Cubs Play 'Hardball' With Neighbors
Cubs Management Installs Screening For 'Security Purposes'

POSTED: 6:40 a.m. CST April 4, 2002
UPDATED: 2:08 p.m. CST April 4, 2002

CHICAGO -- The eve of opening day at Wrigley Field has the Cubs getting off to a controversial start.

NBC5's Kim Vatis reported that what the Cubs are calling a new security measure is being viewed by Wrigleyville neighbors as nothing more than a ploy to aggravate rooftop owners. It's the latest skirmish in the battle over Wrigley expansion.

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 newly installed windscreens obstruct the view of the playing field closest to the outfield wall from the roofs of buildings that surround the ballpark.

NBC5's Kim Vatis reported that in the Wrigley Field expansion game, many are questioning whether the Cubs are simply playing hardball or pitching a fast one to rooftop owners by partially blocking their view in what the Cubs organization says is an attempt to boost security.

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. "(With) 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."

Rooftop owners who admit it only slightly impacts the view, question the true motivation of the Cubs move.

"I don't think that a windscreen fence, unless it's armor-plated, is going to do them any good and I'm sure that it (has) nothing to do with security, whatsoever," Jim Murphy of the Wrigleyville Rooftop Owners Association told NBC5.

Cub fan Greg Brown said "It's kind of a cheap shot. I mean, they've had the rooftops for years."

That's because the move comes amid a stalemate in the negotiations to expand Wrigley Field. The ball club had made some concessions, but the Lakeview community claimed they weren't enough.

Vatis said that now the community feels it is being blocked out.

Murphy's establishment is one of the several that could be affected by the new tarp. From the top of Murphy's tavern, the screens block about 10 percent of the ballfield.

"I think it's more of building a symbolic wall around Wrigley Field that will separate them from more the neighborhood and the neighborhood is the most important thing here," Murphy said.

But, Vatis reported, there's one more layer of the controversy. Some community critics of the rooftop interests say their bird's eye view shouldn't play into this.

"I think it's great that the Cubs are finally stepping up to the plate," said Alta Vista Association member and rooftop critic Karen Kennedy.

"The rooftop was a neighborhood tradition. Now it's a big business," she added.

Representatives of the Lakeview Association are considering possible legal challenges to those screens. Given that Wrigley is up for landmark status they claim the screen tarps could be a material change not allowed under code.

Copyright 2002 by NBC5.com The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.