Cubs game to go on once nets installed

July 28, 2004

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Although concrete has fallen at Wrigley Field three times over a six-week period, fans will be allowed to return this week to the 90-year-old stadium after safety nets are installed to shield seating areas, City Hall said Tuesday.

Buildings Commissioner Stan Kaderbek gave the Cubs the go-ahead to begin a Friday homestand once nylon mesh is installed beneath Wrigley's upper deck and mezzanine levels after receiving a preliminary report from the team's structural engineering firm.

The firm, the Structural Shop of Glenview, has concluded that, with a safety net in place to shield all potentially hazardous areas -- including those not yet inspected up close -- the stadium poses no danger to fans.

Kaderbek, who is also a structural engineer, agreed. He's allowing the Cubs to begin the safety net installation immediately so they can get it done in time for Friday's opening pitch.

"I understand they have truckloads of it coming. . . . Believe me, I'll let them start installing it without the permit -- and then we'll get the permit. They'll have a permit" by Wednesday, the commissioner said.

"I will go back out there on Friday, walk through the park with their structural engineer, and make sure the areas they say are netted are [in fact] netted."

And what happens if the safety net is not in place?

"The netting needs to be there," Kaderbek said. If it's not, "Then I guess they can't have the people there. . . . Their own engineer recommends that it be up -- for the safety" of fans.

"I don't think [a closing] is recommended at this point,'' Kaderbek said. "They feel this is the proper way to go. I concur with that. In the absence of anything else, all we have is just falling concrete."

Ald. Bernard Stone (50th), chairman of the City Council's Buildings Committee, countered that a safety net alone is not enough to protect capacity crowds.

Stone argued that fans should not be allowed to set foot in the landmark stadium until the city is certain that Wrigley Field is structurally sound. He accused the Tribune Co. of covering up the problem of falling concrete and City Hall of abdicating its oversight responsibility.

"I don't want to be Chicken-Licken, but the sky is falling. If it's falling in one place, it could be falling all over the place and it has. It's not just one place and one incident. It's fallen three different times," Stone said.

"I wouldn't let anybody in that ballpark until they knew it wasn't going to happen again."

Stone said city inspectors "should have been crawling over that place like cockroaches" after the first chunk of cement fell on June 9.

Instead, Kaderbek waited until the second incident to demand a comprehensive inspection. And he's apparently willing to accept the judgment of the Cubs' engineering firm.

"Whoever heard of our building department letting a private engineer -- an employee of the company that has millions in revenues at stake -- send out their employees to make a report? Where are our inspectors? They should have been out there in June checking every single nook and cranny," Stone said.

Buildings Department spokesman Jack Beary said building inspectors did not descend on Wrigley because they're trained to "look at safety code questions. They are not structural engineers. The questions raised by falling concrete are questions that need to be addressed by a licensed structural engineer. The city code gives the building commissioner the authority to request an inspection by a structural engineer. That's what we've done."

Stone accused the Cubs of "hiding" the latest incident of falling chunks, adding, "That's called complicity. Sometimes, doing something like that is worse than the criminal act itself."

Instead of doing a cursory visual inspection from ground-level, the Cubs should have "called the game," the alderman said.

"Actually the commissioner of baseball should be out there himself and, in the interest of America's great pastime, should be telling Chicago's National League ballclub: 'Close your ballpark.' "

A spokesman for major league baseball did not return calls.

Mike Lufrano, vice president of community relations for the Cubs, refused to comment on the alderman's cover-up charge or his suggestion that Wrigley be closed to fans until the structural integrity of the 90-year-old stadium can be verified.

"The Cubs and the city of Chicago share a common interest in making sure that no one gets hurt at Wrigley Field. We're working with our engineers and contractors. We're awaiting the results of their inspection," Lufrano said.

Late Tuesday, a draft report was turned over to the city, but Kaderbek refused to release it. It was not known precisely how many weak spots had been uncovered and repaired during the hands-on inspection.