Despite political disagreements, the massachusetts Convention Center Authority and the Boston Redevelopment Authority may work together during 1995 to find a site for a convention center in the city.
Representatives for the authorities said yesterday that unless Charles F. Flaherty, D-Cambridge, the speaker of the state's House of Representatives, convenes hearings on the convention center, they will work together to find an acceptable site.
The announcement caught some city officials by surprise. The authorities seemed to be working at cross purposes for the past few months on the convention center plan.
In September, the Redevelopment Authority released a report that said that C Street in South Boston was the best site. But subsequently, the Convention Center Authority said that there are other sites, including the South Bay, that need to be considered.
Flaherty, who has been a proponent for a new convention center, nevertheless recommended that the House reject a Senate proposal last week that would have allowed the state authority to sell bonds for a center. The House did turn down the proposal.
Flaherty said he wanted city and state leaders to meet early in January to decide whether the convention center should include a 70,000 fixed-seat stadium for either the Boston Red Sox or the New England Patriots, or both.
