Daley relenting on bleacher expansion

February 12, 2004

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Mayor Daley said Wednesday he's so impressed with the sensitivity the Cubs showed to Wrigleyville residents in the drive to add more night games, he's now willing to entertain a controversial bleacher expansion -- even if it's supported by sidewalk columns.

Adversaries for years, Daley and Cubs president Andy MacPhail officially buried the hatchet after a City Council meeting that saw aldermen grant landmark status to historic elements of 90-year-old Wrigley Field and approve the Cubs' request to phase in 12 more night games.

The Cubs never have been thrilled about landmarking, but they allowed the designation to go through without a word of dissent. That's because the uniquely tailored designation does not preclude a bleacher expansion and immediately allows the Cubs to build 200 seats behind home plate that will generate $3.2 million a year.

The bleacher expansion long has been the most contentious item on the Cubs' to-do list because the 2,000 additional seats would be built over the sidewalks along Waveland and Sheffield and supported by a series of columns.

''It has to be tasteful,'' Daley said. ''They know that. They have a gem. There's no other field like this. You can talk about Fenway Park, but there's nothing like [Wrigley Field].''

MacPhail refused to say when the bleacher expansion would be revived, and he won't know until he huddles with an architect again whether it can be accomplished without support columns.

''We would like to do it,'' he said. ''When we do it, it's got to be in a tasteful way that's in keeping with the gem that Wrigley Field is. And I'm confident, based on our experience here, that we're going to be able to do that and work with the city to everybody's satisfaction.''

When pressed for a timetable, MacPhail said: ''We're in the neighborhood-protection business in a big way for the first time. Let's focus on getting the seats behind home plate right. Let's focus on getting the neighborhood protection done right, and then we'll take the other issues as we go along.''

The Sun-Times reported Saturday that Daley finally had agreed to the Cubs' request to add 12 more night games -- for a total of 30 per season by 2006 -- after convincing the team to make the deal even better for Wrigleyville residents. The Cubs plan to add the first four games this year.

On Wednesday, the night-game and Wrigley-landmarking ordinances sailed through the City Council. Afterward, the mayor applauded the Cubs for assuming responsibility for beefed-up community protections that the city cannot afford to provide. They include financing remote parking and shuttle-bus operations; making annual $83,333 contributions to a $1 million fund that will finance ongoing neighborhood concerns; and power-washing sidewalks and picking up garbage in an expanded area during baseball season, even on weekends when the Cubs are not in town.

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