Following the ceremony, Williams will be honored before the 7 p.m. game against the Astros.

Caray’s statue was rededicated and moved to its new home outside the bleacher entrance Wednesday.

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com

We honor the great Harry Caray today with a statue rededication at the corner of Waveland and Sheffield, right at the entrance of the Bud Light Bleachers.  Harry was always a man of the people and I think it’s a great spot for the statue, which will greet fans walking into the bleachers from now on.  We always enjoy doing a broadcast from the bleachers like Harry used to on occasion.

I always enjoy hearing Harry stories from my partner, from members of the traveling party who knew him well, and of course, from fans who watched and listened every day while he was here on the North Side.  If you have a favorite Harry story, let us know about it and maybe we will talk about it on the air today.  As always, keep it clean!!

Len

With the Cubs and the economy in the tank, it’s been a rough year for rooftop clubs overlooking Wrigley Field.

Now, the private clubs that share 17 percent of their gross revenues with the team will have three more dates to recoup their investment.

The City Council’s License Committee on Thursday authorized rooftops now permitted to sell food and liquor only on “game days” to do the same for a pair of weekend concerts by the Dave Matthews Band and for a college football game between Illinois and Northwestern.

Big Ten rivals Illinois and Northwestern meet on Nov. 20. It will be the first college football game held at Wrigley since 1938, when DePaul still had a football team and played its home games there.

The concerts will be held on Sept. 17 and 18, coinciding with Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

To minimize the conflict, the Cubs have agreed to push back the start of the Saturday night concert until after sundown, when Yom Kippur ends. Worshippers will also be free to park in remote lots owned by the Cubs and ride shuttle buses to temple services.

Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), whose ward includes Wrigley Field, predicted that the Illinois-Northwestern game would be a big hit with rooftop patrons. So could the sold-out concerts, provided the stage is positioned well enough to allow band members to be seen from the rooftops, he said.

“It’s been a rough year for attendance. The surrounding businesses are hurting. This is a chance to make up for some lost seasonal revenue,” Tunney said.

Also on Wednesday, the License Committee agreed to require so-called “second-hand dealers” that pay cash for old jewelry to follow the same rigid reporting requirements as pawn shops.

Secondhand property would have to be “kept intact” for inspection by city officials for at least 30 days. The names and drivers license numbers of those selling the jewelry would have to be maintained.

The crackdown is aimed at preventing stolen gold jewelry from being melted down, leaving the rightful owner with no way to trace it. That’­s a growing problem with rising price of gold, according to police officials.

But that’s about to change.

Cubs officials have announced that for Monday’s 7:05 p.m. game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the centerfield Batter’s Eye skybox will be a peanut-free zone reserved for those with allergies.

That’s great news for Cubs fan Joyce Davis of Gurnee. She took her 10-year-old daughter, Julia, to a game at Wrigley Field in June. But they had to leave after a half-hour when Julia’s peanut allergies caused her to break out in hives and begin wheezing.

Davis and her daughter wrote a letter to the Cubs’ organization and started a Facebook page pushing for a peanut-free zone at Wrigley. And the Cubs listened.

–Associated Press

“I said that’s a nice gesture,” the Hall of Fame outfielder said Wednesday about the Cubs’ decision to put his bronze there and move the statue of broadcaster Harry Caray down the street to the corner of Sheffield and Waveland avenues.

The Caray statue was dedicated in April 1998, a few months after his death. The Cubs are finalizing details regarding a possible re-dedication ceremony for Caray’s family, which would be held sometime during the next homestand that begins Aug. 30.

Caray often conducted his broadcasts from the sun-drenched bleachers, and now his likeness will be closer to them.

Williams’ statue will be unveiled Sept. 7. The bronze was being sculpted by Lou Cella from the Rotblatt-Amrany Fine Art Studio, who also did Caray’s statue as well as the Ernie Banks bronze at the corner of Clark and Addison streets, outside of Wrigley’s main entrance.

“They said they wanted to split us up,” Williams said of the statues of Banks and himself. “It’s going to be a nice location — you come off Addison and it’s right off the ‘L.’”

Williams has seen a prototype of the bronze, which, of course, will have him swinging.

mlb.com

08.17.10 at 8:27 AM

Artist’s rendition of the Addison Park on Clark construction.

Cubs fans spill out of Wrigley Field after games, many stumbling into one of the three dozen-plus bars steps away from the ballpark.
Cabbies honk, pedicabs pick up rides and drivers sit still in traffic jams along the way. That’s the Wrigleyville many know and love.

But is the area around the corner of Clark and Addison streets about to change? With a flurry of neighborhood development projects in the works, some wonder whether Wrigleyville will retain its frat-party charm or if high-profile construction will change all that.

The neighborhood’s significant projects–all under construction or approved for development–include a new police station, a boutique hotel and an eight-story tall, mixed-use project of a hotel, apartments and retail space, which was approved last month by the City Council.

It’s the last project–Addison Park on Clark–that some residents fear could change the landscape and alter the identity of the neighborhood as many know it. Project supporters say the development will enhance the neighborhood.

0817map.jpg
The neighborhood within the Lakeview community area doesn’t have any official boundaries, though its heart is the iconic and historic Wrigley Field. Wrigleyville is home to a hodgepodge of old graystones and new brick apartments, condos and single-family homes, a slew of bars and a smorgasbord of eateries. Peppered among the main streets are places such as souvenir shops, iO comedy theater and the Metro concert venue. Some are independent businesses, but not all are mom and pop shops.

“The area to me is a very unique area, very eclectic area. It’s not something that can be replicated,” said Ed Cisek, 21, a student who has lived in Wrigleyville for three years. But it can be destroyed, he said. In the place of buildings that house businesses such as iO and Salt & Pepper Diner will go what Cisek considers a generic building in the Addison Park on Clark project.

Rachael Moeller, 29, one of the 13,000-plus members of the Facebook group People Against the “Malling of Wrigleyville,” said the Addison Park on Clark project looks cookie-cutter and doesn’t offer anything special to the unique neighborhood.

“If you want generic Americana, go out to the suburbs,” the Old Irving Park resident said. “I made a choice not to live in the suburbs. Why are we forcing that on us?”

Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) said he is aware of some neighborhood opposition on projects but has worked with the community and negotiated with developers to craft compromises, including a scaled-down version of Addison Park on Clark.

“I’m confident we’re moving in the right direction,” Tunney said.

0817appeal.jpg
Wrigleyville is no stranger to change or controversy. Last year, the billionaire Ricketts family took ownership of the Cubs from Tribune Co., which owns RedEye. Some residents and baseball fans groaned over the construction of the Toyota sign at Wrigley Field in June, the expansion of the bleachers in 2006 and the installation of lights for night games back in 1988.

And even more changes possibly could be on the way. The Tribune reported that the rooftop clubs surrounding the park would like to open ground-level shops but currently are prohibited from doing so under the zoning that governs them.

Gus Isacson, executive director of the Central Lakeview Merchants Association, said the Addison Park on Clark development is “going to polish up what is there.”

The new development will provide more exposure and attention to business, he said. A strong anchor is needed on the street, he said.

The hotel will also provide fans, performers and parents visiting their children who live nearby a place to stay in the neighborhood instead of downtown, he said.

The Addison Park on Clark site now lacks consistency and architectural style, said project developer Anthony Rossi Sr., president of M&R Development. Older buildings and gravel parking lots sit on the land.

“Frankly, the neighborhood cries for redevelopment on that particular parcel,” he said.

Rossi said the project went through a process of community meetings for three years before it was accepted by many residents, Tunney and the city.

Cisek, a project opponent, believes the mixed-use development will snarl traffic–especially during its construction phase, displace businesses and set a precedent for other developers to request approval for tall, dense projects.

Tunney disputes that an individual project will change the entire community and says such projects could help the neighborhood thrive year-round.  “I believe what some of these developments provide are amenities 365 days a year, rather than up and down with the Cubs’ success,” Tunney said.

On game days now, it’s hard to get around the neighborhood, especially on Clark and Addison, said Jill Peters, president of the Southport Neighbors Association and resident since 1998. Adding more development to the area will make the gridlock worse, she said. Plus, the project still is too big, she said.

“It has a lot of people likening it to Bourbon Street because it has its own energy and draw aside from Wrigley. But when you start mixing in big box retail, it just becomes overwhelming to the surrounding neighborhood,” Peters said.

No retailers have been lined up yet, Rossi said. “You’re not going to have mammoth big box operations,” he said.

The developer has had discussions with Hyatt on the hotel portion. Construction could start as early as next spring, he said. Once built, businesses there now will get the option to return to the site.

Part of the neighborhood charm is that Wrigleyville is not filled with big box retailers, said Jay Schwartz, co-owner of T-shirt shop Strange Cargo. But he thinks it’d be great if the development brings more customers who want to spend money.

While the corner of Clark and Addison might look physically different, Schwartz said, “If Wrigley Field stays and the bars are all here, then I don’t think the neighborhood’s character will change all that much.”  lvivanco@tribune.com

How has Wrigleyville changed?

Recently, Peter Alter, archivist at the Chicago History Museum, came across a 1950s photo of the ballpark, which was built in 1914 and has been home to the Cubs since 1916. “It was not a cool place to be other than to go to a game,” Alter said. Industrial factories lined Clark Street in the photo, he said. “There was not the bars and nightclubs and theaters or any of that.”

The rise of Wrigleyville started in the 1980s, Alter said. He hasn’t seen a reference of “Wrigleyville” that predates that time.

That’s when the Tribune Company, which owns RedEye, bought the Cubs and Wrigley Field. As older ballparks started disappearing in the ’70s and ’80s, WGN, also owned by the Tribune Company, broadcasted games seen throughout the country. Tourists started visiting Wrigley Field and the intensified interest triggered redevelopment of the neighborhood, he said.

Wrigleyville was a predominantly white, working-class neighborhood with a sizable Latino population when young urban professionals, who could afford more expensive rents, started to move to the area in the 1980s, Alter said.

The neighborhood began gentrifiying in the mid-to late-’80s in part because of the accelerated housing market and urban living became hip and cool, said Euan Hague, an associate professor of geography at DePaul University.

Prior to that, the development of Boystown started in the late 1970s and early-to mid-1980s when more gay people moved in. Some of those new residents had money to renovate homes and invest in small businesses, pushing the value of property up, Hague said.
The surrounding blocks also rose in value. (In the past 5 to 10 years, gays have moved out of the enclave and spread out through the city because there was less of a need for a gay-focused neighborhood as more people became tolerant and accepting, he said.)
The new development of Addison Park on Clark could nudge Wrigleyville to continue on its path of becoming more upscale, Hague said.

RedEye Chicago

Story posted 2010.08.14 at 01:49 PM CDT

The Lakeview Baseball Club apartment building across from Wrigley Field is best known for the tote board under its rooftop seats that details the years elapsed since the Cubs’ last division, league and World Series titles.

But after Lakeview slipped into foreclosure this year, it is the numbers outlined in court filings that are particularly telling. They offer a rare glimpse into the shaky finances of a rooftop club operating in a bad economy.

In May, for example, Lakeview had an operating profit of $34,365. If the club was still making its $31,865 in monthly mortgage payments to the bank, that would have left just $2,500 after all expenses and fixed costs.

Other rooftops are scrambling to feed their own multimillion-dollar mortgages as the recession leaves their corporate customer base gun-shy from spending $30,000 on an outing that revolves around watching the Cubs play. Throw in the Cubs’ dismal record, which depresses ticket demand, and several rooftops are now selling entire blocks of games on half-price online coupon sites such as Groupon.

The price war may be a temporary solution to fill seats, but it has stressed rooftop owners, especially those who took out major loans in the boom years to finances upgrades.

“There’s a lot of money going out and only some coming in,” said Rich Zasiebida, managing partner of the Skybox on Sheffield, 3627 N. Sheffield Ave. “People have got hefty mortgages. We’re busting our (hump) over here.”

Selling discounted tickets to individuals also puts the rooftops in more direct competition with the Cubs. A rooftop ticket, which includes food and drink, has been advertised for as little as $69. Bleacher seats sell for as much as $54. Throw in a few $6.75 beers and the cost is about the same.

The Cubs have noticed. In June, the team threatened legal action against rooftop owners who were allegedly selling tickets on the day of games and using ticket brokers — both of which are banned by the city’s rooftop ordinance. Rooftop owners argued that the team should not care because what’s good for the clubs is good for the Cubs. The rooftops pay royalties to the Cubs, part of a 2004 agreement that did not seem so bad when times were good.

The suddenly treacherous financial footing for some rooftops has generated talk that the new owners of the Cubs, the Ricketts family, have designs on investing in the clubs or even buying them out. The family’s investment in the 3621 N. Sheffield Ave. rooftop in May only fed the speculation. The family also had discussions with the owners of the Lakeview Baseball Club who were seeking investors after last season, but no deal was struck, sources said.

Ald. Thomas Tunney, 44th, who has been at the center of development plans by the Cubs and the rooftops since he took office in 2003, sees room for more cooperation between the Cubs and the rooftops.

Tunney said the family has expressed a vision of expanding its footprint beyond Wrigley, especially as it looks for revenue streams to recoup an investment that topped $800 million. He said the rooftop owners, meanwhile, seem more motivated to cooperate.

“We know the family is in it for the long haul,” he said. “There are a few people in rooftops that have deep pockets. Most of them do not.”

The rooftops could serve as luxury suites for Wrigley Field, whose 96-year-old structure is unable to fit more skyboxes. The current skyboxes in Wrigley also are dated, preventing the team from generating more revenue from an amenity that is critical for most major-league teams.

A closer working relationship with the Cubs would give rooftop owners a full-fledged partner to fill seats and ease fears of a clash when their agreement expires after the 2023 season.

“It’s a natural,” said James Lourgos, who co-owns the rooftop club at 3639 N. Sheffield Ave. “The rooftops give the team something they don’t have in the stadium. And the rooftop owners have always wanted security on their investment. When you invest $5 million on a facility, you want business certainty.”

Max Waisvisz, a partner in three rooftops, added: “I think (Tom) Ricketts is a smart guy, and he wants to get more involved in these (rooftop) businesses. He’s going to be a very powerful figure in the neighborhood in the next few years.”

Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said he is open to working more closely with the rooftops, but he is not focused on them now.

“Our top priority right now is turning the team around and building a winning ballclub,” he said.

Outside Wrigley Field, he said his top priority is to develop a parking lot adjacent to the ballpark along Clark Street. The previous owners, Tribune Co., parent of the Chicago Tribune, had proposed a multipurpose building on the triangular-shaped lot in tandem with the bleacher expansion. The new bleachers were built, but the so-called Triangle building remains a blueprint.

“We look forward to working with the community and the city once we have a concept to share,” Ricketts said.

For now, the rooftops have been more of an annoyance to him. Two rooftops, including the Lakeview club, did not pay last season’s royalties on time. The new Toyota advertisement in the left-field bleachers caused some rooftop owners to launch a public relations campaign that attacked the further commercialization of the ballpark.

The back-and-forth with the team has raged since the rooftops stopped being just a quaint backdrop on nationwide WGN telecasts in the early 1980s. The Cubs erected windscreens in 2002 that blocked some rooftop views, and the team filed a lawsuit accusing the clubs of “stealing” access to the product on the field.

A truce was reached, and starting in 2004 the rooftop owners agreed to pay the Cubs 17 percent of their revenues. As the Cubs thrived in 2007 and 2008 and made the playoffs, the rooftops’ fortunes surged. In 2007, they raked in an estimated $18 million, up from about $10 million in 2002.

But selling a high-end party atmosphere is harder in a recession, Rooftop owners say the limping economy has discouraged companies from organizing as many lavish summer outings for their employees and clients.

Add to that the team’s losing record since May 4. Lourgos said underperforming Cubs teams can cause rooftop ticket sales to suffer by as much as 15 to 20 percent, particularly in September.

Even before the team took a nosedive in July, several clubs started discounting for the first time. In June, the rooftop supported by the Ricketts family advertised $150 tickets for half price. It offered the same discount for games the first week in August.

Waisvisz has sold tickets on Groupon for as little as $69 for September games.

“I want to fill the rooftops even if I have to discount them,” Waisvisz said. “Once you put people up there, you hope they come back again.”

An initial financial report filed in June by the court-appointed receiver operating the Lakeview Baseball Club while it is in foreclosure supports the anecdotal evidence that the rooftops have been hard hit.

The club sold 3,985 tickets through the first 27 games, including two games it was not open because of a lack of reservations. That works out to 147 per game, or 73 percent of its 200-person capacity.

In the first two months, the club generated $275,667 in revenue, or $69.18 per ticket. Food, beverage and other expenses worked out to $54.86 per ticket, leaving a gross operating profit of $14.31 per ticket. Add in fixed costs such as insurance and taxes, and the club reported net income of $10,311, or $2.59 per ticket, through April and May. Comparable information for the same two-month period in 2009 was not filed by the receiver.

The Lakeview club had several one-time expenses in April to upgrade the facility that have depressed profits, costs that other rooftop owners likely did not face. But even with 95 percent attendance in May, the $34,365 profit was paltry.

In a down year like 2010, some rooftop owners privately wonder if there is too much capacity. After the 2004 settlement, several boosted capacity to 200 people by adding outdoor seating and turning interior space into lounges. Combined, the 16 rooftops can hold about 3,000 people.

To boost business, some rooftop owners would like to open ground-level shops, currently prohibited under a special zoning that governs the rooftops. Other rooftop owners want to host parties and other events on nongame days.

To get there, the rooftops will need Tunney’s support.

Campaign disclosure forms show the rooftop clubs and their owners have donated more than $160,000 in funds and in-kind services since 2003 to Tunney and the 44th Ward Regular Democratic Organization that he heads. Four times, rooftop owners have donated their space so Tunney could host prospective donors.

Tunney has endorsed letting the rooftops build upward, a move that some residents and preservationists opposed, and open during special events, such as an NHL game and rock concerts.

Tunney insisted the contributions have not skewed his sympathies toward the rooftops. In fact, he insisted that any major changes in the rooftop ordinances would be a tough sell.

“We know it has been very expensive for the operators,” he said. “But if we are going to open up things, it’s going to be a hell of a fight.”

Chicago Tribune

By Bob Goldsborough

The U.S. Senate voted unanimously late Wednesday to name a post office near Wrigley Field after the late folk singer and Cubs fan Steve Goodman.

By unanimous consent, the Senate gave the go-ahead to the resolution, which was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley D-Ill. and which passed the U.S. House in April in a 371-0 vote, to rename the Lakeview post office at 1343 W. Irving Park Road the “Steve Goodman Post Office Building.”

A Chicago native, the Grammy-winning Goodman died at age 36 in 1984 and is known for, among other things, having written the Cubs-themed songs “Go, Cubs, Go,” which fans sing at Wrigley Field after every Cub victory, and “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request.”

Photo: Steve Goodman performs at Wrigley in 1981. (Courtesy WBBM)
“While most Chicagoans know him for the song we sing after every Cubs win, Steve Goodman’s contributions reach far beyond the ivy-covered walls of Wrigley,” Quigley said in a statement in March, when he introduced the legislation. “Goodman was one of the most prolific American songwriters and performers of our time whose songs have been played by Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett and John Denver and whose short but tremendous life reminds us how one person can impact so many others.”

The resolution now goes to the desk of President Obama, who is expected to sign it.

Tickets for the Wrigley show will be offered to Warehouse members in advance of the public on sale date. The Warehouse Series 8-2010 ticketing request period will open at 6:00 p.m. ET on Friday, July 2nd and will close at 12:00 pm noon ET on Monday, July 12th.  The ticketing request period is not first come-first serve, all members have the same chance of being randomly chosen for tickets. Warehouse confirmations will be posted by the end of the day on Friday July 16th. The public on sale for the Wrigley Field show will take place at 10:00 am CT on Saturday July 17th.

VIP Packages for both Wrigley Field shows will also be available to Warehouse members and will be listed as separate event listings on the Request Tickets page.  VIP Packages include your concert ticket, access to the VIP viewing area surrounding the house mix platform for GA Field VIP ticket holders, a souvenir laminate and access to a complimentary PRESHOW dinner buffet. VIP Grandstand Seating will also be offered.  The cost per VIP Package per person is $275.00 plus applicable convenience and handling fees – members may request up to 4 regular priced tickets and 4 VIP Packages for each of the Wrigley shows.