Wrigley Expansion - Wrigley Field, Chicago Cubs

City may push Cubs to cure traffic woes
More night games a bargaining chip

By Gary Washburn
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 13, 2004

An ordinance that would grant the Chicago Cubs more night games at Wrigley Field remains on hold, but Mayor Richard Daley may seek to force the team to provide traffic relief and other neighborhood improvements anyway, Ald. Thomas Tunney (44th) said Monday.

A potential bargaining chip is the city's final approval of a Cubs proposal to build about 200 box seats between first and third bases, Tunney said.

The proposal has drawn virtually no public opposition and had won City Hall's blessing as part of an agreement to landmark the ballpark. But a City Council vote on the landmarking ordinance, which would permit the box seat project to proceed, has not been scheduled.

Under a separate and more controversial proposal, the Cubs are seeking permission to add nearly 2,000 seats to Wrigley's bleachers.

"I am urging we get to the (bargaining) table and hammer out whatever the issues are," said Tunney, who is worried that the 2004 season will start without neighborhood protections in place.

Wrigley is in Tunney's ward.

The Cubs had promised to provide money for remote parking, additional garbage collection and other local improvements, but only if additional night games were granted to generate the necessary revenue.

The city's 2004 budget contains no money for the improvements, said Ald. Eugene Schulter (47th), whose North Side ward also is affected by Cubs games.

"What do we tell people in the neighborhood they can expect dealing with issues of traffic and littering and loitering?" he asked.

Schulter said he is "all in favor" of moving forward with the night games-for-protections ordinance, expressing confidence that the games still can be scheduled.

An ordinance calling for a phased increase in contests under the lights--from 18 currently to 30--remains stalled because of concerns by the mayor's office about a variety of issues, from enforceability if the Cubs were to fall short on their promises to who will pay for 200 new garbage cans in the area around the ballpark.

"There are probably six or seven things that need to be worked out," Tunney said.

Cubs officials have said it is too late to schedule more night games for 2004, but the mayor's office does not appear to believe that time is of the essence, Tunney said. That's because when night games first were permitted under a measure passed in May of 1988, the team was able to make schedule changes for games held a few months later, Tunney said.

However, that was in an era before multiple television networks were part of the scheduling process. The 2004 schedule already has been published and tickets printed.

Team officials declined comment on Monday. But in recent weeks they have insisted that there would be no additional spending on neighborhood protections without new night game approval.

The Cubs are owned by Tribune Co., which also owns the Chicago Tribune.

Meanwhile, Tunney said the Cubs ultimately hope to win the city's approval for a planned development package proposal for "the whole (Wrigley) campus" that would include a long-planned multi-use building adjacent to the ballpark with parking and retail space and some rehabilitation of the vintage stadium.

"They have done spot repairs," Tunney said. "I think they would like to restore it to a competitive facility. The exterior needs work. The concrete walls probably need to be looked at and, hopefully, brought back to their original feel."

Separately, lawyers for the Cubs and the owners of 11 of 13 rooftop businesses bordering Wrigley were working on a document that would cement a deal requiring the owners to pay the team for use of its product. The team filed suit against the owners in 2002, and a tentative settlement was reached with the help of a federal judge on Friday.