City Hall still noncommittal on Wrigley plan

May 17, 2002

BY FRAN SPIELMAN CITY HALL REPORTER

After waiting 17 months for the go-ahead to expand Wrigley Field, Cubs president Andy MacPhail jumped headfirst into the stadium controversy this week but failed to get either a meeting with Mayor Daley or a definitive word from City Hall.

Instead of giving MacPhail an audience himself, Daley asked deputy chief of staff Lee Bey to deliver the message: Even after a series of community meetings and countless behind-the-scenes bargaining sessions, the Daley administration is not prepared to give Tribune Co. the green light.

"We're rapidly approaching the point where building this fall is going to become very difficult,'' said Mark McGuire, the Cubs' vice president of business operations. "To lose two offseasons as we try to move forward is very frustrating.

"We're doing everything we can to jump-start this process. The process was established by others, and it has broken down.''

Bey described the 70-minute meeting with MacPhail and McGuire on Wednesday as "cordial.'' But he made it clear the Cubs need to "renew their outreach'' to Wrigleyville residents and local aldermen.

They also need to address the lingering issues of traffic, public urination and security, as well as the design impact of a 2,000-seat bleacher expansion with support columns that would overtake the sidewalks along Waveland and Sheffield, Bey said.

"Not every issue can be totally addressed,'' he said. "But the community has to have a sense that their issues are being mitigated and reduced. The Cubs have made offers and shared them with the community, yet there is still push back. It's not done yet.''

Ald. Bernard Hansen (44th), whose ward includes Wrigley, said he still holds out hope for a compromise.

"Give everybody until June 1 to see whether we can come up with a deal,'' he said. "I want this thing to happen, if at all possible.''

Last year, Tribune Co. asked City Hall for permission to expand Wrigley by 2,350 seats, play 12 additional night games and develop the property adjacent to the stadium by building a multilevel parking garage, ESPN Zone-style restaurant and Cubs Hall of Fame museum. When the plan was downsized this year, Daley appeared poised to sign on, praising Tribune Co. for its "willingness to listen to the community.''

But that was before East Lake View neighbors voiced their displeasure March 19 with an 80 percent vote on a referendum that demanded community concerns such as traffic congestion, inadequate parking and public urination be resolved before Wrigley is expanded.

Daley changed his tune. He said he would not be "muscled or threatened'' into approving the expansion. The mayor's opposition was hardened further after Tribune Co. put up windscreens to obscure the views from the rooftops that surround Wrigley.

On Thursday, McGuire charged that the Cubs are being penalized for their long-term commitment to Wrigley Field. The White Sox and Bears won government approval for publicly funded stadiums, in part by threatening to leave Chicago. The Cubs merely are requesting the right to expand with their own money--albeit over a public sidewalk--but they're in a holding pattern because they're making no such threat, McGuire said.

"All of our efforts are going toward pushing Wrigley Field into the future,'' he said. "We didn't want to create the leverage game or make a veiled threat that everyone knows we don't want to follow through on.

"The consequence is that we do lack leverage. The only people who seem to be concerned about our deadline is ourselves.''

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