Bleed Cubbie Blue: All Posts by David Sameshima

2013 Wrigley Field Community Meeting Recap

2013-04-03T01:33:22Z

Sorry for the tardiness with this recap. I have been too busy the past week, to post this. Forgive me if some of this info has been posted elsewhere. I have been too busy to keep up with other Bleed Cubbie Blue postings, during the past week.

There was a full house at the meeting this year, mostly due to the interest in the Wrigley Field renovation plans. The crowd was overflowing into the hallway. There were easily over 100 in attendance. I have never seen 5 television stations cover this meeting. As it has been covered elsewhere, this topic was not covered at this meeting. There have been subsequent, non public, meetings where this was to be covered. The purpose of this community meeting was to recap neighborhood issues from the 2012 Cubs season.

44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney started things off. 5 representatives from the Cubs were introduced. Mike Lufrano-VP Community Affairs/General Counsel, Julian Green-VP Communications & Community Affairs, Carl Rice-VP Ballpark Operations, Jennifer Dedes Nowak-Manager/Chicago Cubs Charities Programs and Steve Jacobson-Consultant to the Cubs. Only Mike Lufrano, who normally appears at these meetings, spoke.

Everyone was very civil at this meeting. Ald Tunney and Mike Lufrano were very cordial with each other. No fireworks for the media to cover, at this event anyway.

There were various city representatives on hand. Here is the list:

44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney

47th Ward Alderman Ameya Pawar

Representative From The 32nd Ward

Representative From The 46th Ward

Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC)

Chicago Police Department (CPD)

Department of Transportation (CDOT)

Department of Finance/Revenue

Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection

Department of Streets and Sanitation

Office of Budget Management

Chicago Transit Authority

Here the more interesting topics which were actually covered:

DEVRY REMOTE PARKING-Used by 40,000 fans. Parked 15,000 cars. Most cars parked 480. Average number parked 293. Exploring alternate remote parking sites. Preferably along Irving Park Rd.

BICYCLE VALET PARKING-5,000 bikes parked.

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT-48 traffic aides assigned at each game. $575,000 paid out by the Cubs. Deployed 1-1/2 hours before the game, until 1-1/2 hours afterward. Boundaries are Damen to the Lakefront, and Montrose to Diversey.

CUBS NEIGHBORHOOD PROGRAMS-8,000 residents have signed up for email newsletter. 15,000 tickets given away to community programs. More than $1,000,000 available in Cubs Fund. Fund established in 2003 as a contingency fund to pay for unforeseen neighborhood projects. Has paid for traffic studies, new signage. $143,000 spent in 2012.

CHICAGO CUBS CHARITIES-$2.3 million donated. $323,000 to Lakeview organizations.

AUTOGRAPHED ITEMS DONATED TO CHARITIES-1900 balls, 365 jerseys, 2900 photos, 138 bats, 200 other.

CPD-Dedicated game detail deployed 1 hour before the game, until 1 hour afterwards. Plan to add bicycle detail to game detail. More detail officers will also be on foot.

CDOT-33 yellow night game parking signs, maintained in LV-2 parking zone. Program has been less expensive than the yellow barricades, with signs, that were previously used. Barricades were being damaged, or stolen. 21 intersections repainted. 500 sign activities (signs repaired or replaced) in the zone bordered by Ravenswood to Halsted, and Irving Park to Belmont. Left turn arrows being installed at 3 intersections, but only in certain directions of travel. They are Clark/Irving Park, Addison/Ashland and Halsted/Belmont. Traffic lights being installed at 4 intersections. I missed one. They are Clark/School, Clark/Roscoe and Irving Park/Seminary. The plan is to "interconnect" these lights, to expedite traffic flow.

DEPT OF FINANCE/REVENUE-4,000 tickets issued (night games only)

DEPT OF BUSINESS AFFAIRS-Inspectors do a sweep, twice a month, in the neighborhood. From Racine to Broadway, and Irving Park to Belmont. Conducted 303 business checks. Issued 34 non compliance citations.

STREETS AND SANITATION-Towed 797 cars. 20 more cars than the previous year. (night games only)

CTA-During games, averaged 4,000-6,000 passengers on trains. Averaged 12,000 on buses. For 2013, plan to increase service on #80, #152 and #154 buses. Yellow Line (Skokie) trains will operate until midnight, for night games.

After all the representatives spoke, there was time for a question and answer session. Some questions were good, some not so good. One neighbor pointed out that limos were parking, and blocking crosswalks, when waiting for their clients during the game. That was a legitimate issue to raise. Other good issues raised were that the Cubs cannot change the footprint of the Captain Morgans Club. During some games, the outdoor cage fences were removed, and temporary barricades were put up. These barricades were intruding into the public sidewalk. Another resident pointed out that a new city sign was blocking a city security camera. The resident had to do a little digging, to determine which city agency operated it. The camera was still being blocked. A resident also pointed out that due to some zoning changes, there is no longer LV-2 zone parking in the 46th Ward.

There were also questions, not related to Cubs games. Why did the CTA spend millions to extend the station platforms on the Brown Line, only to run 4 car trains during the midday hours? Why doesn't the city enforce bicycle traffic laws? What can I do about my neighbor's barking dog?

I'll end my recap on that note. I hope this explains what occurs at these meetings, and their purpose.

Everyone was very civil at this meeting. Ald Tunney and Mike Lufrano were very cordial with each other. No fireworks for the media to cover, at this event anyway.

There were various city representatives on hand. Here is the list:

44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney

47th Ward Alderman Ameya Pawar

Representative From The 32nd Ward

Representative From The 46th Ward

Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC)

Chicago Police Department (CPD)

Department of Transportation (CDOT)

Department of Finance/Revenue

Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection

Department of Streets and Sanitation

Office of Budget Management

Chicago Transit Authority

Here the more interesting topics which were actually covered:

DEVRY REMOTE PARKING-Used by 40,000 fans. Parked 15,000 cars. Most cars parked 480. Average number parked 293. Exploring alternate remote parking sites. Preferably along Irving Park Rd.

BICYCLE VALET PARKING-5,000 bikes parked.

CHICAGO CUBS CHARITIES-$2.3 million donated. $323,000 to Lakeview organizations.

AUTOGRAPHED ITEMS DONATED TO CHARITIES-1900 balls, 365 jerseys, 2900 photos, 138 bats, 200 other.

CPD-Dedicated game detail deployed 1 hour before the game, until 1 hour afterwards. Plan to add bicycle detail to game detail. More detail officers will also be on foot.

DEPT OF FINANCE/REVENUE-4,000 tickets issued (night games only)

STREETS AND SANITATION-Towed 797 cars. 20 more cars than the previous year. (night games only)

I'll end my recap on that note. I hope this explains what occurs at these meetings, and their purpose.

2012 Cubs Community Meeting Recap

2012-02-28T15:13:30Z

I attended the 2012 Cubs Community Meeting, held at the Chicago 23rd District Police Station, on Monday evening. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Ballhawk. Here is some information from the meeting.

Before I begin, there was a game time change announcement. The game time listed for Monday, April 9th has been changed. It is listed as a 7:05PM start. That game is now a 6:05PM start time.

I'll begin with what is going on at the McDonald's parking lot. Mike Lufrano, Vice President, Community Affairs, General Counsel, wanted to make it clear that the McDonald's property was acquired by the Ricketts family and not by the Chicago Cubs. At this time, there are no long range plans for the property. The plan for this season is for a merchandise tent to be set up in the parking lot. For now, the McDonald's restaurant will remain in place.

As far as the triangle building project, in the parking lot just west of Wrigley Field along Clark Street, that project is on hold. The first priority is for Wrigley Field to be worked on. In addition, the economic climate is holding backing any development of the triangle project. It was mentioned that any future project will likely have less parking than the original plans. Due to community input, it wasn't desirable to add more parking to the already congested Clark/Addison intersection. It was also brought up that the privately financed development, just south of Addison, is also on hold due the economic climate. This is the hotel/retail complex that will be displacing a number of bars and restaurants along the east side of Clark Street. It was mentioned that Hyatt was rumored to be involved with managing the hotel portion of the project.

The Cubs will hold block parties during two homestands. Both will take place in the parking lot, at Clark and Waveland. No streets will be close, due to community feedback. They will take place on June 12-17th and on July 27-29th.

In addition to the already announced concerts on June 8th and 9th, Mike Lufrano could not yet confirm rumors about other concerts on Sept 7th and 8th. He wouldn't deny them either.

Mike Lufrano did announce that the Secretary General of NATO is interested in throwing out the first pitch, sometime during the NATO summit taking place in Chicago. This could take place during the May 18-20th White Sox series.

The Chicago Police 19th (Belmont) and 23 (Town Hall) districts will be consolidated, effective March 4th. Presently, the Wrigley Field area is serviced by both districts. Presently, Clark Street is the dividing line between the 19th and 23rd. Under the changes, all of the area will be in the new 19th district. Wrigley Field will be in Beats 1923 and 1924. The new 19th district will be located at the current 23rd district station, at 850 W Addison, and use the Town Hall district name.

Here are some facts and figures released by various city department representative, and by the Cubs. Most of the numbers are for night games only. Not sure about which ones.

48 Traffic Aides Deployed

21 Arrests

100 Administrative Notices

19 Moving Violations

1093 Parking Tickets

615 Tows

46,109 Cars used the remote parking

308 Average number of cars using remote parking

515 Highest number of cars using remote parking

6063 Bicycles using valet parking service

41% Fans using CTA

15,000 Persons using the skating ring

8,000 Runners in the Wrigley Fun Run

8,000 Attended movie night

I think I touched on the main points that would be of interest to those on this site. Other topics involved trash pickup, parking enforcement, calls to neighborhood hotline, traffic light timing, peddling, noise, parking, parking and parking. Oh, and officials promised to enforce the bus idling issue. That got a reaction out of Ballhawk. A sarcastic reaction, that is.

Before I begin, there was a game time change announcement. The game time listed for Monday, April 9th has been changed. It is listed as a 7:05PM start. That game is now a 6:05PM start time.

In addition to the already announced concerts on June 8th and 9th, Mike Lufrano could not yet confirm rumors about other concerts on Sept 7th and 8th. He wouldn't deny them either.

Here are some facts and figures released by various city department representative, and by the Cubs. Most of the numbers are for night games only. Not sure about which ones.

48 Traffic Aides Deployed

21 Arrests

100 Administrative Notices

19 Moving Violations

1093 Parking Tickets

615 Tows

46,109 Cars used the remote parking

308 Average number of cars using remote parking

515 Highest number of cars using remote parking

6063 Bicycles using valet parking service

41% Fans using CTA

15,000 Persons using the skating ring

8,000 Runners in the Wrigley Fun Run

8,000 Attended movie night

Notes From Cubs Wrigley Field Community Meeting

2011-03-04T07:07:43Z

I was able to attend the 2010 Chicago Cubs Wrigley Field Annual Advisory Community Meeting, held Thursday night at the new Chicago Police 23rd District Station. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Ballhawk, during the meeting. Here are some of my notes, from the meeting.

The only Cubs representative was Executive Vice President, Community Affairs/General Counsel Michael Lufrano. 44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney, along with 46th Ward Ald Helen Shiller and 32nd Ward Ald Scott Waguespack were also present. Officials from various city departments were also on hand. I would guess that there were around 80 residents in attendance.

Here are some of the 2010 figures that Michael Lufrano had for the meeting. 18 million dollars was paid to the city amusement tax. The remote parking facility, at DeVry University handled 52,000 cars. They averaged 370 cars, per game. The bike valet service handled 8,500 bicycles.

No concerts have been scheduled yet, for this year. The Cubs are interested in pursuing some type of event, like the Wildcat Way, during the recent Northwestern football game. This would take place this season, during the Yankee, White Sox and Cardinal series. This would involve a street fair type event, blocking off the 3600 block of Sheffield, outside Wrigley Field. This would be a 3 day event, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Later Ald Tunney would comment that the Wildcat Way concept is still under discussion, but that he did not think all 9 days would be approved.

Here are some figures from the Transportation Management Agency. 48 traffic aides are used, per game. 50 aides were used for the Northwestern football game. 46 aides at one of the concerts, and 47 at the other.

Now some figures from the Chicago Police Department. Note that these are only figures for the night games, which was the main topic of the evening. For the 29 night games, last season, there were 39 arrests, 478 administrative notice violations, 480 contact cards written, 16 moving violations, 2,176 parking tickets and 1,189 tows. In addition, the Dept Of Revenue representative stated that they wrote 5,142 night game violation parking tickets.

The Dept of Transportation official explained that a new "Interconnect" system would be in place on Irving Park Road, by opening day. This new traffic light system should increase traffic flow, for fans leaving the game. In addition, a change made late last year will continue this season. 2 lanes of westbound traffic will be available on Irving Park, from Clark Street to Ashland Ave, after games. Normally this stretch of Irving Park has only 1 lane, in each direction.

The city will also be replacing the yellow wooden barricades used on certain blocks, to explain the Cub's Night Game Parking Restrictions. The city has found that many of these barricades end up vandalized, or missing, during the season. The city even spotted one of these barricades for sale on Ebay. The city will be posting sign posts, featuring large yellow signs instead. They will be two piece signs, so the lower portion can be replaced each year with new night game dates.

There was a discussion about changing the wording on the residential zone parking/Cubs night game no parking signs. This came up because of some confusion on the parking restrictions, during concerts at Wrigley Field. The current signs only reference Cubs night games, but not special events like the recent concerts. One city official commented that this has been discussed. Something along the line of using the term "Wrigley Field Events" or "Stadium Events" instead. The city estimated the cost of changing all the street signs in just the 44th ward (Zone 383) would be $98,000. This cost estimate doesn't include the signs in the other wards that are part of the night game LV-2 parking zone.

One resident did bring up the subject of the Addison Park On Clark project. Alderman Tunney responded that his understanding is that this project will not be moving forward this year.

One last note. The official from the Dept of Streets and Sanitation wanted to thank the Cubs, for their assistance during the recent blizzard. The Cubs let the city dump snow in their Green (Parking) Lot. I am not sure which lot that is. The city official explained that the next closest option was driving over to Wilson Ave, at the lakefront. This saved the city around half an hour in driving time, per truck. The city dumped 250 semi truck loads of snow, in the Green Lot.

I'll let Ballhawk chime in, or correct, anything I missed. Maybe Ballhawk will comment on the question he asked, at the meeting. He also had the honor of asking the first question. I hope this explains what occurs at these meetings.

One resident did bring up the subject of the Addison Park On Clark project. Alderman Tunney responded that his understanding is that this project will not be moving forward this year.

Steve Stone Will Work White Sox Opening Day Game

2007-04-01T18:21:14Z

First off, this is not an April Fools Day joke. On WSCR radio, they just announced that Steve Stone will be temporarily filling in, in the radio broadcast booth, announcing tomorrow's White Sox game. One of the regular announcers, Ed Farmer, will not be available on opening day. His daughter was injured in an auto accident. Her injuries were not severe, and Ed Farmer will return to work Wednesday's game.