PROTECTION FOR WRIGLEYVILLE RESIDENTS

Wrigleyville turns up heat on Tribune

Spielman, Fran

Wrigleyville residents want the Tribune Co. to help finance more police and cleanup patrols, a neighborhood trolley system and public washrooms with entrances on Waveland and Sheffield before they will even entertain the Cubs' request for more night games and bleacher seats at Wrigley Field.

City Hall also is being urged to do its part by imposing $250 fines against public urination and extending to weekends a residential permit parking system now confined to night games.

"On the weekends, people are being held hostage in their homes. They can't run errands or go shopping because they're afraid of losing their parking spaces," said Connie Jurczyk, president of the Southport Neighbors Association.

A neighborhood trolley system--similar to the one serving Michigan Avenue, Navy Pier, the museum campus and Lincoln Park--would go a long way toward easing traffic congestion and sharing the wealth of Wrigley Field, said Tom Waldeck, executive director of the Lakeview Chamber of Commerce.

"It would bring more people into the neighborhood to spend money at our restaurants and shops. Right now, everybody gets in their cars and disappears after games," Waldeck said.

To discourage fans from relieving themselves in alleys and on front lawns, the Cubs should build permanent washrooms with entrances on Waveland and Sheffield, said Gregg Kirazes, president of the Lakeview Citizens Council.

"There are a lot of beverages consumed in that ballpark. Providing washrooms exclusively in the ballpark isn't cutting it," Kirazes said.

Mark McGuire, vice president of business operations for the Cubs, could not be reached for comment on the proposals to address the chronic problems associated with Wrigley Field.

Earlier this summer, the Tribune Co. asked City Hall for permission to expand Wrigley by 2,350 seats, play 12 additional night games and develop the property adjacent to the stadium by building a multilevel parking garage, ESPN Zone-style restaurant and Cubs Hall of Fame museum with its own concourse leading directly into the stadium.

Before allowing the team to proceed, City Hall has demanded that the Tribune Co. complete a traffic study and negotiate with area residents and rooftop owners.

The wide-ranging ideas on how to ease what Waldeck called "hostility" between Wrigleyville residents and the Cubs emerged from the third meeting of the so-called Wrigley Field Working Group. The group is composed of representatives from two dozen neighborhood and business groups, officials from the CTA and eight city departments and four aldermen whose residents are affected by Wrigley Field.

Ald. Helen Shiller (46th), who led the Tuesday night meeting, said the suggestions make it clear that area residents want four major problems--parking, traffic, public urination and sanitation-- addressed before accepting more night games and bleacher seats.

"They're saying, 'Don't do anything until we do that because anything you do will only make things worse,' " she said.

"We've learned some lessons from the way protections were and weren't carried out over the last 15 years (since lights were installed at Wrigley). This is the time and the opportunity to improve upon that. That's what the community is asking us to do."

Copyright Chicago Sun Times Oct 25, 2001