Cubs order net to catch falling Wrigley chunks

July 27, 2004

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

The Cubs have ordered a safety net to catch falling concrete at 90-year-old Wrigley Field, sources said Monday, as a Stickney couple accused the team of misleading fans about the timing, severity and response to the third incident in a six-week period.

Elvira and Duane Stano said the third incident occurred less than 50 minutes before the start of the July 21 Cubs-Reds game, nearly striking a woman in the next seat.

"It could have killed somebody. That's how hard it hit. Luckily, that seat wasn't occupied," said Duane Stano, who was seated in the next row.

"We read in the paper that a worker found it before the game and that nobody was in jeopardy. But that's not what happened. There was a lady right there."

Duane Stano also took issue with the Cubs' claim that the area was inspected and repairs made before the first pitch to ensure fan safety. In fact, Stano said, there were no repairs. There wasn't even a hands-on inspection.

An usher merely grabbed the 6-inch-by-4-inch chunk of concrete out of Stano's hand, wrote down the right field section number and walked away to alert a supervisor.

"He didn't ask if everybody was OK. He didn't even ask if anybody was hurt. He didn't say a word. It was hush-hush -- like he wanted to keep it under wraps. I didn't like the way they handled that," said Stano, 45, a deputy sheriff at Cook County Jail.

Elvira Stano, 43, said she couldn't believe it when the usher took the "pointy" chunk of concrete "out of my husband's hands, put it in his pouch and took off."

She said, "At first, I thought it was a ball. But then I said, 'Wait a minute. Nobody's throwing balls into the stands.' It was a piece of concrete the size of my husband's hand that could have killed us. I couldn't really concentrate on the game. I kept looking up and thinking, 'Is something else going to fall?' "

Mike Lufrano, vice president of community relations for the Cubs, denied the team had either underplayed the July 21 incident or mishandled its response to it.

When the usher reported the incident, Lufrano said structural engineers and contractors gathered to conduct the hands-on inspection that began at dawn Friday "went to the area and conducted a visual inspection" simply by looking up.

The following morning, "They went up and conducted a hands-on inspection" before the finale of the two-game series, he said.

Asked why the usher who grabbed the concrete chunk didn't bother to ask whether anybody was hurt, Lufrano said, "He was probably trying to get it to stadium operations as quickly as possible so it could be checked out."

Loose chunks of concrete fell from Wrigley's upper deck three times over six weeks. The first incident was June 9, but the controversy exploded into the headlines after July 16, when a hatchet-shaped piece fell on the third-base side, just missing a 59-year-old Plainfield man and his 5-year-old son.

Last week, Mayor Daley ordered a hands-on inspection of Wrigley, accused the Cubs of concealing the first incident and threatened to shut down all or parts of the landmark stadium if that's what it takes to protect capacity crowds.

On Monday, the Structural Shop of Glenview continued its extraordinary examination, which required engineers to stand atop a giant scaffold as it snaked around the ballpark, tap concrete beneath the upper deck and boxes with hammers and other tools, and make on-the-spot repairs when weaknesses are found.

Racing against the clock to complete the job before Friday's home stand, the Cubs have ordered yet another level of protection: a safety net that will likely be installed beneath the upper deck and boxes to catch falling concrete, both in sections already repaired and in those areas where engineers did not have time to go up close and personal.

Sidney Guralnick, a professor of civil engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology, likened the safety net to a "screen door" comprised of "very strong fibers" or metal wires.

"As a temporary measure, it's probably OK. They put in a net until they can get around to stopping the process that's causing the debris to fall," Guralnick said.

"But, it's not a long-term fix. They really have to decide is the structure sound? Can it be salvageable or do portions of it have to be removed and replaced? Long term, they have to concern themselves with the overall integrity of the building."

Guralnick said there are "a thousand and one things" that could precipitate falling concrete. They range from defects in the concrete itself to water penetration that causes cracks to develop during the normal freeze-and-thaw cycle.

The seriousness of the problem will depend, in part, on whether the falling concrete came from the structure itself or "attachments to the structure," he said.

"The original concrete may not have been all that great. This was put in a long time ago. People didn't really understand what we know today about concrete. They didn't do some of the things we do today to make it more durable," Guralnick said.

"One of the things we use is air and training agents that improve the resistance of concrete to freezing and thawing. It sounds a little strange. But it's kind of like stirring very tiny bubbles of air into the concrete. That improves its resistance to freezing and thawing."

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