The Wrong Lesson

An aerial photo from the 1930s shows Comiskey Park flanked by parking lots on the east and west.  Most of the buildings to the south of the park across 35^th Street were gone by the time I started attending games in the early 1960s, or at least I think they were.  What I do know for sure is that we never ate at the ballpark, and there was no place to eat right outside.  My father always had a hot dog stand or cart we could go to, which was fine by me.

When Jerry Reinsdorf got his new stadium, he wanted even more parking rather than development.  The idea was for fans to come to the park and spend all their money there.  Twenty-five years later, and the area still looks like a shopping mall awash in parking.  So, why are the Cubs making like Reinsdorf? 

I’m not talking about the team’s longstanding feud with the rooftop owners.  Those guys banked on peeping-tom protection in the Constitution, only there is none, as courts have ruled.  Too bad.  But now the Cubs are developing a plaza/beer garden outside Wrigley Field which will compete with area establishments, of which there are many.  On top of that, early this week, the team floated the idea of a 100-foot security perimeter extending from the park out onto Clark and Addison streets.  In other words, two North Side thoroughfares would be squeezed, damn’ the ripple effects, to keep the mad bombers away and, just maybe, serve as an extension of the plaza.  Did I mention it’s going to serve drinks?

The Cubs are the beneficiaries of not one golden goose, but two, Wrigley Field and Wrigleyville.  Kudos to the team for staying at Wrigley, and shame on them for trying to siphon away business from the neighborhood.  Lose a goose, and you could end up with the same emptiness that surrounds the Cell.