Cubs call for settlement as city?s Landmark deadline looms

By Ronald Roenigk
Publisher
The Chicago Cubs are calling for a settlement among all sides in the debate over the proposed expansion of Wrigley Field and the surrounding grounds as its tolling agreement with the city over the proposed Landmark Designation for the ballpark nears its expiration on Wednesday, Nov. 27.
On Thursday, top team management reviewed the points of their proposal with this newspaper in an exclusive interview at the Friendly Confines. It is clear that at this time the team would like closure over an issue that has cost them two construction seasons. Just as they are re-building under freshly hired manager Dusty Baker, Andy MacPhail and his staff would like to concurrently undertake improving the venerable 88-year-old Wrigley Field.
The 22 points of the Cubs’ proposal are listed in detail in this newspaper (see sidebar for more details and see page seven 7 for the newspaper’s endorsement). Three weeks ago these points were presented to Ald. Bernie Hansen (44th) and to the Blue Ribbon Committee, which has met on this issue for over a year now.
Some of the highlights of the proposal include an elimination of all Friday games starting at 2:20 pm in deference to the locals’ parking cycles and habits. The Cubs will also encourage a bicycle program for visitors, adopt the Sheridan El station and hire a full time community liaison.
Among other things, the plan calls for dramatic parking and traffic revisions for the area. The team plans to continue a neighborhood watch program from their community command center as well as their popular e-mail alert system.
Beer sales have been and will continue to be cut off in the seventh inning and the team is committing over a million dollars in contributions in the next decade to address traffic and parking issues, inappropriate fan behavior and other projects in the Wrigleyville community.
In trade the team wants to phase in up to 12 extra night games, which is still two dozen less than the major league average of 54, and would ask neighbors to endorse their overall plans for the addition of seats in the bleachers along with the construction of a new building along Clark St. to house a Cubs Hall Of Fame, a new multi-deck parking lot, public restrooms and a restaurant.
The issues relating to bleacher seating and the four support pillars which will land on Sheffield and Waveland avenues have been bartered by neighbors for the overall good of the agreement. It’s a proposal that should suit almost all the factions, including the rooftop owners, most of whom will retain their views into the park. However, some factions in the debate will not be happy with this deal. They will continue to lobby for more concessions from the Cubs organization and call for a continued delay in coming to terms over an agreement. Some agendas will never die until their supporters do.
After numerous postponements, the city’s tolling agreement with the Cubs over Landmark Designation is expiring on Wednesday, Nov. 27, and the team feels it is now in a position to make a deal with their community at large. The Landmark Designation should bring finality to the debate since once it is enacted there is little chance that any significant changes could be made to Wrigley Field in the future under the strict tenets of the legislation. This would be the case even in the unlikely scenario that the team would abandon the facility.
There is clearly concern within the team’s upper management that this Landmark agreement could restrict their future and might put the Cubs at a competitive disadvantage. No other major league baseball team has ever borne the burden of playing in a Landmarked facility; within the ranks of professional sports, the designation is untested. But top team management now seems willing to do this.
As is the case with all Landmark proposals in Chicago, the city has performed no economic impact studies relating to its effect on the property and surrounding area and really has no idea if this experiment will even work. No other professional sporting facility in the country presently carries a Landmark Designation.
The next move belongs to the community and city managers who have been asked to sign off on this agreement. Meanwhile the teams waits, baseball caps in hand, while they cast Wrigley Field’s fate into the body politic.