Bleacher screens installed for security at Wrigley Field

April 4, 2002 — Black windscreens have been installed on fences around Wrigley Field to restrict views of the ballpark for security reasons, Chicago Cubs officials said.

The move comes just before the ballpark's Opening Day on Friday.

Wrigley Field has chain-link fencing on the top of its walls behind the bleacher section and part of the grandstand along the foul lines. The windscreens obstruct the view of the playing field closest to the outfield wall from the roofs of buildings that surround the ballpark.

The screening was considered during a security review after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Cubs executive Mark McGuire said.

"What happens right now, is you've got a 1,000-plus people across the street (on the rooftops) that we have no control over," McGuire said. "The people entering our ballpark, we have a chance to screen the packages they bring in. If we lessen some of the views, we lessen some of our risks."

Jim Murphy, president of the Wrigleyville Rooftop Owners Association, said the windscreens will further alienate opponents of the team's proposal to expand the bleachers by about 2,000 seats. He said the move is symbolic of building taller walls among the field, the Cubs and the community.

Gregg Kiriazes, president of the Lake View Citizens' Council, called the windscreens a "smokescreen" designed to take attention away from the team's expansion proposal that would require building over the sidewalks of Sheffield and Waveland avenues. The city must approve the expansion.

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