waterfront as an alternative site for the ballpark is once again being floated.