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American Morning
Controversy Builds Over Wrigley Field Expansion
Aired April 05, 2002 - 08:54 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: When the Chicago Cubs have their home opener today at Wrigley Field, at least one group of fans will be disappointed. Now, for years, residents right next to the stadium have been able to watch games from their rooftops, but now that, too, is about to change.
And we're joined by Jeff Flock, who has their story from Chicago. You took your coat off. Is it warming up?
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, but I was inside. I didn't have time to put it on. I do have my Cub Blue on, though, so I figured, well, I'll leave the coat off.
ZAHN: Go, Jeff, go.
FLOCK: But it's now about 28, 29 degrees, so what can I tell you?
This is the perspective. We're on the rooftop, and you can see that up here on the top, you can still see it pretty well. Maybe we have got another camera that kind of shows you where I am. I'm on top of one of the -- what used to be an apartment building. Of course, it's now been sort of turned into this viewing palace, and that's sort of what has happened out along here.
Now, the screen that we talked about, maybe can you see it better from our second floor perspective. There you can see that it really does block the view, and there's a viewing area in there that people typically watch the game from, and the screen is in the way, although -- I don't know about you, but I can sort of see through the screen. So I don't know about that.
The other thing about this that you should know, is that it used to be sort of people just coming up on the roof to watch a game, you know, their friends invite them up. Now it is a big business. Take a look at the bleachers that have been erected there. But as we said, Paula, it wasn't always this way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FLOCK (voice-over): The way it was is perhaps best illustrated in the 1986 film "About Last Night", where Rob Lowe takes Demi Moore up the rickety stairs to watch a Cubs game on a friend's rooftop overlooking Wrigley. Today, the rooftops are big business. $60 a ticket is common. Some have bleachers, food, drinks. Some old buildings have even been torn down to make way for million-dollar palaces, specially designed for the illicit viewing of a Cubs game.
MIKE KAUFMAN, SKYBOX ON WAVELAND: We are now on the top floor of the rooftop.
FLOCK: Mike Kaufman owns Skybox on Waveland. He shows us the screen, from his perspective doesn't really hide too much, though he worries if they put up threatened helium balloons they might.
KAUFMAN: I think it's possible to work something out, but we need to talk. Putting up these tarps (ph) probably are not helpful.
FLOCK: The Cubs have reasonably peacefully co-existed with the rooftoppers until the team announced plans to add more seats of its own that threatened to block rooftop views. Rooftop owners are fighting the expansion, which requires city approval, and the fans are taking sides.
JIM WINTER, BASEBALL FAN: It's a lot of entrepreneurs who have come in and bought en masse, and they are making a lot of money on it, on a free view, so I don't have a lot sympathy for their position, I guess.
FLOCK: Though the Cubs failed to return our phone calls, the team has cited security as part of the reason for the curtain.
(on camera): How much money have you got invested in this?
DOUG MILES, BASEBALL FAN: Over $6,000.
FLOCK (voice-over): Doug Miles, who has this rooftop reserved for a game this weekend, thinks calling it a security screen is more of a smoke screen.
MILES: It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I mean, a little screen is not going to help with security, in my opinion, unless the attack is going to be done with Nerf balls.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FLOCK: I don't -- I don't think, Paula that anybody really suggests that the screen is about security. Again, back here on the second floor, Jeffrey (ph), go ahead and take a look out there. Maybe you can see -- and I'm with Mike Kaufman now, actually. I can see through that screen, can't you?
ZAHN: I can see through it.
KAUFMAN: Sure, sure. I'm really not sure why those screens are up. I've read three different articles in the last few months. One article talked about how it was for security reasons. I read another article that it was to punish people who were on rooftops because they're not necessarily for this entire expansion, and then I read another article that said it may improve the aesthetics of the ballpark. People may rather want to see these screens instead of the neighborhood. So, frankly, I don't know which statement is true.
FLOCK: You have got to feel a little bit under siege here.
KAUFMAN: You know what, I would just like to see all the community concerns addressed, and I'd like to see a compromise where everyone can come out. I'd like to see the Tribune possibly make some more money. They said they need to make more money. I'd like to see neighborhood concerns addressed, and I would like preserve the views for the fans as well as for the buildings on Sheffield and Waveland.
FLOCK: Well, there you go, Paula. It's obviously a situation where you've got a ballpark in a neighborhood. It's a great thing, I love it, but everybody has kind of got to peacefully coexist in some way.
ZAHN: So, Jeff, what would be the compromise if everybody can agree to something? That the screens come down?
FLOCK: What would be a compromise for you? How -- give me a solution. How could we do it? Because obviously, the Cubs want to make more money, they want to put more stands up here, but that would block your view. So what?
KAUFMAN: It's not just about my views, it is also they want to put large pillars into the sidewalk to put something together that would be so high...
FLOCK: For the stands, right?
KAUFMAN: ...it turns out they have some structural issues that they need to deal with. I think it would be easier for them to put up pillars, but not necessarily the best...
FLOCK: So compromise again? What's the compromise?
KAUFMAN: I'm looking at a compromise that would cantilever out -- we could do it without posts in the sidewalk.
FLOCK: Oh, OK. So it's just not a good design, in your view. So maybe if they come up with a new design, we get more seats in the stadiums, we have these seats out here. Maybe everybody wins.
ZAHN: Hey, Jeff, how did dispatching a secretary of state there? Do you think that would help?
FLOCK: You know, Secretary of State Powell, maybe when he gets back from the Middle East, perhaps he can come to Wrigleyville and have a tougher job of it, probably.
ZAHN: Yeah, sounds like a tough one to solve. All right, Jeff, thanks. Have a good weekend, and I do like that Cub Blue you have got on there today.
FLOCK: Thanks, Paula, appreciate it. Thank you, thank you very much. You made my day.
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