With its 120-year-old marathon and well-traveled running routes, the city of Boston consistently shows up in polls as one of the top places in the world to run. But a few city councilors think there are too many road races in some of Boston's neighborhoods. And, they say, the races are disruptive.

“There's been a proliferation over the last several years of the granting of too many permits for these races without notice to residents,” said Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim at the Jan. 9 City Council meeting. “I hear from folks who can't get their kids to piano lessons, who can't get themselves to doctor's appointments because roads are closed.”

Zakim says these races are even a problem on the weekends, with neighborhoods like Back Bay, Beacon Hill, and Fenway plagued with street closures, detours, and traffic delays.

Councilor At-Large Michael Flaherty agrees with Zakim. They’re both calling for the city to potentially change how permits are approved in Boston ahead of spring, when activity ticks up in the city.

But marathoner Tom Ranucci doesn’t understand that perspective. He says road races are easy to plan around.

“They’re usually on weekends; I mean people can just relax a little bit,” Ranucci said. “I don't think it's that big of a deal. If it was during the week and people had to get to work and stuff — but I mean, that's usually not the case.”

But it's not just road races. Zakim says things like charity walks and parades are also causing closed roads and detours. He proposes capping the number of new permits granted for certain neighborhoods, which he says would help with congestion. A similar limit was implemented by former Mayor Tom Menino, according to Zakim’s staff.

That moratorium under Menino has since been lifted, and the permits reflect that. Last year, Boston granted 440 permits for neighborhood events, according to the city's transportation department. But not all of those events required street closures.

Martyn Roetter is the chairperson of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay. He says everyone expects delays during the Boston Marathon or on July 4. But it's the smaller, less advertised events that catch people by surprise.

“When they're trying to do things like go out and come back to their homes or go to certain appointments, they suddenly find that streets are blocked off,” Roetter said. "They can't get there when they expect to be able to get there. So that's, of course, extremely annoying.”

Roetter has lived in Back Bay for years. He says he and his neighbors understand why people want to have their events in Back Bay. They like living in a lively part of the city and having events for good causes happening in their neighborhood. There’s just too many of those events right now, he says.

“In a sense, we are victims of our own success,” said Roetter.

Roetter says limiting the number of permits issued is one solution to the problem. Another is to ask organizers to move their events to other parts of the city. Roetter says this solution could bring cash and tourism to less visited neighborhoods of Boston.

Runner Anthony Loui says this is true; road races can be an economic boon for a neighborhood.

“It brings a lot of revenue to the businesses afterwards,” Loui said. “A lot of runners go out for brunch afterwards or stay and shop around the area.”

Loui is director and founder of the Boston Road Runners Association. The group holds weekly un-timed fun runs on sidewalks in the city, with many of them starting in Back Bay. He says rather than limiting the number of permits, the city event organizers and residents need to work together to "figure out who needs to get where, so they have the resources and knowledge to get from point A to Point B,” Loui said.

Loui suggested Boston should look at creating more open spaces for runners — like parks. He pointed to the success of Central Park as a place for runners in New York City. He also suggested creating a set of guidelines for all road races in the city, including standardized start and end times. This would help residents know when events are starting and ending in their neighborhoods, he says, even if they’re caught by surprise that the event is happening in the first place.

Zakim acknowledges that these events are for good causes and said he appreciates that. But taking a look at the process for granting them and fixing it will benefit organizers, participants and neighbors, he said.

“It’s something that needs to be addressed and done in a systematic fashion,” Zakim said. “We need to be thinking about which of these events makes sense to close off all of Comm Ave or all of Beacon Street or whatever it is — and do that in a thoughtful manner.”

The Boston City Council is in the process of scheduling a hearing on the permit issue. Zakim said he wants to come up with a solution ahead of spring when many races and charity events begin to fill city streets.